When will the new book Constructing Robot Bases be released? I was just able to get a very inexpensive scroll saw and drill press so I'm all ready to go......... but I'm sure I'll screw it up so I would like to read this book before I do too much damage.
If it won't be out soon is there any other good documentation on robot bases? I have the article in a recent issue of Nuts n' Volts that I may be able to use. that might work but it would be nice to have a couple of style options.
Kristy
The book is in production now, and I really don't know how long it will take to get to stores. Books released this close to Christmas often take a little longer to ship to stores, because the holiday books have precedence. It will be out before Christmas, though!
The book doesn't teach how to use those power tools, so a basic shop book you can get at any library is better, if that's what you're looking for. Rather, the book talks about which tools are better for what common robot-building material, and why. If you're cutting soft plastics, for example, scroll saws aren't great, unless the blade has a wide set (usually special order). At medium speed they're fine with harder (higher melting-point) plastics, like acrylic, and especially polycarbonate.
Advice: get scraps of material and just practice cutting out shapes and drilling holes. No one gets good at this without hands-on experience. Look up plastic fabricators in the Yellow Pages. Ask nicely, and don't be too greedy, and many will just give you a bag-full of small scraps.
-- Gord>
If you're working with metal or plastic, especially if you're making an angle-section chassis like some of Gordon's designs (I have a vague feeling it's referred to as "fishtank-style" construction), a band facer is also unbelievably useful - it'll give perfect 45 or 90 degree smooth ends to girders and sheet material, and allow you to get the sizes exactly right, so all your structural designs will fit together really nicely. If you've just got hand files for finishing components after wasting, it's really hard to get them to fit together well, though you can just about do it with a lot of practice.
A word of caution about using thermoplastics with band facers (or any other power tool, but band facers run the highest risk with them) - take it SLOW. Waste a very small amount, then move the component away from the machine every few seconds to allow it to cool down again. If you don't, odds are you'll finish sanding it down, try to take it away from the machine, and find a long ribbon of melted plastic running from the component into the belt mechanism. Also, make sure the area is well ventilated when machining any plastic - quite a few of them give off nasty odours when they are run through machine tools.
Tom
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