designprof Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Hi customizers,I just completed two of my wind-up "Gang of Five" conversions.The first is a Radicon wind-up-to-RC conversion, inspired by John at RobotHut. He built the first one that I know of, another person on Alphadrome built one...so I think mine is #3 in a series. I tried to make the controller look like the Radicon transmitter...grey hammertone paint, top-mounted antenna, etc. Here is Radicon being charged. I mounted the plug at the bottom of the controller and the jack on the underside of the robot to avoid wires between them.I decided to convert Lavender Robot into a "line-follower" based on a "Smart Trackerz" vehicle. The optics were tricky but I managed to get it to work quite well.My next project is to convert another of the wind-ups into a "steerable" robot like the Ideal Robert Robot. Project three underway.... :DUpdate...here's a link to my videos and jpegs of these projects:Designprof's project videos & picsJim (designprof) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 SWEET!!! And welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 VEry nice Designprof. As for the up loading of videos you can't, you have to up load the video you some other web site space then place a link here. Or you can do what I have done many times and make a animated GIF of the action and post the animated GIF here. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
designprof Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 VEry nice Designprof. As for the up loading of videos you can't, you have to up load the video you some other web site space then place a link here. Or you can do what I have done many times and make a animated GIF of the action and post the animated GIF here. :rolleyes:Thanks John...both for the advice and the inspiration for the project. I'll see if I can create some animated GIFs.Meanwhile, here is a link to the videos (mp4 and asf formats) and jpegs of the projects. Enjoy!designprof's projectsJim (designprof) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Welcome to the fold. Two very nice additions. What is the drive platform for the RC model? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
designprof Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 Welcome to the fold. Two very nice additions. What is the drive platform for the RC model?Thanks Eagle and Tinman for your welcome comments.The drive platform for the RC Radicon was a "Combat Hero" Mini Tank #3813D. I bought it on eBay for $4.95 plus shipping from get_set_go (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110069520226). The mini tank differs from others in that it has actual treads (not just wheels). I think this is the one John said he used as well. I went through all kinds of gearing changes...kept the original motor drive but pressed on geared pinions (instead of the pulleys). I replaced the drive wheels with 64t aluminum gears to match the pinions. These gears are the wheels of the robot and provide the movement. It's a bit squirrely on hard surfaces but has a nice grip on carpet.After this I discovered the Smart Trackerz and, not a surprise, they use the exact same basic motor/tread arrangement. Only this time I found it was possible to mount the entire mechanism vertically and have the tip of the treads project below the robot to provide traction. This proved to be a lot easier than my somewhat complicated previous gearing arrangement and I would recommend this as a solution to both modifications.Hope this helps any future builders.Jim (designprof) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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