Tri track construction from a newbie

Lynxmotion Rovers, Sumo, and Tracked
1

Greetings,
I just received my package and of course started right in on the robot. But some questions:

  1. Unlike the illustrations, the lexan pieces aren’t black. There is printing on one side of the pieces and it looks like water stains on the other. Which side is which. Does anything peel off?
  2. I’m having problems already (with step one of construction). There are holes in the lexan; when attempting to attach the four 3" aluminum bars with the hex screws, nothing is holding. The screws are smaller than the holes.

I guess I’ve missed something.

-Bill

2

The lexan has a protective coating that will need to be removed. Please check out this “intro to lexan” guide for more information.
lynxmotion.com/images/html/infolexa.htm

3

The aluminum bars attach to the lexan panels with 4-40 x 3/8" socket head cap screws. These are located in the parts bag shown below.

Sorry, I am at a loss as to what you mean by the screws are smaller than the holes.

4

Agreed, the screws fit just fine for me in the holes…

5

Thanks for all your help. I’ll need to read the lexan reference. But regarding the screws and screw holes:

Yes, I am using the correct screws. It looks like there are already holes in the lexan to receive the screws, but the holes are wider than the screws. Thus no “grip”. I must be missing something ?

Thanks for such speedy responses!

-Bill

6

I would assume that the screws aren’t supposed to ‘grip’ the lexan, rather based on your description the lexan is cut so its a clearance hole, and the screws are supposed to thread into the standoffs or square aluminum.

7

Ok, I know what the problem is, and you’re going to kick yourself when the light comes on. :wink:

This is the step where you attach the bars to the lexan.

Here is a text based drawing to illustrate what you need to do.

[code]You are doing this…

Screw Aluminum Bar Lexan

– | |
| | ------- | |
| ---------- | | | |
| | | | | | |
| ---------- | | | |
| | ------- | |
– | |

Try doing this instead.

Screw Lexan Aluminum Bar

– | |
| | | | -------
| ----------- | | | |
| | | | | | |
| ----------- | | | |
| | | | -------
– | |[/code]

8

Jim (AKA Robot Guy),
Consider myself kicked!! Actually, I am several hundred miles away from the kit and had been thinking about the problem when I realized my error. Anyway, you’ve all been great …a happy new customer!

9

Robot Dude,
I’m still a few hundreds miles from my robot and was thinking about your response…upon further reflection, I still didn’t get it. But I think I do now. I haven’t removed the protective cover from the lexan. I assume I will see screw holes when I do ??

A suggestion (unless I missed it). I did print off the online construction tutorial for the kit, but didn’t see any reference to the lexan tutorial. Perhaps that should be included in the directions?

Anyway, I can’t wait to get home. I’m hoping screw holes will appear! Thanks.

-Bill

10

Watha… :open_mouth:

Ok I looked and you are right. On all other robot categories it says at the top “read these first”, where the Lexan Info is located. But on the Tritrack Chassis info it was left out. I appologise for this and it will be corrected today. On the holes apearing thing, let’s just wait till you are closer to the parts for the light to come on. :wink:

11

Sorry for the confusion. I’ve added in the “Read these first” section for the Tracked Vehicles Assembly Guides.

12

I followed directions on the lexan and for some reason, everything fell into place. Thanks for your patience.