building the Wind Up AlphaBot 2014

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thought I would share the building of a Wind up Alphabot. this is what I did 24 times, thats counting the 3 prototypes. And I would have built more if the latest Lillupt wind up robots that I use for there wind up guts wern't such crap compared to the original repro from a few years back.

So all winter long I was thinking about a wind up Alphabot build but every time I would go out to the shop to play with the idea the cold weather would change my mind, so it was not until April that I did go out and grab two junker wind up Lilliputs from my parts room and start the design work on the computer. Once it is layed out in the DRAW program and all the parts are checked and test fitted I then would print out the inside body parts on thick card stock. I also printed on a photo quality plastic film the out side body skin and the art work for the top of the box. Both of these will then get a clear coat spray so that the ink jet photo printing will not run if gotten wet.

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Now I cut out all the card stock inside body parts, including all the small holes and slots. Then score all the bend lines and bend the card stock in to shape.

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Next I glue the sides and top parts to the back part. Then glue in the inside leg part.

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Now its time to build the control lever "start / Stop" from a small wood dowel some card stock flaps and plastic bead "knob" the control shaft has to assembled on to the inside card stock upper support part first.

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Now I place the wind up guts in to the body. It fits snugly in to the tab holes I made in the card stock in the crotch. Then the control shaft and upper support part fit over tabs on the wind up motor and get glues to the card stock body on the sides and back. two pieces of thin wood are also glued on to the inside top part of the robot body just above the wind up motor support part. The wood is there to provide a solid way to mount the arms and the scanner ears .

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Next I glue in 2 support parts that keep the walking "pin drive" linkage parts in place. The parts also provide stability to the leg construction.

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The plastic bead on the control shaft is now glued on and the wind up mechanics tested.

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Now its time to cut out the outside body parts that are printed on the plastic photo material. Just like with the card stock parts these must be cut and scored and bent to shape, also every little hole or slot must be cut as well.

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I use the good old Super 77 spray glue to hold the body wrap parts on to the card stock body.

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Now its time to make the arm units. there are alot of parts and steps to this. I start by cutting a wood ball in 1/2 on the band saw. Then I use the disc sander to make the flat spot that will provide a mounting place to the body. I have to pre drill the hole for this mounting screw that will hold the arm on to the body. Remember the 2 wood parts I glues inside the body they have to be drilled for the arm screws and pre drilled for the ear scanner rings also.

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I also drill a 1/4 inch hole in to the wood shoulder parts so that I can glue a small lenth of 1/4 inch wood dowel in them. I next cut some larger wood dowels for the arms and in one end drill a 1/4 inch hole to glue to the small dowel in the shoulder and in the other end pre drill a hole for the screw that will hold the claws on.

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The claws are made from large rubber grommets with small sections cut out to make the claw shape, there is also a hole pre drilled in them for the mounting screw that will hold them on to the arm parts. The arm parts are wrapped in a plastic cable wrap material, that I cut to length then glue on to the wood arms.

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Now I primer paint the arm units, when that dries I paint them red. When that dries I paint the ends of the arms black so that it will join in with the black plastic cable wrap parts on the arms. then when the paint and the cable wrap glue is dry I screw on the rubber claws. told you there were alot of parts and steps to the arms. now do that 48 times.

Also show are the resin feet painted. casting resin feet takes some time as well since the number of rubber molds is few. and it was still cold in the shop so I had to use the shop oven to bake the resin.

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Screw eyes make the scanner ears, one straight and one bent. I put a dab of glue on the threas and then just screw then in to the pre drilled holes I spoke about before.

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The robots right arm gets screwed and glued on but the left arm just gets screwed on since it has to rotate out of the way so that the wind up key can fit in .