carlhuber

Hey there guys what's up? I've got this pet project I've been drooling over for a while. The problem is I'm a total, absolute newbie to any RC.

I was hoping I could tell you guys what I want to do, and if you're feeling up to it, help me put together a shopping list. I'm trying to build a little mech - like a little robot guy (ie, Gundam, Mechwarrior, Zoids, that sort of thing)....basically to have individually moving tank treads, two moving arms, and a moving head-missile thing.

These motors really don't need to be powerful or fast - smaller the better, really. i'm trying to make a mech-thing that's only a couple inches tall. I'll include the applications for them in case you have better suggestions that what I'm thinking!

- 2 motors that have only forward/neutral/reverse ( individual tank treads)

- 2 slightly less powerful motors of the same type
(two arms, don't need to be powerful at all)

- 1 motor probably the same as the previous one (to be attached to a gear that raises and lowers a toothed-stick to fire some stupid plastic springloaded rockets - sorry for the idiotic description)

haha, so does that sound doable? I guess I'm looking at 5 motors, each with ONLY forward/neutral/reverse, NOT directional turning. The only load the first two need to bear would be the batteries for the 5 motors, which I guess can get pretty heavy right?

Do you have any recommendations in terms of the kinds of motors? And what do I need to be aware of in terms of frequencies and whatnot? *looks for documentation online about "RC motors for dummies"*

Ideally I'd love to find to buy that comes complete with a motor, a receiver, a battery hookup, and an RC control. And then just buy five of them. Do these exist?

Hey thanks a million for offering your help. I'm totally psyched about this project. I understand, though, if you don't have the time to babysit me it's all good. I promise I'll take photos for you guys for your help.

Jim Finn

My Feedback: (2)

I used to work in a hobby shop in Califirnia and every month or so someone would come in asking about building robots like you discribed. There is no kit I know of for these. Some of the guys attempting this tried servo motors. These can be had for as cheap as $12 each and are quite strong. They alter the servo to make the motor to keep going in one direction (not stopping) when needed to drive a wheel or track like a tank. You will need a radio set with a channel for each function. 5 channel transmitter and receiver will operate 5 functions. Aircraft radios have this many channels and more but are not supposed to be use on surface craft like a car ,boat or robot. Surface radios seldom have more than 2 channels. Guys do use aircraft radio sets for battlebots though. Good luck.......

carlhuber

thanks man. i guess i just thought that forwards-stop-backwards would be the simplest kind of motor/servo thing possible. i'm gonna get some free time (hah) and have a chat with the people over at one of the hobby stores around here.