Heathkit Heros

These are some of the Heathkit Heros I've restored over the years. I don't mark complete, because Heathkits are never complete, they are always evolving... I'll post more pictures later. Kevin...


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/heathkit-heros

Heathkit Hero 2000 Auto Dock kit

CIMG0239.jpg

Just opened the Box. Ready to install in the next Robot.

CIMG0240.jpg

Keypad and Display, I didn't really need to take it out ,but the whole thing need to be reworked So I guess I have a robot in progress.

 

CIMG0241.jpg

Keyboard with Membrain (rubber)

 

CIMG0242.jpg

You can see the carbon pads on the backside of the rubber.

 

CIMG0243.jpg

Board Installed on top of the rubber pad and bolted down.

CIMG0244.jpg

A lot of bits and pieces are missing when I aquire these bots. Some are complete wrecks. This one wasn't in bad shape just missing stuff.

CIMG0245.jpg

This is status display board..

CIMG0246.jpg

Installed in the Head cover.

I have a few more that show the starting of the insall of the Auto-dock. I'll load those up next.

CIMG0247.jpg

Installation for the photo sensor. Some of the hardware Kind of reminds me of something you would find in an old tube radio.

 

 

CIMG0248.jpg

The Outside of the Robot showing sensor. This sensor detects the beacon on the charger.

CIMG0249.jpg

Testing the sensor and wiring ( exposed to light )  

 

CIMG0250.jpg

 Testing the sensor and wiring ( covered ) 

 

CIMG0251.jpg

Build up of the IR transmitters for the Robot. These tell the charger that the robot is on Final approach and to tell the robot to Back into the charger.

CIMG0252.jpg

Inset IR led holders

CIMG0253.jpg

IR leds with holder backs attached

CIMG0254.jpg

The Fun part of this build. Dealing with the Duck-poop. Thermal compound if not a favorite of mine , but necessary for the heat-sinks for the Led's. Did I mention these things get hot? I'll do a current reading after I complete the Controller boards.

CIMG0255.jpg

Assembled with Duck-Poop.

 

CIMG0265.jpg

 Sorry about the next couple of pictures, I forgot to use the flash. This is the completed IR transmitter.

 

 

CIMG0266.jpg

IR transmitter installed in the Robots head. This portion is almost completed.

 

CIMG0269.jpg

Completed! The bottom of the screen the front portion of the robot head. All the new sensors are aimed towards the back. As the build  progresses, I'll explain in a little more detail on what's going on and the communication between Robot and charger.

CIMG0270.jpg

The Head completely assembled and siting on the sholders of the robot. The board you see in the picture is a transceiver for the Robot remote terminal in the background ( I couldn't planned that better if I tried ).

CIMG0271.jpg

The top of the head showing Sonar, keyboard, and display. That's it this week from the ManCave of North Edwards (02/15/2012). I'll be back next week to assemble the boards for the robot.

Kevin

 

Big fan of these robots !!!
I never had the chance to own one these beautiful robots. Always wondered how they were put together. Now, because of your brillant work - we all can get a great look inside! Thank You And Please Continue.

You got it! I have a few to restore…

CIMG0300.jpg

CIMG0301.jpg

The "Pile" at the ManCave...

amazing

i love the classic robots

im building my own gemini(by arctec)

Very Cool!!!

That’s a very cool robot. I know only of two people that own them.

Auto-Dock Robot Board Buildup

This week was a board buildup and install of the remaining circuitry for the Robot. The charger requires some pretty heavy mods and I’ll be working that next week.

CIMG0283.jpg

Bare board. Both the Robot and the Charger are the same PCB, but there are small changes of parts lists and configuration that make the boards react differently. Kind of smart of Heathkit. ( and I forgot the flash again )

 

CIMG0286.jpg

Soldering on a couple resistors and Caps.

CIMG0288.jpg

 

Completed board for the Robot. R-17, C-12, and ADJ are not used on this board.

 

CIMG0289.jpg

 

 

Here are both boards assembled the one on the left is the Robot board, the one on the right is the charger.

 

CIMG0293.jpg

 

Installed in robot, There is one more thing I have to build before the hardware is completed. the harness that goes from the I/O board to the dock board.

CIMG0295_1.jpg

 

The Harness, you notice the there is a stray that goes in to connector S-1 when installed.

Well that's it for this week (Feb 24,2012) From the ManCave of North Edwards. Next week will be Final install and checkout of system in the robot. Then I'll tackel the charger.

Kevin

CIMG0296.jpg

The next board build-up is one for the charger. Blank board. I'll spare the rest. show the completed board and show the charger breakdown.

 

CIMG0305.jpg

Back of charger.

CIMG0306.jpg

Front of charger.

CIMG0309.jpg

Cover off to start mods. First thing is to remove the paint form the ground mounting points.

CIMG0310.jpg

Cover to be set aside and worked on ( next week)

CIMG0311.jpg

Insert terminal tab for the 115VAC protion of the transformer (power supply build up for the circuit board.

CIMG0312.jpg

Confirgured the transformer for 115Vac. Produces 17Vac on the backside after recification.

CIMG0313.jpg

Transformer installed in the charger.the Tab terminal above the transformer. The rectifier (diodes )will be soldered to the tabs

CIMG0314.jpg

Installation of Voltage regulator for the charger board.

CIMG0315.jpg

Next series of pictures shoes the wiring of the power supply for the board and the RCA jace for the mirror detector.

CIMG0316.jpg

Addition of fuse block.

CIMG0317.jpg

Diodes full bridge rectifier.

CIMG0318.jpg

CIMG0319.jpg

Wiring Completed in the charger. 

CIMG0320.jpg

Closer look at the board installation.

CIMG0321.jpg

IR LED mounting plate for the charger top.

CIMG0322.jpg

With LED holders. Well that's it for this week at the ManCave of North Edwards. (3/3/2012)

Next week I should be finishing up with portion of the project. Video will follow.

Kevin

CIMG0321.jpg

The Next set of pictures is for the Charger Beacon and Detector builds. This is the last of the assembly before testing the system in the robot

CIMG0322_0.jpg

Photo show the build-up of the Charger beacon plate and IR LED holders.

CIMG0324.jpg

IR leds installed. and the beacon is mounted on the top cover of the Charger.

CIMG0325.jpg

 . IR LEDs are all wired up. Beacon cover un-installed

CIMG0326.jpg

Top view.

CIMG0327.jpg

Beacon Cover installed

CIMG0328.jpg

Beacon Plug S-4 installed on board.

CIMG0329.jpg

View of lid about to go back on. Note the grounding tab for the shield of the wire on the back side of the lid. Charger Completed on the the Charger detector.

CIMG0330.jpg

I found a Second Mirror that wasn't built ( so I'm building two. ) showing the front and back. I used Hot glue to attach the mirrors to the frames rather than the Epoxy in the kit (20 plus years old), To me it's less messy, and easy to apply. Epoxy belongs in the Wingboxes of model airplanes.

CIMG0331.jpg

THis picture shows the empty detector cavity where I'll be placing all the bits and peices into.

CIMG0332.jpg

Insertion of brass fittings for the Photo doides.

CIMG0333.jpg

Diodes and bracket installed.Both anodes and cathodes are crossed together for wiring installation.

CIMG0338.jpg

Coax soldered to the Photo diodes.

CIMG0335.jpg

One can never use enough hot glue...

CIMG0336.jpg

Function check of the Photo diodes. Exposed light.

CIMG0337.jpg

And in the dark. I do these little checks along the way to help with any trouble shooting efforts that may happen later.

CIMG0339.jpg

 

Finished up by soldering and Hot gluing the Coax to the RCA jack.

That’s it this week from the ManCave (9/March/2012) Next week, Systems Checkout.

 

More pictures added to the build.

Added pictures to the build. This includes beacon build up, detector build up and final assembly of charger. Last weeks ManCave build. This weeks should be systems check-out.

Kevin 

Final assemble and test

Last week at the ManCave was a productive one. The last bits and pieces have been installed and systems Checkouts have been completed. Here are the last(?) of the Pictures, unless you count the fixture I’m building for a little research…

CIMG0341.jpg

Insertion of pin 1 into S1 connector This is the Signal to turn on the Robot Beacon.

CIMG0343.jpg

Robot auto-dock is connected in and routed through robot.

CIMG0344.jpg

Here's the cover of the Robot Processor housing. All the harnesses and ribbon cables are off.

CIMG0345.jpg

A view of the cards. from left to right. Arm controller card, Base and Torso controller card, Input/output card, and CPU. In future installments (rebuilds and designs) I'll show a robot with a full suit of cards. this includes Floppy drive card, IDE/memory card ( designed by Robert Doerr) Memory cards and experimenters card.

CIMG0346.jpg

A great little tool to get the cards out. Or you tear your Fingers/nuckels/hands/elbows apart trying to yank one out.

CIMG0349.jpg

CPU card with Autodock Prom installed. it's the chip with the white rectangle on it. The two proms with circle tags are Eproms that I burned a while back to Upgrade the Monitor code to 2.03 (was 1.02) 2.03 was the last upgrade from Heathkit before they stopped making the robot.

CIMG0351.jpg

Base Torso Card.

CIMG0352.jpg

Arm Card. Now if you think when this robot came out it was 1986. Besides having an 8088, it could have as many as 12  intel 4841 microcontrollers being supervised by the 8088. Pretty impresive for the time.

CIMG0353.jpg

Robot is all wired up for systems check-out. The auto-dock harnes it the ribbon cable above the Large gray ribbon, hanging off the I/O card.

CIMG0354.jpg

A picture of the rest of the innards...

CIMG0361.jpg

Next set of pictures show the IR beacons on both charger and robot being triggered.

CIMG0362.jpg

 

CIMG0363.jpg

 

CIMG0364.jpg

I like digital Cameras. They pick up everything (IR light included) I used to use a Night scope for this..

CIMG0365.jpg

When testing and adjusting the control boards the IR will transmitt at a curtain Frequency in this case 35khz.

CIMG0366.jpg

Robot is firing back a 50khz pulse to turn on the charger beacon.

CIMG0376.jpg

Completed Auto Dock setup. I'll get a video as soon as I get a camera that will record the entire sequence. That's it for this week at the ManCave. 3/15/2012. The next picture is what happens when you have Spare parts, A hot Glue gun and Rum and Cola.

CIMG0375.jpg

Auto Dock Test fixture. I'll update this next week.

Kevin