Thursday, December 29, 2011

Pythagoras: Structural Update

Solving the Flex
After dealing with the flexing aluminum supports that allowed the whole robot to wobble for so long, I finally went ahead and bought steel tubing. The legs are also longer, allowing expansion of the drawing field. Unfortunately, they are also taller, so for now, the paper needs a little booster to get it to the optimal drawing height.

Phone books to lift the paper to the pen

The tubing is connected by gusset plates, made of .03" galvanized steel.
Slots in the plates for adjusting exact lengths

Now the bot is so sturdy I could probably stand on it and it would hold.