Revision 1 of the 3d printed sideplates with integral robot arm mount now exist. The bottom plate is over getting glued. I know I forgot a lumen hole on the bottom basket mount corner so that one is getting reprinted and I need to make a few adjustments to the servo mount one, but it’s getting there.
Cool! Looks like they will fit on the payload skid too.
Edit: Nevermind, not for the payload skid. Still cool though!
I think so, the spacing is the same. worst case scenario you might have to drill one of the holes I filled out.
I’m going to mount the rest of the robot arm tonight. Depending on how that fits I may need to raise it up a bit on the frame.
are the full sideplates 3d printed?
My sideplates are fully 3d printed on a Lulzbot TAZ printer out of ABS. The ones you get from blue robotics are milled out of solid plastic, possibly delrin.
wow, thats alot of 3d printing. What made you go with 3dprinting over more conventional materials and techniques?
Mainly because I have a large 3d printer and the $35 worth of ABS so far was less expensive than most black plastic sheets I could find of suitable material, I’m also pretty good at printing large flat objects in abs, and I am able to quickly modify designs for printing so for me that was the quickest, least cost method? Besides my mill is still not all that functional at the moment.
This is only the 6th largest thing I’ve printed, and only the 2nd largest ROV frame heh.
makes sense, less ABS Costs than I thought. Thanks.
Robot arm and bottom plate are on. The arm feels really Solid now.
I’m thinking that I may want to recess the base servo back further into the frame more than it is.
If anyone’s interested in a suitable plastic for framing and/or structural parts, take a look at Densetec Marine Board. It can be machined in pretty much the same way as wood and it’s very slightly buoyant (0.96g/cm3 IIRC) which makes it about neutral in seawater. It’s also hard wearing, colour stable and UV resistant.
However, it isn’t exactly cheap (US$470 for a 12.7 x 1370 x 2440 mm (0.5 x 54 x 96") sheet) but Profesional Plastics will supply smaller sizes if required, although that option may only apply to the US - I had to buy mine from their Singapore dealer and they would only supply a full sheet, I reckon that I paid a premium price for the transport from the US as well.
All the same, it ticks all the boxes and worth the investment if your budget can stand it.