Heya, heres my leg design so far for my hexapod. Its going to made from 1/16 or 1/8 aluminum. Any comments would be appreciated on what i could add or subtract to make my design better, and more aggressive.
Do you mean CNC?
1/16" might be a little thin (too flexible), I made mine out of 1/8 aluminum stock".
CNC the holes for the motor as well. Maybe you can add a rib if you go with 1/16" stock.
Really thin around the bottom of the servo cut-out, and the inner arc of the leg. Top of the leg is much to sharp (safety).
Find a “boot” (like the cap to an endmill tube) and design it into your leg. A bare metal foot will slip and slide too much. You want the end to be round, I ended up wrapping a rubber band around mine to get the size up. A better way might be to cast a cylindrical end to the leg.
Feel free to ask questions!
Alan KM6VV
Cool thanks!
Im gonna use 1/8th then since i want it to be sturdy. And for the ends of the legs, i was thinking about using something like shrink tubing since i want this looking very professional. I guess ill see when its cut out. And for the sharp point, ill make it less sharp lol. i want the robot looking aggressive - so more sharp lines as opposed to rounded edges and such.
Rest of my designs will be done this week so ill post something up on the weekend
The lower connection point seems like it might be fragile - you might consider lowering the arch so it meets up with the bottom of the connector rather than above it. 1/8" aluminum might prove to be heavy.
I made the lower connection thicker actually after KM6VV said it may be too close to the servo cut out. its about 6 cm now.
yes my concern is that lower portion of the leg. seems to be quite fragile . and im sure that’s where most of the weight will be exhorted to.
very nice design otherwise. 
As I observed in my comments above.
Alan KM6VV
Right you are Alan.
I actually kept that part since i felt that if i lowered the arch it looked kind of “fat” and i want the legs to have a lengthy look to them, so instead i made the joint there about 6cm wide from the 3 that it was before, keeping the look but making that area stronger.
You guys sure 1/16th would be good? im thinking it may be too thin, no? I doubt 1/8th would make it too heavy. Im using 12 645’s and 6 485’s for the hexapod, shouldnt they be able to handle the weight of the bot if i used 1/8th?
All of the Lynxmotion SES brackets are 1/16" EXCEPT for the Tibia and any femurs which don’t use the normal SES brackets (such as the Phoenix). 1/8" thick is about as durable as it gets, whereas 1/16" may indeed be a bit fragile, especially if you don’t change the lower connection point. 1/8" should be fine, and I apologize for putting any doubt in your mind.
Thanks, no need to apologize, im just making sure before i go out and buy my metal. Im thinking 1/8" for tibia, arm, body, and for brackets maybe 1/16" and i was planning on making them 2 piece brackets and putting 1 or 2 standoffs in between as spacers to add rigidity. Ill see what my weight comes up to for the bodyparts + servos, and ill make my choice then.
Thanks for the help Alan and Coleman and Innerbreed. Ill post up my body design in a day or two. Im hoping to send out the cad files to the cnc guys over the weekend or mid next week hopefully. I want these parts cut in the next week or so
One question for you guys, for the servo, how far are the holes from the middle? and whats the radius of the whole? Like where the servo horn screws onto the body. And can i use the hex screws of the Lynxmotion site (the allen key ones) for it?
thank you
Can you provide a drawing / image of the exact dimensions you need?
Yep, sorry about that. Its where the servo and the body screw on. ive drawn arrows to the screws im talking about
imageshack.us/scaled/large/708/ttttttth.jpgUploaded with ImageShack.us
If you choose Hitec servos, you have a few choices for hole locations actually. If you want to copy the SES pattern, it is 4 x 0.09" holes spaced on a 0.656" circle, with an 8mm hole in the center.
Im thinking about using the metal horns which come in the combo deal for 6 servos.
I was also thinking about maybe adding an option on my body for attaching a tail. my bot doesnt exactly have a head so i was thinking a tail with 4dof which would hold a camera at the tip which would be like a head. Something like those alien movies.
Im going to add the holes for the servo + bracket so once the bot is together, ill choose whether or not a tail/head would look good on it or not. I will most likely 3d print those to reduce weight and strain on servos.
Another question 
Im changing up my design a bit more towards a facehugger type thing. So my decision for mounting the servos is using the “half” horn on my hitec 645’s. Only thing i have a problem with is that the under side of the horn is beveled out a bit, so how do i go abouts making the hole for it?
Perhaps an image or two would help clarify?