Battle Walker

Hey,

I Just recently got BF 2142, And I got the Idea of making a battle walker. If you have no idea what a Battle walker is, Its this :

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o255/wowy5/76420-BF2142pcSCRNannouncement1_p.jpg

I don’t know if this is a good idea or not. Thats Why I need your Opinion on which servo’s to use, And If I should make one.

I need Opinions!!

I don’t think they make servos with enough torque to support a 20 ton walker with 50 cal gatling guns! :laughing:

You know what? you on to something here… :laughing:

lol, I mean a small SES Version of it. about 12" tall :laughing:

Well, it pretty much looks like a Scout, so that would be a good place to start…

  • Jon

Or maybe this one…

A bit too tall…

The scout looks good, But It would require some Modifications to the torso.

To get anything that looks like a battle walker, you’re going to have to learn how to get crafty with some sort of custom plastic molding to create armor plates. The internal structure is going to be similar to the scout, but what will really make it a “battle walker” is the external aesthetic, which SES alone will not provide.

Thats kinda what I was thinking, I thought that the SES brackets alone wouldn’t make it look like a battle walker.

Vaccumforming would be the way to go.

The Lynx209 the silver and black one is actually shorter than the Scout. The two images are a bit deceiving due to the angle the camera, and the leg positioning. :wink:

How much does Vaccumforming cost?

Naw, you don’t pay for it, you do it yourself. Google it up and you will find lots of do-it-yorself guides.

It is not even that difficult to do once you build a box. Making the plugs and/or molds for the parts you want to form however can be time consuming.

in short, it consists of a vacuum, a box, plugs (or molds), plastic, heating object, and time as well as patience :wink:

The only bit of advice I have to offer at this point would be to watch your stance width. It’s a biped. It will need to balance on one foot while it steps with the other. Unless you plan to get extrordinarily tricky and get into the physics of the way that humans walk (essentially a series of controlled and arrested falls), you’ll need to work around a “zero moment gait” design that keeps the bot’s CG within the footprint of the points in contact with the ground during the stepping sequence. In order to do this, you need to be able to swing the body around to keep it over the grounded foot, and in order to do that, you need to keep an eye on how far apart you place the legs. Too wide, and your bot will have to waddle when it walks. Much too wide, and it won’t be able to walk at all.

The zero-moment gait: a biped’s best friend.

Im gonna go out on a limb and say you didn’t google it :wink:

Anyhow: halloweenfear.com/vacuumformintro.html

This looks complicated to build, but once I began reading it, its actually and simple and easy to DIY.

There are a number of good resources out there on the construction and use of vacu-forming machines, all there for the googling. I believe that Make Magazine had a how-to article in a recent issue, which stepped you through the process of both building the machine and using it.

Google.

Read.

Learn.

Do.

what im not aware of is what kind of plastic is used in the vacuum forming (specific type?) since different plastics have different properties and melting temperatures. Also, you would have to build the vacu-box around the specs of the plastic you would use (say 1’ by 1’) so that you get good suction when the vac is on. :astonished:

Here is a small and rather coarse box I use for pulling uncomplicated parts
http://home.roadrunner.com/~eballou/images/IM000632.JPG
and here is a model I built for a friend that has the engine cowls, nose canopy, and gunner canopy parts I pulled on it.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~eballou/he111/IM000654.jpg
The box is built from MDF and pegboard and I use my shopvac to draw vaccuum. The plastic sheet is clamped in the holder which is placed on a cookie sheet in the kitchen oven and heated until the center of the plastic has sagged about 2 inches, then the holder is removed and pulled over a plug on the box. I use a small heatgun to encourage any edges that cool before they have had time to fully draw. Plastic comes from a number of sources such as hobby stores or mcmaster even. thickness ranges from 0.010" to 0.080" or so. I have the parts set aside to make a box about 2x this size and it will use perf board with 0.042" holes on a 0.156" (I think) pitch. that will allow me to make considerably more detailed and larger parts next year for another project.

ok eddie, not ur just showing off… :laughing:

wat do you use for the plugs? wood? can you use clay maybe? i cant really think of wat would be the easiest material to make it tout of. :confused: