First Time Bulid, Diary, And Noob Questions!

[Shakey]

I thoroughly second joeys points on spinner safety there. A flipper/lifter is a good fun starting point, make sure you use a metal geared servo though for some robustness.

Also I wouldn't advise combo motor/esc units. In a spinner you pretty much treat the motor as a consumable that'll need replacing every now and then (At least for the powerful ones).

[AntRoboteer]

I would be careful on setting your sights on 4WD and a weapon to be honest. My 4WD pusher and only a 180mAh LiPo comes to 150g and it isn't even armoured very well. At first I considered having a SMIDSY sort of rip-off but that plan was forgotten about when I saw the sort of weight it would be. Just make sure you know the weights of all of your components and leave a little tolerance in there as well just in case it does (like usual) come out to be a bit heavier than you thought.

I would advise a simple 2WD gearmotor setup with a nice flipper which is well armoured and can be bashed about AND have the option to expand it by adding weight in the form of additional armour/weapons to get you started. Those robots are great fun to build and even better to drive. I really wish I had enough slots on my team for one because they are so fun to drive around and are often very competitive. In fact, it's hard to make a simple but proven setup like that uncompetitive.

I love these servos as they are deceptively strong and very cheap:

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... 13_4g.html

They are also very small and henceforth you can fit them into pretty much any shape you like!

[HugoIsOnFire]

Hey guys, I have decided on buliding a wedge flipper, which is more effective? A front hinged (firestorm esque ) or back hinged (literally ever other flipper ever). Thanks

[AntRoboteer]

Rear hinged flippers are more effective by far! They are also often easier to build and will self right a whole lot better. They will also give a flip that is far more satisfying as they will flip a robot into the air when you get it right rather than just rolling the opponent over.

[joey_picus]

I like mine front hinged, but rear hinged has the advantages mentioned above. Both are doable and successful, the question really is one of personal preference

[AntRoboteer]

I personally can't see how you get yours to self right Joey! I've tried many times before but I am yet to produce a successful one so gave up in the end. Even the 4 bar lifter was easier to construct for me. The issue with a front hinged is that you need a linkage for sure whereas with a rear hinged flipper you can just extend your servo horn with a cocktail stick or similar and have it push against a flipper plate; no linkage required whatsoever although I used to have a bit of thread to pull the flipper back down again when it flipped up.

[joey_picus]

You don't necessarily need the linkage; the method you describe works for front hinged as well. I did have *considerable* trouble getting later versions of Jigsaw V to selfright though, and ended up burning out a lot of servos because they were being put under too much strain - earlier versions did no problem though, so it's less an inherent front hinge problem and more bad design by me!

[HugoIsOnFire]

Hmmm, I think about it, servo wise, I was thinking

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... rentPage=2

OR

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... 15_2g.html

[Hogi]

a 4WD flipper would probably be quite effective in the new arena if built well.

i also second the spinner safety thing. if you do decide to build one, i would say don't put the battery link in (even with a switch) until it's just about to go into the battle box or testing box. that's the rule that my mum has for my spinner anyway.

[HugoIsOnFire]

Do any of you how to put images into a reply, ive tried just copy-paste and it didnt work