Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 4

The last few weeks I have been busy refurnishing the bike for the RC car project as well as designing 2 versions of the chassis for the car itself.

3D Scanner Project Update 1

Our 3D scanner has always been a great machine, however, the difficulties in setup make it somewhat of a pain to use. To improve the capabilities, reliability, and ease of use of our scanner I looked to improve upon it somehow. I thought upgrading the sensor being used to a Kinect 2 would be an improvement but as it turns out the technology in the Kinect 2 changed and is no longer a viable solution to DIY scanning. After some investigating I found that the best (and only solution, if I’m honest) is to use a Structure Sensor from https://structure.io/. Luckily, we happened to already have one not in use so after validating it would work with our software I loaded up SolidWorks and began designing a new bracket to hold it in place. What I ended up with is this:

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 3

RC Airboat

I finally “finished” the airboat. I finished making the last of the rudder design so with that part being finished I decided to do the boats first test run. Prior to me making the different designs and modifications to the hull of the boat. I never actually put the boat or the hull of it in the water for a “sink or float” test. To help with the buoyancy of the hull I added an epoxy resin to the bottom of the hull, but again I still never tested it out.

RC Car Project - Update 3

With most of the body completed it was now time to do some fine tuning to the steering and throttle. Steering adjustments were relatively straight forward, I wanted there to be a dead zone where the car could go straight even with the bike not being in perfect center. In order to achieve this I put in some simple logic to the code:

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 2

Pi-Zero Drone:

This week I made the silicate elastomer mixture of cornstarch and silicon I* to make tires for the drone. I didn't expect the mixing of the ingredients to be as messy as it was, but the finished product turned out to be a great success. The drone now has good traction on slippery concrete. The only down side to the new tires is that the shape of one of them is a tad lumpy which occasionally alters the direction of the bot. I should be able to fix that by shaving off some material.