Non-Robotic Related Hobbies

[Adam Freeman]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Well, sure!

The truck after I broke the main chassis (remember kids, they design in screws for a reason!)
And after (ran great until I broke a rear A-arm and killed a bearing!)

Apparently!

You pay all that money for a Traxxas, so that they don't break. Must be driving it really hard....or really bad.

I just recently bought a Redcat Lightning XTG for me and my 5 year old son to play with. We got it last Friday. Two battery packs later, he smashed it into a pole and broke the lower control arm at the hinge pin. Hopefully the epoxy holds and we will be back up and running tonight.

Heading to the r/c track this weekend. Good thing I ordered some spare parts.

[JamesCH95]

My main hobby outside of robotics is playing race car and race car driver in various forms.

[jwallace15]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

My main hobby outside of robotics is playing race car and race car driver in various forms.

Have you ever played NR2003?

Also...

Originally Posted by Madison

Cool! I grew up with model trains and even worked at a hobby shop for awhile selling them. In addition to my dad's HO trains from when he was a kid and my brother's Lionel trains, I have my own collection of N scale equipment -- probably about 20-30 locomotives of varied sorts (N&W J, D&H PA1 A-A set, NKP GP35, UP E8 A-B-B-A, among others) and a few dozen freight and passenger cars. Before I moved to Seattle, I was working on a 12' x 12' two-level N scale set that focused on switching operations.

Sounds like your collection exceeds mine. I'd like to have a collection your size, but O-Gauge is too expensive. I looked up the price of an N-Scale Big Boy- About $25. In O-Gauge the Big Boy fetches about $1,800... Although I'm fine with just my DASH-9. I focus on cars... you said you have a few dozen? I envy that... I have 4 O-Gauge cars and approximately 7 O-27 cars. O-27 has the same sized trucks as O-Gauge, but O-Gauge is larger, and more detailed. I try to stick with BNSF and Burlington Northern cars now, although I don't mind my few Santa-Fe cars. I try to stick with the common rail line. I don't like my Conrail tank car... It looks ugly with the DASH-9! baby blue + orange =

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by jwallace15

Have you ever played NR2003?

No, I like turning right sometimes (I'm just teasing, I know there are road courses).

Seriously though, I am working through Forza4 right now. The customization and tuning options are good enough to the point that I notice the same behavior between my Forza cars and their real-life counterparts.

[jwallace15]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

Seriously though, I am working through Forza4 right now. The customization and tuning options are good enough to the point that I notice the same behavior between my Forza cars and their real-life counterparts.

From what I can see, Forza 4 looks good. Unfortunately, I don't have a 360 pr PS3. Are there any racing games for PC you can recommend?

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by jwallace15

From what I can see, Forza 4 looks good. Unfortunately, I don't have a 360 pr PS3. Are there any racing games for PC you can recommend?

iRacing is phenomenal, but pricey.

F1 Challange is good, technical, and very hard.

Those are the only two PC games I've really had much experience with that'd I recommend.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

You pay all that money for a Traxxas, so that they don't break. Must be driving it really hard....or really bad.

I just recently bought a Redcat XTG for me and my 5 year old son to play with. We got it last Friday. Two battery packs later, he smashed it into a pole and broke the lower control arm at the hinge pin. Hopefully the epoxy holds and we will be back up and running tonight.

Heading to the r/c track this weekend. Good thing I ordered some spare parts.

While I am on record that a Slash VXL has more speed than I have talent (especially on the relatively tight track I run at), I can also hide behind the fact that I bought the Slash used. The previous owner had put on 1/8-scale wheels and tires, different shocks and bearing blocks, and a few RPM bits; the only upgrade I've added was going to RPM rear A-arms after the stock set broke near the pin (looks like the pin got loose).

The chassis went because the transmission wasn't screwed into the rear skid plate--I hadn't torn into that part to see how it all worked, so I didn't realize that its omission meant the whole rear end of the truck (transmission, motor, shock tower, A-arms) was sending all of its load through a small tab on the main chassis plate (plus whatever marginal support the skid plate provided). Really, it's a miracle the truck made it through practice, two heats, and half a main.

Last time I ran, the truck was tracking oddly; first hunch was a diff issue, but further inspection showed the bearings were going (again--one was bad when I bought it, but a fix was in the box). No telling where the last owner drove (there were sand paddles in the box mounted on stadium truck tires), so I figure that's just life. I'm just going to replace all eight on the truck with brand new ones so I don't get bit by this again.

Naturally, while troubleshooting that bearing issue I disconnected the motor from the ESC so I could get the whole back half of the truck off. While doing so, one of the ESC's plugs decided it was going to go along for the ride with the motor lead. I'll have to break out the soldering iron before my next run too.

It's the risk you run when buying used--but this has been a good lesson in a lot of things about the truck. I'm sure to run out of things to break eventually!*

*famous last words...

[Astrokid248]

Where to start...
My biggest hobby is cosplay and prop making. After that it's sketching (traditional and digital), a bit of writing, and playing fetch with my cat (not joking). I'm getting back into stained glass, and I use robotics for my photography practice so it doesn't count.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Jim Wilks

I collect pinball machines. With about 60 of them currently in my collection, my basement is getting full. I love the lure of the silver ball!

I just have the old Royal Flush, one of the last EM games.

But I do have more than 60 old computers....and a dozen or so old typewriters.

I also do cars. this was a bit over a week ago, I'm driving the 55 chevy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC6-0LXwE8Y

[jmiller48167]

For the last 5 years when not at robotics I play vintage base ball (yes two words). We play by the rules from 1864. No spitting, no swearing, no sliding, no overrunning first base, and no gloves. Bare hand base ball is a blast. Another unique rule is if the batter hits the ball in fair territory first and then it goes foul before the base it is still fair. Pop flies can be caught after one bounce and the hitter is still out.

[s_forbes]

Another pinball owner, but I've only had two. I like the EMs from the 70s, but I'm looking into getting an early solid state pin when a nice title pops up on craigslist.

Also unicycles... I have a few, been getting into distance riding lately on my 36in. I'm into juggling (haven't quite mastered the 5-ball cascade yet), slack-lining, fixies and the usual nonsense as well.

Still play with LEGOs, too, but that should be a prerequisite for any full time roboticist.

Lately my main 'hobby' has been buying a new house.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by squirrel

But I do have more than 60 old computers....[/url]

I'm interested if you have a link detailing or at least listing some of those. I too take some interest in old computers.

[Botwoon]

Originally Posted by Billfred

While I am on record that a Slash VXL has more speed than I have talent (especially on the relatively tight track I run at), I can also hide behind the fact that I bought the Slash used. The previous owner had put on 1/8-scale wheels and tires, different shocks and bearing blocks, and a few RPM bits; the only upgrade I've added was going to RPM rear A-arms after the stock set broke near the pin (looks like the pin got loose).

The chassis went because the transmission wasn't screwed into the rear skid plate--I hadn't torn into that part to see how it all worked, so I didn't realize that its omission meant the whole rear end of the truck (transmission, motor, shock tower, A-arms) was sending all of its load through a small tab on the main chassis plate (plus whatever marginal support the skid plate provided). Really, it's a miracle the truck made it through practice, two heats, and half a main.

Last time I ran, the truck was tracking oddly; first hunch was a diff issue, but further inspection showed the bearings were going (again--one was bad when I bought it, but a fix was in the box). No telling where the last owner drove (there were sand paddles in the box mounted on stadium truck tires), so I figure that's just life. I'm just going to replace all eight on the truck with brand new ones so I don't get bit by this again.

Naturally, while troubleshooting that bearing issue I disconnected the motor from the ESC so I could get the whole back half of the truck off. While doing so, one of the ESC's plugs decided it was going to go along for the ride with the motor lead. I'll have to break out the soldering iron before my next run too.

It's the risk you run when buying used--but this has been a good lesson in a lot of things about the truck. I'm sure to run out of things to break eventually!*

*famous last words...

I've had an RC18B that I converted to a T, then upgraded to the 18B2 chassis when it came out, and is currently not operational anymore. I had it running somewhere in the high 40s to 50s on the original chassis, the steel diffs you could buy for it held up much better than the current one.

Presently I've got an SC10 and SC104x4, which needs a new idler gear and spur. I've really had no time to go to any of my local tracks for a long time, and as such haven't had the motivation to fix it up. I've got a friend with a Slash, so I'll probably loan out the SC10 to his brother and have all three of us go down to the track sometime; there are some really awesome tracks in socal. I've met a lot of people in FRC who are into RC, in fact I know that Adam Heard is an avid RCer himself. Titan had crawler tires on the jaws, and Encore's pitching wheel had some small slicks stretched over it

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm interested if you have a link detailing or at least listing some of those. I too take some interest in old computers.

Just a few of them.

http://selectric.org/computer.html

[Wayne TenBrink]

Robotics has completely pushed out all my other (former) winter hobbies, like woodworking and model railroading.

I have a 30 acre hobby farm with a few beef cattle and my daughter's horse. Most of my farm equipment is from the 1950's. I have restored several old John Deere tractors, which provide the power.