Roboter 703-D

[marco]

Project: Roboter - 703-D ( Prototype 1.)

 

Well, some of you have already seen some first pics of my latest project. Today I had finally some time to tell some more about this amazing robot and project so here we go.....

 

It must have been some years ago when i wanted to start making robots with 3D technology but for several reasons the technique was not good enough for my standards... When i started to experiment last year with 3D scanning and printing there was ONE particular robot i had in mind to create... Roboter 700, made in Germany somewhere in the late fifties...

 

Roboter 700 is one of the rarest and most scarce robots that were made and surprisingly the robot was not made in Japan but in Germany. Estimated is that only 10 - 15 examples were made. The robot was never taken into production by the way. These days.. only a handful are known to exist.
All the information about Roboter 700 has been wonderful and into the finest details told by Dirk and Gernot, its on the board here so nothing I can add to that... if you want to know more about Roboter 700 than I am sure that Dirk and Gernot can dig up the stories about this wonderful robot :)

 

I bumped into several problems but the major one was how on earth I was able to come even close to an original robot 700 and second, the biggest challenge ... who would allow me to have the robot in my caves for several weeks, let me take the robot fully apart to capture all its " bits and bytes..."

 

I talked with Xris about this project some time ago and he allowed me to pick up his original roboter 700 and put it on the "3D Operating Table".

 

Taking this "fragile" robot apart was quite a delicate job, i can tell you that but it was worth the time, work and effort so far....

 

My goal in this project is "simple" ... to make my very own exact copy of Roboter 700 that I will name: Roboter 703-D :-) This will be done using 3D scanning and printing technology and within the limitations of the 3D process, I think I can come VERY close to the original robot.

 

The original robot 700 is equipped with a windup mechanism that allows the robot to walk ( more or less, the original roboter 700 is not the best walking robot by the way) swinging arms, a movable head and lighted eyes, just like the original robot. Further I want to create this robot as an exact copy, made to the finest details possible so that means i have to look close to every part, screw, buld, wire etc etc.. all must be the same as the original robot.

 

I started with the head as you have probably noticed already :)

The head is an exact scan made of the original 700 head. The ears, antenna and neckpiece are seperate parts and the head is made out of a front and backside that is hold together with screws.

Inside are 2 lightbulbs and a battery compartment for a single AAA battery to power the eyes ( The original 700 head also has a battery compartment to power the eyes.)

 

The "on / off" switch is the red coil at the back of the head. 2 socalled "banana plugs" can be inserted in the head to make the connection for the eyes to light up.

The eyes have a bipolar switch inside to let the eyes blink on and off.

 

Well, so far some first info on this new project on which i will work the next few weeks. I will do some regular updated on this project when needed. Here are some first pictures from the head completed for Roboter 703 - D Prototype 1.

 

So far so good... weekend now :) I will continue on this project next week of course... cant wait to continue :)....

 

Cheers...

 

Marco

 

 

[roboz]

Looks great Marco , I'm curious , is there a way to buff out / wet sand the pieces to give them a smooth look ?

Might be time consuming but lead to a cleaner more factory-eque finish . 

[marco]

Hey Oz,  There is a method called: Vapor Treating.

I have tried it before, the project is time consuming enough for the moment :) when i have sorted all out and have all the parts scanned, and put together the way i want it, than I will dive into this.
I added a picture of Ultimakers website, you can see what the result may be.
Have not spoken to people who did this procedure  and not sure if it works fine. have to do some tests with it but that will be somewhere on my todo list :)

Cheers
Marco


Here is a short explaination:

Vapor treating is a way of smoothening the surface of a print with a fluid that can dissolve the material of the print. This is done by vaporizing the fluid in a "vapor jar", which is nothing more than a jar that can hold the vapor. For ABS acetone is used as a fluid and you can use chloroform for PLA.

By heating the fluid a vapor with little drops of the solvent will be formed. This will slowly settle on the print and start to dissolve the outer layer. When timed correctly you are able to get a very smoothly finished print, similar to an injection molded part.

The advantage of using a vapor jar as compared to just dipping the print in the solvent is that the solvent is equally distributed over the print. This will give a more consistent result.

 

[robothut]

Lots of you tube vids on this, but it is a nasty thing to do. A coat of paint will give the same results in less time and hazard. But if you want to keep just the plastic color then this is the way to go.

[marco]

I have not checked on that process to be honest. without ever doing it, I can imagine its a bitch to do.
Its also not a priority at this moment, first trying to capture the rest of the parts properly and building the windup mechanism... will cost time enough i guess.

Good idea by the way, the jars to keep the filament out of humidity

CHeers
Marco

 

[tinluver2]

FANTASTIC!!

[roboz]

Wow might be time consuming but you can't argue with the results !  

 

[Lunik]

One for me, please!

 

 

One Robot 703-D - not a jar of chloroform. 

Chloroform! Keep your hands off that stuff!

[Tinplate6]

I've only seen the head, and I already want one of these robots.

[robothut]

If you print in ABS then the solvent smoothing is not to bad, but PLA is harder to do this way. But ABS has a smell that seems to stay with the parts so I do not use it for robot building, well one time and that was enough for me. There are a ton of new PLA plastics , high heat, high strenth , carbon fiber, wood, buffable metals and so on so there might be one that can be more easly solvent smoothed. Will have too do some internet searching.

[WJN]

Is there any polycarbonate (Lexan) 3d printing material?

I have done extensive vapor polishing of polycarbonate machined parts over the years, with excellent results. I used  methylene chloride steam jet. (In an exhaust hood of course) Most people are scared off by methylene chloride, but with proper precautions it can be used safely.

[Ranger]

703-D, very nice Marco. Great project. 

[robot polishing his rocket]

WOW! looks great marco.

[martijn]

Fantastic project!!! Can't wait to see it live in action🍻👍🏻😄

[robothut]

WJN yes there is polycarbonate (Lexan) 3d printing material. It prints at a much higher temp and costs more.