The end of the bottles though is usually way thicker and doesn't shrink evenly or anywhere near enough, that's why i think you have to screw a big square of the bottle material over it, but its worth a go!
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Cut the top and bottom off like for a battery. Then sit it inside and shrink it around it.
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

@ Jameus if your friend likes the shovel design $100 and posted monday. Its not feasible for kit as it takes too long to cut and fold. I quite like it but whateva. I just need to get rid of some of these radios and parts !!!!!

Steve
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

I'll let you in on a little secret called vacuum forming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_forming

it really does sound like what your trying to do.
epoxy between plastic probably won't work that well, the plastic will flex and the epoxy crack pretty readily, though at this scale you might get away with it.

alternately fiberglass would be a super material for all this stuff.
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Yeah what i would do would be to -wrap the ant in a layer of al foil to protect it.

- then use plasticine to sculpt the shape......

-then do a simple 1 piece plaster mold (inch thick) let that set then clean it out

-then give the plaster mould a stipple coat of latex (as mold release)

- then fibreglass 4 cloth layers into the mould. let it set

-then give it a dremel, a sand and a paint ....it will look a million bucks and weigh only about 5grams!

We got all that stuff here..... I guess that makes it a bit easier when you have all the ingredients.....you can get all that stuff from fgi (not the plaster thats from bunnings).

Steve or anyone else ....if you ever want to head out here to Ip to do some moulding let us know?
M&J
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

Polymorph into a mold ?

Lightweight, tough, and easy to repair
as well as being useful for making other stuff
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

reckon you wouldn't even bother with a mould for a one off ;->
Some masking tape over a frame with a spray of release agent, though it wont look as pretty.

I've never seen molding done that way before for this kind of thing. My dad used to do fiberglass for a living they always made a fiberglass mold. Make the master in a similar way, then either PVA it if you didn't care too much about the surface finish of the end results, or gelcoat it. sand and polish the gelcoat if your feeling keen, couple of coats of wax, then another gelcoat, this is the one that will be the inner surface of the mold, then glass over the top of it.

Need to watch out for the glass shrinking but then that'd be much worse with plaster i'd imagine?

I spose it might take longer to do that way but it'd probably last longer. They would get 10's to hundreds of parts out of a mold.

The *best* would be some kind of a RTM system, you can get a really high glass loading then so its really strong and both surfaces are finished. But that needs more gear again. Still if your thinking of doing a production run of them he'd probably be interested.
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Yeah the reason I use plaster is it sets quick is easy to work with and means less fibre glassing and toxic fumes.

Also plaster expands when it sets, rather than shrinks like fibreglass. if you had to do a heap of fibreglass shells you could do the fibreglass mould...but I hate wax and I hate pva release...the way to solve that is to do a silicone mould then you don't need a release at all. But thats more mucking around.
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

Going to take parts to hackerspace on Wednesday night if anyone is keen to create some ants out of my Kitbots parts for event on the weekend.

Mostly directed at lurkers or friends who would like to quickly throw together an ant.
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Hmmm milled this writing G-Code on the fly tonight.



There is a few mistakes, one servo pocket is too big. There is a few stray cuts where I typed in wrong numbers but you get the idea. I just am not really a fan. I was hoping to add a weapon in there somewhere I got the servo in but it doesn't really help in its current position.

Ideas?

Steve
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

haha, G code on the fly, awesome
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

OK I am looking for input on KitBot designs. For those who haven't seen my latest iteration.



Basically it was a test to see if the PLA could be made to work in an ant. My conclusion is that it probably can. And it makes things a lot easier when you need to make 20 of the little bloody things.

So... what I am looking for is a good semi-effective weapon design. Or a chassis which could accommodate multiple designs. I am thinking flipper still or any weapon which could fit using a servo.

Ideally I would like 2 main parts. Either both printed or one printed and one from PCB. Everything should bolt together using M3 bolts Nuts can be embedded in PLA. Main parts should be a 6Ch or 3Ch RX with or without case. 2 x HXT900. A 1S Nanotech 160mah. And a 939 MG servo Corona or HK.

If anyone has any ideas or cads they would like printed using the above parts which could then be used for kits am keen to hear.
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17514

Ant tyres...
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Cool..... till it comes up against Scarlet.

Is that one done with a printer?
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

Yeh. that is designed and printed @ HSBNE.

Steve
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com