This combat robot is made from a PCB (and defies physics)

Open Sauce 2024 - opensauce.com/
Ultimate Model Pack - www.makersmuse.com/maker-s-mu...
The Ultimate Book of 3D Printing Tips and Tricks - www.makersmuse.com/3dprinting...
Use code 15HOURFLIGHT to get 15% OFF. Offer ends 28th of May
James ‪@BrokenLinkRobotics‬ - / @brokenlinkrobotics
Join the Maker's Muse Community - www.makersmuse.com/maker-s-mu...
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
1:33 Badge to combat robot
2:52 Designing in CAD
4:57 James machines the badge into a baseplate
9:41 Print and assemble
11:42 Wiring
13:10 Threaded insert trick
13:56 Testing
15:25 Fight to the death!
18:23 Damage report
19:47 See ya at Open Sauce!

[@mister_magister3798]

Remember, it's always morally correct to pirate adobe products

[@NathanCaggiano]

You can even get the files directly from adobe and crack them yourself very easily if you're concerned about malware.

[@TheRealClutch1010]

My 6 year old has been dreaming of getting into combat robotics. I will show him this video to show him just how much fun a small bot can be. Thank you for the content!

[@metageist666]

Excellent dad right here

[@TeamPanicRobotics]

The smaller bots are a great place to start! a lot of clubs have a non/low destructive class in their smallest weight class to give new people an easier entry point. Even if you go into full competition, 3d prints are usually strong enough in the 150g class, just don't use pla

[@TheRealClutch1010]

@@TeamPanicRobotics I just watched one of your videos this weekend as I've been trying to learn what is involved in this. We are close to Hickory, NC and they have a 1lb Plastic Ant class that I'm thinking we can participate in this September.

[@TeamPanicRobotics]

@@TheRealClutch1010 Oh perfect! I dont do much in the 1lb class, as it's not very common in Australia. But a 1lb Plastic Ant comp would be a perfect place to start If there are fights between now and September, and you have a chance, I'd say go along and spectate. You can learn a lot from seeing fights live and builders are usually happy to talk/help as long as they aren't hurriedly trying to repair for their next match

[@teamdeathinvaders]

@TheRealClutch1010 we have an event in Richmond, VA! We do 1lb plastic ants and full combat antweights. We have an event in July!

[@PortalFPV]

When building small vehicles, you need to stop thinking of the exact amount of grams and start thinking in percentages. That PCB weighs 33% less...that's a huge savings! Us drone pilots that like to fly tiny whoops are building drones with an fpv camera under 30g. So even thou a 2g savings sounds like nothing, it can really change the flight behavior and flight time

[@invaderkendall]

FR-4 stands for "Flame Retardant" tier 4. It's the right balance of fire resistance for price. I did QC on pcbs for a couple of manufacturers, and I've seen FR-7 once, and I wasn't allowed to ask what it was for. I assumed US military contract. It was like holding granite made of aluminum wood.

[@MaxBrix]

Did someone tell you what question not to ask?

[@lizzo120]

Wtf is "granite made of aluminum wood"

[@ElectroNicko_]

Looks like granite, made of aluminum, feels like wood. Atleast I'm assuming

[@Ferraday]

@@ElectroNicko_feels like aluminum, made of wood

[@ElectroNicko_]

@@Ferraday that does make more sense

[@Halokon]

Big Willy must love this!

[@MakersMuse]

Well I appreciate him flying us Aussies out ! and it's just a cool badge.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

Hey mate, congratulations on getting invited to San Francisco !! You "make" us proud 👍😁 Well done on 1 million too, it's recognition overdue !

[@tinyfluffs]

Completely missed opportunity to call it Hot Sauce XD

[@MakersMuse]

NOOOOO that name is perfect 😭 next version haha

[@samsawesomeminecraft]

Flatbed scanners sometimes already have the ruler built in digitally. When you export the image from the scanner as a .TIF file, it will include the DPI of the scanner in the metadata of the .TIF image file format. (I tested it with the Canon LIDE 220). Then the CAD should hopefully be able to interpret the scale, I know ImageJ can do this. You can also take advantage of the DPI of the scanner, which is usually decently accurate.

[@serversurfer6169]

Laying an object on a flatbed scanner is a surprisingly effective way to get good photographs of it. 🤓

[@iamsushi1056]

if you're scanning at above 600 DPI, it should be accurate enough to make a CAD file from directly, without any of that "relatively close" nonsense

[@CDRaff]

5:44 I got myself a CNC a couple years ago because I assumed it was "Like 3D printing but in reverse" and I just want to warn anyone thinking of doing the same that it 100% is not like 3D printing in reverse other than that it also uses G-Code. Using a CNC is incredibly difficult and I honestly wish someone had prepared me more for how much more difficult than 3D printing it was going to be; especially now that wood(the easiest material to learn on) is still priced like it's the middle of 2020.

[@darkwinter7395]

While well within the range of hobbyists, there is indeed much more to it than 3D printing - especially if you're used to using the more plug-and-play 3D printers that are on the market now (Bambu Lab's machines come to mind). Fusion does have a basic CNC toolpath generator in the non-commercial version; and it's enough to handle a lot of basic jobs. Otherwise, you'd be looking at trying to use FreeCAD's CNC workbench, or spending quite a bit of money. You will need a climate-controlled place for the machine to live (so that it doesn't rust), and it's important that it's room not have carpets, either. Even if you get/build an enclosure for it, it WILL make a mess, with both any cutting fluids used as well as chips from the cutting process getting on the ground (either because it didn't have an enclosure and they got thrown directly off of the cutter bit or because they fell off of the part when you removed it from the machine). You'll need to learn about cutting parameters: spindle speed, workpiece feed rate, cutter geometry and material properties, cut direction vs spindle rotation, and how they all influence each other.

[@wimwiddershins]

The gyro effect is fascinating. I wonder if there's a way to harness it as a feature?

[@MakersMuse]

for sure! people have made "gyro walkers" that use it to move, but it's certainly not the most controlled approach heh

[@coreylawrence567]

@@MakersMuse Full chaos mode engage!

[@RegularOldDan]

A note on flatbed scans: this is something that frustrates me about many CAD programs. You won't get much more precise dimensions than an image from a scanner - the DPI is baked right in. Fusion doesn't recognize the DPI and messes the scale up. Oddly enough, FreeCAD does great. My images come in scaled perfectly. It uses the DPI to precisely dimension the image and I have gotten results so good I don't have to twiddle with the model that I trace over the image with. That said, the ruler trick is something I *still* do just to ensure that FreeCAD still does its job.

[@coreylawrence567]

I have a love hate relationship with 150g bots. I do mostly 1lb bots and whenever I make a 150g bot its always too heavy, there is never any room for anything, and it breaks if you look at it. You and Ben make it look so easy haha.

[@BigRigCreates]

Your battles last year were awesome! Hope to see more next month!

[@ryanbratley6199]

This is how fun 150g ants can be without a cube rule

[@JEDiGamer007]

17:02 Would be cool to see a robot make use of the spinner's gyroscopic precession on purpose to stabilize itself

[@DigitalJedi]

My 30lb machine pretty much needs the vertical weapon to be spinning to feel controllable. The drive us tuned to turn it with half the wheels in the air, so where they aren't and I have to slide them, it feels much more twitchy.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Oooh, this looks like a fun thing to do with my badge. I LOVE THIS!

[@MakersMuse]

It's such a cool looking badge I needed to do something !

[@edwardfletcher7790]

​@@MakersMuseAm I blocked from commenting ?? 🫤

[@MakersMuse]

Only if you post a url, or yt deletes them sometimes

[@user-ri7qx8dp7y]

@@MakersMuse Our company has developed a new printer and we would like to cooperate with you. How can we contact you?

[@StubbyPhillips]

Amen on the Affinity software! I like *Affinity Photo* better than Photo$hop now AND I don't have to pay for it over and over and over for the rest of my life.

[@MakersMuse]

Yep, I prefer their stuff and not only for the licensing!

[@PunakiviAddikti]

Milling a new PCB every time one breaks isn't very cost effective because at this point you're paying for material that gets removed. It would probably be more effective to order two thinner PCBs, one solid and one hollow frame and then gluing them together.

[@EpixZhang]

3:18 Why it won't be to scale? First, the scanner do save dpi info, so that the CAD software should be able to use that to know exact how big it is for every pixel. Second, the scanner can output specific paper size, e.g. A4. So you should be able to tell the CAD that the picture is 297mm long side. Both ways are easier, more accurate, and work without a ruler.

[@omar.alsharif]

13:13 I recently learned an even easier way to deal with threaded inserts or nuts in 3D prints from Voidstar labs: Design the print so the nut/insert is locked into the print above it and below it. Then pause mid-print and put the insert/nut in the hole, then let the 3D print resume to lock it into place! It might be useful in some scenarios where the insert needs to right in the print itself

[@TheSecurity16]

YOU HAVE 2 KITTIES????

[@MakersMuse]

sibling street kitties :D

[@tetronaut88]

@@MakersMuseI don’t even have one kitty :(

[@fruitsaladin6314]

How much like it? Was it the same cat?

[@darkwinter7395]

@@tetronaut88 Look up your local public animal shelter, and get yer' tail over there! 🐈🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛

[@Cl-2048]

@@MakersMuse i love them

[@nikkolaus]

11:37 ... Damn.. for a second there I was hoping you were gonna say "And most importantly, it's cat approved." ....Perfect opportunity missed.

[@makerhome-de]

Me and my son (10) had our first antweight battles (all plastic weapons) at the Maker Faire Luxembourg last weekend. It was a lot of fun! We will surely dive more into that hobby 😃 P.S.: The Malenki nano is a must have for the antweight class 👌

[@gmb4648]

lol, i love that james is wearing a FIRST centerstage volunteer shirt. legend

[@murphygreen8484]

0:54 man, that lineup is crazy!

[@measureonceprinttwice]

Just bought your Ultimate Model Pack, have a great trip!

[@MakersMuse]

Cheers!

[@soundspark]

One thing to note is that large CNC machines generally don't use stepper motors but instead AC servo motors.

[@razer259]

Such an awesome and creative project! Also really cool to see James appear on this vid. (I'm sure that'll help bump up his subs count! 🤣)

[@anon_y_mousse]

That's pretty cool. It'd be awesome if the badges came pre-built as combat robots for some conference. Also, cat tested and approved is always a positive.

[@TeamPanicRobotics]

PCBs make great weapon mounts! I swapped from using carbon fiber drone arms to using pcbs, much cheaper, more available and customisable

[@MakersMuse]

Yeah I never saw the value of using real CF for bots, going back to PCB feels like going oldschool but it works so much better for weapon supports than 3D printed bits. Love the idea of getting custom pcbs made though... looks cool as.

[@coreylawrence567]

I need to start testing PCBs. Getting CF cut can be so expensive and a long wait even in the US. Ordering PCBs even from China are usually quicker and much cheaper in my experience.

[@TeamPanicRobotics]

@@MakersMuse oh yeah PCBs feel so much more solid then prints A month or so back I swapped a vert from an ABS printed mount to a PCB and the PCB gave so much more energy transfer on a hit I've just got in some very cool custom PCBs that will hopefully help make a 150g version of a battlebot actually perform well, but we'll see

[@TeamPanicRobotics]

@@coreylawrence567 its honestly worth it, even with PCB makers in china you can easily get custom shapes and sizes (plus unlike traditional machining companies you're not charged extra for more hols in a part)

[@shuckieddarns]

this is a really goofy idea but hear me out. The machine would be driven by the weapon. Sort of. The main driving wheel would be on a set (extremely low) gear reduction to the weapon and be set directly behind it. The weapon would be a (comparatively) heavy abrasive flywheel that could spin up and could be lowered into the ground to kick off, accelerating the bot massively. The orientation of the wheel would be vertical. It would protrude mostly from the front and upward. The steering would be simply based on drag. There would be two plastic or wood ball bearings that each have a solenoid that would jam into them to stop them from rotating. The purpose of the weapon would be threefold: abrade away the opponent, kick forward with high acceleration, and righting the robot when upside down. Because the majority of the weight would be ideally in the weapon, the inertia of the weapon would overcome that of the mostly flat robot, flipping it back over. Violently. It would tear the floor apart. And it would likely tear itself apart due to the acceleration from kickoff. But it would have a mean ram attack, an automatic anti-flip measure, and be difficult to flip. You'd need a pretty good motor like the one you have driving your weapon here. The steering may be better off controlled by a second flywheel, now that I think about it.

[@PathosBedlam]

Have fun in the states Angus. I'm so bummed I missed out on the model pack, but I really enjoyed seeing the little robot do so much damage to the other robot. I really love the design. Simple but works great.

[@degreeless_engineering]

Adding more teeth to the blade will reduce how much it kicks your own bot around.

[@MakersMuse]

Less bite on the opponent though, I like those big hits

[@peter.stimpel]

I love these robot videos as much as your animal stuff. More of it, please.

[@peter360adventures9]

Awesome build.

[@QuebecFietser]

"years ago i talked about G10" it can'T be that long ago right? 2 years ago, i can't believe it's been this long and you're still making amazing content

[@MaNNeRz91]

There's a popular RC car from the 80s called a maldave. It used a mini body shell but a lot of people used PCB type material to makeshift a lot of parts for it

[@speedtoast]

This is Fantastic. A Super wholesome vid!

[@NobleValerian]

Awesome to see a mention of Affinity, despite being super unhappy they were bought by Canva (but we'll see how that plays out)!

[@aronseptianto8142]

those are two immaculate cats

[@valb.1127]

A little tip for mounting the threaded bushings, is to use a longer bolt and a washer to draw it into place. Easy peasy.

[@heyimamaker]

This looks like so much fun!

[@Starwort]

I love the perfectly cut yeet at 19:04

[@andrewadams9686]

It was great to meet ya last year! wish I could make it this year, but maybe next year if Will can keep it goin! keep up the great work!

[@MrDivinePotato]

That made me want to get into antweight combat robotics! I'm going to forget about it in a minute because I already have too many hobbies but you really drew me in there :)

[@scotty6435]

The foam tyres you use don't seem to have enough grip. I've heard of people painting polyurethane to the outside edge, it might be worth trying that. That'll reduce skidding out post weapon contact and improve traction when pushing

[@EveryFlavorRobot]

Wowwww I already loved ketchup BEFORE it was a vicious sawbladed remote control robot killer... Youre REALLY making me want to get into combat robotics now! See you at open sauce!! so excited :)

[@Ernzt8]

Very cool and a clear winner :)

[@BeefIngot]

Im here for the combat robot content

[@MakersMuse]

Heck yeah 👌

[@satibel]

if you can, the good ol' slot and nut works just as well if not better than threaded inserts if you get them in from the top. and you don't need to set them in. (though actually melting the layers might coincidentally make the part stronger, not sure.)

[@user-rc2go3mi5s]

I've always wanted to build one of these!

[@Zachary3DPrints]

Random crazy ideas are not that crazy, they are insane. Very cool antweight combat robot. Have fun at OpenSauce!

[@zman1508]

Angry that I'm subbed with the bell and only saw this 4 days after the upload. Thankfully its all still on sale.

[@rcmaniac25]

Reminds me of the tradition of modifying Defcon badges. You should totally do this again for the new badge (assuming it's also a PCB)

[@jameswkirk]

That spark at 19:15!

[@josephcraig8807]

Nice LTT screwdriver cameo from LTX 👀

finally crossed the 1 million sub mark congrats!

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Love the Gyroscopic properties that it has SuperVinlin

[@nunyabisnass1141]

I love the ant weight competitions.

[@lizrrdbreath]

that was a great video! I have a few questions tho. What are the dimension of your arena? What rpm/gear ration N20s do you use? and is that PCB switch something you've made custom or did you source it from somewhere?

[@badsamaritan8223]

Hear me out. What if you not only used PCB material for your bot's structure, but had custom PCBs manufactured with your bot's wiring embedded, so your structure is also your wiring, and your wires become a lot more resistant to vibration.

[@fezz6701]

At 17:53 its almost comical on how the blade rolls like a tire thats fallen off lol

[@o1ecypher]

how about a counter weight behind the small robot to offset the kickback of the hit from making the robot swing around it would stay firm and still pointed in the directing of combat!

[@Paradox-lj3td]

FIRE VID

[@Poundy]

congrats on getting the funding for travel from the organisers !

[@ashley8bit]

Great video as always. May I ask. What wheels are you using?

[@MakersMuse]

they're old foam wheels for model aircraft, not sure you can buy them anymore but pretty much anything will do.

[@TotalyNotJosh]

bro made nano depth charge

[@jammyboi9797]

For putting logos into fusion they have recently made a free AI tool called project Salvador and it work’s pretty well for 2D flat images like logos

[@snowcow1173]

In school i made a duck for 3d art class and when it printed it printed for like 20 seconds because i made the duck 1/10 the size so it pretty much made 5 layers of nothing and called it good haha

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

What an awesome way to practice Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And why not throw in a little Reckless Abandon while you're at it! :o)

[@MasonMakesStuff]

Broken Link love must continue

[@MrBaskins2010]

neat little thing

[@RevUnstableBoy]

if you took the angle of the spinner and angled it up slightly, when you are inverted it would be slightly down, I noticed when you were inverted the blade would just pass over the other bot, this would help, but then you would be less undercut and more mid cut?

[@TrentSheather]

If you have the spinner at an angle you have to fight the gyro forces in 2 axes not just one. Driving 45 degree angled spinners is super Hardmode, but a slight angle may not be too bad.

[@StabbyJak]

I always wonder with these builds by folks don't use a PCB as armour, you could then use internal tracks to deliver power and sockets to connect all the motors and batteries for easy swapping of damaged parts.

[@michaelj3971]

Does the Ultimate Model Pack include the Fusion 360 source files? You explicitly say that that fan includes the source files, so I would think that is true across all the files. Just asking to be sure.

[@ClaraCleary2005]

You mention that putting a threaded insert in from the opposite side is better, but that's what you're doing if you use a nut. What benefit does using a threaded insert have over using a regular nut with maybe a dab of super glue to hold it in without a bolt?

[@shivalwolf]

when i saw that it waas PCB material for the badge i thought you were going to make a custom PCB for the base plate frame with all the required wiring done as an actual circuit board instead of using the standard robot wiring. Save weight on the robot by getting rid of all the wires and just using PCB traces that are in the frame

[@achillrobot]

Love it

[@MakersMuse]

You gonna be there this time dude? Doesn't look like any bot stuff is happening but then again... I've got almost no info on the event!

[@ameliabuns4058]

13:49 at that point tho, I just stick to regular nuts etc. or you can even use those stuff you thread in a bigger hole?

[@potatosordfighter666]

Is it possible to make an antweight blendo? I think having like 80% of the mass be in a flywheel surrounding it like the real blendo would be pretty neat.

[@daveatutube]

Angus, would a cut down mountain bike disc brake rotor potentially make a good spinner blade? I've probably got one with a reasonable geometry if you want to give it a shot. Might cost too much mass in mounting to the motor though.

[@omega52390]

question? why isn't the scan always to scale? if you know the scan dpi then it should be able to extrapolate the scale automatically from that

[@MakersMuse]

It definitely should be, but the software doesn't import it based on scanned dpi unfortunately!

[@OneOfDisease]

Using a PCB as your base for a bot and no running any tracing on the PCB seems sacrilegious, i doubt it would make the bot stronger, but you could have made the build easier.

[@paytonrickle6785]

where do you get your weapon spinner motors. I'm currently designing a horizontal spinner which is really hard because I can find a small enough weapon motor.

[@Stakespecialty]

To reduce the weight even more why not make a PCB that is the body but also connects everything together?

[@GetRealwithMike]

How do I get plans and code to build those bots? I want to try that.

[@piousminion7822]

#11:29 What does rain have to do with the print being stringy?

[@MakersMuse]

High humidity affects filament, it absorbs moisture from the air

[@thaphreak]

"Reverse 3D printer" Best name ever.

[@hi-yl2tc]

What does the Austraian Mode on one of the PCBs mean?

[@amadensor]

I use turnabot n10 motors in my 150g bot, and I've never killed one, and I'm traction limited, not torque limited.

[@MakersMuse]

Yeah, quality really does make a difference, I'll probably go with better ones for actual competition

[@BlueGreenRobotics]

Antweights, AKA Who needs Physics

[@gsestream]

try copper wire spot electro-plating 3d printing, in copper sulphate water bath, on a copper/steel/metal single-use sheet print plate. every print uses a new print plate. replaceable print plate. and metal. yep you could have printed on top of that metal plate too. sketchy. why not make robots out of carbon fiber cloth, no epoxy, just flexible cloth surface.

[@serversurfer6169]

Rather than jamming threaded inserts into a print, have you tried pausing the print, so you can embed a square nut? 🤔

[@scottsharples7442]

Are you using ball bearing or roller bearing for the cutter

[@MakersMuse]

Just a ball bearing, hard to get rollers that small but possible.

[@weevilinabox]

Could you protect the motor and bearing from some of the impact shock by mounting the spinner semi-compliantly? I'm thinking of something like the cush-drive used to connect the sprocket to the rear wheel of a motorcycle.

[@user-ho5uj8rs9n]

Hi, i love the idea of making homemade battle bots, can you pleass make a list of the electrics part i need to start?

[@FLALabs]

Would you co sider putting together a list of the electronic components you used and where to buy them? This is VERY cool and I would love to make my own!

[@TrentSheather]

Bot Bitz has most of the parts he used in this video, and the store is run by the captain of Deathroll.

[@AdityaMehendale]

Angus, I had this online-argument once with some guy called Robert Cowan. The premise was the sizing of the bearing of the spinner-wheel. While the bearing sees negligible forces and torques when the wheel is spining up, every time the wheel impacts an opponent, an equal an opposite impact is felt by the bearing too, within reason. The bearing could be beefed up, or the secondary impact on the bearing could be softned by including intentionally compliant or absorbent materials between the rim and the bearing (or by making the wneel asymmetric, like like a slingshot sling. IMO the same reasoning holds in your robot's case. As a thought-experiment: Imagine your robot (wheel) is at standstill, in an episode of theSloMoGuys. Imagine they shoot a buttle to hit the wheel at a tangential aspect. (only the front-mst rim of the wheel is grazed tangentially. Yet, due to the rest of the wheel, the bearing shall feel a huge impact-load - right? Who takes the brunt?

[@oscarrafiq9506]

You mean the captain of the heavyweight copperhead?

[@AdityaMehendale]

@@oscarrafiq9506 Aye aye. Not a very productive argument, but a long-winded one, nonetheless.

[@Tritiumfusion]

Affinity got bought by Canva - Noone knows what license structure is ahead.

[@MyManRaptor]

Just got a Bambu Lab P1S… what should I print?

[@NOLAfugee]

JLCPCB makes me think of Naomi Wu. Have you heard from her?

[@MakersMuse]

nope... :(

[@thecadey]

What happens if you put the blade in the middle of a robot so you can use the blade at max damage even upside down?