Sunday, May 23, 2010

Center foot plate installed

This weekend, I started drilling the aluminum plate.  Today, I installed the bracing and leveled the plate in the frame.  I still have to drill the holes to line up with the bracing on the center leg, and that should be done later this week.  Next steps in line, I need to measure and design the mounting for the castors on the center foot.  I need to install the foot drive (motor, wheel, chain and tensioners) on the outer feet.  Lastly, I need to strengthen the shoulder area on the frame as well as the leg.  Once this is done, I can start wiring and bench testing the motors and remote control. I'm hoping to have Artoo rolling by early summer.


Monday, May 17, 2010

Braces, Sounds, and a Big Ol' Piece of Aluminum.

I had some time this weekend to do some work. I picked up some aluminum to start structuring out the center leg attachments. This will be bracked to the bottom plate using 1/8" thick angle bar stock. I machined out the holes needed to attach the brace to the frame and leg and got it bolted to the leg. It's a nice tight fit and the braces are not coming loose at all. The top is very level where it will attach to the bottom plate.


Speaking of the plate, thanks to the generosity of a member in my church, (Thank you Tim W!!) I now have a 1/2" thick piece of aluminum cut to the dimmensions to fit perfectly in the bottom of my frame. This will provide support to the frame, as well as a sturdy base for the center leg to attach and a place to sit batteries low in the body. I have some machining to do on this part to get it in place, but should hopefully have time this coming weekend to work on it.

I spent yesterday working on the Thinkgeek soundboard. Last week, I pulled the wired controller apart. Yesterday, I spent time working with my father in law wiring and testing the unit. I cut the attached speaker off and tested on a small 3" stereo speaker that I had in posession. I plan on wiring two of these in series to run at 8 ohm. The speaker was plenty loud without the amp, but I may still install the amplifier to better control the sound.  This is what it looks like currently.  I removed the speaker and cut the ends of the wire to prevent shorting.  I will have to add tab connectors to attach to the speaker.  Power will be supplied from a distribution board to run the 12ch. wireless.