Author Topic: Basic Things To Know  (Read 13010 times)

Offline zipdragon64

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Basic Things To Know
« on: June 15, 2010, 03:43:44 AM »
i though i would make this thread because i find that the problem here is not a lack of ambition or creativity, but a lack of knowledge. so I'm going to start by post helpful videos and links on basic things that you need to know to build a basic combat robot

lets start with Soldering
 
when i first started soldering i didn't know how to do it properly, i always tried to over tin the tip then join the two joints with the excess on the tip. this of course never worked, and ill explain why, when soldering the solder is drawn to where the heat is and sense the heat at the tip of the iron it was drawn to the tip, not the wire. so in order to solder properly you want to tin the tip (coat it thinly with solder), wipe off the excess on a damp sponge, then use the tip to heat the joint, and when the joint is hot enough apply you solder till evenly coated.
see video for fully demonstration
How to Do It: Basic Soldering

notes:
Make sure you use rosin core solder, if you use the wrong kind of solder (acid core, meant for plumbing) because if you do your joints corrode within a short time of soldering them

Cutting Plastics

I generally use a table saw and a cut off saw with a fine tooth blade for all my right angle cuts. And i use a saber saw for angled, or curved cuts, and i have sometimes used my milling machine with an 1/8 end mill to do fine cuts and rounded cuts with my rotary table. the this to remember when making cuts is to follow all the standard rules of the machine you are using

anyway here's a pretty good overview, although you will never use the first method because you will never use acrylic in a combat robot, and you can ignore the end because the point is the tutorial is to demonstrate how to do it yourself rather then to pay for someone else to do it for you
 

Drilling and Tapping both Plastics and Metals

when using a drill press the key thing to remember is the slower the better, especially with larger drill bits and harder metals. No matter what your drilling you want to make sure your piece is securely clamped or bolted down, NEVER try and hold the piece your drilling if the bit catches and spins the piece it will hit your hand several times before you could even think about moving out of the way. when drilling a hole you want to make 1/16" to 1/4" deep pushes depending on the material then back out clearing the chips and debris, don't try to force the bit, just apply moderate pressure and let the bit cut at its own speed, this is important when drilling plastic because if you push to hard or fast you will simply melt the plastic, it is also important when drilling metals because if you force the bit to hard or to fast is will simply dull or break.

when tapping first make sure your hole is the appropriate size (see drilling and tapping chart:http://www.shender4.com/thread_chart.htm) then apply an appropriate amount of tapping fluid then begin the tap, gently push the tap into the hole and slowly turn the tap till it begins to catch, then continue driving the tap in, turning the tap about 1/2 turn out every full turn in. this breaks of the burs and clears chips. never try to force the tap for you may break it and always make sure the tap is directly in line with the hole or it will simply create warped threads




Cutting Metals

how you cut metal all depends on the type of metal your cutting, aluminum should never be cut with a standard metal cut off saw or gridded because the aluminum will build up on the wheel, make it off balance, and eventually blow apart causing serious injury or even death to the operator. the best method for cutting aluminum would be to use a band saw with the proper teeth per inch, a sawzall saw also with the proper teeth per inch, or even just a standard hacksaw. when using a band saw make sure the the guards are properly adjusted, and when using a sawzall or hacksaw make sure you piece is secured properly. A hacksaw is a standard hand tool that is easy to use but can still be dangerous if not used properly, in order to use a hacksaw properly you want to take long even strokes using the full length of the blade at a rate of about 40 strokes per minute so not to where out one spot an quicker then any other. when reaching the end of a cut you will notices an change in pitch at this time you will want to slow down so when you finish the piece off you won't cut your self on the burr. also always make sure both hands or holding the hacksaw this way you will never slip and cut yourself. you can cut steel all the same ways you cut aluminum as long as its hardness is not greater then the blade you are attempting to cut with. in edition you can also cut steel with a metal cut off saw

band saw


sawzaw


cut-off saw


i think thats about enough for now if you have any specific questions please post them here and i will discuss what i know, i have over 5 years machining experience and would be more then happy to share my knowledge on the subject so if there is something your not sure how to make just ask

and dont forget to always wear your safety glasses, you only have one set of eyes and i would hate yto see you lose them over something stupid like cutting a 5 dollar piece of metal     
« Last Edit: June 15, 2010, 09:47:54 AM by JoeBlo »

Offline Serge

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Re: basic things to know
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2010, 04:11:33 AM »
I wish I had all the tools for this. I only have a soldering station and an oscilloscope :(.
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Offline zipdragon64

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Re: basic things to know
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2010, 04:19:03 AM »
lol and im only in the cheap stuff now, just wait till i start talking about milling and lathing applications. i spent 800 on a lathe and 500 on a mill =P, best decisions i ever made

Offline Serge

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Re: basic things to know
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2010, 05:08:05 AM »
I just want a CNC machine / water jet. :P
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Offline JoeBlo

Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2010, 09:48:50 AM »
great topic.. its now stickied  ;)

Offline Jonzu95

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2010, 10:21:17 AM »
Thanks Zipdragon! I was going to ask some stuff, how to start building robots but these will help me. Thanks! :mrgreen:
« Last Edit: June 15, 2010, 10:57:55 AM by Jonzu95 »

Offline Sparkey98

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2010, 10:45:23 AM »
Thanks also!

Offline Stagfish

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2010, 12:14:19 PM »
I already know most of that stuff except plastic always confuses me...

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2010, 02:53:43 AM »
im working on a quick little picture tutorial on how i wire up my ants but it may be another day because i seem to have misplaced something i need for the pics =P

Offline JoeBlo

Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2010, 04:03:45 AM »
oh cool.. is that in relation to me pm question ?

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2010, 04:29:31 AM »
yup though i would just post a full thing here so everyone can read through it ;)

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2010, 06:02:16 AM »
sorry i haven't been able to get to it, im on vacation and away from all my stuff but as soon as i return ill finish the wiring tutorial
 

Offline JoeBlo

Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2010, 06:05:30 AM »
awesome... I have holidays coming up so looking forward to it

Offline Naryar

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2010, 06:09:56 AM »
I say make him moderator of this section !

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2010, 10:54:03 AM »
ok back to work
so here are all the components i use in my antweights, if necessary i will post links to all of them but for the time being i will just post the pics 


ok wiring a robot is very simple, especially if you already know how to solder. I wire both my beetle weights and antweights just about the same way with one minor difference but ill get to that later. The method i use is called wiring in parallel, what this means is that the same voltage is applied to each component. heres what your parallel wiring diagram looks like


now it may look complicated but its rather simple, the way to do this with all the components ive laid out is to group all the negative leads and solder them to the negative lead of the jst plug and group all the positive leads and solder them to the positive lead of the jst plug. then simply solder your motor connections and your pretty much good, all thats left to do is plug everything in to your receiver. you can figure out what you want on what controls through a little trial and error, if its not right then you simply power off and change the plug port, if a motor is spinning the wrong direction simply change the dip switch on your controller for that channel, or on a spektrum  adjust the mixing. if the brushless motor is spinning the wrong direction simple unplug two of the three wires that connect to the motor and switch them, its that simple.

heres what it should all look like


and Questions? comments?

Offline JoeBlo

Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2010, 11:11:28 AM »
I have 1, you have your weapon motor and drive running on the same controller, will that allow for a independent spin control or it it wired to move with drive ?

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2010, 11:28:44 AM »
im not sure what you mean

Offline JoeBlo

Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2010, 11:35:21 AM »
you have all 3 ESC's connected to a single receiver

so what does your controller look like, I have only seen them in stores to be basic 'forward/back and left/right' controllers so how do you control the weapon

Offline zipdragon64

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2010, 12:03:09 PM »
oh ok thats an easy one. i have a 6ch gws and a 5ch spektrum, so for the gws i put the drive motors on ch's 2&3 this allows for me to have tank drive left stick controls the left motor fw/bk and the right stick controls the right motor fw/bk then i put the weapon motor on one of the top switch's ch's either 5 or 6 ( i usually pick 5 but thats personal preference) and that leaves 3 ch's unused. the spectrum is a different story, it doesn't have two center spring sticks so i put the motors on ch's 3&4 and use the mixing to make it drive some what rc car like, fw on the stick is fw both motors bk is bk, left makes it turn left and so on. then i put the weapon on ch 2. now i don't like this set up because i like to tank drive my bots but it does allow for a very refined control of the weapons speed vs the gws were you have half speed or fully speed


Offline Badnik96

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Re: Basic Things To Know
« Reply #19 on: December 12, 2010, 08:36:00 AM »
ok back to work
so here are all the components i use in my antweights, if necessary i will post links to all of them but for the time being i will just post the pics 
(Image removed from quote.)

what's the receiver you have in this pic? Just curious