Friday, August 20, 2010

Installing components

Now we're starting to look like a robot! 

I installed the 12 channel relay into the frame.  The circuit is housed in a foam core box that will add insulation, as well as an easy way to remove the whole piece for maintenance.  The board is adhered with Velcro to the back panel of the box, and the box is also adhered with Velcro to the inside of the frame.


I pulled these speakers from an old stereo system.  I tested with these speakers when I wired up the 12ch relay a few weeks back.  They sound great!!  Very clear, and much louder than the cheap speaker that came with the Thinkgeek shirt.  The speakers will be behind the vents on the front of the droid.

I also came up with a solution to house the batteries.  I used angle stock aluminum and JB Weld and created a holder.  The batteries fit perfectly and it allows three 12V batteries (2 connected in series for 24V for the foot drive, and one single 12V feeding the Rigrunner board to run everything else).


I'm currently wiring the power/drive board and will *hopefully* test the drive soon.  I ran into some issues with the Anderson power pole connectors and the 14guage zip cord that I purchased.  The insulation was in the way as I was putting the parts together (30amp power poles).  It appears to be just with this particular wire as the 12 gauge zip line that I have goes together fine.  I switched to 45amp power poles for anything that I'm using the 14 gauge line to connect and those fit together nicely.  More to come on that with the next update.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Shoulder Hubs Installed.

I spent time over the weekend cutting hubs from a piece of 6" water pipe that was given to me a while back.  I cut notches to fit around the frame upright and had originally intended to glue them to the legs, but I'm thinking otherwise right now.  I have been thinking for some time about upgrading or replacing parts.  He's not even complete yet, but I'm not really happy with some of the work I did.  I have mentioned about replacing the skins.  I'm not happy with how they are cut, and being my first part that I made from styrene, they are a little rough.  A group member (Chani) is offering semi cut skins for a good price and I may grab a set of those.  I am also considering replacing my styrene legs with the A&A legs.  I plan on keeping the styrene legs for a possible (probable...) droid number 2, so they're not going to waste.

In any case, the shoulder hubs are on, and even though they aren't glued, they still look pretty good.




You can see how rough the skins look.  Granted, these have not been sanded yet and that will improve the appearance, but I cut the area around the utility arms wrong and have never been satisfied with how it looks. 


The full droid so far.