I am trying to build my first robot ever and decided to use the FEZ Cerberus board to steer it and utilize other gadgeteer components with it. I have also decided, foloowing multiple internet posts, to use the tamiya double gearbox (70168) along with tamya track and wheeel set and put it all on an unviersal palte (70157).
As long as I was able to finally assemble the gearbox myself, despite the difficult ot understand manual I have noticed to my despair that the motor does not fit on the universal plate. After studying the manual for the gearbox more carefully I have noticed that the very last picture is showing how to mount it on the plate. There is a catch though - the manual suggests that I should cut some parts of it off (O.o).
I have tried to do it, but it is a very thick plastic - so now I have part of a plate broken
Since I know that some of you might have run into similar trouble, therefore I`m asking you, how did you guys solve this problem?
The way I would have approached this would be with a dremel tool, and use a cutting disk if I could, or a grinding disk in a pinch. You could also try a fine tooth scroll saw or similar, if not doing it manually you would want to use high speed and low feed. Or use a heated very sharp knife
Couldn’t agree more, the plastic in the Tamiya plates is very solid and probably too brittle to do it with out some planning
For smaller cuts, I’ve used a pair of diagonal cutters to nibble away one section at a time between holes. Doesn’t leave the prettiest edge, but it works.
For larger cuts (which I’ve not needed yet), I’d probably trundle down to my workshop in the basement and use the band saw.
I suggest gerbils. They leave a much cleaner edge.
Yea, bandsaw would be my tool of choice. If you don’t have one then a hacksaw with a fine tooth metal blade will work fine too. You may have to stick to down strokes. Up strokes can break your material if you don’t have it well supported.
I just used my kitchen knife and made small cuts until I could fit the gearbox
I had made a Bluetooth controlled gadgeteer vehicle some time ago. and also wrote a windows program to operate it via a touch interface on my Windows tablet.
After studying the manual for the gearbox more carefully I have noticed that the very last picture is showing how to mount it on the plate. There is a catch though - the manual suggests that I should cut some parts of it off (O.o).