How Much My Combat Robots Cost and How To Save Money On Yours!

[@matts1166]

I've found in my bots that you can offset a limited budget with a little creativity, hard work, and steady hands. I was able to build my 3rd place flipper Antweight for about $85, and that's including the same set of Fingertech motors, no-name Chinese Esc's, and 2s Lipo (never resoldered the setup) that's been in different iterations since 2019. Making a mono-block chassis by milling out a piece of UHMW is totally possible using nothing but a $50 mini benchtop drill press. Heck, I made my son a competitive antweight in 24 hours using a Wal-Mart cutting board, a cookie sheet, 6 discount n-30 motors, and 6 Lego wheels. 19mm tall invertible wedgebot for about $50.

[@Badideasincorporated]

That was awesome! Extremely helpful for someone like me who is just starting out in the hobby. I have had such a hard time keeping track of costs but I am still in the 1lb bracket and 3D printing most my parts. For my new 3lb design, I will be using a lot of the tips you gave. Thanks!

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Great to hear!

[@Shaw-p9y]

​@@JustCuzRobotics can you help me i am trying to make a bot not sure if i will compete though since the competitions are a bit far but my plan is to make a grabber robot like lock jaw (but in the antweight plastic) from from battle bots and in my cart i have 2 Repeat Robotics Brushed Drive Gear motor - 4mm, 1 FH-5515MG Analog Servo CCW 15kg (Counterclockwise rotation), Repeat Robotics Dual ESC, and T6A Transmitter 2.4GHZ 6 Channel Bundle (which is the controller, receiver, and charger). what other part might i need except the frame, weapon and battery. but i also need help trying to find a 3 cell with 450mA 9.0V battery that would work pls help me

[@JustCuzRobotics]

@Shaw-p9y Email me at [e-mail] for robot support. I have a few recommendations.

[@connorbingel7134]

I probably sunk $100 into my current bot. But I already had my batteries, radios, and ESCs. Even better I did so terrible in my first event that people donated wheel hubs and motors that they bought but couldn’t use. So my only real costs were some spares, wheels, UHMW and some nice servos that I may or may not use for a weapon. I also make everything my self without 3D printers or CNC stuff or services and that saves a good bit of money. If I ever make a spinner bot I will have to start using send cut send but we will see if I ever do that

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Using stuff you already have can be a great cost savings once you have been doing this or other RC sports for a while. It helps to stick within one weight class for that reason!

[@sar0jam]

nice video, i liked how like quickly you over explain everything, it’s not boring cause u just zip through it without hesitating, nice info

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Thank you!

[@codyphillips1821]

I destroyed my first receiver during a weapon test as well! I was dumb though and didn't put the lid on the bot cause I thought it would be fine for a second, it wasn't and sucked the receiver and ESC into the blade killing both and the weapon motor as well. Lesson learned

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Ouch! Definitely not a great start

[@BeefIngot]

Some questions because they were requested: 1. Are you planning to or do you already have a cnc mill (tormach or haas or something like that)? I suppose if you still have access to the maker space this isnt a priority. 2. Do you reckon the itsy bitsy Makera Carvera with its tool changer and levelling will be a great tool to get started with for small aluminium parts? Seems like all the cnc mills at the low end trade every bit of quality of life for maximum cutting power and travel for the price. I mention this one because it seems to take up little space while having tons of quality of life features so it won't become a hobby by itself. 3. Have you managed to successfully make any press fit parts ordering cnc / cut parts off the internet (I'm thinking press fit bearings and that sorta thing) 4. I imagine the next video will cover this but do you have tool recommendations for certain price brackets (for instance under 500 for a printer and some hand tools, under 5000 for a router and some power tools /that sort of thing)? Basically a tool prioritization list for the order to build your inventory in.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

The makerspace I have access to now has a Tormach PCNC1100 which is pretty decent but it still isn't nearly the same as a Haas. I couldn't possibly buy my own tormach or Haas as I live in an apartment though, even a CNC Router would probably be too loud. Like I said in the video any sort of gantry CNC router will need some seriously dialed back speeds and feeds or else lots of upgrades to add coolant and an enclosure or something to contain the mess in order to cut metal. It can do it but it'll be many many times slower than a Tormach can do. A proper mill like you said has small travels, but that's in order to have 10X - 100X the rigidity that a router style machine can have. Yep! I got a bearing press fit from a machined part from ZTL and just called out +0.000 / - 0.002 inch on the bores. They were perfect. For a standard tolerance laser cut part though, you will wanna probably go under size and Dremel it out and then press the bearing in carefully when there isn't too much resistance. I can't spend too long to cover something as specific as that but I will show what other people have been buying. One guy has an Omio X6 CNC router for $3000 he really likes. Can do light cuts in aluminum as it's a bigger but more rigid machine than a Carvera. Shapeoko works well for plastic but it really struggles in metal.

[@jeremysonneman1330]

thank you! i really want to get into this and i think your videos will definitely be the catalyst.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Do it!

[@MoralRichMedia]

Hats off to you sir... sounds like a labor of love. I'm on a similar path. Great content.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Thank you!

[@ThePrintZone123]

btw for the fs 16 you can change the joystics so the left one is centered

[@SpeedyGwen]

I really want to get into combat robots except that there is no events nor anything where I live in belgium and my budget is literally 0, I was thinking that I could find some ultra cheap reciver and motors but just like for rc planes, the hard entry point is a controller which is around 50€ last time I checked which is WAY over my budget... so am there not being able to make things more complex than tiny 3d printed contraptions like fully 3d printed spring powered clock or desk toys... gosh I wish money wasnt something required for literally everything and such huge amounts...

[@Unhallowedrobotics]

Great video as always Seth! I appreciate the info!

[@HiroNguy]

Good infomology here 👍

[@rileycameron9704]

Great video! Just subscribed and love the content. Is there a particular website or online store you would recommend for a beginner looking to build a 3lb bot? I have some decent experience fabricating with metal, but am very new to what motors, gears, radio receivers, wheels, etc to use. Thanks so much and keep those vids coming!

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Thank you! I have a whole list of sources here bit.ly/JCR-Resources

[@curazyheart7143]

👍 Best TBB video on YT.

[@lcr8962]

I was curious as to whether or not buying a kit like a viper or D2 and taking electronics from those to use in your own robot would save money. Would this work, cost about the same, or be a terrible idea?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

It is not a 'terrible idea' but it will certainly not save money to pay for all the added chassis components. It will be much cheaper to part together a set of electronics and then build a chassis around it in an economical manner. The kit will cost more since you are paying for more than just parts. There is labor cost involved with packaging and sorting all these components, sometimes with added soldering or wiring etc compared to standalone parts. Plus for the D2 especially those machined chassis parts are not cheap to make either. There are already some options out there for weapon kits and many options for drive kits. I intend to offer something along those lines eventually, but it'll take a while to get to that point. Waiting on some ESC development to be able to offer an ESC + Gearmotor drivetrain package. And weapon stuff... Well where spinners are concerned that just seems like a liability nightmare waiting to happen.

[@HuskyMachining]

I remember being a broke kid most of my life... its a good thing I'm just now learning about combat robotics... I also just learned that sponsorship is a tax deduction so im planning on building a dozen or so bots and give them away at the next local combat robot event so some broke kids can be at least halfway to a bot build

[@miraclo3]

Me 3 month ago when I first started getting into combat robots "hey this is a neat Hobby. I'm going to build and design my own ant weight fast and cheap!" Me after 3 months in CAD after multiple complete redesigns and hundreds of dollars spent and hours of printing and prototyping... "F**k"

[@Outland9000]

Custom gears... Any suggestions for getting them made or making them? Also (and I'm probably the only one) I would love to know more about slip clutches used in heavyweight spinners. Many thanks.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Custom gears step one: spend way too much money to buy 100 at a time at minimum. Step two: regret step one

[@kBIT01]

Machinery handbook has the standards in it to design your own.

[@BeefIngot]

I like this question because I bet the biggest factor is knowing which service to pick and how simple to make the gear to not need a fancy machine. I bet they could be laser cut depending on needed tolerances.

[@chriscapps206]

I could use this, I spend thousands just for this 1 Norwalk coming up next week

[@Dangineering]

THOUSANDS!? what weight class are you competing in?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

He bought multiple entire 3lb robot kits...

[@chriscapps206]

@@Dangineering 3 lbs,my 1st one was a kit,then my next Norwalk I modified that same kit,now I’m running a FTBB,not a kit tho,it 1st was a kit but got some new stuff in em and I plan on adding some more custom things once I see what I need to upgrade to make it more effective and I could use this stuff to find cheaper ways in getting replacement parts like chassis wise and other configs/parts

[@Dangineering]

@@chriscapps206 Ahh, I had no idea that the kits were that expensive.

[@BeefIngot]

Oh yea. They are very niche and low volume so by the time you pay the person for their time and the price of low volume production they get pricey. Personally and it's totally a personal preference, I don't see the point in going full kit because I always thought the fun of it was in making your own designs and seeing how they work out.

[@TeamJunkYardDog]

Is there a free way to convert stl or obj files to dfx files for send cut send

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Not directly that I'm aware of. Those are 3d mesh files rather than 2D CAD/ drawings. The easiest way is import into fusion 360 and trace the part you need to export as DXF into a sketch, then same that sketch as a DXF (right click in left hand menu)

[@TeamJunkYardDog]

@@JustCuzRobotics Thanks so much. The free version does not allow exporting in DXF but your explanation definitely helps me.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

It does allow the save to dxf the way I described, just not exporting a drawing to a DXF

[@TeamJunkYardDog]

@@JustCuzRobotics Awesome Thanks. I am completely new to the program and it is a bit of a learning curve considering I have been using 3d builder up to this point.

[@Roboxwars]

have i misunderstood this or is the only way to make bots affordable is to have a 3d printer at hand?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Its definitely not the only way but its by far the easiest. Given a really good 3d printer these days like the Bambu lab A1 Mini is like $250 it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

[@Roboxwars]

@JustCuzRobotics i get what you mean nut i was just going to cut soem TPU with a tablesaw or something, i think ill have something strong enough but idk

[@JustCuzRobotics]

For stuff you can cut with woodworking tools, plastic cutting boards work well. They are usually HDPE or UHMW which are very impact resistant plastics.

[@Roboxwars]

I doubt HDPE is good for beetles though. ill see what i can do

[@teamtrilobiterobotics3770]

Because of your videos I'm making my own beetleweight robot Wich I me a name for, can you name it for me?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

That's cool! I would need to know what it does or what it looks like to give it a good name tho

[@teamtrilobiterobotics3770]

Well, it's a lifter and also it's a big square

[@JustCuzRobotics]

How about cover it with brown Kraft paper tape and call it Special Delivery?

[@teamtrilobiterobotics3770]

We don't have tape but we can call it special delivery, PAIN

[@teamtrilobiterobotics3770]

Wait let's call it platypus because of the beating stick

[@mgers75]

whats with the traxxas rustler with a 2 liter bottle and broom sticked taped to it? Cant see that ever winning a match

[@kylekuffrey]

Do you use alloy 910 at all?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Pretty much every black printed part in Division is Alloy 910

[@kylekuffrey]

@@JustCuzRobotics how does it do for impact resistance and structural reliability vs a carbon fiber nylon?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Carbon fiber filled is usually not very good for impact toughness, the more rigid materials are usually more brittle. Alloy 910 is also sortof brittle and stiff as Nylon materials go, but it prints very nicely in my experience and it is very strong and low friction so it's ideal for pullies and gears. I'm starting to experiment with a few other options though for parts that might need to take a hit.

[@kylekuffrey]

@@JustCuzRobotics awesome, thanks man! Looking for a material that prints easier then CF nylon and has similar or better suitability for frames as well as wheels and hubs and such.

[@JustCuzRobotics]

For anything that will take a direct hit and doesn't need to be rigid, TPU is king. It's not hard to print at all and it's basically rubber so it's unbreakable. I use it for Division V3's wheel hubs and wedge/fork mounts now.

[@Josh-ce8ol]

How much do u make doing tournaments whith these bots?

[@JustCuzRobotics]

Make? Hahaha. Normally we pay registration fees to be allowed to compete and there is often no prize money offered. NHRL is different in that they have a refundable deposit and cash prize for top 3 but it doesn't cover the cost to compete really. And the other 150ish robots get nothing. This is a hobby, not a profitable venture.

[@Josh-ce8ol]

@JustCuzRobotics wasn't meant for profitable... Judge much just wondering if u made something considering it cost to repair it... an I bean watching this stuff since I was little an still do