Assembling Roboter 703 d kit number 1

[robothut]

Ok Roboter kit #1 has arrived at the Hut. First off a big thank you to Marco for making it available ! As you will see its everything that you would expect from the Dutch caves, fantastic 3d prints "wish I had a Ultimaker 2 plus" and the care of details.

The large shipping box contained two boxes inside. The first is the display box and the second in the kit parts.

How Marco gets all those parts in that box I do not know. Once I took them out I had to build it as they do not fit back in !

The only thing that did not survive the trip was the container of paint that will be used to paint the screw heads. No big deal the plastic bag it was in kept all the other parts safe and any one who is going to try and build one of these should be able to get some touch up paint.

[robothut]

Marco asked me to build the robot as per the instruction as a test too see how it goes. I guess he knows me well enough that I would love to go off and do some modes. But I will build the bot as Marco intended. For now any how. So I start with page one of the instructions and that is cleaning out the legs. Because Marco is working from 3d scans of the actual robot and modifying the scan files with out messing up the quality of the files is problematic, this means you have to do some clean up work. Now PLA is tricky to work with do to its low melting point. What you need too do is work with a dremel type tool on low speed. Use grinding and cutting tools that are aggressive in a low speed, that way you can remove material with out heating up the plastic. If a area you are working in starts to get sticky and binding then just go work in a different place for a minuet or two as this will let the plastic cool off. I found that clearing out the legs only take me about 15 minuets per leg and I used 4 tools. I used a dremel cutoff wheel to make cuts in any place that the cut off wheel would fit. Then I used a spiral cut type bit that lets you drill in as well as cut away material for the rest of the work. I used a flat file and ran it threw the leg to file down the inside from one end to the other nice and smooth. Then I used the dremel sanding dum to add the cut out area that the walking crank will require.

[robothut]

Now since I was in the shop I decided to make the golden pin holes in the bottoms of the legs. This was a mater of just measuring the 6 mm up and 6 mm from the edge as the instructions said. These holes are on the base of the front of the leg units. The front of the legs is the side that is the most straight, the back of the leg has more of a bulge just below the knee. If you have a numbered drill set it will be the #49 bit that will match the Golden pin. Or 1.85 mm drill or 0.0725 bit. 

[robothut]

Next I glued the leg construction parts together. I used the bench to make sure they were square as they glued.

[robothut]

Next it is important to point out that inserting the correct leg constuction in to the correct leg should be done by viewing Marco's pictures for that assembly and that it based on "as seen from the front, looking at the robot"   So the robots actual right leg is in this case its left leg. The Construction must be placed in the middle and the total height for the leg and construction part is 178 mm or 7 inches. Also make sure the rod at the top is vertical. I used part of the work desk with a paper marker for height to make this easyer to line up.

[robothut]

Lastly I glued on the little knobs, 8 mm below the top of the leg rods. 

[Tinplate6]

Geeze Louise, John, I can already tell I'll never own one of these.  

[robothut]

OK now for page two of the instructions. It starts with the feet.  so assemble the metal frames and rubber wheels and ratchet parts . make sure you put the front cog wheeks the right way around so the ratchets can lock. then glue them to the foot base parts. 

Next clean off the support crap from the mount block. There are two small plastic pegs in the back of the block. clean those so they are round. You are going to click the leg rod linkage on too these small pins. I softened up the plastic just a smidge with a heat gun to do this with out breaking the little pins off. Now you can glue the block in to the metal frame, keep it centered make sure everything can move freely and the wheel ratchet's still work. Test fit the foot top in place to see if everything still looks centered. Once that is glued you can glue the foot top on.

[robothut]

Now its time to prep the wind up mechanics. Marco has marked the parts that need to be cut off the metal frame. You can use a dremel with a fiber cut off wheel or you can use good tin snips if you have them. The are two cuts that you make so that you can bend the metal straight as well. There are two small plastic spacers that you can slip on too both sides of the square drive shaft / axle. On the ends of the drive cranks you will see that its a bit ruff so file that smooth. You also need to dremel two cut outs for where the screws come threw to hold the gear box in place. 

[robothut]

Page 3. Preparing the body parts. First remove the support junk plastic. The front body part will have some plastic pegs on its back side you need to remove those and file the plastic down smooth. now you are going to drill holes "1.53 mm or 0.060 or if you have numbered bit then #53" where the 4 plastic pegs were. You are going to glue in metal posts in place the plastic posts you just removed. You only need about 4 mm sticking out. Next drill the same oles in the body back part . This way the two body parts can be pined together. Now if you look at the body when its pinned together you will see where he original key hole was. You need to cut that out so it is a opening that is 8 mm wide and 15 mm tall. I used a small hobby saw to make the stop cuts for the 15 mm height then used the dremel with the cut off wheel to slice out the plastic 4 mm on front part and on the back part "8 mm total".I did not see where Marco describes what to do about where the wind up spring end tab sticks down in the crotch of the front body part, so I just made a small opening there for it.

[robothut]

Now you can put the wind up gear box in the body back and make marks where you need to grind two divets for the mounting screws to come threw.

[robothut]

And here is the front of the body screwed on.

[Ranger]

Looking great John.I am enjoying watching this kit build. Brilliant in depth construction info from both Marco and John.  It's coming along nicely.

[robothut]

The arms are next. So clean off the support plastic from the arms and hand prints. Glue the hand on. then place the arms in the robot and make marks "I used a black sharpie" where you need to cut the tops of the arm axles off. Then drill holes in the ends of the arm axles so that the provides screws will tread in there. Cut off a lenth of the spring provided that is just slightly longer than the arm axle. This way when you screw on the arm plate it will bind with the spring before the screw is all the way tight. This provides a slip clutch to protect the mechanic of the robot.

[robothut]

Ok working on the head. here are the parts before you clean off the support material and after.