No Name Robot (yet)

So After wow, almost 8 years of building robots, Am now my sixth, while I don't have 6 Robots, they've always been like an evolution.

Since moving 6 years ago, to a house with a large garage, have been able to have the space and freedom to build lots of things, Arcade Cabinets from 32inch TV and Racing sim.
But building Robots being my main passion.

I’ve always wanted to build a robot that has a steering system but have struggled to find something that can managed that kind of weight and it was time to try and tick that box in my head.

So my last Robot, was taken to pieces and reused the parts, with the left over metal from other projects, I was able to mount the motors on the back, with a steel box frame, running

down the middle, with the steering attached on the end, leaving enough space for the wheels to turn.

Once I’ve ruffing put it together, most import for me, was to do a test, just to make sure my idea worked, I’m far from an expert with this, everything I’ve built over the years, has always been with the use of Drill, jigsaw, angle grinder, with bolts and metal length holding it all together, so no welding or anything like that, as I don’t have those tools or the skill at the moment, but it’s on the list of things to do, with 2 good friends willing to teach me.

So as you can see from below, the steering was done with a Linear actuator, but with no return of the steering back to its centre.

I’ve used a thick piece of wood bolted down to the main part of the metal frame, then have built up a support structure and attached wooden panels all the way around.

Which as you can see, doesn’t look to pretty, this was the stage of fine tuning the frame so that all areas where flat.

With all the bot’s I’ve built over the years, covering it was always a challenge, have used the large rubber matts you would put on the floor in your garage, but trying to make the corners look good, was the hardest part, as you cant just heat it up and cover it all and wanting it to look good, using vinyl wrap in the past looked good, but doesn’t last very long.

See lots of videos on YouTube, mostly in America, talking about poor mans fibreglass and using Titebond 3, which over here in the UK, its quite pricey, so I tried and tested just a standard water proof wood glue, which worked really well.

So I headed out to Asda and bought a cheap £4 throw.

Painted wood glue on my frame and placed the green throw on these areas, doing one part at a time, letting it dry before moving onto the next area, then painting another layer on the outside.  Once the entire frame was done and fully dried, was quite shocked how it felt to tap, it felt like fibreglass.

To finish it off, I carried out the same process again but using an old bed sheet, sanded down and then painted, finally something that fully covers the entire thing, without challenging corners.

Ordered some van stickers to cover, doing my best to cover some of the areas of not so prettyness, super happy how it's turned out, top part just placed on the top for picture.
Top part need its corners covered. but the top part has lengths of wood on the inside that match the bot frame, so that it just slots right in place.

Next part to do the steering, but this time not using a Linear Actuator , So with the fact I’ve got 6 high torque wheelchair motors and this project only needing 2 for the rear, I’ve used one of them, on its side with a BTS7960, which has kind of worked, I’ve 3d printed 2 gears, one to sit on the wheelchair spinal with a leaver connected to the steering and the other held in place with a potentiometer in the centre.

Its does work, but just not very well, either try’s to over steer or looses its placing, have spent to much time trying to perfect this, so now looking at using the Linear actuator with the BTS7960.

This is where I am now at and hopefully get to finish this in the new year