Lunik Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Marco, I got to chime in quickly, just to express my excitement to soon pick up the official serial number #01 Roboter 703-D from your "caves". I've been watching the development process quite closely and still am amazed what a big challenge you have mastered! So many details solved to add to this charming vintage appearance. E.g. only to mention swinging adjustable arms and independendly blinking eyes, two features you wanted to achieve in perfection, when I thought, you might already have done enough. Now reading, you are even adding an instruction manual. (Dutch, language of the robot's origin? 😀). Very much looking forward, Klaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 8 hours ago, SH MIKE said: Marco, The LED is only used to get the blinking effect on the Robot. It is what is buried inside the head. You would not see it. and you would not need any other electronic boards for it to work. The Eyes for Big Loo are Blinking Bulbs and they blink randomly . This would be the same effect. I don't know what the Original German bulbs did but I was wondering. Do the original bulbs have a screw in base ? How did they replace burned out bulbs in the 50's ? Hello Mike, I did not think about big loo but you are correct, they blink as well. I checked the bulbs and they also have a bi-metal installed inside the bulb. Your idea is interesting for sure. I believed i had a conversation about this with some guy from a local electronic shop. I asked him if a diode would work and i believe a blinking led is not much more than a lighted diode. I will try to do a test today, i must have some blinking leds lying around somewhere. If it works, i could indeed skip the expensive smd cards inside the head :) will keep you posted about the test :) Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 7 hours ago, Lunik said: Marco, I got to chime in quickly, just to express my excitement to soon pick up the official serial number #01 Roboter 703-D from your "caves". I've been watching the development process quite closely and still am amazed what a big challenge you have mastered! So many details solved to add to this charming vintage appearance. E.g. only to mention swinging adjustable arms and independendly blinking eyes, two features you wanted to achieve in perfection, when I thought, you might already have done enough. Now reading, you are even adding an instruction manual. (Dutch, language of the robot's origin? 😀). Very much looking forward, Klaus Hey Klaus, Thank you for your kind words and your interest in this project. I was thinking to do the manual in German by the way :) still working on the information that has to be put inside. maybe in 3 languages ... dutch, german and japanese :) hehehehe Ok, looking forward to meet you again here in the caves... expresso will be ready ! Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 9 hours ago, SH MIKE said: Marco, The LED is only used to get the blinking effect on the Robot. It is what is buried inside the head. You would not see it. and you would not need any other electronic boards for it to work. The Eyes for Big Loo are Blinking Bulbs and they blink randomly . This would be the same effect. I don't know what the Original German bulbs did but I was wondering. Do the original bulbs have a screw in base ? How did they replace burned out bulbs in the 50's ? Hey Mike.... I did a quick test to see if your idea would work... but... unfortunately it does not. Its somehow strange that such a "simple problem" letting a bulb blink... is in fact not that easy to solve within the area i had to work with. I am not THAT kind of a technician and I think John is way better in this sort of electronics than I am. For my projects I dont really need that expertise because i always stick around with bulbs, batteries and motors just like it was used in our vintage robots. Therefore I thought that having 2 bulbs blinking on a 3 volt battery would have been a piece of cake... but when the robot was almost completed and I started to work on the eye part... i ran into a bigger problem than expected. I was simply told it was not possible but... NOT is no option for me :-) In the video you see a blinking led does not allow the bulb to blink.. it stays dead when the led is connected correctly. ( led only works with plus on plus and minus on minus. When I change plus and minus.. the bulb lights up but thats it.. no blinking.. In the picture you see the solution i used for Roboter 703-D.. I normally never use modern electronics in my projects but this time, this smd card was the only option to get the eyes blinking. the battery is 6,2 volts 170 Mah but only weights 8 gram ( and every gram counts in this project ) The smd card is made to let TWO eyes blink but it does not work on this battery. I use one smd card to power one bulb, the second card powers the second bulb. The smd card loads a condensator to 3 volts and then give the current to the bulb. when one card is loaded, the second does not... when the first one gives the power to the bulb, the second one can load and makes sure the eyes blink perfectly left, right, left right etc etc ( hope you can still follow me hahahaha ) There is only ONE disadvantage in this system.. the battery runs flat very quickly so if you want the roboter to blink a lot.. you need to replace the battery quickly :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martijn Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Fantastic robot you created maestro!!! and a lot of fun to see the development! little anecdote: marco struggled big time with the blinking eyes, I suggested some other construction, we talked all options, tried this tried that with the bi-metal bulbs, the cards, different battery, switches etc.. untill marco says: enough! He is not going to have blinking eyes like the original, just lighted eyes like the box says! so we stop, and I go home thinking he won't let it go.... next morning I receive a video of the roboter with blinking eyes...haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Beautiful work, Marco! i applaud your attention to detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maloo Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Thanks for sharing the details and the explanation Marco. Through sheer perseverance you have acheived a great end result Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 The old Bi Metal "thermal" flasher bulbs are great in that the light is only on for a flash then off again so battery life is longer. The first thing that came to my mind when you started talking about the flashing lights was why not just use a simple strip of metal type switch like robot toys of the 1950 and 1960's. Just connect one battery lead to the metal gear box and mount the flexable metal strip near one of the leg drive levers so it get touched from time to time, that way the eyes will flash when the robot is operating. Just like that 1950 tin robot that has two bulbs for hands and a battery in the head, what was that robot called ? Any way there are simple 2 transistor circuits "called wig wag in the old days" that can do this at 3 volts also but you have a system that works and a robot that looks great so why mess with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 Hey John, Yes, the idea to use a metal strip that touches the legs also crossed my path. I even bought 2 special switches also to try this out and did some tests with it but I had no room to place them correctly. I talked about the "touching" idea with Martijn last week. The inside of the body is really FULL and adding again a mechanical solution for the bulbs inside the body with wires and strips touching eachother was not my first choice, even more because it would change the balance of the robot again. Yes I agree, I have a working system now and it works fine but the fact that its so difficult to have to simple bulbs blinking is still facinating me. if you have the time, plz explain some more about the "wig wag " system you talked about, interesting. will post some pics of the robots internals later with the details and explanation what i did there. first things first and thats building now :) Tnx Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 6 hours ago, Andyman said: Beautiful work, Marco! i applaud your attention to detail. Thanks Andy, Yes I had my focus on the smallest details in this project to make sure to come as close as possible to the original roboter 700. Just an example... it took me days and visits to several material shops only to find the correct screws..:-) I had the roboter from xris here so I could compare as much as needed to find the correct ones at the correct length as well ( the ones in the head are quite long... I could find the correct ones but not in the length i needed ) just some details :) Thanks man ! Cheers Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Wonderful Job Marco & outstanding box, you deserve the accoldes & kudo's I do have a question which I posed to both you & John besides the vapor method is there an alternative if you ever wanted to smooth the parts ? I'd be interested in seeing how they'd look polished up so to speak that said it looks fantastic as is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 For PLA there is a product made by Smooth On that is basicly a clear 5 minute epoxie that you brush on the part, it self levels and then sets up. You can sand it and polish it one set up if you want. but it gives a smooth high gloss finnish. There is a new product that is made by poly smooth that you can not buy yet but many 3d printer guys have sample right now. It is based on a plastic that will be smoothable with alcohol vaper, the parts look like injection molded parts. Every one should be able to buy it by the end of the year. Then any 3d printer that can do a decent print job will be able to make parts that you can not tell are 3d printed "or so they say". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 Thanks Oz... I have not invested this vapor method yet. i have looked at some videos but its a messy procedure and not very healthy I believe. From what I have learned is that this procedure is very tricky as well and changes of failure are pretty big. For me its not an option because I think it does not add much to the parts, other than gloss. I would choose for sanding the parts and airbrush them with clear paint. I did something on one of my projects, Jalisco robot i believe and that came out very nice. I sanded the 3D Printed Head, put basic layers on it and than airbrushed it... the result is amazing but.. its a lot of additional work :) I think that when you print the parts in high resolution, it does not need much more but.... i know, its matter of taste :) Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothut Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 No, the new alcohol vapor system is clean and safe, thats why its new ! and thats why it the plastic filiment is new and you can not get it yet. The printed part is placed in a device that can be used indoors right in your house and does everything in minuets. But until its for sale to the general public and proved to do all they say it can then its just a Dream for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunik Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Greetings from "the Dutch caves", where I've just proudly picked up my ROBOTER 703-D!!! Thanks again Marco, for presenting this romantic robot, twin of the almost unreacheable original, and for the kind handover ceremony! We've had a good chat about the robot's development process, hands on prototypes and tools, with the 3D printers active in the background, producing the next ROBTER 703-D. Marco, we missed to show the #1 serial number and the certificate in this photo. Well guys, you find these things pictured above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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