Micro MIll

I recently picked up this MicroMark mill. I got it off craigslist (Chicago) with a whole bunch of tooling. The cart / stand is from a hospital that also came from Craig's list.

The mill came with a DRO on the 3 axis's but the goofy rubber plugs that plug into the scales were so loose that the readout would not work half the time.

So, like  any other enthusiast I just cut them off and soldered the wires directly to the circuit board.

Once they were soldered  I assembled the units back together and I put some silicon in the pockets to seal them.

Here is a great site explaining how the scales work and the wiring if you ever want to build your own DRO.

Telepresence Robot

I'm always on the look out for new thing to use in building my robots or to make into robots. Recently I was scouring the local electronics recyclers and came across these hospital computer carts,  And the first thing that came to mind was that they would be a great start for a Telepresence Robot.

Has 17 inch monitor (12 vdc) with motherboard
Keyboard drawer
Battery and charger in base (Dead battery)
The center post also adjust up and down to vary the height.

My plan is to replace the rear caster with  drive wheels to move it around.

Bargain robots Pr2 robot. (pt 2)

It's Alive. Finally got time to get to Microcenter and get a Wifi antenna. Also purchased a new battery since my second battery would not charge any more. Started running the computer off a 12v dc power supply. Downloaded Willows Garage ROS and began doing the tutorials.

Bargain Pr2 robot.

In my last posting I showed the Cybermotion K2A robot that I purchased.  Once I got it home and on the bench for a close inspection. I realized that I would not be using any of the stock controls for my new project for several reasons.
1. The Motherboard was 486 processor. With no HD
2. The motor control along with the encoders was made up of 7400 series DIPS from 1980.
3. There was no support or manuals anywhere to be found on the Internet, so all rebuilding and fixing would have to be metered out.

And the base / body just looked ugly.

So I took off the old components and boxed them up for storage.

The cleaned base with new components added.

Battery trays installed to hold 12v 17ah batteries.

Top view of computer platform. Zotac mother board 9300 wifi series. 250 watt DC-DC car computer power supply and
hard drive that needs mounting brackets still. In the center is the slip ring connector for power from the base.

Sabertooth 2x25 drive fot the motor control and Arduino to test the motor operation and encoder programming.

Cybermotion K2A

Just picked this up to add to my robot collection.
If anybody has Manuals, Parts or schematics please contact me as I would be interested in copies or purchasing them.

Unique Project Enclosure

   
I'm always on the lookout for new ways to package my projects.
Found this one at IKEA, It's a plastic outdoor accent light.
7 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall.

It has a 1.2v NiCad, and recharging circuit.  All for $7.99

Rotary Magnetic Encoder V1.0

I have received my 6 bare circuit boards from Maker Bot. At 2 dollars each I could not pass them up. They offer 10 bit resolution from a pre-programmed chip.
 I chose the V1.0 boards because Maker bot printed it with all the pins brought to the connector and 3 ways to get the data out. It use the AS5040 rotary encoder chip from http://www.austriamicrosystems.com/

Bare Board from Maker Bot

Board with components soldered on.
Yes that's hand soldering on the 16pin SSOP chip. The
wires are jut temporary until the headers arrive.

Recived my Arduino Fio today.

I will be using it for my robotic arm controller. The encoders for each joint will feed into this
and will broadcast wireless to the robot arm. The Fio has a built in X-Bee socket and is amazingly small, always a plus!

New Blog Site

"Houston, Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed"
                                                 -Armstrong
I have started this blog today.