Here's the brain cup with the light rods attached.. Looks good hey! I am still deciding whether or not to use 12 light rods or just seven. Some plans show 12 others show 7. lol.. Just another reason to watch a few more episodes of Lost In Space.Well we are getting there, this pic shows the brain partially assembled and lit up... :)
 

I decided to rewire the brain section. I wasn't happy with the way in which the lights where fixed or the fact I had one power line. So now there are 4 circuits in the brain section and brass tubing acting as both a secondary earth and a more robust mounting arrangement. The brass tube runs across the lamp fittings. All the wiring is held in place by stick down cable tie mounts and cable ties. The Cables are terminated on 2 sections of 3 way tag strip. The corresponding wiring harness will be terminated to a 12way molex connector. The Crown now has a brass sleave bearing and centre drive ( found a model boat propeller shaft for that. I am still searching for some lower wattage bulbs for the light rods. The power consumption of the light rods is 35watts.. Way too high. Ok here's the trick... I went for Automotive flasher cans to flash the lights... and I hate to say it... old technology works....If you watch a vide of LIS you will see that the lights fade and NOT go out... It is the differential between the faded voltage and the full voltage that gives the appearance that the lights were off.... They look brilliant... if i get the time i will record a AVI file so u can see what I mean... Also, sorry plain globes looked a little boring.. so I painted them yellow... and they actually glow orange... Nice look... The next trick is to motorize the crown... I am taking a very simple approach to that, single 12v motor attached to the support for the brain with a belt drive to a pulley mounted in the shaft. Once i have finished I have finished ironing out the details I will post a pic for you...  Oh for those wondering how I mounted the brain section.. It is VERY simple.. a Pvc flange with 50mm bore, it came as about 20cm in diameter.. I cutting down with the dremel, sanded it smooth. Using the brain cup as a template.. drilled the 4 mounting holes. I tapped the mounting holes with a 4mm thread and used 316 stainless steel hex nuts and washers. The Flange was painted chrome. The rubber boot is fixed to the out side of the flange using Polyurethane. (Stikafelx) This covers the 50mm bore PVC pipe section which will drop down thru the radar assembly. (all of this painted chrome too .. I know it wont be seen...) Woohoo managed to obtain a one piece bubble!! Hold on to ya seats... Next pic will show the brain encapsulated!!!

And now for my next trick! Ordered the motor for the crown, and.. wait for it... a rack and pinion motor assembly for the bubble lifter... yehaaa.. This should be quite simple. I had plans to do all sorts of stuff to raise and lower the bubble, but.. this solution should work fine. Attaching the rack part of the kit to the PVC tube, i should be able to get 7" of travel out of the bubble lifter, although that is way to much... using limit switches will solve that problem. Pictures will be available when its done.

Not Bad	too complex!
	Pretty Simple actually, the PCB has 2 sockets for the "eyes" and 3 for the upper brain lights, these are MES fittings the rest will be MBC fittings. The ring in the centre is the +ve rail, around the ring is a small gap, this is where the Zener diodes can can go, or, if the light uses 12 volts , a small jumper wire can be soldered in. All components are soldered direct to the board on the track side. Well i thought it was a good idea, and it simplifies repair of the electrics in the brain.
So I made a pcb for the Brain

OK I cant help my self, I had a stainless steel crown made (or should I say cut). After 5 hours of polishing, and an hour of drilling  and 30 minutes of riveting .. Its done and here is what it looks like.

The fins - unpolished	The main disk - unpolished

Stop press * New company is making the castings for me.. will let you know how and what when I get the details.
Until I  get the arms I want, these are what i am going to use, Thermo Plastic Rubber Arms.
 

If your are having trouble getting a suitable material for the arms... Try Couplings, In Malaga, WA . email me for the address/phone number.

Motorising the claws.. now there's a challenge. The only thing I could find that would work was a door locking solenoid for a car.. and in fact it worked quite nicely. The claws will stay in the close position or the open position depending on the polarity of the voltage sent to the motor.  Depending on how your claws are setup, there shouldn't be too much trouble applying the idea I have used for the claws. This however was my initial effort at motorising he claws, before I started using the RC, now, I am using a servo to open and close the claws.

Hint: If you are using resin claws, do not supply the full 12Volts to the motor, use 6 volts. This will help stop the "SNAP" effect of the claws closing, and will prevent any damage to them.

Here's a pic of the solenoid motor, I think you will get the idea jut by seeing the motor, on how to set it all up. If you use the master motor in one claw, the slave can be wired directly to the master, otherwise you will need to wire them both back to what ever you use to fire them. I picked mine up from an auto electrician, he had heaps of them laying around and was glad to get rid of a few. I think you could use them for the soil Sampler door too!

This is the door lock solenoid found in most after market kits (the one pictured is a master)

Ok this is how i made my legs. Damn stapler was useless!!! so.. I used industrial grade carpet cement. An using the steps below, I managed to get the leg pieces to look fine. Here's the tip, brush the cement onto the wood piece first. Then while that is starting "go off" cut the foam tubing. By the time u have finished cutting the tubing, the cement will have started to go tacky. Now brush some more glue into the foam tubing. Let that stand for a little while (not long a minute or 2). Now simply roll the leg piece into the tubing, using a firm but even pressure. Trim off the excess tubing and using super glue, join the ends. Be warned foam tubing gives off fumes and gets hot when super glue is applied. Now just go round the edge and pull the foam tight. Because the cement is tacky, there will be very little movement after you apply pressure to the surfaces.. and hey presto.. one piece finished. To aid in the setting process, I stacked the pieces on top of each other using some spare wood to add weight.
Another tip - Don't try this in your lounge room!!
And don't forget to cvut out the centres BEFORE you put the Foam tubing on.. DERRRRR

Apply adhesive to the leg piece
Cut a line down 1 Side of the Foam Tubing	apply adhesive to the foam tubing
press the foam tubing onto the leg piece	2 completed pieces

Ok we are underway with the tread section. Made from steel, the tread section features 5mm outer walls, 3mm inner walls and facings. The laser cut patterns will be bent into shape to reduce the number of welds required. Here is a Autocad rendering of one of the feet. Also, to make sure everything is easy to setup correctly the engineering shop used a tab & slot arrangement so the parts will be exactly where they need to be.:)
 

Ok this shows one of the feet rendered. Each foot weighs 17 Kilos for a total weight of 34Kilos per pair. If you look closely you can see the tab slots where everything goes together. The facings are 3mm steel, bent to shape!
And what do they look like attached.. well here ya go. Note they are obviously not painted yet and the soil sampler door has not been fitted.
How to hinge the soil Sampler door. Use a garden gate hinge, remove the pin and place the main part of the hinge over the door flap. Mark around the door. The cut that away. The flap portion can be cut right down, leaving the barrel. Line the gate hinge up on the door flap. (Make sure it is level) tack weld to the back of the door. Then using a magnetic clamp. put the hinge & door into the opening on the foot (put the mag clamp in the front - this ensures the door is flush) line the door up so it has even spacing around the door. (I used match sticks and trimmed to points). Once you are happy with the layout, tack weld the butt of the hinge to the foot. Before you do a final weld just make sure the door can swing freely in the opening.

Well looky here. What is that I see ???? Yes..It is the torso. Now I can't tell you where I got it from, but I can tell you.. If you live outside the USA, you better have a damn good cheque account balance. After nearly 1200$ Aus in freight alone it's here! Painted, cut and ready to be assembled! First cab of the rank, is fitting the Collar hooks. Made from 25 mm * 3mm aluminium stock bar. (see pic) they will act as a keyway lockdown for the collar. I will post a detailed diagram of the locks once I have completed them. Note, that these hooks will have to have measurements adjusted to suit YOUR torso and Collar.

To the gentleman who supplied my torso, thanks for persevering. Freighting was done by ABX Logistics (a world wide freight company). They were most competitive and offered the best advice on how to handle the shipment. http://abxlogistics.com Thanks Wayne! couldn't have done it with out your help.  As for the other freight / intergrators get a grip people, 2500$ to ship it from the USA to Aus.. Cheaper for me to take a holiday!!

I have had a mould taken from t he torso (with the minor imperfections fixed up) so next trick will be getting another torso made up. See below if you require a torso.

Lights Off	Lights On - He's looking Good!

Well.. umm... there are 2 pics of the neon, it was made in 2 pieces. Just a tip, it's probably better if its a bit larger than a bit small... I broke the main neon section as I was removing it from the back panel. New main section should be ready in a couple of days. You will notice the blacked out areas on the extreme edges of the neon. People ask why... Simply, this area will not be exposed and by blacking it out no reflection or stray glow can be introduced to the main neon area.

To power and modulate the Tubes, I am using a Tech2000 12 Volt Neon transformer with the sound modulator from the same company. To ensure it doesn't "jelly bean" zener diodes are placed in series with the input and out put leads of the Neon. Craig R  has an excellent diagram on how to wire up the neon transformer and modulator - thanks Craig.

The neon was made by the "New Edison Lighting Company" who specialise in Neon and Lighting effects. They distribute world wide and have some rather interesting projects to their credit. There was no other company in Aus that I was willing to take a chance with, and Chris at NEDC knew his stuff so that made it a whole lot easier.

 

Neon resting on the back plate	woohoo Lit up!
The acid test

This would have to be the hardest part of the robot to get... Seems to be a mystery..I would have preferred a vac formed back plate.. and eventually I will make one, but for now, I have used 0.10 inch styrene and heat bent it into shape. Using a special styrene solvent (not a modelling glue) I have been able to make it with out much mess. Unlike most back plates, I decided to mount 2 speakers behind it, this is where the voice of the robot will come from. (Sounded logical to me). Using the dremel and a milling bit, I literally carved the holes out. They are not pretty, but the whole back plate will be covered with speaker cloth (matt black cloth) so I think it will look ok when its done. To mount the speakers, I glued some excess styrene blocks around the speakers and made a lip to hold one side in place. Between the 2 speakers i have a bolt that will have a plate that slides over the other side of the speakers, thus making it easy to replace them if need be. I am sure you will get the idea from the pics.

Prior to having the speaker holes cut	With speaker holes.	Mounting the speakers
In the Torso	and again...	here it is covered in cloth

The picture to the left shows a trimmed version (black) and the untouched version (white).

The power pack is the most interesting part to work with. Using diagrams found on the net, I created an etch pattern and etched a circuit board for the power pack. Next finding the parts... Unfortunately, some of the parts are no longer available and only current parts were used. I did destroy an old power supply to get most of the resistors and one of the capacitors. The "knobs" are in fact aluminium  push buttons. The transistors are 2n3848's they were the only ones I could find that had the same casing as the original. The frame is a resin frame as is the connector. The power pack isn't accurate to the n'th degree and also is only single sided. One of the 3.5mm phono plugs acts as a switch for the microprocessor to detect a power down. Although not perfect it certainly looks the part.
 

The Power Pack	again	on the torso

Well I am impressed! This is the parts for the radar assembly stacked (not glued yet) that is why there  is a plexiglass pipe running though the centre (to align the pieces). These pictures show the pieces as they where cut. (you may notice the top and bottom discs of the lower radar assembly have notches.. The laser cutting company made a mistake!, but thanks to Superline's eye for detail i was notified about it and asked to go out and check it). The final radar assembly will be ready for pick up tomorrow. Craig (the guy making sure everything is right) was so helpful, Allan Dodd's well he didn't laugh at me and the rest of the staff were so helpful. I really cant tell you how happy I am with the service.

All I can say it.. If you need something done in plastics in WA see Superline, their factory is impressive and while I was there I saw some other things they were working on.. talk about blow me away.

Neck support - for those of you who are interested, I used a rather unusual arrangement for my neck support. If you click on the diagram, you will see how I did it. Rather straight forward and it allows me to put a spring a round the whole assembly (making it easier to create the bubble lift assembly) Oh no! I started on the Radar spin mechanism... Will I ever stop? (I doubt it). I have used a rear window wiper motor (from a Toyota , don't ask me what model all I know is the smash repairer was going to throw it out). I cut the mounting bracket down using the trusty dremel (I know why people rave about them now) and carefully made a chassis for the motor to sit it in out of acrylic. To grip the radar I used a wheel from a petrol powered model car, bought from a local modelling shop. To make the wheel fit, I had to carefully drill out the centre (too big and I would have had to make some sort of wheel clamp), and using the 8mm nut on the wiper shaft, i bolted the wheel down tight. The Neck assembly is clamped underneath the collar, by both the wheel on the wiper motor and a second wheel (directly opposite the wiper wheel). In total, there is about 45 degrees of movement (left to right) which is enough to try the idea out, by pulsing the motor left to right or right to left, the centre position can be located. (using the software and relay board).
 

Seems and awful shame to have to paint it doesn't it!!

Wow.. The final product - Still think its a shame to paint it though

Ok, I found some illuminated switches... Looks ok.. not great though. I think i will go with these for now, and eventually cover them with a new bezel and Plexiglass annunciators..

Looks ok - not great	Lit up..hmmm
But now for the real thing!	and buttons
Look at this!	Here is the bezel with decals on the back rather than the face of the buttons. Much Better
And here it is all lit up on the body! (and yes I know some of the buttons are in the wrong place..lol...

Subsystems:
1: Lighting - Supplies power feeds to the chest lights (via TOMW's Light Controller), the brain and light rods. The light rods use 6.3V Flashing globes, so the power line to the light rods contains 5.9V Zener Diodes to reduce the voltage for the globe. The brain is powered from 12 volts as all the globes in the brain are 12volt flashing globes.

2: Motor - The motor circuits are all 12 volt dc, with the motor relay board controlling which motors do what.

3: Sound - The sound system runs from 12 Volts DC (however the 5 volt regulator circuit supplies the 5 volts dc required for the cd rom drive)

All of the above is controlled remotely via a UHF remote control.

The motor relays are controlled by a laptop PC and the software bellow.

In the series, when ever the power pack was removed, the B9 made and "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" sound. The Voice module I decided to use, records up to 30 seconds of sound with pretty good clarity. SO, after building the unit (it came it kit form) I recorded from a video tape, the sound of the robot going "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Using  a one shot delay timer connected to one of the jacks on the power pack, when ever the power pack it removed, the delay time fires the relay, long enough for the voice module to say "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" . Then, the whole robot powers off. Pretty simple actually. The switch on the voice module for playback only needs to be driven to ground to fire the sound, luckily enough that's exactly how I am using the Delay timer, it will also switch the light controller to power down mode. The voice module was about 34$ Aus, and is available from JayCar Electronics.

I got this Futaba 7 Chan Transmitter of Ebay, I think 7 channels should be enough..lol
I will be using a servo to move the radar section, a custom built servo for the torso and 2 speed controllers for the track section (although the tracks will never touch the ground). The actual movement will be done via 2 motors driving a wheel under each tread section, an idler wheel at the rear of each section will carry the weight so that the whole thing will be balanced. The speed controllers used for driving the motors are standard RC reversible speed controllers made by HITEC, with a simple modification. he output of these controllers is designed for 9.6 Volts DC (as used in Model Cars and Boats), I have taken the out bout and driven a MOSFET H bridge to allow the controller to handle the current and voltage I am using.

Thankyou to Stanbridges hobby shop and Perth R/C for their ideas and help with configuring the remote control side of things.
 

The layout of the controls and how I will be using them

When it is finished I will offer to B9 Club members free of charge.

The right picture shows the interface board, and yes it works. This will switch the High Current Relays. The onboard relays are low current and considering the load from the tread motors, I think its wise to use these ones to drive high power relays. Also... I can use more than one board in the robot. These interface cards are addressable.. Not too shabby!!

I added a styrene cradle for the Relay board so I had some place to route cables neatly, also the two fuse boxes I ordered arrived. I am using standard 12 volt Automotive blade fuses. One of the fuses boxes will do power distribution for the lighting, the other will do the motors and associated motor circuits.

if you have any comments or suggestions regarding this page.. please email me at administrator@aussiechat2000.com.au