I know it seems like nothing has been happening for the last little while with the robot and that’s partly true. I have been tooling up though and preparing for some more development. This weekend I’ll be picking up some minor parts I need to get working on the electronics and will cut some small slugs from the aluminum round tubing I picked up last Saturday. These will be the raw material I create my hubs from. I also found some ball bearings to support the hubs so I don’t tear my motor shaft apart.
Tooling up has been an intriguing adventure. I’ve been chasing all kinds of sales from a few different places. I now have the tap and die set I wanted, drill bits to go with and a bizarre little tool called a centre finder. The main item that I’m missing at the moment is a drill press. Unfortunately the one I’ve been looking at is being very, very stubborn and not going on sale. I’ve been watching for a couple of months now and it’s now been at least 8 weeks in a row that Canadian tire’s put out a flyer without the bandsaw on sale. It’s bumming me out a little. On the flipside Princess Auto has a metal lathe that I’ve been drooling over on sale. Sadly it’s still very expensive so I doubt it’s in the cards for me anytime soon. You see manufacturing the hubs is going to be a massive pain without a lathe. So much so that I’ve considered picking up a wood lathe (which is less that half the cost of a metal lathe) and manufacturing my hubs from hardwood. They don’t need to be very heavy duty, just strong enough to pinch in a couple of shafts. But then I’m spending money on something that might not work and I’m not 100% sure I want.
So that’s where things stand. I’m in a bit of a temporary holding pattern and low on funds. None of this surprises me though. I knew this was going to be a much longer project than I had hoped and I was ok with that. I still am. People keep asking me when it will be finished and honestly I have no idea. At least a month or two and probably longer than that still.
robot
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