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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Droid podiatrist

As much as I have been working on my droids feet ankles and drive motors, I feel like a droid podiatrist. Adjusting the foot shells and angle of my motor is very time intensive and requires a lot of creative thinking. After about 27,582 adjustments, I think that the feet and drive units are adjusted pretty good. The rear shells are not completely level but there seems to be enough clearance. The front of the two rear shells dips a little lower than the rear of the shell.

Last night I got a different 4" caster ... one much lighter but still very durable with quality bearings. The other caster was about 5-10 pounds heavier. You could have rolled a tank on that caster. So between that and the resin ankle I replaced, I'm guessing the droid is 30-40 pounds lighter which is significant. The 4" caster just barely fits in my oversized (Daniel) foot shell and just barely touches one side when turning around. Not bad. The other caster rubbed terribly.

I also added quick release hinges to my electronic drop down door so I can move the electronics to the bench easily. I got the idea for these hinges (and the McMaster part#) from Jerry Greene aka JAG. The wires to the dome, sound system and motors were trimmed to just the right size. Today I may change out the drive motor wires to a thicker gauge.

After the holidays I'll be installing a set of PVC battery boxes on the droid and then I can focus on some other projects to get ready for MegaCon. My next project is to build a portable droid garage that R2 can drive into and get loaded into my truck with a winch. The droid garage will be enclosed and on wheels. At an event, I can wheel R2 to the site, open the front door/ramp and drive him out. It will solve several problems if it works.

2 comments:

Calvin Thomas said...

Speaking of MegaCon,
Man it seems like a rat race trying to get ready.
Wiring, painting etc etc.
We keep telling eachother we'll be ready then we find other things that need to be done.
But, I can't wait to get there :o)
Calvin

Jim said...

You're right Calvin. Just when you think you're out of the woods, a million new things crop up and they spawn more fun tasks. I have to say I sometimes feel a little burnt out in my quest to "get er done". But that comes along with trying to meet a deadline.

Hope you and Brenda have a good Christmas and a great 2009. We look forward to seeing you guys at MegaCon.