So… it’s late and I just finished building the body of my new side project. It’s a custom 3DOF micro servo based quadrapod using 12 HS-81’s. The body and legs were drawn in Autocad by myself and CNC’d by our very own JonHylands (quite reasonable prices on the work too, thanks a ton Jon).
Anyway, obviously still in need of electronics, I have some very small 1400mAh cells I’m going to be using for a battery pack, and an SSC-32 I’ll mount tomorrow. Design took notes from the infamous Phoenix hexapod by Zenta
This is way cool! I am looking forward to seeing videos of this little quadraped! I never cease to be amazed at what the fellows who can machine custom parts can do. I could probably do this kind of thing if I had a CNC machine, which Alibre’s new AlibreCAM module is somehow supposed to be able to interface with.
Yes, indeed, Zenta has done amazing work on his Phoenix! I am just waiting for him to show off an eight legged version of Phoenix. I can design custom stuff, but I just don’t have the equipment to build or machine what I design.
I play guitar, have messed around with a mandolin a bit, however the sig is actually a quote from “Flight of the Conchords”, which is a New Zealand based musical comedy duo
Batteries will fit inside the body, around the stand off posts. Controller is going up top on an SES electronics mount. I don’t drink Coke, but here’s the equiv in my house
I mounted the electronics last night, and am working on calibrating ranges/home positions in SEQ on it today at work. Going to start working on a static ripple walking gait (btw anyone have any good links regarding this? would be nice to have something to go by).
Cool! Great work! I see you also used servo horns for the femur part . It’s simple, but they do the work
I’m thinking maybe the femur part is a bit too long? Does the femur servos handle the weight? What is the total weight with battery of your awesome MQ (Micro Quad)?
Ya the servo horn/femur trick is a good one. I was thinking the same, that they might be a bit too long, and I have some backup designs ready to go if needed. That said- this thing is pretty light, and the servos are stronger then I expected, so I made not even need to shorten the femurs. Don’t have exact weight specs or anything, but I’m guessing around 250 grams minus the batteries (which are tiny and light as well)
Yeah, that’s what I thought when I first saw Zenta’s scheme of the Femur. Having bought 18 servos, I have a big bag full of servo horn sets that came with each servos.
Just a thought, maybe try going back to the drawing board for a Phoenix-like chassis but for the micro servos. Adding another pair of legs might solve your torque/payload issue. But using a much higher torque servos would probably be the ultimate solution:
My advice to anyone wanting to build a micro-quad is to use as high of torque servos as possible. The HS-81’s simply dont have enough torque for a 3dof walker.
Lucky for me I picked a dozen of them up for dirt cheap, and am using them in other projects instead. I’ll revisit this one when my J5 project is a bit closer to being finished, and use higher torque micro servos for sure.
I can design custom stuff, but I just don’t have the equipment to build or machine what I design. 
