Brian.. Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 This is my next project, Mr Machine, by Tokyo Plamo (Plastic Models) . It's a plastic kit, and like all kits it is extremely flimsy. Unless you build one from the original (and horribly expensive) kit you're unlikely to find one loose. They're just unlikely to survive in the open. It's got real robot pedigree, starting as a design by Mr Jiro Aizawa. I was fortunate enough to have a box and instructions posted by Gernot and I had this excellent article to give me some help. https://ameblo.jp/akasikogorou/entry-12520724680.html Just make sure that your browser can translate the pages and they read remarkably well. Here are the pictures I'm using as reference. The feet are very big. It seems to be an Aizawa trademark. In the kit they are used to house the batteries, but there's plenty of room in the body. The article says that the weight of the batteries and the outside position of the wheels make the robot knock-kneed. My four-tyre feet avoid that. The unusual feature is the moving head. Normally it's easy to make the head move - just link it to one of the legs and it works fine. Here, however, the head slowly moves right and left independently of the legs. It looks great and is achieved by fitting an eccentric cam into a slot at the back of the head. That's proving to be a problem, but I think I have a solution. It also looks as though the head is a loose fit onto a central rod. Handy for shipping! The kit reveals a few tricks - the knees, for example are push-on components. I'll use that idea to cut down on print time. The decals will have to be recreated because you can't copy them properly from photos. So here's my opening design. Multiple heads so I can work out ways of printing it more efficiently. It's a charming and absorbing little project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Gil Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Umm, Yes, please Kudos, Brian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 The first task is to get him standing right. You can tell immediately if it's going to walk properly by looking at the stance. Those big feet make life easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Gil Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Nice! That blue filament will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the base color as well. Good looking color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 Here's the head movement. I'll use one of the tiny camera motors to drive this independently. I thought about a belt drive from the main motor but this is quite neat. The head sits on the central post and that little cam engages with a slot in the head. Simple when you've spent a whole bloody day scratching your head to work out how they did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 The underside is a Heath Robinson affair. Don't laugh - the rubber band applies tension to the little motor. I'll replace it with a screw on the final version. You can just make out the tiny teeth of the gear wheel that drives the cam. It's a press fit, so you need a tensioning device to make it future-proof otherwise it would fail in a month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Excellent Brian This was the same designer ' that influenced if not create the look of the diamond planet if I'm not mistaken Keep me in mind for one !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonydroid Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Fantastic work Brian, i can´t wait to see this one done, very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBODUDE Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 OHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!!!!--- IF YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE THEM TO SELL-I WOULD LOVE ONE--FANTASTIC AS ALWAYS BRIAN-CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! P.S.-I REALLY LOVE THE SIZE OF THIS ROBOT-NOT TOO SMALL AND NOT TOO BIG---JUST RIGHT !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kirk Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Once you've made these, do you have everything you need to just plug in the machine and make more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Great looking robot, Brian. Just out of curiosity , do you make decals with clear adhesive backed sheets on the copier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 David, once the files are finished it's just a matter of printing them off. Think of a gang of elf slaves working all day and night for peanuts. It's the design, assembly and the finishing that take the time. I do, however, constantly alter the files to improve the fit or to make assembly easier. Every time I revisit an earlier robot I make improvements. The arm mechanisms and battery housings on my early robots are a bit clunky. Now I know how to make them much easier to assemble. I also like to make robots easier to dismantle if (when) they need to be worked on in future. Phil, I just print decals on to glossy paper and cut around them. Keep it simple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboDerby Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 I’m with Rich. This is going to be awesome Brian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 Well, what a pleasant build. Apart from the head, the rest of it went together beautifully. I managed to print three left arms for him - no right arm! Apart from that I got the ultimate in praise from my wife: "He moves weird." That's the closest I've got to a compliment in forty years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 The long legs make him move relatively quickly: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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