Sketch: Leg 1

Ok. Here’s the promised sketch:

Leg

You can see in the sketch the two locations on the upper and lower beams. One attaches at the side of the frame, and the other connects to the sprocket. The paralell beam approach will keep the lower leg perpendicular to the ground. There are some alignment issues with this, and the pivot for the top beam neads to be sorted out, but it’s pretty close.

The heart, and femur, of the beast

This weekend, after a long Sunday that included my first aluminium anodizing experience as well as my first powder coating experience, I started the disassembly of the old snow blower. This will be the heart of the beast… assuming I can get the damned auger off of it.

I started with this ugly pile of plastic:

Before...

And ended up with something else entirely. I have to say, I was surprised at how small the actual engine is. The case could shave been much smaller and less “bulgy.”

After...

Eventually I’ll get the auger off, but my frustration with it was getting the better of me and I decided to call it a night. Before I did, however, I discovered the perfect joint for the upper portion of the legs:

Universal joint

This universal joint was part of the deflector assembly on the snow blower. The original plan called for a series of ball joints and pins (thanks Frankie) to move the legs, but this should work better, particularly considering the significant weight I want to support. The universal joints will be attached directly to sprocket for each leg… This is getting too cumbersome to describe. Look for a sketch in the next post!

Giant. Robot.

Have you ever had an idea in your head that you just had to get out. Something that, once you’d acted on it,you couldn’t really explain the ‘why’ of the thing… only that you had to. (That sounds a little crazy, now that I read it back…) If you’ve never felt this, it is just as I describe it. You just have to get it out of your head. Sometimes, making extensive notes about the idea helps, or even just describing it to someone. For others, there’s no relief to be had until you build it.

So, that’s why I danced a little bit of a jig when our snowblower broke down this past winter. It meant that I would have an engine for something that was clawing at the inside of my skull: A Giant Robot.

With a small snowblower engine at its heart, “giant” here is a relative term, but “Large-ish Robot” doesn’t roll quite as well. There are still plenty of details to work out, but I’ve got some of the basics worked out:

Locomotion

It will be a walker. We’re not talking bi-pedal or anything like that. in fact I’m currently planning on a minimum of sixteen legs. This will allow four cycles of four legs in contact with the ground at a given time. This kind of stability is important because of the expected capacity.

Capacity

It will need to move itself plus 250 lbs. That’s right… I expect to ride this bad boy! Of course, I will be trading speed for power, but that’s all right with me.

Controls

I’m not 100% on this yet, but they have be operable from a standing position. I’m thinking one cable for the engine and another for the steering (thought the steering bit may require two. I haven’t sorted what the actual control mechanism will need to be, but I have some ideas.

Power

Power will be transmitted via series of chains and sprockets. Visually, much of this will be exposed, though perhaps only through peep holes in chain covers.

I know I could jam this thing full of electronics to coordinate the legs and to handle steering and speed, but that’s not what this is. This is very mechanical. Greasy. Noisy. Grimy. If it breaks you’ll know where it’s broken. If it’s coming, everyone knows it’s coming.

HMKIC

Charles: Hey, Mike, I was thinking about doing a row of LEDs up the back of the bike that lit up in sequence when the brake was applied

Mike: Cool idea! I was thinking about that some time ago… my idea was to light them up based on how hard you were pulling the brake lever.

Charles: Very cool, Mike. You’re neat.

[time passes]

Charles: Hey, Jemiah, I was thinking about doing a row of LEDs up the back of the bike that lit up in sequence based on how hard you were braking.

Jemiah: Cool idea, Charles, but what about measuring deceleration instead? You’ll need one of these UBW boards, and one of these accelerometers, and a DC power converter.

Charles: -blink-blink- of course! That’s brilliant!

Charles: Mike, listen to the shit that Jemiah just said [relates story] .

Mike: Brilliant! That Jemiah sure can say some shit!

Brainstorming

Once I am excited about a project or idea, it is very difficult for me to not think about it. In fairness, it don’t try very hard not to, but I doubt I could anyway… So, when I got the ‘OK’ from the wife to work on the P40 Seca Project, I found myself consumed with thinking of all of the things I could do. As you can see, I’ve already begun to trim some the the ‘less good’ (not ‘bad’) ideas from the list:

• Sharkmouth paint job
• New (used) clubman handlebars
• Seat replace w/ cafe-style seat
• Forward facing air scoops w/ ducting to engine (maybe) After doing some research on this, I would only see any improvement in performance in speeds in excess of 80mph and then only marginal improvement. Plus, I don’t go 80mph.
  
• Custom Speedometer/Tachometer a la Altimeter
• Custom Fuel Gauge/Voltmeter a la Artificial Horizon/Pitch/Yaw
• Custom (LED) Rear lighting and directionals
• Custom switches for off/run/off, starter
• Additional on/off toggle with cover
• Safety cover for key switch
• Bar-end mirrors w/ LED directionals
• 12-volt accessory receptacle

That’s all for now… I’ve got a few folks willing to help with some of the design work, and the bike will have a checkup after each change (at The Shop in Bayview). I’m not sure where to start, though…