I need some setup suggestion for the Phoenix. The ABB has to go on top of the top deck because the DB9 connector to program it gets obstructed if it’s between the top and lower deck. My SSC-32 is being placed between the lower deck and the top deck. Seems like I ran out of place to put my batteries? How are you Phoenix owners setting up your electronics and batteries?
Also, I need some help with cleaning up servo wires. Any images would be appreciated…
I just concluded that there’s no where to place two battery pack with my current setup on the phoenix unless create another top deck or a battery holder of some kind. Would be cool if something like this was fabricated:
But of course, appropriately shaped for the phoenix instead of round like the *H3-R series of chassis…
I’m still a little perplexed on how to clean up the servo wiring. Probably thinking of going back to using harnesses like I did on my CH3-R… I’m really worried about the servo wires being snagged on one of the edges of the cut-out of the chassis and eventually shorting out…
It’s so odd, on the CH3-R, seemed like there was too much space, now on the Phoenix, feels so cramped…
Probably the best solution is to use different batteries. Look at LiPo. You should be able to fit a powerful LiPo under the SSC-32 inside the chassis. There is an option of putting the battery under the bottom chassis panel. Hidden from view anyway.
Servo wire routing is an art form. lol The general idea is to move the legs to the position where the servos wires have the longest route. The biggest issue is to attach the knee servo wire to the femur. Hmmm, yeah images would be better. 
Thanks for the tips Jim. I was thinking of just velcro strapping the batteries to the belly of the beast. As for the servo wiring, I figured I attach all the servo wires on the hip horizontal servo. I started doing this while I was constructing it, I had to tear it down because I re-oriented the SSC-32 to face downwards toward the floor. Probably will go back to this idea when I re-orient the SSC-32 to face up again.
I did what you were saying, bend the legs where the servo wires are extended out the longest then leave a slight slack, then zip tie all it onto a firm location.
I’ve considered the lipo route. However, I do need two rechargeable batteries. I’m considering to buy some rechargeable 9v for the VL and use my existing 5-AA Cell packs for the servos…
Hi Tom,
I don’t have the phoenix kit but almost a copy of the original. I also struggled to put as much as possible inside of the body. I was able to put the SSC32, 5 pack (4300mAh) for the servos and a 9V battery for the logic inside the body. Oh I almost forgot… also all the wires 8) I’ve placed the SSC upside down so I was able to connect all wires form the bottom and I’ve placed the 5 pack on top of that. It looks like the body standoffs are very close to the SSC. Maybe it is possible to move them further apart so you are able to place the battery pack underneath the SSC. I hope this helps.
Pics: lynxmotion.net/viewtopic.php?t=3763
Xan
Pictures are truly worth a thousand words. Thanks for the great info Xan!
Your Phoenix looks awesome! How are you doing with your Wii-mote controlled bot?
Another thought I had was to add this to the tail end of the Phoenix via drilling some holes:
I wish there were something like this more tailored to the Phoenix whereas this is attached at the two holes for the switches. That way, the battery can go into that carrier, and the switches will be right there…
It would make it look more like a spider (even though it only has six legs so it would more qualify as an insect 
)
Hi,
I was thinking of Xan’s setup at first when I saw this thread, great work Xan!
Tom_Chang, I think a tail to Phoenix will inhibit her to make every “creative move” like the teaser moves. Maybe the tail have to point upwards not to conflict with the rear legs? A tail might also move the COG far from centre of body, I would suggest to place the battery inside the body and the electronics in the tail. Also adding a head with large claws to make it balance… 
Then you got a real ant…
Actually I’ve been thinking of making a tail to Oxyopus with a new very small body. But I’m not sure… 
Again, I think Xan’s setup looks good.
I’ve settled on a setup for my Phoenix. I’m velcro strapping the 5-cell AA pack that I use underneath the body, on the belly sort of speak. I’m also going to be purchasing a rechargeable 9V soon to drive the logic on the SSC-32 and ABB…
The SSC-32 is sunk into the body, between the top and lower deck, facing up, and the ABB will be mounted on top of the top deck due to being able to access the DB9 on the ABB for programming…
Pictures coming soon…
Some more things left to do on my Phoenix:
Wire up two RED LEDs for the eyes
Make angled brackets out of scrap Lexan pieces to mount the GP2D12 IR sensor
Make angled brackets out of scrap Lexan for the Ping ))) sensor
Modify the Powerpod code to be used on the Phoenix…
Hi Tom,
Good to hear that your design is coming together! So if I’ve got it right, you are not planning to give your phoenix a tail anymore? It sure should give is a nice unique look.
Good idea to add some eyes to your design. I would like to add some kind of head/eyes in the future… but I’ve got to much plans and so little time… 
Keep us informed tom 
Thanks! Currently I’m still busy adding some last movements to my IK model (Y rotation). If the IK is fully completed I will spend some more time on the gait to make the speed and angle adjustable so I can control it with the joystick of the wii-mote. And let it rotate by twisting the nun-chuk. So still a lot of work/fun.
Xan
Wow, that looks awesome, i think i want to buy one now.
I like the idea of adding the eyes and the tail but wont the tail make the gait unstable? You would need to add equal weight to the front to balance it out. Then again, it depends on how much you add on the tail. But it would allow you to put much more onto it.
No, I’m ditching the idea of a tail/abdomen attachment for the Phoenix, for exactly the reason WingZero stated, it would throw the balance of the bot quite off if I don’t counter balance it with something else on the other end or make it light enough that it wouldn’t matter. I think I’m able to fit all the electronics and battery now, so it not really an issue. I might entertain the idea of an add-on deck for the Phoenix (Jim, are you reading this? ) in the future so I can mount the battery above where the mini-ABB goes… It would be nice to have it on top of the chassis then strapped in from below for clearance issue. For COG, strapping it on the belly does provide a slight advantage…
Tom - a suggestion, buy some black Lexan from LM and then cut a third deck using a scrollsaw. That way you can design it to look the way you want.
Shoved it all in!
I’ve finally shoved all my batteries, SSC-32, and my mini-ABB into my Phoenix without having to strapping anything underneath.
My servo pack is still a 5-cell AA pack, but I’ve resoldered the pack into a hump pack, with three cell on the bottom and two cell on the top. The SSC-32 is sunk into the chassis, with the shortest standoff I can find and still be sunk in enough to plug in the servo plug from within the body.
There is another standoff above that to hold the mini ABB. The logic power is powered by a rechargeable 9V. The 9V is actually an awesome one, it’s a 200mAH capacity NiMH battery, which has an open circuit voltage of 10V (there are alot other brands out there that are below 9V even when charged), fully charged.
The 9V pack is velcrod on behind the two power switches. The 5-cell AA pack is tucked away underneath towards the front of the Phoenix, but inside the body. With the shorter standoff for the SSC-32 and this new hump configuration, the pack can barely clear the space underneath the SSC-32 inside the Phoenix body.
I’ve also begun to code my own IK algorithm. I’ve yet to tie the IK to a walking gait algorithm, but it’s a great start. Pictures coming soon!
Some mechanical things still left to do:
Mount my IR sensor, the Sharp GP2D12 (suggestions on where to mount?)
Mount my Ping))) sensor (suggestions?)
Start blinging it out with some LEDs (I LOVE LEDs 
)
BTW, I LOVE MY PHOENIX! IT’S THE MOST ELEGANT HEXAPOD I’VE EVER SEEN!
Sounds great Tom!
Looking forward to see some pics!
Here are the pics as promised showing how I crammed in all of it on and in the Phoenix:
The real critical thing was the 5-cell AA-pack. You can only have one layer of shrink wrap over the pack, and more layers of the shrink wrap would cause the pack to start scraping on the through-hole pins of the DB9 connector of the SSC-32…
It can slide in all the way, but I decided to keep it towards the front so it’s more easily accessible when swapping out packs…
BTW, I bought my 9V battery-pack connector from Radio Shack. The connector was actually really nice, very beefy so it won’t tear apart after a few uses like the soft ones…
Hi Tom,
I see that you found a way to fit the SSC and battery pack inside of the body. You’ve build yourself a nice compact battery pack. Good job! I wish that I could change batteries without taking the whole assembly apart. Maybe I should consider changing the battery setup as well.
I bet that it was a big struggle with all the servo wires! 
Xan
Yeah, cleaning up the servo wires without leaving too much slack or having it snag on one of the joints is always a challenge… It was probably the most time consuming and difficult part of the build. I think I must’ve started over about 5-6 times (after zip tying all the servo wires) and before I was happy with the servo wire cleanup. Each “evolution” of my re-do of servo wires, got better and better, so it’s slightly an art form, more empirical
The other challenging aspect was fitting all that stuff into such a cramped space without an add-on deck. In the future, I’m still considering an add-on deck, but I really wanted to keep the weight inside the body cavity area, that way keeping the COG closes to the ground as possible without having something hang below the body (for clearance issue)
If you configure AA cells as shown in the picture, it barely clears that area where I place it. It’s not a tight fit, but a precise fit. The SSC-32 is mounted on a 0.75" F-to-F standoffs. I believe the kit comes with 1.0", which will sink the SSC-32 too far down for the batteries to fit underneath.
For the future, I am considering smaller form factor batteries, such as an equivalent LiPo, but for now, I’m not ready (financially) to switch over since I have six NiMH packs, and my LRP Pulsar 2 charger can only charge NiMH and NiCads…
The rechargeable 9V is quite nice. It’s a brand called “digimate” that I bought off of “battery monster” at an ebay-store…
Theoretically, with the AA-cell packs configured the way it is, I can fit two of those underneath the SSC-32, but the 9V option is kinda nice to keep the payload down. When I had two AA-cell packs (one for VL and one for VS), the capacity bottleneck was still on the VS line since it drew the most current. So having two identical packs didn’t really buy me anything in terms of runtimes.
If you have battery bars and loose cells, you can get pretty creative with the configuration to fit your own needs. You can either reconfigure your batteries, or my other thought initially was to get some thumb-screws (knurled knobbed screws) on the chassis and use those for quick access into the cavity of the phoenix…
Nice work Tom!
Those servo wires are probably the most challenging factor when putting Phoenix together. I’m guessing you didn’t need any extra wire extensions?
Now its ready to walk! 8)
Something I think is cool to consider is the possibility of using two BlinkM I2C controlled RGB LEDs for eyes or other indicators on a robot. You could program the BlinkMs with different colors for the eyes, depending on the “mood” (condition, battery, etc) of the robot. I have two of these I have been tinkering with and they are indeed very cool in my book. They can also be programmed to do a single function repetitively at power on for constant cycling of a color pattern.
8-Dale
