Wednesday, February 22, 2006

RoboMagellan

So last night was a good night. My gf had a girl's night out so I got the whole evening to work on my bot. I added a 2nd story to the frame of the bot a hung the inverted joystick from it. There is plenty of clearance for it with the extra height. Boy it was harder than I expected. I only have a hand drill right now so I ended up using a 1/4 inch bit for #8 screws. Even then, I was all too often misaligned from one aluminum piece to the next. That MircoMark mill that David Cook talks about in his Intermediate Robot Building book is starting to look good. I hate to blow the $900+ or so after shipping and accessories, but I suck so bad at mechanical stuff that I need all the help I can get.

I also put a sentra bottom on the bot. Boy that stuff is hard to cut with a razor knife. Its doable, but I wish I had a better way. A band saw would probably make for a shredded edge. A water knife would probably do great work. I'll check the sofa cushions for some spare change to buy that. *snort*

Anyway, the gf has class though much of the evening so I may get some more work in. I might make some more sentra panels or I might put the wheels back on and wire up the joystick. I's like to see the data output from that thing as the bot drives.