preferred Robot?

[Sugar Magnolia]

What is the preferred robot these days? My Baxter has stopped working, and, rather than get it working again, I've like to try a new robot. Is there 1 or 2 that are generally considered the best? The reason that I am ready to be done with the Baxter is that it sometimes picks up 2 discs and places them in the tray. As often as not, the renders one of the discs un-readable as they crash around inside the drive. I'd like a new unit that maybe has a higher capacity (Baxter is 25 discs) and is less likely to damage discs. Speed isn't really an issue, I am fine with single or multi drive units.

Thanks, Pete

[Spoon]

Re: preferred Robot?

If you are in the same price range as the baxtor then there is really only one choice, that is the Nimbie

[Sugar Magnolia]

Re: preferred Robot?

If you are in the same price range as the baxtor then there is really only one choice, that is the Nimbie

Thanks. I've had the baxter for so long, do not know it's price range. I'd say in the sub $1000 USD range, used market is fine for me.

[EliC]

Re: preferred Robot?

If you are in the sub 1000 range and used market, there is plenty. In fact I wouldn't pay over 1000 for any robot.

[MTWolf]

Re: preferred Robot?

I've been picking up primera composer(50disk/1drive)/composer pro's(100disk/2 drive) off of ebay for less than $200us. Need to watch them though, the composer pros are easy to damage in shipment, they work for a couple of hours then the robot stops being able to position correctly (bent spindle on a drive gear, the gear rubs the label that the robot uses to position and makes it unreadable). Primera charges $350 base for repairs. You can pick up Primera Bravo's (bravo pro) for around $350 (25disk 1 drive/pro:50disk 1 or 2 drives).

I just saw a neat robot on eBay - don't want to sound like an advert - it's called a Dexterix it's designed as an autoloader for cd duplication towers, but should work fine on top of a tower case with 6 cd drives in it. To expensive for me to buy as a toy, but it's simple, allows for 8 bins of about 75 disks each, that would be 4 source and 4 destination bins. Drivers shouldn't be to hard to write.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Re: preferred Robot?

Thanks. Plenty of good suggestions here. I should be able to find one that suits my needs.

My big concern is loading 2 discs. Are these more or less prone to this than the Baxter?

The Nimbie doesn't seem to have an arm. How does it move disks? Is it more or less prone to loading multiple discs?

I poke around here a little more. There is a thread discussing these that probably has most answers I am looking for. It is imposingly long.

Thanks again, Pete

[MTWolf]

Re: preferred Robot?

It is rare for the Primera Composers to pick up two disks. What I've seen is that is happens when dealing with OLD (pre 1998) CD's that don't have the center hub ridge (this disk is absolutely flat) and a vacuum forms between the disks, or if there is something sticky on the disk. In 4000 discs I've only had it grab 2 about 3 times. And always because the two disks stuck together. I have 7 Primera Composer Pro's running and they don't mess up very often. They do need some TLC when you first get them, But for units that handle 100 disks with two drives, they are worth the effort. Wish they still made them.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Re: preferred Robot?

Thanks. I ran about 4000 cds through my Baxter and about 50 were destroyed. I now won't run it unattended as picking up multiple discs seems more frequent. MF Digital indicated that it is nearly impossible for it to pick up multiple discs...

I think that I am leaning now towards the Nimbie. It will suit my occasional needs from here forward, and I think take a smaller footprint on the desk.