The Ultimate Machine - part 5

The machine is now almost done, and while I have had some good advice given to me for improvements in the finish of the box, I am quite happy with it so far. I might take the advice to heart though, and attempt to improve on the finish provided I have time to do so, and if it is not too late. It will, after all, necessitate smoothing out the edges with spackle, sanding it down smooth, an re-staining and lacquering the edges. Hopefully this is possible to do with the machine in its present condition, but if not I'll just make a mental note of remembering to do so for the next machine I build.

So, the machine has been fully assembled and only a few last tweaks and finishing touches remain to be done. I can gleefully report that the machine works flawlessly, though I will need to modify the switch somewhat in order for the servo to be able to flip it. As you remember from my last post my suppliers sent me the wrong kind of DPDT switches (on-off-on instead of on-on), and so I had to run with it and hope for the best. Well, it turns out that using the DPDT on-off-on switches is possible, and it will work, but the toggle function is a little too stiff for the servo to accomplish. Therefore I will modify the switch with a length of brass tubing for added leverage, and this will also have the effect of tying the looks of the switch in a little more with the looks of the rest of the box. Hopefully I'll get this done tonight, but that depends on whether or not the stain on the arm and two hold-down blocks has dried out sufficiently by the time I get home from work.

Here is today's round of pictures.

The switch has now been mounted roughly 2.5cm from the edge of the lid, and while the switch unmodified is too stiff for the arm to flip, it works flawlessly when the switch is aided with improved leverage. Oh, and by the way, I simply could not be bothered to remove the date-stamp from the pictures, and now that I notice it I am unable to as I'm posting this from work and I have yet to get Photoshop reinstalled.

  

 

This next pic shows an internal view. Here you can see the arm mounted to the forward lid, and you can see the hold-down block for the microswitch mounted to the bottom. If you squint a little you can just about make out the microswitch being held down by the arm, and underneatht the forward lid you can see the front edge of the servo. 

Here's a shot of the same view but from a different angle. I'm showing the controller board along with the battery pack and the various cables being plugged into the board. Also you can see the business end of the arm peeking out from under the closed lid.

Next I'll flip the forward lid, and you'll see how the servo and the arm is mounted. You can also see the hole I routed out for the switch if you follow the leads. By the way, the leads I've used were originally intended to be used in a project to build my own computer case (I will complete this project as well of course, but for now it's in hiatus), and the ones that are pink were supposed to be red. I think the pink colour is due to these cables being fluorescent, but I still feel they should look a good deal more red than they do.

The servo is held in place by being screwed to a small wooden block screwed tightly to the lid. I tried glueing the block down first, but that didn't take all that well, so in the end I just screwed it down tightly.

Finally here's a full shot of the internals exposed. Not much in the box really, but much of this space is taken by the motion of the arm. This post is made the day following these events, and after these shots were taken I stained the arm and the hold-down blocks. Hopefully these will have dried out by the time I get home so that I may lay down the last few finishing touches such as making the final modifications to the switch. Must remember to go out during lunch to get 3 and 4mm brass tubing.

The next time I post the machine will be done, and I will have a video of the machine in action to show you. Trust me when I say that it's hilarious, and that during beta testing yesterday, I couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably.