I've seen a few posts on here with people mentioning that they want antweight sized power switches and thought I'd offer up what I've been working on-



They're designed to be made entirely out of cut flat stock (delrin and copper) and assemble fairly easily with 2-56 screws & nuts. I pre-solder the wires and add solder contact pads on the tabs and internal paddle to aid with contact. Each layer is 1/16" thick, and with the top and bottom snugly attached they pull the paddle into the tabs. I've been running the prototypes in a few ants recently and haven't had any failures.

I'm using the current generation in the bot on the left, and the previous in the one on the right-


I've made a few adjustments to the design (flat head instead of hex, slightly altered dimensions for the copper paddle) to make assembly and use easier. Here's a render of the 2nd version-



If anyone wants to try these out let me know and I'll send you the drawings required to cut out all the pieces.

Last edited by MikeNCR on Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:55 am; edited 1 time in total

Photos are broken
What are the dimensions of the switch? Our antweights over here are UK ants (150g, Fairyweight to you) so if they might be still to big for us to run (photos will clarify that)
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Images re-hosted, weight is ~6.1g with wires, fasteners and JST plug attached. The main body is 4 layers of .0625" thick delrin. The body is 0.5875" x 0.65"

Nice compact design but with a bit of wear that big wiper looks like the perfect thing to jolt sideways with the right application of spinner impact. Maybe some kind of hole and locking hole or tab would make it bulletproof.

Certainly wouldn't hurt, though I've not had any issues with that so far. The solder on the tabs and paddle make that area taller than the thickness of the piece of delrin they're sunk into, so when you tighten the housing screws it acts like a clamp and seems to be able to prevent that.

Here's some video from the last event where it took some good hits-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8siYPHTmZoM&feature=related

Yeah can definitely see how the blob would help clamp it all tight, Nice.
Sick robots too! Got any vids of the clamping one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syth9R4T-g0&list=UUpNz2kKih2JTe3GKcpsGEbg&index=1&feature=plcp shows the grabbing claw in action.

I've also got youtube playlists for each bot-
Moros (Featherweight spinner)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL704553C4D3710A2A&feature=plcp

Apollyon (Hobbyweight wedge)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9E901C8E525821DE&feature=plpp

Kobalos (US Ant wedge)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL262A01859903155E&feature=plpp

Motor City Massacre (US Ant grabber/lifter)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4F9798E720BEC4AF&feature=edit_ok