2010-05-11 » Bob's been screwed!

Screwed Bob

My new tap works better than the old one, especially since it’s not broken. So I was able to complete the remaining motor mounts and Bob’s been screwed together. The main pieces that make up his frame have also been reinforced, so he shouldn’t fall apart anymore. You can see the screws holding his frame together in the image at the left.

In my previous post I also talked briefly about Bob’s new wheel mounts. The new design required some careful manufacturing, but I think I pulled off an acceptable job. Hopefully they work well. Here’s a picture that gives you some idea of what the new ones look like:

Those are screws holding on the small aluminum pieces at the bottom. Those will tighten and hold the motors on.

I’ve also prototyped Bob’s new dual output power supply. Using an LM317 and a 7805 I have both 5v and 6v rails that I can use for the Ardweeny and motors respectively. The 6v rail can actually be adjusted via a pot to output a voltage anywhere from about 1.2v to just about 1v under the input voltage (theoretically up to about 36v). The prototype looks like this, but less blurry in real life:

and I’ll have to clean it up a bit and solder it together onto a more permanent board.

Two of the other tasks I listed in my last post also came to some level of completion. I finished adding the wires and connectors to the remaining motors, and I got started playing with the shift registers. I’ll probably try to get them hooked up with the motor controllers after I finish with the new power supply.

So, I got a few things done again. Maybe if I make a new list I’ll get some of them done too. Here’s what I’d like to get started on by next week:

  • Attach the connectors to the second motor controller
  • Get the motor controllers working with the shift registers
  • Finalize the new dual output power supply
  • Mount the battery holders and power supply to the frame
  • Mount the motor controllers and shift registers to the frame
  • Mount the motors and put on the wheels

Hopefully I’ll have lots of updates and pictures next week!