Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!csc.ti.com!tilde.csc.ti.com!mksol!strohm
From: strohm@mksol.dseg.ti.com (john r strohm)
Subject: Re: Building Materials
Message-ID: <1993Mar15.233512.6896@mksol.dseg.ti.com>
Organization: Texas Instruments, Inc
References: <C3xv6v.Gwo@mach1.wlu.ca>
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1993 23:35:12 GMT
Lines: 29

In article <C3xv6v.Gwo@mach1.wlu.ca> skar7950@mach1.wlu.ca (Raymond Skarratt u) writes:

>I was wondering what kind of building materials you use or would suggest
>for a broke hobbiest.  I was looking in some Sears catolouges and I saw
>some Mechanno.  Also there are many different sets of mechanno available
>and the more expesive ones come with a 6V motor and gears.  Should I pay
>the extra bucks and get the gears or work that out on my own?  

Ray, you are going to have to spend a LOT of money and put out a LOT of
effort to beat Meccano (tm) or Erector (tm) sets.  Especially for gears
and shafts and support plates.  The nice thing about this stuff is that
it already all fits together and works together; you don't have to work out
the details and pay for your own mistakes.

There is also Lego (tm); Fred Martin @ MIT is probably the pre-eminent source
for info on using Lego gears and parts for hobby and experimenter robotics.

Plus with Erector or Meccano you can use their parts for the nitty-gritty
mechanical structure, and tape (or tie-wrap) your own parts for limit switches
and sensors to their parts.  (Never underestimate the power of duct tape
or electrical tape in a quick-and-dirty project application.)

Assembling motor gearboxes is a fine black art, involving extremely critical
tolerances.  (The gears have to mesh JUST RIGHT.)  Erector and Meccano solve
this problem for you, by putting the holes in the plates at the right spacing
and designing the gears to match the holes.

Good luck!  Tell us what you do.

