Today I slowly glued on more pieces of the body frame. As of now all but the top, bottom, and shoulder supports are glued. I'll glue in the shoulder supports once I have a plan for drilling the shoulder pipe holes. I want to be extra careful with this because the holes need to be centered just right so the body is balanced and so the skins fit around the shoulders correctly.
John.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Glue is a tasty treat
Finally decided to start gluing the body together. But unlike the first time, I'm going to glue the pieces on a few at a time, saving the top and bottom for last (pending any further modifications). Additionally, I finished mounting the Rockler bearing to the top of the body.
Something else I've been working on. I recently discovered a servo controller designed to receive input from a Play Station 2 controller. This intrigued me. It might be more interesting to use a small wireless game controller instead of a bulky R/C transmitter to control R6-C9. It's called the Cheap 6 Channel (C6C) servo controller. It's made by a small company called Cheap Control Systems. For $35, you can get the DIY kit, or for $50 have them assemble it for you. I of course went with the cheaper option. The web site has very clear instructions on how to use, assemble, and test it.
Once I had finished testing the circuit, I made a video showing what it can do.
Still undecided if I want to use it on R6-C9. It is cheaper, but an R/C system is a proven technology for this application. Will have to do further testing before I can come to a decision.
John
To start, I only glued uprights D, G's, and E to the #2 rib. I left C unglued so I could remove it to fit the front ribs in place. That will come after this sits over night. The top and bottom are not glued, but I placed them to insure the other pieces are aligned correctly.
Something else I've been working on. I recently discovered a servo controller designed to receive input from a Play Station 2 controller. This intrigued me. It might be more interesting to use a small wireless game controller instead of a bulky R/C transmitter to control R6-C9. It's called the Cheap 6 Channel (C6C) servo controller. It's made by a small company called Cheap Control Systems. For $35, you can get the DIY kit, or for $50 have them assemble it for you. I of course went with the cheaper option. The web site has very clear instructions on how to use, assemble, and test it.
The C6C
A generic PS2 WiFi controller. Note that while most PS2 controllers will work, it seems all Logitech controllers will not for some reason.
The C6C mostly assembled, minus the battery, the IC ship, and the PS2 adapter.
Once I had finished testing the circuit, I made a video showing what it can do.
Still undecided if I want to use it on R6-C9. It is cheaper, but an R/C system is a proven technology for this application. Will have to do further testing before I can come to a decision.
John
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Bonus Round
I know I said I couldn't use the shop anymore, but it turns out it will take a little longer to get everything squared away. So in the mean time, I have permission to keep using it until the family is ready to clear everything out. In addition, I have "acquired" some free time from work this month so I can spend all my time working in the shop. So now I can correct all the mistakes on the version 2 frame. The following is all the work I've done this entire week.
Taking a break this weekend and then, if I still can, will try to do some more work in the shop. I want to get the holes drilled for the leg pipes to fit into on the body. Also, I'm wanting to place the Rockler bearing on the body instead of the head so mounting the head rotation motor will be easier. At this rate, R6 will be standing up in no time.
John
The new vertical ribs newly cut, plus 3 extra on the left there "just in case."
The vertical ribs with the link notches cut out.
New vertical ribs installed.
Placed the inner/front skin to test alignment.
Inside the body with inner/front skin on. All notches look perfect.
Next I remade all the horizontal ribs. I had to remake them twice because the first time I made them 1-1/2" thick instead of 1-1/4" thick. I didn't take any pictures because they look identical to the previous ones and you've seen those already. Below shows the all the pieces put together.
Front
Right
Back
Left
Front with inner/front skin.
Back with inner/rear skin.
Skin overlap check. Just a smidge off, but close enough. The head will hide this.
While I was on a roll, I re-tackled the leg mounting hubs. Originally, I was going to use two 3/4" pipes and then connect them together in the middle. Well I found that to be a lot of trouble and not very sturdy. Now trying to find a 3/4" pipe that will fit inside a 1" pipe is next to impossible. However, another builder found that a 1" pipe will fit inside a 1-1/4" pipe just fine. So I remade the leg hubs and attached a 1" pipe flange on one and a 1-1/4" pipe flange on the other. I used the old hubs to drill the holes for the bolts to connect to the legs.
New Leg hubs.
One 1" water pipe inside a 1-1/4" water pipe. I cut both to a length of 14".
Leg hubs with the water pipes J-B Weld'ed together.
Taking a break this weekend and then, if I still can, will try to do some more work in the shop. I want to get the holes drilled for the leg pipes to fit into on the body. Also, I'm wanting to place the Rockler bearing on the body instead of the head so mounting the head rotation motor will be easier. At this rate, R6 will be standing up in no time.
John
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Cause and Affect
I've been staring at the body frame trying to figure out where I goofed with some of the measurements. As I mentioned previously, the front horizontal ribs are a little higher than I intended and they don't line up to the vertical ribs correctly, thus I have to re-cut all the front horizontal ribs and at least the A, B, and C vertical ribs, maybe all of them. To top it all off the skins are still a little taller than the body, about an eighth of an inch.
I recently discovered the problems. First, the height: I checked the thickness of the wood and found it was about 1/16th of an inch thinner than 3/4". With the top and bottom base plates like this, I have an 1/8th" height difference, exactly how it measures compared to the skins. This can be easily fixed by gluing an 1/8" piece of wood or MDF to the top or bottom.
Next, the horizontal ribs: when I measured where to cut on the vertical ribs for the horizontal ribs to connect, I forgot to take into account that an extra 1/4 inch was going to be under the vertical ribs. Oops. This means everything is a 1/4 inch too high, except for horizontal rib #3 which is an entire half inch off. Not sure why it's the only one. Oh well.
Finally, why the horizontal ribs won't line up to the vertical: When I made the horizontal ribs, I used the template from the version 1 body, but later found it to be slightly flawed. I made the top base , bottom base, and #2 horizontal rib (the one that is a whole circle) correctly by using the patterns I cutout. But I forgot to redo the other horizontal ribs to match.
Looking back, I had less trouble making the first body frame because I didn't try to reverse engineer the plans before. Just goes to show that it is possible to over think something.
In other news, I decided to downgrade my R/C transmitter to a 5 channel instead of the 6 channel to same money. I'm only going to be using at least 3 channels anyway (2 for the foot drives, 1 for the head). No need to over do it.
Also, the speed controllers I ordered arrived late last week.
Until next time,
John
I recently discovered the problems. First, the height: I checked the thickness of the wood and found it was about 1/16th of an inch thinner than 3/4". With the top and bottom base plates like this, I have an 1/8th" height difference, exactly how it measures compared to the skins. This can be easily fixed by gluing an 1/8" piece of wood or MDF to the top or bottom.
Next, the horizontal ribs: when I measured where to cut on the vertical ribs for the horizontal ribs to connect, I forgot to take into account that an extra 1/4 inch was going to be under the vertical ribs. Oops. This means everything is a 1/4 inch too high, except for horizontal rib #3 which is an entire half inch off. Not sure why it's the only one. Oh well.
Finally, why the horizontal ribs won't line up to the vertical: When I made the horizontal ribs, I used the template from the version 1 body, but later found it to be slightly flawed. I made the top base , bottom base, and #2 horizontal rib (the one that is a whole circle) correctly by using the patterns I cutout. But I forgot to redo the other horizontal ribs to match.
Looking back, I had less trouble making the first body frame because I didn't try to reverse engineer the plans before. Just goes to show that it is possible to over think something.
In other news, I decided to downgrade my R/C transmitter to a 5 channel instead of the 6 channel to same money. I'm only going to be using at least 3 channels anyway (2 for the foot drives, 1 for the head). No need to over do it.
Also, the speed controllers I ordered arrived late last week.
Until next time,
John
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
One chapter ends, another begins
Last Friday, at approximately 4:15pm est, my Grandmother passed away. She leaves behind 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. She was kind, strong willed, and just awesome. She will be greatly missed.
Of course this means any kind of shop work is now over until a new location to setup the shop can be obtained. Yesterday was my last chance to use the old shop. After the funeral the house will be cleaned out and sold at auction. All the heavy power tools will probably be placed in storage for the time being. Yet even more reason for me to buy my own house. Well, let me show you what I did yesterday and what I still need to do.
After I moved everything to my apartment last night (who knew I had so much stuff at the shop), I did a mock assemble of the body to see if all the parts fit good. Good thing I checked before gluing. I have found that all the front horizontal ribs do not line up correctly and need to be remade as well as vertical ribs A B and C. Despite my careful measuring, the positioning of these parts are wrong. Everything else seems good for now.
Well, that's it. Until I get a new shop to work in, I won't be able to work on the body and legs anymore. I still have things I can do though, like the electronics and the skins. Skins are nearly ready for gluing together. Just a few more panels to cut out.
John
Of course this means any kind of shop work is now over until a new location to setup the shop can be obtained. Yesterday was my last chance to use the old shop. After the funeral the house will be cleaned out and sold at auction. All the heavy power tools will probably be placed in storage for the time being. Yet even more reason for me to buy my own house. Well, let me show you what I did yesterday and what I still need to do.
Yesterday I nearly completed the bottom base disc for the body. All it needs now is to have the left and right side cut flat. I would have done it but I was having trouble getting the skins to lineup good enough to mark where to cut, so I'll deal with it later. to the right is the two shoulder support boards. They are done and ready to install.
After I moved everything to my apartment last night (who knew I had so much stuff at the shop), I did a mock assemble of the body to see if all the parts fit good. Good thing I checked before gluing. I have found that all the front horizontal ribs do not line up correctly and need to be remade as well as vertical ribs A B and C. Despite my careful measuring, the positioning of these parts are wrong. Everything else seems good for now.
Well, that's it. Until I get a new shop to work in, I won't be able to work on the body and legs anymore. I still have things I can do though, like the electronics and the skins. Skins are nearly ready for gluing together. Just a few more panels to cut out.
John
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Back to the Shop, more stuff ordered.
Back to the shop? That's right. Even though it's still cold outside, I am resuming work in my Grandfathers workshop. Why? The simple answer is because soon the work shop won't be available to use ever again. The reason is this: last year at about this time my Grandfather passed away leaving just my Grandmother (I should have posted this detail when it happened, but for some reason I didn't think to). Well now my grandmother has become very ill and it looks like she will soon be with God and Grandpa. Once this happens, the house where the work shop is will be up for sale. This is a problem because neither I or my Dad have a place to relocate all the power tools to (both me and my parents live in apartments). Thus I am trying to get as much work done as I can before we have to clean out the house, including the work shop. I am currently saving up for my own house where I can setup my own work shop and give a new home for all those power tools, but it may be a while before I can do that.
Hopefully I can quickly save enough money to buy a house with a garage and continue work on R6-C9. Maybe in the next month or two.
So here's what I was able to do today:
Next I'll work on the bottom disc.
Today I also ordered the speed controllers for the foot drives and the head motor.
Haven't had time to work on the skins any, but I hope to finish cutting the panels out of the remaining sheets soon. Once that's done I can start gluing the layers together, and then when the weather is right, paint.
John.
Hopefully I can quickly save enough money to buy a house with a garage and continue work on R6-C9. Maybe in the next month or two.
So here's what I was able to do today:
This is the top disc for the body, all trimmed and ready for assembly. First pic is the top, second is the under side.
Next I'll work on the bottom disc.
Today I also ordered the speed controllers for the foot drives and the head motor.
Haven't had time to work on the skins any, but I hope to finish cutting the panels out of the remaining sheets soon. Once that's done I can start gluing the layers together, and then when the weather is right, paint.
John.
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