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November 17, 2005
Stalled...
A bit stalled this week- trying to tech out the electronics: stepper motors, drivers, etc. Finally decided to just forge ahead with a pre-assembled board rather than building one and use some of the stepper motors I have on hand. No idea what kind of torque I will need to drive this thing so it makes no sense to buy something blind.
Started mocking up the plates to hold the pulleys....
....and rig up a 4' x 4' cable-based prototype. A few things immediately apparent: the threading of the cables is complicated and with closed plates it means I have the run the cable through each block, to the next block and back. Need to come up with an easier way to rig this - better plate design.
Some interesting lessons about process - and getting overly precious with the tech stuff: better to just get it working and then make refinements. So much of this stuff I can't predetermine if it will work: not enough experience with it or issues that could not have been foreseens
The pulley blocks are rather massive objects. Just a test wood plate holding it together now - but that will eventually be aluminum once the design is finalized.
Posted by Roy at November 17, 2005 04:20 PM