More Ankle and Head Work

The weather was much cooler (but still hot) so I was able to get more work done today compared to last week.

The center ankle is nearly to the same stage as the original after gluing on the other side piece. I made a few changes this time around. You'll notice the two side pieces don't go as high as the center does. I did this because they really don't need to go that high and to save weight.


For the head I cut the grooves into the base disc for the ribs to fit into. I'm going to try to use just four ribs. The reason is because the back ends would pump into each other preventing a good fit. So not wanting to modify the rib design I'll try using just four. We'll see how that goes.


I was also able to drill the mounting holes for the rockler bearing and rough cut the four remaining ribs.


Here you see how the ribs and the rod will fit together.


Next week, weather permitting, I'll trim the head ribs and test fit them. I'm going to try and get a sheet of styrene too so I can test fit it to see if it'll maintain it's circle around the head with only four ribs. I hope it does.

John

Continuing Ankle Work

HEAT WAVE! Today's heat index was 110 degrees!

Due to the extreme heat today the shop was literally an oven so I didn't get everything done I planned to do before it got toooooooo hooooooot! All I was able to do was make the outer two pieces of the ankle and glue one of them on. The head will have to wait until next week....providing the temperature isn't too high.

Last time I made the center ankle I used the band saw to manually cut the curve in the two outer pieces. This time around I used the router and a small circle cutting attachment.


Oh winter, where art thou?

John

Center Caster, Center Ankle v2, and Head v2

Went to the shop today, despite the heat, and did some more work on the center foot's caster wheel, the new center ankle, and the new head.

I trimmed off half an inch from the caster wheel bracket to make all three feet the same height.


The only things I did to the center ankle today was drill the foot mounting hole and trim off excess from the top.


For the version 2 head, I finalized the measurements and cut out the new head rib template. I also made an 18" in diameter by 1/2" thick disk to mount the ribs to.


In comparison to the original head, the new rib looks identical in height plus the crown of the head.


Next time, I'm going to make the next two pieces for the center ankle and use the new head rib template to make eight more. I will then arrange these eight in a circle on the disk I made. I will route grooves in the disk for the ribs to sit in. A half-inch wooden rod will sit in the center of the disk to help align the ribs together. I will also bring the Rockler Bearing to align on the bottom of the disk.

John

Happy Independence Day

Well, the fourth of July was yesterday, but better late than never.

I've been busy at my new job so I haven't had much free time (or money) to devote to R6-C9. But I got a three day weekend this holiday so I was able to find a little bit of time to continue building.

Finally got the holes drilled to mount the head motor on the other side of the body. Looks like it'll work. Now I just need to install longer wiring on that side of the body for the head motor (existing wire isn't long enough).


My first attempt at remaking the center ankle didn't turn out very good so round 2.


Now about the head. I have confirmed the top of the head is wider than it should be. It's wider by about 1/2" to 3/4". How I did that I don't know. It doesn't match the notes I made during it's construction. As for the full scale layout I had printed, i recently discovered it is 1/8" smaller than it should be. That's the last time I go to Kinkos to have something this big printed. So after compensating for the scale difference, I have determined the correct diameter of the top of the head. Instead of trying to modify my existing head, I'm going to make a new one, and this time I'm taking a different approach to it. I'm going to make eight vertical ribs made to be half of one full side of the head. I will place these on a disc in a circle and then wrap them with styrene.


I'm going to try to make time to work on this at least once a week. Hopefully I can have the head mostly done before next year. The head is going to be my primary focus until it is finished.

John