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That was fun! He’ll be up on ebay on Sunday afternoon.
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Going through the workshop, making small improvements and sorting some things out.
For one, after several months of it bothering me, I knocked together a better mount for the angle-poise webcam.
Doesn’t look like much, but now the tilt is on top of the pan pivot rather than the other way around. The previous one was smaller but meant the image was only level when looking directly forward (along the line of the arm). Turning to show what I was doing to the left or right meant the image turned on it’s side. This way the image should remain level and I’ll be able to manuver the camera closer to the action.
In my sorting, I also scrapped some broken battery drills that either had dead batteries, broken chargers or damaged electronics. So I have four sets of low-voltage motors with reduction gearboxes and torque-limiters, and one electric screwdriver with just the motor & gearbox.
I haven’t checked yet, but Wikipedia suggests about the maximum torque you can expect from a battery drill is around 30Nm.
I’d been considering using them to make a large track-mounted robot arm, but at only 30Nm it’s unlikely they’d be able to make the arm move under it’s own power, let alone do anything useful.
If I packed out the torque control spring I could have them continue to run at higher levels, but I’ll still need more powerful motors I suspect. I’ll be looking into what’s cheaply available. Initial enquiries suggest radio-control vehicle motors won’t have enough torque. Steppers may be another option.
I’m envisioning something of a comparable reach to that of a human arm, so about 30cm between joints.
And finally, we still have some kittens looking for good homes.
Awwwww
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So I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s legal for me use these electric robot bases I’ve been making. This is only my research from today, so there may be flaws. Please feel free to correct me.
Electric bicycles & scooters in the UK are legal to use at age 14 without any licence provided the motor is only capable of 200Watts of power (or 250Watt if it’s a trike or tandem), limited to a maximum of 15mph under electric power and weighno more than 40Kg (60kg for trikes & tandems).
The junk-built “Thunderbird 1″ would fall under that at the moment. A 120Watt motor and it’s built as a trike. It’d be lucky to hit 12mph with the wind at it’s back.
However, I do not want to ride T1; I wanted to add a guide-handle to it and use it as a power-assist cart to move heavy stuff around. This seemed a lot safer to me.
But this would also suddenly make it a class-K vehicle; “Mowing machine or vehicle controlled by a pedestrian”, which requires a UK driving licence to use. Mine is currently only a provisional licence.
I found a case where a poor sod who worked delivering milk using an electric hand-cart was told by the police that he wasn’t allowed to, and since he couldn’t get a drivers licence (could only read a licence plate at 21 yards, rather than 25) the dairy had to get him an assistant with a drivers licence to guide the cart while he walked alongside.
I can’t find the link right now, but it was the local MP bringing up the ridiculous state of the class-K licence in parliament and pointed out the man would have been fine to use a bicycle cart, or a horse & cart, all at much higher speeds (and potential risk) than a 4.5mph trolley. The matter ended after a lot of description by being dismissed in true government fashion. Paraphrasing; “Very nice, but that’s an extreme example, it’s not worth bothering.” “That’s ok, I can tell my annoyed constituents I tried, thanks!”
Then I look at the Road Traffic Act of 1988, section 189 which explicitly states “controlled by a pedestrian” is NOT to be treated as a motor vehicle. The same portion also defines the electrical-assist pedal-cycle as not a motor vehicle.
So a class-K is a vehicle as far as the driving licence is concerned, but not as far as the Road Traffic Act is concerned.
Fortunatly this section also defines what “controlled by a pedestrian” actually means;
- is constructed or adapted for use only under such control, or
- is constructed or adapted for use either under such control or under the control of a person carried on it, but is not for the time being in use under, or proceeding under, the control of a person carried on it.
Now here it gets very muddy. Remote-control vehicles.
The person driving a radio-control car is a pedestrian, but they have no physical contact with the vehicle. And the only specific example given in section 189 is that of lawnmowers (as well as the milkman case). This implies that the control by the pedestrian is considered to be by physical contact with the vehicle. And there is ample proof of larger & more powerful remote-control vehicles (EG: 5000 Watts) than I’m making being used without a licence (other than that for the radio system).
Now if, and it’s a dangerous to take an if when dealing with the letter of the law, this above paragraph is correct in it’s assumptions, we’re left with an absurd situation.
- If I ride on Thunderbird 1, I have no legal issue.
- If I guide Thunderbird 1 with a handle, I need a full driving licence or a provisional one with a fully licensed person present.
- If I drive Thunderbird 1 via remote-control, I have no legal issue.
Further to this I find some more explicit descriptions on the Suffolk Police website that states;
- The term MPV (mechanically propelled vehicle) is not defined by legislation, but will include, for example, child-sized motorcycles, quads and all motorised vehicles as defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988. Note the exceptions from the definition of motor vehicle contained in section 189(1)(c) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 i.e. grass-cutting machines, certain vehicles controlled by pedestrians, and specified electrically assisted bicycles.
- An MPV becomes a motor vehicle when it’s made or adapted to go on roads.
- MPVs have to be registered, taxed and insured.
I think this just told me that a childs electric ride-in car (a 4-wheeled vehicle, not a bike or trike) would have to be taxed & insured.
I know I’m being facetious there.
Though there’s another loop-hole in all this mess that recently saw a man prosecuted for riding a Segway in the UK. Why is the Segway illegal to use on public land? Because it doesn’t have pedals, apparently. Quoting from the Legalise Segways website; “The Highway Act of 1835 renders the Segway PT illegal in the UK on pavements. They cannot be used where bicycles can (even electric bicycles) because they do not have pedals – and they cannot be used on the road as a motor vehicle because they do not meet any kind of permitted type approval in the UK. The only place they CAN be used is on private property (and only with the land owner’s permission).”
Their mention of the electric bicycles is a bit of a mistake I feel. Although I can’t find Segway literature listing motor power, a user forum post from 2002 however says the Segway uses two 2HP motors. So nearly 3000Watts.
With the electric-bike/trike law an absolute 250Watt limit, using the comparison here seems to provide their campaign with an immediate Achilles heel. I would be far more concerned that the Segway is fifteen times more powerful than the highest rated electric-assist bicycle, rather than it lacking pedals. (of course the Segway needs that power for rapid high-power adjustment in balance, rather than speed or loading)
But the pedal issue is why electric scooters are illegal. They’re solely electrically powered, not power-assisted. And despite being popular gifts for kids, illegal to use on anything other than private land in the UK.
Now to close with a couple of bits of speculation;
- The law relating to electric MPVs (but not motor vehicles) seems to take the attitude that the electric motor is solely for the purpose of assistance where the person is physically unable. Bicycle power-assistance, invalid carriages, electric wheelchairs, etc. Actual use as an independent low-risk/low-cost device for the able-bodied does not seem to be a consideration.
- With Thunderbird 2 looking at 360Watts of power, it should be legal to use as long as I don’t ride on it, control it wirelessly, don’t run it fast and don’t act like a cock to draw attention to myself. The whole area of new MPVs seems to be a sprawling grey-area where there’s a lot of interpretation involved on the behalf of the legal services. While this seems to sit ok as not-a-passenger-vehicle or a pedestrian-assist/controlled vehicle, it’s still an unusual variety of remote-controlled-vehicle which could invite legal wrangling. The additional robotic components will likely exacerbate that.
- While I can’t find specific mention, there’s some suggestion that using an RC vehicle to carry anything (person or cargo) turns it back into a motor vehicle. Which would rather stump one of the original intentions for the damn things.
If I were to make an amendment to the rules though? For a start I’d scrap the motor-wattage rating completely (Hell, scrap the ICE size limits too), but keep the speed limits on them.
It doesn’t matter if your motor is a hundred or a thousand watts; if it’s limited to twelve or fifteen miles per hour you’re only going to go that speed. The only thing it’ll effect is how much load you can carry and how quickly (or if) you can get to that top speed.
Final thought: While cat-K seems to be included on full licences by default, as many of the other categories require specialised testing it seems to imply there is a specific test or portion of test to get licensed to “drive” a push-lawnmower. I wonder if it’s possible to get a licence for JUST that?
Also, I’m aware that while not a legal necessity, public liability insurance is advisable when using powerful RC vehicles in public.
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I am officially looking for a treadmill to rip apart. I almost had one tonight but went to make a sandwich and got bid-sniped before I got back.
I know, with all I’ve said about just going straight in with your max-bid.. :P
Maybe I just want something new to mess around with.
Thinking of combining several of my existing half-done projects to conserve resources. Like taking the steering rack off the electric kids car, the motor and axle from the golf-caddy and the wheels from the big robot to make an electric go-cart. I can allways re-use it for the robot project later anyway.
Likewise thinking to combine the never-quite-functional robot dog thing with the robot camera-arm to make a sort of Scutter robot.
The treadmill I’m after with a view to fixing up the milling machine more with new head. Would be relatively easy to mount a slender DC motor on the mill’s front compared with a chunky AC motor of similar power. Plus I’d get a nice flat torque curve and less pully-gearing requirements (I anticipate at least 3 “gears” to give additional range. 8000rpm motors will probably only go down to 150rpm before stalling. Proper mills can get to low double-digits).
I suppose they’ll always be these things around, and I should concentrate on more pressing matters. But likewise I want to feel like I’m progressing. And the easiest way is to try and buy progress.
I’m acting no better than those militant Doomers who pile up their homes with survival gear they’ve never used and have no idea how to, just for the safety blanket of feeling more protected.
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Okay, so I’ve spent a little on the eye. I grabbed a £10 PS3 Eye while grabbing some other casting supplies for the business. And since whether the robot it’ll be attached to works out, I can still use it for webcasting from the workshop.
Also grabbed some M3 nuts; for some reason I have hundreds of M3 screws but no nuts.
Oh, and four flanged bearings. I don’t know the exact strength of these old servos, so didn’t want to make their job harder. For once I found prices cheaper than ebay. Most of the ebay flanged bearings were as pairs, so about £2.50 each for ones with a 3mm ID. Fast Lad Performance did a set of four for £4.08 (£6.45 inc signed postage).
The bearings arrived the other day along with some of the plain (not nyloc) nuts.
While I was waiting for them, I managed to do some repair-soldering on three of the servos with cut-short wires.
This is the sort of thing. Wires under an inch long from the PCB. I cannibalised the cables from some PC case-fans since they already had 3-wire cables with connectors on them at a standard 0.1″ pin spacing. Handily the wires are also the same colours as the servo ones!
Had to trim back the rubber gland a bit on one so the wire could bend sharply enough to clear the mechanism.
Why are the wires always at the end with the mechanical output too? It seems to mean robotics using standard servos end up using oversized brackets to clear the cables.
I also cut up the small servo with broken gearbox and got the potentiometer hooked up to a gear after a lot of trial, error and fusing gear & hubs together with the soldering iron.
When the cross-piece was cut down a bit I also drilled holes and bolted the pot-end to it, and then added the other half of the servo carcass to the conveniently identical-sized focus motor. Means I’ve been able to hide the servo’s PCB in that half for safe-keeping. Nice & tidy.
With the new bearings I drilled out some slices of the old shower cabinet frame and used them as brackets to mount one of the servos. The join is a bit loose because I over-filed the square hole, but it’ll do for the rough version.
I pressed the cowling on and loaded some nuts into it for weight. Weighing them after it drooped, I’ve got another 80grams before the servo gears won’t hold it locked in position it seems. I might be able to get away with that just fine, but it may mean bigger servos if I add an auto-focus mechanism later.
I then grabbed the tin-snips and made up a small mount for one of the small speakers from an old laptop. It looked okay, but I quickly realised it would foul the pan-tilt mechanism. I’ll have to go inside the cowling somewhere.
Need to fab up the pan mount next. Trying to get some weight away from the arms end I’m going to try and run it from a servo near the elbow using some old printer toothed-belt if I can find a matched set of belt gears.
I can probably clear up some of the tinier parts now and make some space again now the basics are together. It should get bigger & cruder as it goes down toward the base. Got some old printer flanged-bearings for the elbox & shoulder (8mm ID).
It’s enjoyable so far. But I really want that cheap camera to arrive. I know xmas post slows things down a lot, but I am a little concerned.
Please excuse the photo quality. These ones were grabbed quickly with the mobile phone. There’s enough loose glass-fibre in the workshop at the moment I’m loathed to take the good camera down there.
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Not much tinkering today, but I grabbed a few pics.
This is the rotation section of the “head”. I suppose it would be the wrist if it were a grabber-arm. Little motor’s from the autofocus of an old camcorder, main gear is from a printer paper-feed. It already had a bore of 10mm so I pressed a couple of miniature bearings into it to provide ample support. It’s drilled to 8mm on the other side of the face-plate to the bearings are retained but so the M3 screw remains a static axle. The gear is mounted by drilling through three of the six handy injection-moulding marks on the gear, then tapping the plate. Finding screws that would fit in the recess was tricky.
Mind you it’s all tricky. It’s all built from junk I have knocking about. It’s just handy that human civilisation works on a few different standards and measurements, so if you have enough parts to throw at it sooner or later something will stick together. Trial and error’s what’s taking the longest here, rather than outright manufacture.
Another thing that took time was finally assesing a bunch of used servos I picked up ages ago. About half had broken gear teeth, so while I managed to put together about 5 working ones the rest are just partials unless cheap gearsets are still available for them. (some seem to have all-metal gearsets still available in old-stock form, but since I’m not really spending money on this..)
Actually I am spending a little money. About £20 on ebay for a PS3 Eye webcam for the vision and a couple of ultra-tiny servos from China (1.5g each!) to try and make some moving ears.
The small servo on the right there is one of those with a lot of broken gears. But it’s motor is about the same size as the autofocus motor, so I’m going to try and attatch the servo’s position-pot to that loose middle-sized gear. I’m eyeballing everything on this, but I think that will work and give the head about a 60-degree range of rotation from about 190 on the servo. It should be handy to be able to run it as a servo rather than directly.
How those servo parts attach will depend greatly on how I end up rigging the pan-tilt mechanism with some old Futaba FD30M’s (re-branded S20′s). Presuming they still work anyway; I still need to solder new wires to them and hook them up to the Arduino for testing. Mechanically they’re fine though and should be easy enough to connect to even without servo horns, due to the square spindle style.
That’s the plastic cowling that press-fits to the aluminium plate. I have no idea what it’s from, other than that I found it back when I lived in Hastings and it’s been knocking around my parts bins since. I think it may have come from a motorbike, as I did find some odd bits of faring down the main road at times. Else it came from the old stockroom skip at the factory, in which case there’s no clue at all. It’s a nice tapered shape and not too heavy, so will make a nice cowling here.
I cut up some old difuser plastic to see how the final thing might look. I’m thinking of surrounding the cam inside with a few RGB LEDs to convey things visually. I’d like to fit a speaker too, but nothing’s sprung up at me yet in an appealing way. Time will tell.
This is all evolving from this:
It’s a decade-old Logitec Quickcam with no casing attached to an angle-poise lamp (technically 2 , since I combined them to make a more heavy-duty angle-poise frame) via a block of wood. It’s worked quite nicely as a workshop webcam since it’s been pretty stable and allowed me to move the cam rapidly around, but the attachment leaves something to be desired because the image ends up tilted because of the order of axis. At very least it needed a new mounting arrangement which wouldn’t have been hard.. but running a computer-controlled arm into some machine-vision software with off-the-shelf face-tracking scripts to make a motion-tracking robot cameraman? THAT would be fun.
It may also let me toy around with enhanced and more intuitive computer avatar feedback for video-calls or general computer control. And avoid creepy computer avatars like Dreamer or Pintsize.
I might call it Max.
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I should be clearing up.
I should be doing exercises.
I should be learning more database theory, writing adverts, making moulds, doing accounts, doing innumerable small odd-jobs to get in a smidge of extra cash.
But I’m not.
I’ve indulged myself this last couple of days and it’s felt good. I’ve been tinkering in the workshop.
Long story short, I’ve been trying to motorise the angle-poise lamp I have the webcam attached to, with a view to getting it hooked up to some machine-vision software for motion-tracking and having it run as cameraman. At least it started there, and now I’m looking at adding microphones, a speaker and tri-colour LEDs to turn it into a sort of intuitive feedback device.
It’s essentially a robot arm though, with 6 degrees of freedom. I’ve never made a robot arm before. I also have no spare money to throw at it, so I’ve been running through my various parts bins.
Collecting “useful” things, and/or taking them apart to see how they’re assembled is something of a compulsion. However actually recombining them feels like something I’ve let atrophy. It’s been frustrating at points, but it’s an enjoyable indulgence. And it feels like it’s starting to get back into gear a bit.
It’s also helpfully letting me see what parts are actually still any use to me.
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From page one, the book is memory filled. I’m glad to have it because there’s no other way I could remember the details.
Published 1976, Buster the robot is described as “one of the most unusual machines possible in the context of modern technology” and that he “Represents the highest-order machine that technology can produce today”. And I believe it.
It’s a strong contrast to the book itself, as the glue holding the pages in is cracking and the first 14 of them are threatening to come away entirely.
Buster is set out in a three-stage project (accordingly titled Buster I, II and III), in which the same machine is further added to and modified, increasing it’s abilities.
The Buster I phase warns that it will be the most expensive, dealing mostly with converting/building the driveframe, power supply, control systems and so on. Basically building Buster up as a tethered remote control vehicle, going up through the stages of; going from brute-force power switching to logic-level control, adding speed variation control, self-centring steering, and finally converting the controls over to binary.
The Buster II stage starts working on the autonomic reflex system and “brain”.
I’m rather excited that it talks of them separately, indicating lifelike concious and autonomic motivators.
The section also adds sensors and reflexes, as well as low-battery self-monitoring and an alarm to alert the owner of this, which is also used if Buster gets stuck somewhere.
After this comes the cutting of the umbilical controls, and making some form of audio control system (though it mentions the transmission format being compatible with then-current regs for data links between telephones and CB radio systems. This seems rather esoteric now! I had no idea CB radios were often hooked up to telephones.).
Buster III starts by adding the impressive-sounding “tracking function” which ties in with giving him goal-seeking abilities. This then ties in with the hunger alarm, and allowing Buster to seek out his charging station to plug himself in.
I seem to recall from the first time I read the book that this had some sort of contacts on sprung arms. Guess we’ll see when we get there.
Yes, I’m not re-reading the book up front, I’m taking it as it comes (well, chapter by chapter).
By this point Buster should be able to run around by himself, bumping into things, hurtling into empty spaces, and charging himself up when needed.
Beyond this point it talks of the icing on the cake; optional extras and so on. Things like line-following and other variations.
There’s also mention of a theoretical Buster IV, adding microprocessor control on top of the reflexes and goal-seeking. Perhaps these would be analogous to reflexes, instincts and concious learning?
The staged construction and review layout of the book sounds perfectly manageable.
And ultimately it points out that you need to choose some of the design choices at each stage yourself. It’s a recipe, not a design.
It also notes that “despiking” capacitors are omitted on all schematics. Will have to remember that.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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So here’s the lil fella I picked up for £3..
This little mock quad-bike is pretty lightweight. There’s some metal framework for the axles, but the rest is all a moulded plastic body. I’d be worried about it taking the weight of extra parts if it wasn’t designed to cart around reasonably large children.
The rear drive wheels are pretty worn, and all are the cheap hollow plastic variety.
They’re a lot wider and with less grip than the ones on the original Buster’s frame as best I can judge from the few photos. I’ll keep it in mind as it may have issues with drive and steering.
The rear wheels have separate drive motors, driven together on a static axle. Cheapest design, but running the motors together should be fine.
Controls are pretty simple. Two sealed 6v lead-acid batteries, a two-button toggle for forward and reverse, another for fast and slow (seems to switch the batteries from serial to parallel connection, so 6v to 12v) and a foot pedal switch to make it go.
The controls on the handlebars are purely for show. There’s nothing in them beside a horn powered by a separate set of AA batteries.
I should be able to strip off a few odds and ends, but as it’s a monocoque they’ll be a limit. And since I’m running out of space here, my Buster will need to be able to be stored outside.
I suspect the control electronics may be a bit smaller, even using as close to 1970s parts as I can. Maybe if I upturn a plastic bin on them that’ll be sufficient rainproof housing.
I was quite excited to find it used two 6v batteries, as that’s what Buster was designed to run on. However when I measured them they only read 2.27v each.
Lead-acid batteries are also not meant to be concave.
My charger wouldn’t read it as needing the charge. Rather wish the charger gave out more information on battery status. Charging complete has the same indication as being unable to charge.
As a last-ditch effort I pried the sealed cover off one of the batteries and found three rubber caps. On pulling one off there was a characteristic sucking noise. All the cells were under vacuum. So I suspect the car may have been left out in hot sun for a long time, and literally boiled the batteries dry. So when they cooled the covers were sucked on.
With nothing to loose I grabbed a bottle of demin water and proceeded to refill the cells with a syringe through the tiny vent holes.
Sadly, that didn’t work. Even after a few days for the plates to re-wet, the readings didn’t change at all. Due to construction there’s no way of getting electrolyte back out again to check the gravity. At this point though it’ll just be simpler to spend the £20 buying a new set of more powerful batts.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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Currently got a bunch of things on order, and a nicely full order book. Hurrah.
Yesterday though I spotted something outside a local charity shop. A Fisher Price ride-on electric car.
When I was a child, I used to get a book out from the library over and over again. “Build your own working robot” by David L. Heiserman, published 1976 (ISBN 0-8306-6841-1). The hardback, it was bright orange and missing it’s dust cover. I read and re-read it, fascinated by the diagrams that were inexplicable yet tangibly logical. I must have been 8 at the time.
I wanted my parents to get me a pair of those electric kids cars just so I could make the robot in it; Buster.
At £100 each though, that never happened. And one day some git took the book out and never returned it. I was gutted for a long time.
Last year though, I found a paperback copy on Amazon. And now, for £3 I have the perfect electric car to do it.
After 21 years, I can finally build my own Buster. I have the chance to fulfil a childhood ambition.
I, of course, will blog it. 
The tech involved is pretty crude by modern standards, being started in the mid 70s. I’m sure it’d be easier to redesign it with modern parts. But I’m going to see how closely I can do it to the original book. Wooden PCB racks, reed-switches and all.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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More tinkering today.
Pulled the frame apart and flipped it over to give the motors more ground clearance and enough space for a trailing castor.
Rather than cut up the push-scooter bearing tubes, I made a new longer one from a piece of old vacuum cleaner nossle and bolted it into the clamp from an old satellite dish mount. That gave me some bolt holes and nice steel plate to attach some more scrap 1″ box section to as an angle-block. Another couple of bits of smaller box-section went on top again to provide rigidity.
I’ve run out of M6 bolts now though, so will have to get some. Studding would probably be better though.
The motor assemblies were already made up, so it’s really only the frame that’s the product of the last couple of days.
The motors look a little wonky because they’re not bolted down properly. Neither are the bearing-blocks, which’ll need three more M10 carriage bolts. Probably want to put some fibre washers between the motor mounts and frame to help prevent damage to the aluminium gearbox housings.
Here it is with the existing battery box roughly in place.
It’s a large box because it contains a commercial van battery (12v, Lead-acid), as well as positive and negative bus-bars, keyswitch, automotive fuse panel and emergency-stop button on the rear hatch.
May had a high-current plug to it too to allow it to provide jump-starts. If I find one of them laying about anyway.
No motor controllers as yet. I still need to test the stall current of the motors (12v, 180Watt, ~220rpm geared).
Wheels are ten-inch pneumatic sack-barrow wheels. Freewheeling hubs were previously ground off and fixed hubs with a coupler-dog brazed up and bolted on.
Got some aluminium car-phone enclosures with surface-mounting holes that should take a controller each quite nicely.
Whatever this ends up being, it’ll be pretty powerful and be able to go a long way.
Need to make mounts to secure battery box and fork-extensions to turn the current front wheel into a castor. Wanted a pneumatic castor, but there’s not enough space under the frame currently. Maybe later.
Will keep my eyes on the river; see if a shopping trolley turns up. A trolley basket could be a good addition to it for the moment.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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I’ve burnt out two motor controllers, and I’m out of M6 nuts and bolts.
Will have to get..
75mm M6 bolts
Three M12 coach bolts and nylocs
20 or so M6 nylocs
~50cm of M6 studding
Maybe a bar-LED module
Not sure it’ll be a good gear carrier, but it could be a motherfucker of an T-1.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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I wonder why no one makes a toaster with a light sensor so it toasts based on how dark the bread gets.
Found another electric golf caddy today. Lightweight, good frame. Wheels from the larger robot project may fit it. Think I may be able to modify it to carry the UKFur shop, which’ll be handy for getting to Confuzzled.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from "Dreamwidth Creative Blog" into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]
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