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R.C.S. (Team Percussive Maintenance) - a build diary
So I've wanted to make a Featherweight thwackbot for a while, and the long Easter bank holiday weekend seemed a perfect opportunity.
Day 1:
Design... sort of didn't happen. I went out and bought some big wheels and a big mallet, and placed them onto some sheets of HDPE I had. Electronics would similarly be a re-use of parts I had from other projects that have either been retired or failed.
Most of day 1 was spent working out what I wanted to create, and how things would fit inside. Once this was done, it was time to get the jigsaw out and start cutting. It somewhat struggled with the 20mm HDPE that the main chassis bulkheads are built out of, but with some patience eventually all the parts were cut and fitting together.
Day 2:
With most of the chassis complete, it was time to turn my attention to the electronics. Thanks to the fact that a lot of this was re-use of components I'd already set up and tested (OrangeRX, FeatherTwo, and Cordless Drill motors and batteries) this bit was nice and easy, and everything got installed, with wiring being routed through wiring runs I'd chain drilled into the bulkheads on day 1.
Also, embedded hex fittings into the plastic spacers that came with the wheels to form hubs. At this point I relaised it was somewhat... bigger... than it looked in my head (see picture with banana for scale). Note that the wheels were not fully on at this point, as I wanted to do some more work on the hubs to lock everything together nicely.
Day 3:
Final work took place on the hubs to key everything together, and wheels got mounted.
Bench tests with the bot strapped tightly to a very heavy toolbox went well, with only minor modifications needed to lock the clutches after one decided to unscrew itself completely and cause a fun little hunt for the bearings under my workbench.
With that done though, it was time to make a top panel, velcro all connectors in place, give the battery a good charge and take it for a very cautious test drive in an open space!
Test drive 1 was promising, though it had a problem with seemingly cutting out randomly whilst bouncing across the grass. Upon inspection, the cause was tracked down to a broken solder joint inside the battery connector that was being held in place only by the wires being pressed by the casing. A quick soldering job later, and test drive 2 went without hitch.
Planned improvements from it's current state include steel armour on the front panel, this should also help to counterbalance the weapon and make it a bit more responsive :)
