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Getting parts together |
Building the Chassis |
Installing the Drivetrain |
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Electronics |
Armor |
Weapon |
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Brace yourselves, this is a big one.
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The hardest part of this was actually before this. This was the first time I mounted my four-jaw chuck, and I had to machine an adaptor plate that came with the lathe. I was nervous because I only had one of them. I did a decent enough job, but it could have been better. Three plates for three motors were prepared, with punch marks laid down by paper templates. One slight error was that I drilled the center out on the drill press. I should have done it on the lathe so I could have centered it on the mark. They were all very slightly off, so the screw holes were oversized to compensate. |
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But that was okay. The motor is held in the x-y axis by the ring, not the bolts. Bolts are only meant for tension in the z axis. |
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I have refined my old precision drilling technique. Using this Router centering point, you can get exact alignment between the chuck and the work. Swap in the proper bit and the hole is guaranteed to be in the right spot, unless the bit drifts. |
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That wasn't a big problem. The mounting plates fit perfectly. |
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The bit of axle at the end of the MagMotor makes a handy stand if you put a pulley on it. |
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I don't trust those 4 8-32 bolts to hold the motor by themselves. This piece of angle iron, held on by the magnetism of the motor in this photo, will get hose clamps around it to help keep collision momentum from wrenching out the motor. |
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The support arm welded on. Care had to be taken to not put a bead where it would interfere with mounting the motor. I found that out the hard way with the first one. |
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The Mount finished. |
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To run two sprockets on the output of the motor, I had to cut a chain relief in the end of two of them. |
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You can see why here. |
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The sprockets space off the end of the motor shaft, so the mount needs to be place in alignment with the existing drivetrain sprockets in the rear of the bot. More drivetrain work later. |
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Paper Aided Manufacturing again. The pattern for the wheel pods (Which as you can see include the drivetrain layout) was attached to the steel with spray adhesive and cut out with that wonderful Bosch Jigsaw. |
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The pieces are cut out. Then the positions of the pillow blocks are marked with the centerpunch in the corner of the picture. |
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To get nice, perfectly straight edges that will be needed for welding in the future, I clamped the two pieces together with two pieces of angle iron lined up with the size marks, and ground the whole thing smooth with a sanding wheel in the angle grinder. |
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Gee, it's like a model kit. Here are all the parts for two new front wheel pods. |
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The first weld on the new pod. |
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I welded both sides. |
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Then I ground the whole side smooth. You can't tell where the weld is. I did a bunch of work welding and grinding to hide all the joints. |
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I adjusted the drivetrain positions shown on the PAM. This angle iron serves two purposes. Stiffening the outside of the pod, and supporting the angle iron. I wanted the lower the jackshaft because there needed to be more chain clearance around the sprocket from the top. |
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The front of the rail was made flush with the front, and the front armor welded on. |
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The width of the pod was determined by the width of the axles. Using the magnetic angles, the angle iron for the inside edges of the pods was carefully placed to make sure everything was in alignment. The plate in the middle touches the end of the shaft to get the height. |
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Now imagine working on the pod in the picture above, and standing up, and smacking your head on the sharp end of the other rail. On the sharp corner of the angle iron. With a bald noggin. Cuts on the scalp are no fun. So I wrapped these parts with towels, so I didn't hurt myself as bad the next time my head inevitably collided with the rest of the bot. |
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The angle iron all welded up, the drivetrain parts are installed to help align the plates that will hold the inboard pillow blocks. |
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The inboard plates installed. You can see the weld marks for the pieces that the pillow blocks bolt to. A lot of the planning for making these pods involves cutting things oversized and grinding them down, as you can see by the tops of these plates. |
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Woohoo! Resting on the front wheels! |
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One of the principles I learned from the damage was no unsupported edges. Thus a piece of .125 x 1" steel welded to support the edge. The piece in the middle would keep the angle iron from bowing open in a collision. |
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The top armor welded on. Note how it's oversized. It's also welded to death on both sides of every contact area. Note I didn't weld where the plates go. Those overhangs will keep the plates in place rather than the bolts. No bolts in shear here. |
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Bottom armor installed. That's a LOT of welding! |
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Mr. Grinder was not going to be up to the task of taking off all that overhang. So the big new tool this time out is Mr. Grinder Sir! AKA the "No more f*cking around Grinder". A 7" Makita grinder. It's a HORSE. Two hands required at all times. |
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To try to restrain all the sparks, I set up some leftover pegboard. You can see the burn mark from all the hot steel that went flying. |
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PAM to mark the holes for the wheels. The rectangles have that edge on them to align with the sides of the pods. |
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Plunge cut with the grinder with a cut off wheel, the corners cut out with the jigsaw. Note the 1" depth all the way around. No unsupported edges is the rule. |
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One little side note. I re-cut the keyways for the front drivetrain axles full length. I should have done that to begin with. |
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That's all from grinding. Sheesh. |
