Team 1202 Build Diary

All things antweight

Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator

Post Reply
Rapidrory
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Rapidrory »

If you want some less acrylicy 'polycarbonate', this is the stuff I use: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXAN-POLYCAR ... 53e5d55427
Rory Mangles - Team Nuts

Robots: Nuts 2 and many more...

NanoTwo Motor Controllers: https://nutsandbots.co.uk/product/nanotwodualesc
User avatar
Spaceman
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 3:16 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Spaceman »

Looking to get back into the game after being along to AWS 54 and missing 55.

I now have access to a decent printer. So my question is is ABS the way to go for printed chassis?

Thanks
Team 1202

Robototron (Flipper)
Crabulon (Walker)
User avatar
MarkR
Posts: 375
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2017 12:46 pm
Location: Reading Hackspace
Contact:

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by MarkR »

The consensus between both those online, and local 3d printing experts I've spoken to, is that ABS is pretty much obsolete.

There are a lot of newer filaments which have better usage properties than ABS and print more easily too.

For my chassis I used Innofil Pro1 which is a PLA-based filament (with super clever additives which make it better) and it seems very nice.

Also popular are GPET filaments. If you have a heated chamber and a nice hot extruder you might be able to 3d print polycarbonate, which apparently is the "daddy" - the best strength - but more difficult to print.

At Reading Hackspace we also have some PA-CF (similar to Nylon with Carbon fibre) - it is a bit tricky to print but the parts are very tough. The PA-CF seems good for parts that need to be super-solid but it's also more dense than PLA, does not stick very well and doesn't retract well, etc.

With so many other options, I wouldn't bother with ABS. I've never printed it but apparently it shrinks and stinks.
Robots: Betsie - RaspberryPi controlled flipper bot with gyro stablisation - too clever for her own good?
Stacie - tidy flipper; 4wd driven by hair bands
User avatar
Shakey
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Shakey »

I completely disagree with Mark.

While there are fancier filaments ABS is still a great material for ants, all my ants sit in ABS chassis and hold up to combat very well. As with most 3d printing you want to avoid the prints being hit directly anyway with something like sheet polycarb armour but ABS can form a nice strong frame to build onto with a bit of flex to absorb hits, it doesn't fair badly if it does get directly hit either. Combined with it's ease of print (Contrary to a lot of talk I rarely have issue with ABS due to a PEI heatbed and using tabs on the base when printing) and low cost it works nicely.

By all means if you have access to better materials then sure go for it, but to say ABS is obsolete in ants is completely false. It is still very widely used and successful as a strong inexpensive material.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
User avatar
Spaceman
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 3:16 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Spaceman »

I have ordered abs now so shall give it a whirl. That said the pla based one sounds tempting.

A group of us at work have co bought a pursa i3, so expecting greatish things.
Team 1202

Robototron (Flipper)
Crabulon (Walker)
User avatar
Spaceman
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 3:16 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Spaceman »

Question

What % infill do people use for 3d printed chassis?
Team 1202

Robototron (Flipper)
Crabulon (Walker)
User avatar
Shakey
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Shakey »

Personally I print at 100% infill.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
User avatar
Spaceman
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 3:16 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Spaceman »

Somehow I knew that was going to be the answer...

Makes sense.
Team 1202

Robototron (Flipper)
Crabulon (Walker)
User avatar
Spaceman
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 3:16 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by Spaceman »

So getting to the point in my life where I feel I need to try a spinner out.

Now, not wanting to lose a finger or worse, what would peoples advice on attempting this safely?


As a side note and related, what company would cut metal disks, claws etc and what sort of file format do they need.

Could I design a component in sketchup and get it cut in metal?

Thanks
Team 1202

Robototron (Flipper)
Crabulon (Walker)
User avatar
GeorgeR
Posts: 280
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 9:53 pm
Location: Bath, Somerset

Re: Team 1202 Build Diary

Post by GeorgeR »

Ant spinners are pretty easy to do safely, but a couple of things I would recommend;

1) The first time you power up a new spinner, remove the blade. This makes sure you can start/stop/control the weapon motor without the dangerous bit attached.
2) Have something between yourself and the robot when spinning it up, and definitely if you're actually hitting anything with it. (I use an upturned plastic storage box as a makeshift testing arena.)

I've not used them myself (I cut my own with a hacksaw), but a lot of people have had success with K-Cut for making spinner weapons, I think they need a .dxf file.
Sketchup isn't the best option for designing a spinner as it doesn't allow the calculation of the centre of mass, which is important to make it balanced. The free emachineshop cad or Fusion 360 both have this feature (and are free!)

Good luck!
Team Zero - AWS 58 Champion!
Zero - rambot - - Axiom - axebot - - Valkyrie - drum spinner
Blueprint - rambot - - Vampire - horizontal spinner - - Particle - ???
RBMK - quad spinner gyro walker - - Duality - dual spinner gyro walker
Post Reply