Cheap antweight kits

[Simon Windisch]

Continuing from another topic about how an antweight kit should be possible for under £100, here's my try http://www.antweightrobots.com/kitty/index.htm it came in at £160.

If you're interested let's see fully costed and linked to parts lists that would allow a complete newcomer with no equipment to build a combat antweight. No "and then I used some scrap parts from my garage" allowed!

Simon

[haz]

i got one to come in at £75 , not using the greatest parts though

[Rhys]

My cluster cost me about £60, not including the transmitters, and there's two of them! I reckon you could build a decent antweight totally from scratch for under £50. That is with servos for drive though, which may not be ideal for a beginner.

[terminaldamage]

As a first-time builder, I admit to being surprised at how low-cost everything was when building EricA and KMA. I think the likes of eBay and GiantCod are a massive help in this weight class, more so than they are in, say, featherweights. There's money to be saved as well if you don't mind compromising and going for a slightly lower-quality or lower-spec component that does a similar job (such as using servo boards instead of a dedicated speed controller). Even Simon's example of Kitty can be cut down price-wise by downgrading a couple of components:

Kitty

£4 for two wheels
£25 for two motors ( Solarbotics 30:1 Mini Metal Gear Motor )
£3 for two motor mounts
£46 for a motor controller
£40 for a Transmitter and receiver
£4 for a 1mm Polycarbonate sheet
£28 for a Battery charger
£8 for a Lithium Polymer battery (120mAh 2S (7.4V))

Total = £158

Alternatively:

£4 for two wheels
£9 for two motors (using the cheap eBay replicas)
£3 for two motor mounts
£8 for a motor controller (servo boards, new from GiantCod at £4 each)
£25 for a Transmitter and receiver (cheap E-Flite DSM2 + compatible receiver. eBay)
£4 for a 1mm Polycarbonate sheet
£6 for a Battery charger (http://www.component-shop.co.uk)
£4 for a 6V, 120mAh Ni-MH battery (http://www.component-shop.co.uk)

Total = £63
Saving = £95

Some things mentioned above have only become available or noticed recently, compared to when the Kitty list was made. And of course, when you're young and working with limited funds, £95 is a lot of money saved! Definitely the cheapest way to get into robot combat right now.

[Anoptimistprime]

Instead of motors what about servos, yeah it may not be the best but btbboh did rather well for what it was

3 servos (£10, 2 micro + one metal geared for weapon) a transmitter for £13 and I got a free receiver
Then a sheet of polycarb and Lego wheels which I would happily donate to the cause then a 6v nimh
Job done

[bitternboy]

Modified HPFX servos are speedy enough (and torquey enough) for a begginner I would have thought. This costs around £20. Even with the cheap motors plus a sabertooth, the high powered option comes toover £50 at least. Now consider that I started with unspeed-hacked SD200 with 2cm wheels (which were horrifically slow) and didn't mind too much.

[Simon Windisch]

@terminaldamage I'd be interested to see that list of yours linked up, so I could see which actual components you mean.

Are you assuming that the newcomer has a 12v power supply? my battery charger was the cheapest mains powered one I could find.

Servos are fine guys, if you want to then let's see it properly listed and linked so that a newcomer won't have to guess what you mean, and won't be left having to spend another £50 on the missing parts, or use all the parts in a toolshed that they might not own.

[haz]

Harry's kit v2:

Giantcod stuff:

drive servos: http://www.giantcod.co.uk/towerpro-sg90 ... p-268.html
transmitter and reciver: http://www.giantcod.co.uk/giantcod-24gh ... 03779.html
weapon servo: http://www.giantcod.co.uk/162g-dys0207- ... 02468.html
foam wheels: http://www.giantcod.co.uk/wheels-c-39_141_244.html
for all this around £35 delivered, maximum

componant shop stuff
batterys, 2 6v 210mah NiMH batterys :http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/radio_control.html
like £12 delivered



direct plastics stuff:
1mm hdpe sheet http://www.directplasticsonline.co.uk/H ... Black/1mm/
say like £10

charger:
http://www.wheelspinmodels.co.uk/i/18944/
£13

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad31 ... 001-24.jpg
any thoughts?

[terminaldamage]

@terminaldamage I'd be interested to see that list of yours linked up, so I could see which actual components you mean.

Certainly. For reference, I didn't change the wheels, motor mounts or polycarb that you linked to on the Kitty page Simon so those links stay the same. I shall post the web addresses for them anyway to keep it all together.

£4 for two wheels
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog ... cts_id=256

£9 for two motors (using the cheap eBay replicas)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6V-300RPM-Torque- ... 3366bf48bd

£3 for two motor mounts
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog ... cts_id=231
http://www.technobotsonline.com/pololu- ... acket.html

£8 for a motor controller (servo boards, new from GiantCod at £4 each)
http://www.giantcod.co.uk/sg5010-towerp ... p-205.html (x2)

£25 for a Transmitter and receiver (cheap E-Flite DSM2 + compatible receiver. eBay)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spektrum-Cont ... 026wt_1139
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orange-Rx-Spe ... 548wt_1139

£4 for a 1mm Polycarbonate sheet
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fantastic-Plas ... 34.c0.m322
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1156 (available in single sheets, packs of 5 and packs of 10. Different sizes also available)

£6 for a Battery charger (http://www.component-shop.co.uk)
http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/ra ... trol1.html (£6 for the cheapest, but more expensive options available)

£4 for a 6V, 120mAh Ni-MH battery (http://www.component-shop.co.uk)
http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/radio_control.html (click on Small Battery Packs, then the 9th item down)

Are you assuming that the newcomer has a 12v power supply? my battery charger was the cheapest mains powered one I could find.

Nope, I was looking at mains-powered too. As you can see from the link, it's not the most glamorous or fancy charger about (and doesn't do lipos) but it has a varied range of charging currents and voltages. If a newcomer's budget allowed, I would advise them to get a charger more akin to the one you linked to as it is more of an investment especially if a future upgrade to lipos is on the cards, but for starting out on a really low budget, it would suffice for some.

EDIT: Not forgetting fixings, I bought a bunch of M2 cap-head bolts and nuts from Technobots:

http://www.technobotsonline.com/fixings ... crews.html
http://www.technobotsonline.com/fixings ... /nuts.html

[Jonny]

harry why not use an mg90s or similar cheap metal gear servo rather than that ridiculously slow crappy thing (yes, that is the same servo that is on electric eel 3.5 )