• Step 1

    Neuntoter • 11/17/2016 at 06:31 • 3 comments

    It's a lie, this isn't really step 1.. I have iterated several servo layouts (in fact you can see glue marks from past failures in one of the pictures). I started thinking about this years before home 3D printers were even a reality and have failed cutting reliably 2 sheets of ABS, dozens of chop sticks, and even wood on numerous occasions. I honestly gave up on this for about a year due to seeing no way to fulfill my desires of symmetry. Forward to November 2016 and welcoming a Ultimaker 3 into my home and all the sudden the prospect of completing this isn't doomed.

    So far I have lied and now I must admit I cheated on the project already, too. However in my defense I wanted to test my new printer, my Solidworks skills are limited , and so I came across a project on thingverse(quite by accident) that was exactly the style and shape I wanted and designed to fit my servos. So I began printing the lower leg portion. The printer passed my test with 6 prints, 0 failures, and only one little corner that didn't stick right on one leg.

    I started with the lower leg portion because I am of the belief that it is the most important part of any walking robot. Well the feet more so than leg but on a hexapod it is basically the same thing.

    The legs are attached to their servo using 2*(2Mx10mm Bolts & Nuts)

    In truth step 1 should probably be drawing out some designs and perhaps doing some math etc etc etc... and I have made some crude cave man like drawings; more suited to use of crayon than pencil, calipers, protractors, straight edges, and other fancy implements. However I wasn't settled on what 3d software until recently and even still I am fighting Solidworks vs Inventor.

    Now step 2 will become the actual planning phase, because I must begin looking at leg length and gait.


    Random Musings

    • My current working plan is to use upper leg length equal to the entire length of lower leg.
    • My "hip" is created with 2 servos glued together, at least at this point. This was a stupid idea really... but at the time I had no idea that I would have a 3d printer to do this. I have 3 of them completed so I need to contemplate if I should try to undo them and print something or just make the other 3 in the same way.

    TL;DR = I all but randomly chose some leg piece and printed it 6 times. Time to design around them.