Week of 9/7

This week I made a lot of progress on my rover. At the start of the week my main objective was to try and get as many of the different pieces 3d printed and laser cut as I could, I first started with laser cutting the main base of the rover. After completing this task I next moved on to 3d printing the main bracket. After the first print finished I realized the the bearing that I had chosen last year was very small and might not work as well as something more substantial, upon realizing this I changed the measurements and 3d printed it once more. This time it fit the large bearing perfectly and I moved on to 3d printing the joint.

Joint

Bracket/bearing

Once the joint was finished printing attempted to attach it. The original intention was to get a thick bolt and run it through the joint and bearing, then attaching a lock washer onto the end to allow for free movement. However after finding a bolt, I realized to myself that instead, I could just simply tap the joint to add threads, then screw it on to the bolt, and after completing this the two parts fit together seamlessly and the bearing moved freely.

2nd small bearing

The last aspect of my week involved laser cutting the other components of my project, This was the legs of the suspension and something that I wanted to ensure fit correctly. Once I finished laser cutting I attached the two main legs into the joint piece, and this is where the main improvement can come. When attaching the second part of the rocker bogie suspension I realized that trying to use a smaller bearing for the second piece turned out to not work the greatest. along side this I struggled to find a bolt that properly fit to the right length to attach a lock nut. Next week I hope to hone in on a few of these issues and make the overall design better quality, once this is done I will mount the motors and begin to test.

Base plate