My Yellow Drum Machine (in Progress)

Hello all,

YAYDM, Yet another Yellow Drum Machine!

I have gone away from the original a little bit, my one uses the Tamyia dual gear box and tracks, everything else is machined from Al. It is powered by 6 NiCads and I am using an Ardunio for the brains. I am working on the Sonar now, the drum sticks will be similar to the original but I am using Carbon Fibre rod (because I had some!).

The suspension is torsion bar and it looks cool running across the work bench over the screw drivers and pliers!

All the best

Cliff

//27Jan09

Thanks for all the Comments, Yes it is not yellow (at the moment) I will put some Video up soon. I decided to build a YDM because I came across a video of the original on UTube, it was the most entertaining thing I had seen in a long time! Very clever with a great deal of imagination. If people are interested I will tidy up the drawings and post them too.

A little more detail on mine.

The sides are machined from 6mm Al plate, the wheels are turned from 50mm Al Bar and have Brass bushes inserted.

The final drive is uses ball bearings from RC cars as does the Idler wheels.

The suspension consists of swing arms with steel axles which pivot in brass bushes which are "Locktighted" in to the side plates. The Torsion bars are 1mm Music Wire silver soldered to Brass bolts which bolt on the opposite Hull side plate.

I am building the Sonar at the moment, I cannot make up my mind if I am going to use a PIC to control the transducers or just drive it from the Ardunio.

I am using the same motors for the Drum Sticks as the original.

//28 Jan 09

I added a video, enjoy

Well it's been awhile, lots on to keep me out of the workshop; anyway I promissed to put some details up and here is the beginning of them, just in case someone wanted to build the same chassis.

This is the hull, it is a 6 mm thick peice of Alum, I used dural of unknown parentage, you need two, I used 6mm to make it thick enough to tap, I milled out two pockets on the inside to reduce the weight but this is not really required, the slot at the front allows the track to be tensioned and the 10.9 mm hole at the rear takes the final drive shafts.

Next comes the main wheels:

These are a simple turning operation from Alum, just put a small radious on the rims, the Tamiya tracks will feed better. Make 6, now Alum is a poor metal for bearing so I pressed brass bushes into the centers, the bush is drawn here:

These are also simple turning exercises, I made a "D" bit to do the final boreing of the centers to get the best surface finish.

The Idler wheels are in the diagram below (right), the Idler is turned out of Alum, it runs on two ball bearings, I use the ones for RC cars, the hole in the middle of the wheel (9mm) is bored to fit the ball bearing, a small ridge is left in the middle to stop the bearing pushing through. The Axle (left) is turned from mild steel, I used 10mm hex bar, the ends (hatched) are tapped M4, I made brass nuts to suit. You need two of each.

These drawings are the start of the suspension componets, in this case the swing arms:

The swing arms are fairly simple, the Swing Arm Pivot is pressed/loctited in from one side and the Main wheel Axle from the other side. The finish on the Pivot and Axle is important, the bearing surfaces should be polished and and a close running fit in the wheel bush and the pivot bush (drawing below).

The following is the torsion bar end, this is silver soldered to a 0.8mm Spring(Music/Piano) Wire Torsion bar.

This is what the Swing Arms look like assembled.

The Torsion Bar is made with a small Z bent or C in the end, the length of the bar is set from the job, the length such the Torsion Bar end hard against the hull as shown and the torsion bar retains the swing arm, it should be such that a small amount of play being allowed. The ride hight is set by turning the Torsion Bar end and then it is locked in place using the Torsion Bar lock nut, this allows the preload to be set. If the suspension is too soft 1.0mm Music Wire can be subsituted.

Final Drives! The gearbox I used is the Tamiya dual motor gearbox, the final drives are carried on two RC Car ball bearings each side. The bearing carriers are made like so:

A simple turning operation in any metal (make 2), I used brass just because I had some. The 10.9mm hole should be turned a push fit on the bearings you get and the depth to suit the width of the bearing in my case 4mm, the step on the inside should be deep enought to hold the inner bearing in place, the for holes are tapped M2 or similar.

The final drive shafts (2) were turned from mild steel, the axle hole on the inside is drilled to clear the Tamiya Axles, the M2 on top serve to trap the axle. the M2 at the other end (left) holds the Drive sprocket in place. The 1mm pin is to act as a drive pin for the drive sprocket. The hole lot looks like this:-

The only things which remain are mounting bars front, at the rear and the bottom rear for the gear box, i used 6mm and 2mm alum. For the Floor I used 2mm perspex.

 

 

 


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/my-yellow-drum-machine-in-progress

nice job
Did you do the aluminium bits? I’m all the more impressed about the suspension. Like Ant said be nice to have a video.

**Well thats not very yellow **
Well thats not very yellow

 

Gold anodize the aluminum bits
That would make it more yellow and awesome! Nice work by the way!

**Gold Anodize, **

Gold Anodize, thats a great IDEA! /nt

 

I have not got to the point of worrying about colour yet, but I like that idea.

Very nice. I’ve recently

Very nice. I’ve recently gotten a mini-mill and mini-lathe, and have been looking for ways to apply them to robotics. It never occurred to me to make wheels and track parts – it’s really going to take a complete change in my way of thinking, to train myself to ask, “Can I make this?” rather than, “I wonder who sells this”.

I’ve got a Tamiya tracks-based robot and the tracks have been giving me trouble. I’ve been looking for other tracks systems available for sale – I think you’ve shown me a better way to solve my problem :slight_smile:

Dan

BTW, I definitely wouldn’t

BTW, I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing some more shots of the parts you machined. It looks like really high-quality work. I like how you incorporated the original plastic drive gears.

Dan

W00T! Drum away!
Drum bots are cool. Cant wait to see him in action. :slight_smile: Just dont have him play any Vanilla Ice lol…

YDM Mill and Lathe

Hi Dan,

I am not an expert with the Mill or Lathe but I have done bit with them.

If you need any pointers please ask, also if you would like to do something similar to mine, I will tidy up the drawings and you can have a copy. Also I am thinking of building a Mars rover about 12" long, that would be a great project for your lathe and mill.

all the best, let the chips fly.

On a serious note, always wear Eye protection!

Cliff

Your YDM

Hi Dan,

I had a look at your YDM, your using the Ardunio also, yours is great! We will compare notes as we go.

On the subject of tracks Lego has some nice clip together ones which are I think better than the Tamyia tracks.

I have had no track throwing problems (so far) I am careful about track tension, I have had mine doing 360’s with out problems but on smooth surfaces. I suspect I will get thrown tracks on rough ground doing 360’s but this happens on real tanks too.

All the best

Cliff

Sweet

That look’s rely nice. How did you make the suspension, because I want to do something similar.

Nejc

Suspension

Hello Benny,

the suspension is torsion bar, I made axles out of mild steel, the wheels are alu with a brass push pressed in.

The Axles are pressed into Alu swing arms, there are also axles for the swing arms for the pivot on the hull, they are also mild steel in brass bushes pressed in the hull.

On the other side of the hull I made brass bolts which are drilled through. the Torsion bars are Music Wire, these are silver soldered into the hole in the brass bolt, the other end of the torsion bar has a right angle bend which engages in a hole in the swingarm axle.

by runing the bolt and tightening the nut the preload on the torsion bars can be adjusted, the torsion bars stop the swing arms falling off.

As in is typical for torsion bar suspension tanks the swing arms on one side run forward and the other side they run to the read, the centres of the swing arm pivots arranged such that the road wheels line up.

The suspension works nicely, I have wasted a lot of time setting up courses for it to run over, however I must finish the sonar.

I hope that makes sense.

I need help could you send

I need help could you send me sum pics on how you made this please

im a beginner

Hi Bryce,I put some CAD

Hi Bryce,

I put some CAD drawings up one the weekend

I have been overseas so I have not got much done in the last few months, just trying to finish the Sonar.

all the best

Thanks:cwignell

Thank you verymuch

that would be excellent for my school project aswell

thanks a lot

CAD Drawings

began to upload CAD diagrams

I’l give you 5 * just for

I’l give you 5 * just for the suspention !!! would it be possible to get more detailled pics of it and how it works?

I still havent totaly undersood how it works yet but hope to figure it out soon !

**wowah!! cool robot! **

wowah!! cool robot!

 

Suspension

Do you have a more detailed plan of the making of this

specially the suspension and and all that

thanks a lot man

 

A few more drawings
Added a few More drawings of the suspension.