Progress so far
Gareth Richards.
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So far progress has been agonisingly slow, as brace designs, lack of computer skills, lack of designs skills and a annoying tendency to do things wrong have all conspired against me. But, I am glad to report that:
1. My brace is fully designed and functioning.
2. I have done some prelininary circuit work on infrared sensors, whell watchers etc.
After numerous tweaks, mental breakdowns and losing the will to live,
The initial designs went from this: To this:
This is my initial design made up for aluminium sheets, didn't quite go the way I planned. Below is the inner shell design which was intended to support the scructure and electronics of the Mbot:
Initially the idea was for the mbot to have 2 shells, the aluminium one shown above would have supported the Mbot and electrics while a outer aluminium shell would protect it all. The outer shell would pop down over the top and protect everything inside. Unfortunately due to production difficulties and design constraints after some initial mock ups, see above, the design was deemed impractical. As far as designing the initial aluminium brace went, at first i designed it not taking in factors such as the material lost in the bends, during cutting and trying to cut measurements too fine while i was using toools such as a tin snip.
My first measurements and ideas leading up to my eventual, perfected yet abandoned, mark IX, which in turn lead to my perfected and used mark 2.4:
Note: Last page contains preliminary electronics work and sudden cuts in the page are deliberate.
I realise that the above diagrams are incomprehensible to the normal human being but they make sense to me. I hope that the above pieces of my work show the frantic drafts, redrafts and hassle just one unused design caused me, and I ended up doing two. While these measurements and notes were being taken down I was testing designs in cardboard, seeing how they worked in aluminium and so on, but unfortunately I don't have photgraphs of my earliest designs. Only the notes remain.
The second brainwave, courtesy of Chris but I'll claim it as my own, was to make the design out of plastic and cut it using the schools laser cutter, cutting down on production time, assembly time and helping me regain the will to live. The idea was to put slotting tabs in all of the faceplates so they they merely slide into each other, you screw certain points on chassis together and viola! A fast, easy way to assemble and produce a chassis. Not only that but it also helps packing, as unlike with the aluminium the plastic plates can be packed flat, the aluminium would have to be packed pre-bent. The aluminium could of potentially been packed flat but they would mean the customer would have to bend the plate themselves which could compromise the structural integrity of the plate and lead to mistakes that render the kit useless. Comparitively easy to make compared to the last version, it was plauged by design technicalities. What didn't help was that having almost no previous experience with the programme I wasted a lot of time. For example, during the course of one day I attempted in vain to get lines at precise angles to line up, then after 4 hours I discovered while randomly clicking, a tool that did this quickly and easily. I could of killed someone there and then. Fortuantely I now have a working brace and brace design now, and I can move on with my life. This is my brace in all of its glory:
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Love the note book scans!