Flick, an A-Pod clone

Lynxmotion Legged Robots
1

First of all sorry for my poor english. This is not my native language.

Ive been infected with the Hexa virus since the first time i saw Zendas A-Pod.
Now i decided to make a Hexa by myself. After reading a lot of articles in this forum i bought SSC-32, BB2 with Atom Processor and some servos for testing. The servos looked good and seemed to have enough power. I am not a friend of Hitec because i always had trouble with different servos from them. Most died of burned motor or amplifier and i dont wanted to spend any cent for hitec servos anymore. My choice was DES-707 from Graupner.
Anyway, yesterday i bought the rest of the 22 servos that i need for Flick (the german Name of the little Ant in “A Bugs Life”).

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild000.jpeg

I dont wanted to use the brackets for the ball bearings so i searched for a suitable solution for me.

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild005.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild006.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild007.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild001.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild008.jpeg

Zenda made a CNC milled Aluminium part for the cox/femur joint. Although i have a CNC router i decided to take my favourite material GRP, glass reinforced plastic. Its usually used for making PCBs. Here is my solution:

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild002.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild003.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild004.jpeg

After being in the workshop till 3.00am this is what i got.

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild009.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild010.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild011.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild012.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild013.jpeg

When i got up this morning i started to finish the job

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild014.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild015.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild016.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild017.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild018.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild019.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild020.jpeg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/flick/bild021.jpeg

My last things for today was trying to adjust all the servos to center and the minimum/maximum positions. I did it with my eldest daughter. Hannah is eleven, but she adjusted the sliders in the Sequencer while i was checking the corresponding servo.

While building the Hexa i discovered some things that have to be improved. The roll servo for the head has not enough space to move and some parts must be glued together because i simply forgot.
The Hexa seems pretty heavy to me, i must lighten some parts and i hope got get this job done by using thinner GRP.

I am not sure which power converter i will use. The Hobbyking 8/15A BEC are always sold out, so i am thinking about a LowDrop solution.

Any ideas what i havent thought about?

2

Hi,

Interesting! It sure looks like you’ve borrowed some of Jim’s drawings for the Lynxmotion A-Pod? :wink:
Looks like you beat him making the parts. :laughing:

What’s the total length of the tail section? (from tip to the pan servo)
How are the head roll servo axis taking the load? Some sort of support might be needed.

Nice custom parts!

Are you able to place the electronics inside the body?
What battery and mcu do you plan to use?

Whats the total weight so far?

3

Nice brackets! I’ll have to keep that trick in mind!

It would be cool if the tibia and femur parts were also made of the Fiberglas material.

Alan KM6VV

4

Hi Kare,
yes, i am guilty. I borrowed the sketches Jim posted. But there are some points that i dont like. To have a first basis i decided to take the sketches, but i will modify them.
As you said, it makes sense to place the SSC-32 in the middle of the abdomen, for a first test i could use the original lenght of the servos. Only the outer tibia servo cable must be longer. Maybe i will manage to place mcu and SSC-32 in the middle part. I will try.
Lenght from pan servo to outer tail section is 22,5cm. A bit long, i think.
I make a pic of the head section. Its not perfect right now and i have to make some improvements.
Of course i will use a Lipo, two or three cells, i dont know. Depends on the BEC. If i will get one (or two) switching regulator from HK it might be a three cell lipo. Otherwise i will use a two cell lipo with a low drop regulator.
My mcu is a BB2 with Atom processor.
Total weight as shown on the picture is 2524g without lipo

5

They were not ready for production yet… I just posted them to create some interest. I have several areas that I am working on improving. However you do not know how I intend to create the support for the rotation for the mandibles. :wink: :unamused:

6

Yeah, thats right. As i said, i just used it as a first basis. I first wanted to use the sketches from this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=6929
but your sketches were better.
The next bottom plate does have space for inserting the lipo and will be made from GRP. I will also exchange most parts from PVC to GRP.

Today i made a stand and shortened the tail. The pan servo for the tail was set in vertical direction and the two holders for the tail plate were shortened. Now the tail lenght looks more “natural”.

The roll servo for the head is still a problem, but this can be solved :wink:

7

Nice done…!

What’s the two regulator you use on that ?

Tanks

8

These are cheap switching regulators from HK, i had no stronger BEC lying around.
I thought of using 6 small regulators, one for for each leg, feeding all 3 servos. The BEC would be placed upon the coxa servo. Doing it this way it would be possible to reduce the cables to a minimum. Only the three signal lines would be brought to the SSC32, 5V and GND is connected direct to the BEC, a lot less spaghetti…

What do you thing about this?

9

Just that they look pretty cool without any shrink wrapping.

They are good for how many amps ?

10

Max Amp is 3A:
hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor … oduct=3735

11

Good work! :slight_smile: I wanted to know that how did you cut the body parts? Did u use CNC or got it fabricated or cut manually ?

12

No, i have two CNC mills.
In the meantime i changed the frame to an ordinary Hexa, but to be honest, i lost my interest for it

13

Two CNC machines! What do you have?

If you decide to share the design, I’d be interested in seeing your CAD and/or NC files.

Alan KM6VV

14

The first is a modified BF20, the other one is from ISEL. Maybe i will find some actual pics.

Some old pics from the BF20 while converting it to CNC:

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild000.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild001.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild002.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild003.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild004.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild005.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild006.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild007.jpg

http://www.rc-sub.de/modellbilder/fraese/bild008.jpg

Sorry for the mess :wink:

Of course you can have the CAD Data. I use Vector Works, but i think i can convert it to DXF or something. I will check when i am back at home.
In the meantime i also converted the rotary table to CNC (and cleaned up the mess and removed the spider webs).

15

Thanks for the pics! Looks similar to my (manual) RF-31 mill (Taiwan). I’ve considered converting it to CNC as well. Mostly I just use my CNC’d Sherline mill and lathe.

DXF files would be good!

Thanks!

Alan KM6VV

16

I created a DXF File with most of the parts i drawed. Some parts are missing because they were not well designed.
The connection between coxa and femur for example, or, of course, the roll servo from the head.
Where shall i send it to? EMail please.