Building Alert: Construction Issues
We thought and thought about what to use to
place over the kart’s works to give our kart a top. In a stroke
of genius (well, we couldn’t think of anything else, to be
honest, and we were grocery shopping at the time), we used a
plastic food storage container to create a bubble-like dome.
It’s cheap, easy to work with, and clear so you can see what
makes the kart go, which is kind of cool. Make sure you get a
container made of flexible plastic. Flexible plastic is easier
to use because you have to make two cuts in this container: an
opening in the back that lets the IR signal from your
transmitter reach the IR detector in the back of the kart and an
opening in the side so you can reach the power switch.
You can build the base of the kart out of
1⁄4"
thick plywood or 1⁄4"
rigid expanded PVC (plastic). The PVC provides a better finished
look than the plywood, but either
will work. You should be able to locate
1⁄4"
thick plywood at any lumber or
homebuilding store.
A couple of robot supply houses, such as Budget
Robotics and Solarbotics (here the material is called Sintra),
sell small sheets of rigid expanded PVC. A Google search for
“rigid expanded
PVC” will also
turn up plastic supply companies
that sell larger sheets. Find more at these Web sites:
www.budget robotics.com
and
www.solarbotics.com.
If you don’t feel ambitious, you can leave off
the bubble top and let the gokart be a convertible model. If you
plan to reuse the components after trying out the kart, that
might be the way to go. However, if you plan to keep the kart
intact, we suggest that you use a top to keep out dirt and avoid
the possibility of wires or components being knocked off (in
case your kart gets into a traffic accident in your living
room).
The motor lugs used in this project are made of
thin metal and will break off if you put too much stress on
them. By using stranded wire, rather than solid wire, you can
minimize the stress on the lugs.