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| This is a complimentary document to the collar
construction techniques how to found at the www.robotbuilders.netclub
site.
The information found here is supplementary and the link referenced should be read before continuing. Some information seemed unclear to me so I choose to put together this document. This document is an approach of how I tackled assembing a collar section and deviates from to a small extent of what is presented on the robot builders web site. The shopping list:
1 - Dave Painter's blueprints $135, you will need
this as a reference to assemble your collar. See robotbuilder's web site
for ordering details.
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Dave Painter's blueprints come with rib details.
I have a copy of a rib section that was supposedly traced from the original
robot's collar. I used this tracing for my project.
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Before you can start fabricating ribs you must
construct a jig for the ribs to be formed in. I tackled this problem by
purchasing a
6" x 3' piece of poplar, 1/4" thick, from the Home Depot. I printed out 5 copies of this template and glued them onto the poplar as a cutting template. Use a Dremel Scroll saw if you have one. You need to make intricate and precise cuts. I borrowed my father-in-law's toys. What you want to end up with is a jig that resembes
the following.
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In this figure you can see the ribs cooling in
the jig. Using the above template I cut my rods to exactly 8". This length
didn't require any trimming after I completed shaping my ribs. Note I have
capped both ends of the template press. Examine the center rib press. The
hot acrylic rod, (275 degress for 5 minutes) comes out looking like a swizzler
licorace candy and is flimsy. You have about 10 seconds to shape it. This
is my jig I used. I later modified it because the hot acrylic had a small
tendency to bend up out of the jig. I solved this problem in the following
manner. Since my saw allowed me to make very precise cuts I still had complete
1/4" cut outs that I fortunately didn't break while cutting. I picked these
out of the dust pile and glued them onto my jig. Now the acrylic was forced
to shape the way I wanted it to. I need to mention that this jig was primarily
the suggestion of Steve Tanner, who is also a frequent member of the B9
robotbuilders web site.
Producing 5 of these jigs I was able crank out all 108 ribs in less than 3 hours. Note that you will screw up about 4 rods before you perfect your operation. I recommend you only make one rod at a time until you get a feel for how to make the ribs. Problems we all encounter are the right oven temperature. In my new super GE cooking oven, the magic temperature was 275 degrees for 5 minutes. In some ovens the temperature is 250 degrees. If you can find a cheap toaster oven at a garage sale buy it. Remember, acrylic is plastic and it releases toxic gases. I thoroughly cleaned my oven and then let it air out for 24 hours before I used it for cooking again. My assembly line for ribs is pictured below. |
| Note in this picture you can see the sheetrock t-square I was using to score the 6' acrylic rods into 8" lengths. This is what I was doing while I was waiting the 5 minute intervals. I was socring the rods and then running out to the garage to cut more material. This kept me busy for a good two hours in between waiting for the 5 minute buzzer intervals. I need to invest into a digital camera. But you can see little ribs sprawled on the top of the counter. For a realistic accounting. I did shape the rods in 3 hours, once I had my act down on temperature and my jigs constructed. In all, it probably took me a hole weekend. |
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