wed feb 6
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen liquid water outside.
I look forward to seeing more.
C3PR is on a diet too, and he’s lost more weight than I have.
Old motor mount: 826g
New motor mount: 267g
sat feb 9
I used motorcycle valve springs from an ’81 GS750 for the base axis drive belt tensioner.
(I thought that was a nice touch.)
sun feb 17
A whole week without a blog entry. Did you miss me?
I been busy. You wouldn’t know it judging from the fruit of my labors, but I’ve been busy.
I still haven’t got etherCAT working, and I’ve tried pretty hard. There’s either something screwed up with my coding, or there’s something screwed up with my brand new motor. I ask you: which is more likely? And yet, despite a month of hacking, manuals, spec sheets, forums, and googling galore, I cannot, for the life of me, configure my motor and make it run.
Remember, though, that this is the motor that sparked and smoked when I mis-wired it last month, and even though it seems to still work fine in every other way, it won’t do what I need it to, and in the back of my mind, I’m starting to think that my programming might be right after all, and it doesn’t work because the sparks fried (just a part of) its brains.
I just can’t prove it.
sat feb 23
Last week in February, and it looks like it’s going to be a short blog this month.
Last night, I figured out the etherCAT problem that has baffled me for the last month or so. It just came to me as I stepped out of the shower. Let’s just say it was something really basic which I had overlooked.
Really, really basic.
And just in time, too, because mechanically, C3pr is almost ready to assemble, and without a motor that moves, it’s just going to hang limp.
I don’t run into many other walkers on my daily stroll up the road, but today, I met one of the neighbors.
When I stopped eating bread, this loaf started getting stale.
The worms will love it.
mon feb 25
Yesterday was really fulfilling.
In the morning, I ran some tests and showed that my etherCAT fix actually works.
In the afternoon, I got the new waist assembled for the first time. It doesn’t sound like much, but it proves that the screw holes are in the right places and the movement is smooth. For once, nothing seems to be glaringly wrong.
Here are a couple of motion pictures.
This is how the 5 joints go together.
Brainstorming a wrapping pattern for carbon fiber.
It’s harder than it looks.
thu feb 28
You’ve noticed, I’ll bet, that everything seems to be about C3pr, and nothing is about Me. Lets face it. C3pr is my job. I work on it all day and I think about it all night. It’s a little scary, but I’m not too concerned. Either something really good is going to come of it, or I’m simply going to have a good time.
It’s been a cold winter.
Compare this photo to the one at the top of the page.