The Rewire and Rebuild

As the week moved on I ordered a new bearing to stabilize the construction. As I waiting I finished designing the lens of the face of the animatronic. Below is the current revision with an RGB LED inserted into a clear 3D printed lens used to diffuse the light. 

I then redesigned the MDF pieces of the body to fit the larger bearing. The axle mounts were redesigned to not have a cutout in the top half and for the upper motor to be closer the the axle to reduce the length of the timing belt.

I also took the opportunity to start producing the finishing aesthetic pieces of the character. the below image shows the "McCloud Security" body plate. This being the manufacturer of the character.

Below we have another aesthetic piece, the sides of the character. Keeping with vintage style of the logo above I opted to involve a simple Art Deco design in black to break up the plain and solid white of the body plates. The MDF will be sealed and be painted in a mat white.

I then moved on to finalizing and rewiring the whole unit's circuitry. As I am using Arduino units I wanted to optimize their construction for better durability during movement.

Below is one of the smaller units. For all the motor controllers I have added stackable header pins and desoldered the drivers in an effort to compartmentalize the units. If there is an fault with the drivers, batteries or microcontrollers They can be swapped out for a swift recovery.

Below is the rewired base circuitry.

The base circuitry with stick-able Velcro adhering them to the base platform itself. 

The batteries ready and set.

The final construction of the unit minus the decoration.  Note the added cross bars on the body to add vital support. The large bearing was poorly manufactured and bent, therefor I have returned to the original bearing. Though with the reconstruction using nylock nuts, crass bars and properly fitted bearings the unit is far stabler than before, demonstrated in the video below. 

My next step is to tweak the controls for more precise movement and finish the decoration of the animatronic. Home stretch.

The batteries and the face

After much deliberation I purchased a set of batteries to power the system. Two NiMH 5000mAh 6v packs for the lower platform and one NiMH 5000mAh 12V pack for the upper body.

I am very happy with these batteries. Their weight, size and duration will be perfect for the final unit.

As you can see by the video the upper body is very unstable. I have isolated this problem to the poor construction of the Lazy Susan bearing connecting the two sections. I have sourced another wider bearing to combat the problem. I believe this will eradicate the instability.

I have also moved on to a final design for the "Face" of the animatronic. In an effort to make the surveillance personality shine through I am designing a futuristic camera for the "Face".

I will be using the lens section of an open source 3D model details below.(http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1805762)

With an RGB LED and a diffused acrylic dome I will be able to create an effective eye for the animatronic.

The above digram shows the construction.

The above image is of the housing of the electronics and the adapter of the lens to the "head" of the animatronic.

Above shows the RGB LED controlled by and Arduino Mini Pro and with wireless connectivity over an Xbee module. 

I will 3D print the parts and stabalize the unit then work on the final decoration.