Next Hack - Robot B9

Nice, can't wait to see your future progress!

how much was the shell....or toy or whatever it was.(lamp?)

@hoolagen1 - this was a remote control toy from Trendmasters in 1997/98. I paid $79.00 for it back then. Don't know what they go for now but imagine you can get them on ebay likt the omnibots and stuff.

That's going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Thanks!

Your picture reminds me of this episode when the robot got taken apart.

They got him back together though. I am sure that you will too. I look forward to seeing him moving around on his own.

Thanks! - So I have the lights in the bubble and lower chest finished. I also have motors mounted in the radar pieces (eventually these will be controlled via the EZ-B and an H-bridge) but for now I just want to show them working. I am moving my power supply between features just to show you how they work, as I have not ordered my next EZ-B yet (gotta save my pennies). But you sorta get the idea.

Looking good so far! Can't wait to see it all back together. Any plans yet for the arms?

@ww321q - I have an idea for the arms. I am working on that along with the drive section. As soon as I have proof of concept I'll post some pics and videos. I also think I will replace those pager motors with micro-servos so I can have more control over the movement of his antennae.

Okay, so I decided to do the noise reduction as outlined by jstarne1 on his build. Then I opened up the base and this RAD drive is very different from my Omnibot. Way too many issues with crevices and such to work with the dynamat. So I have decided to use undercoating. After several coats I feel that everything is well coated and should quiet it down considerably.

Bret,

That is looking great! I am curious to hear how your undercoating went...how many coats did you use and where did you get it?

Again....B9 is looking pretty sweet!

v/r

Kevin

Hey Kevin, I used standard automotive undercoating that I got at Lowes. I put two coats on it. It's basically a spray on rubber coating and two coats is about 1/16" thick. The can said it was sound deadening, so we will see. I also used a ton of lube in the gear boxes - Lithium-Graphite. That should also help with noise. If I think it is still too noisy, there is enough room to add additional insulation on top of the gear boxes. Right now I am looking at batteries that will be placed in the drive section for balance.

Bret I tested tool dip from lowes today , its a molasses.consistancy and.paints on with a brush , I found the spray in stuff to take many Coates. Tool dip rubber in a big can .is 5 to 6 bucks. It's crazy how.loud these rads are stock lol. If you descide to add tool dip rubber it can paint right over the spray on Coates you made. Looks awesome very clean man , I like it. Is this.the b9 base?

Yes, this is the base for my B9. This is where I will use that uber cool motor controller I got from you...

Right , can't wait for my project to reach a good stopping point so I can start fiddle darting around with the rad base.

2 ub645 batteries fit side by side on their edge and still have room in the front for ezb. You will need to trim away at that cup holder though.

Sorry man I posted the wrong pic , here's the pic showing the batteries strapped down with Velcro wire tie on their.edge.

I hate giving up that cup colder though, the perfect place for him to bring me a beer! I actually found this battery, that with a little modding, I think I can fit behind the cup holder.

@jstarne1 - what are your plans for your RAD base?

I measured , keeping the cupholder is a no go ,

@Josh - I went ahead and ordered that battery. I will just have to see how I can fit it in and if the cup holder goes - oh well. But I like the idea of staying with the 6V and getting more than twice the AH. I have to add a piece to the top so the base can mesh up correctly with my B9's leg section - so maybe there is some room the for mods to help with battery placement. I think I am going to take your advice on the plasti-dip for the motor compartments at least. I kind of wish now that I had measured the db before and after to see what each change does. Oh well. The cool thing about the leg section is there is a storage compartment that opens from the front that will easily house the EZ-B and give me total access to it.

Sweet , so is the rad drive going to be hidden or are you gonna just sit your b9 ontop? Postba pic you know how I love pics lol

You could just cut the cups bottom out and trim out about 1.75 inch then glue the bottom back on. It would just be more shallow that originally. I'm pretty sure auto correct screwed up my grammer lol.

So this weekend it is the drive section. Here is the RAD base I am using:

Sweet that's great , so you managed to turn it sideways. Does it fit with top on?

No, it's too tall. I will need to cut out so it can stick up through. But it will be covered by the B9 piece once I get that cut to fit.

This would fit under.your b9 all hidden like...

It's a rover.5 smaller footprint. 9.5 inches should fit.under your b9 without hanging.out. its 45 bucks , 4 motors , adjustable track length too. It's the.rover 5

That would be perfect - if only I hadn't already invested time and money into the RAD base. But that 45 bucks is a camera, you know? Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda - oh well. But I also like the footprint of the RAD base to make B9 more stable. He is kind of top heavy. And we'll have to see how well I can blend the two bots.....

Okay, I made the mods to the base to fit my 6V 12AH battery - and keep my cup holder:

Mods to B9 base: I had to cut off the side panels so I could narrow its base.

@Bret,

I think it is looking great.....well done mod. I like how the RAD tracks set outside the B9 base, I like to see the tracks moving ..personal preference....it will go together nicely It easy to start sinking big bucks into this stuff..

v/r

Kevin

Here is the completed mod to B9's base so it will fit on the RAD drive section:

Lmao , bring me a beer ! I command you with ezb

You could put a spring mechanism on the bottom to have it pop the beer out on command!

I thought about a servo that could raise it up, but the spring is interesting too. You could make it sort of like a dart gun so that you engage the spring when you put the beer in, and use a servo to release it. It has potential for damage, I like it!

Fantastic adaptation of the two platforms! and also capable of carrying beer that, that if a service robot!

Kkeast , I agree , I absolutely love tracks , they are an icon that we all imagine when we think.of a cool robot

Gotta Love Bondo!

Just received these last night - IR sensors for Robot B9:

100% BRAND NEW! Weight: 33g (approx) Color: White + Green Dimension: 3.2cm x 2.4cm x 1.8cm (approx) Infrared sensor with control circuit board The sensitivity and holding time can be adjusted Working Voltage Range: DC 4.5V- 20V Current drain:<60uA Voltage Output: High/Low level signal:3.3V TTL output Detection distance: 3--7M(can be adjusted) Detection range: <140 Delay time: 5-200S(can be adjusted, default 5s +-3%) Blockade time: 2.5 S (default) Trigger: L: Non-repeatable trigger H: Repeat Trigger (default) Work temperature:-20-+80C Trigger Method: L unrepeatable trigger / H repeatable trigger

Note: Sensitive Setting: turn to right, distance increases (About 7M); turn to left, distance reduce (About 3M) Time Setting: turn to right, time increases (About 300S); turn to left, time reduce (About 5S).

Package Included: 5x IR Detector Module

And I think I will mount 3 of them in his lower torso on the sides and back - nothing gets past B9...

@brett , if I can recommend Somthing that will save.you.a.great.deal of time finishing the.Bondo. when you.believe your on your last round.of Bondi.and sanding , spray three thin layers a couple minutes apart of.primer. then give.it.your.final sand using 400 , then spray on another coat.of primer and 600 or 800 grit will completely insure.that.its.smooth agianst your plastic and no sanding marks that.will show through your paint job. Sanding sponges from lowest are.usually good.for.this. ps. Do not buy.high.build primer! It stays wet a long time and multiple.layers aren't possible as.it just stays mushy. Either regular black primer or etching primer because your.working.with plastics.

jstarne1;

You're a freaking Genius!!!!:) Always Great Advice!

THanks Josh - I will do that.

@RR333 Thanks , I feel like a million dollars with that.comment. I love helping everyone get their projects done , sometimes even more than doing my own.

@brett I don't know if you ever done this but get warm water , put some dishsoap in it , like dawn. Just so it is a little soapy. Dip your sandpaper in it every minute or two its way less messy than all the dust. I do mine over.the.kitchen sink. You will see it sands much easier with less resistance , easier on your fingers

No Prob, You've given me great advice before and I swear I learn more just reading your posts helping others:) Thanx! "We are All in this Together!"

Yup

jstarne1 a product I started using for restoring rubber and plastic parts is Mothers Back to Black. It's kind a milky like 50w Armor-all. only better. It's was made for black car bumpers to bring the color back. LOL I've never used it for that. Comes in a Red bottle. Every body should have some.

I can't wait to see B9 on top of the new wheels/tracks ! JW

I have installed a recharge jack in the back and am using the original on/off switch. I have also grouped my wires for the motors and power.

HI Bret

great job of joining the two robots together . It looks like they were moulded that way . A fantastic job .

Steve_c

Thanks Steve_c. Here is my drive section with the battery installed and some more sound deadening material (foam core this time). I hope this all helps to keep it pretty quiet.

Hi Bret

I had to quieten up a genarator on my boat , I put sound deadening tiles around the inside of it box and poly foam under the lid , It was alot quieter .

Thats what youve done there so it will be much better.

Steve_c

Thanks, I think so too. I finally got the new RAD/B9 base painted. Not perfect, but I like it.

Nice

Someone would have look VERY close to see any imperfections , B9 would be well within its rights to zap them with a getlost ray.

Bret did you clear coat it ? Some of that silver paint fingerprints really bad. I never tried waxing it though JW

Only wax auto grade paint. It nasties up spraypaint.

No, I didn't clear coat it. I know what you mean about the fingerprints, I already messed up one spot (but not that noticeable so I am not going to worry about it. But I am going to try the wax on an underside first.

I would suggest doing what ww321q said and clear coat it.

Do a test first cause it could cause the paint to look grey instead of silver

Do I need to sand it prior to applying the clear coat?

Depends on the brand of paint but as a general rule yes. Just sand it with 1000 or 2000 grit sand paper after curing for about a week. If it was automotive paint with hardener you wouldn't need it to cure so long.

I actually used Testors model paint as I was going on plastic.

The only reason to sand before clearcoating is to remove orange peel. That is a slight wavy texture in most automotive paint jobs. If you sand before you clear that silver will loose all its luster. If you wants heavy duty protection I've used clear epoxy with excellent success of spray painted surfaces and it added depth to the finish as well. Clear epoxy is the same as used on carbon fiber parts. Epoxy is very hard and scratch resistant more than plastic and can be buffed if you ever do actually manage to scratch it. . Spray a random object with that silver then give a light even coat if epoxy and that will tell you how nice it would look

Started working on the leg section today. Where the torso attaches it needs to rotate so I purchased a 6" lazy susan bearing but needed to modify it.

Oh wow! Almost like it was made for it.

Wow. , couldnt have gotten luckier on that one !

Okay, as I started working on the leg section I found I didn't like the silver I had used on the base - it was just a little too harsh. So back to sanding and painting. I ended up using the same silver from my omnibot build. I think it is much more fitting of B9.

In the upper corner is the silver I started with, and the larger image is what I will be going with.

I think that will look a lot better. I always forget satin finishes for some reason? Had to do my kitchen cabinets twice to get them looking right. Gloss first time satin second time and looks good . That really is a better silver Bret ! JW

Thanks, I think so too.

Yea the gunmetal color looks much better. How are you going to make him twist?

You could put a wheel on a servo , and make a lip/ ring and glue it inside the body. Mount the servo and wheel agianst the ring and that can control left and right motion and no gears to strip incase it runs into a table or falls over , just center it back and keep going. Much like in the pic the tire is agianst the ring on this carnival machine. No belts to break no gears to strip.....

Thanks Josh - The inside of the torso base already has a 1/2" lip in it all the way around so that could work. Also, ALL of my high torque servos are metal gear so that will work too. And in the leg section there is a nice mounting structure that I could just cut and drop the servo right into. Now I will need to be looking for some of those kit tires that mount to the servo haha.

How do you maintain position of the torso with regard to the servo position in this configuration? Because of wiring I can't have a continuous rotation servo. But a 270 degree servo might be nice.

You probably don't you could use two switches and glue them in where you want rotation to stop. Connect them to two digital ports . The bigger the wheel on your servo the more waist twist you will get per rotation.

Hmmmm, I have already run out of ports and am reducing some of what I wanted to do. So taking up two ports with switches isn't doable. I think I may have a solution in mind. I'll have to work on it some and see if it is what I need. I'll keep you posted.

I've seen 360deg servos

360 servo like this JW

I've been looking at the drive section tonight and really like the ability to switch between high and low gear. I'm pretty sure I can mount a servo on the mechanism so I can change gears via EZ-B. Cool.

Yea you could lol , run like hell mode

You got it, right after he shouts "Danger, Danger!" lol

So here is B9's leg section sporting his new paint job. I used the same flat black as on B.O.B. but gave this a protective top coat of clear satin. I like the look.

I just finished my mods to change gears in the RAD base from low to high and back again using a servo. This will give me the option of changing his gears thru the EZ-B on the fly, rather than doing it manually by the switch on the bottom. So here is how I did it: This is the mechanism from the inside of the base. I removed the two screws that hold those arms on.

Hey Brett I'm going to send you a couple sq ft of generic sound deadener Matt

I closed up the drive section and put my leg section in place. It's starting to look like B9!!!!

WOW!! that's looking really great Bret .

Thanks! I started wiring up the motor controller - one of the original units DJ sold (BV4113 ) it is rated at 1.5 amps. I hope that is enough to run the drive motors on the RAD with all the weight I'm adding (about 10 lbs). Maybe with a big heat sink and fan it will be okay.

Yes , glue a VGA heatsink to the chip and put the VGA fan on it.I gave you

Picked up some thermal compound tonight. Already had a heat sink. And I was planning on using that fan - thanks!

Ive tested those fans up to 12 volts, ill try getting the sound deadening Matt out Mon. Is there anything you need or looking for right now?

Hey Josh, thanks a million man. Can't think of anything at the moment. I will have my motor controller done shortly then on to the torso rotation. Is there anything you are needing? I have an extra one of those aluminum claws I used on my omnibot if you want it? A couple of micro servos too. Just let me know.

After reading this post linky I seriously wonder if this motor controller is going to work for me, or I need a larger one?

Hey.Brett , I understand your concern , but we gotta take in mind some.things. his tank is a large 1:27 scale with real all metal gearbox and tracks which weight over 20 pounds. Also the Times he saw a spike was on carpet using a skid steering. Skid steering is one track on full and the other is being dragged which was stalling his motors Plus he undervolted them with is a reduce in torque and increase in current draw. On your bot I'm sure your savy enough NOT to use skid steering. Instead you reverse the opposite track and that elliminates the drag. Also your bot weights 1/2 and your base is plastic rubber with several inches wider from side to side which reduces turning drag. Best way to find out is to try. But if the amps were high like that other guys tank you could grab a 10a controller like me for about 25 shipped.

Thanks Josh - I'll try it first. I'm going to mount it and the fan tonight. I may also go ahead and hook up the EZ-B to see how it moves and how quiet it is. Here it is with my jumbo heat sink on it, and I will use your fan to help keep it cool. I have wired the fan directly to the power supply from the battery to the motor controller so the fan is on when the bot is on. However, as I want to have him in a sentry mode I may want to change that.

That fan draws so little that a 7 ah battery would run it for a couple days no problem. I.think your good on.that , however the only other option I can think of is to someway wire it to come on whenever a motor is running. I don't have any good ideas how to do that though. Just keep it simple man

I may have a DIO set for fans and just tie all of them to that one switching transistor. That way I can control all my cooling fans with either on or off. I'll have to look at what I have assigned. I may just leave it if it is not too large a drain on the battery. I do have 12 amps to play with from my new battery.

Mounted my motor controller and fan.

.05 amps , so a 1ah battery would power it for 20 hours , 12 ah is 240 hours runtime lol , unless you have a ton of fans it may not be worth the time to rig and program a switch from ezb.

Well, I already have a port designated for the fan on the EZ-B so it won't take away from my usage to tie the two together. And I like the idea of being able to control them at whim or with script. This little fan is also situated to help keep the battery cool - I like that as well. The old speaker mount is just above this fan and above that is a rectangular hole in the back that housed the old switches - I am going to put a mesh grill over that (like the one on front of Bob) so I should get good airflow.

I mounted my lazy susan bearing to the legs last night and should start mounting the leg section tonight. Along with a terminal block, PIR sensors, and torso rotation servo. Then the base will be complete and I can concentrate on the torso and "head".

So here is the bottom half of B9. The lower part of the torso is mounted to a lazy susan bearing.

@Bret,

Wow! Playing catch up on the forum...you are really moving out on your bot. It looks really, really good!

Nice work!

v/r

kevin

Kkeast your avatar creeps me out , just wanted to let you know that cabbage patch from hello keeps me awake at night... Lol Brett - its looking good , I love how the rad base became one with your b9 so well. I'm going to send you a light sensor , when I bought mine I got like 5 of them.

Sweet! and thanks you guys. B9 has truly been a labor of love. It brings me back to my childhood and watching Lost in Space.

I dare say your b9 is looking much better than the original Brett.... Speaking of , your going to need some mixed color LEDs , are you going to use the epoxy colored ones (red led is actually colored red plastic , yellow actual yellow plastic ect) that may be best for realism. I have a assortment you could use to light up b9 head

Thanks Josh, but I already have all those LEDs in place. I used clear ones for the lights in the front chest plate, and colored ones in the dome. See a previous video on this thread where I showed them working. I have decided to change out the EL wire in the voice box area. Instead, to look more like the original (which used neon tubes) I am using solid acrylic rod with red LED's at each end. This should light up the rod similar to the original. And look a lot better than that EL wire. The front isn't going to be exact, as I used clear LEDs instead of colored, and the where the orange and green square buttons are I am placing a battery level meter. But it will look okay I think.

I have the torso servo mounted:

There is plenty of room in here for the EZ=B and easy access too. I have drilled vent holes to help the fan keep it cool and run my wires. Next step - install the EZ-B. Unfortunately for now it looks like I'm going to have to rob Peter to pay Paul so-to-speak (I'm going to take the board out of Bob for now).

@Bret,

I know what you mean about that..but you gotta do what you gotta do....B9 is looking very good.

I like the lillypad LEDs if you can work them in vice regular LEDs. I actually think they are brighter too but mounting them could be a challenge depending on where they are needed.

vr

Kevin

Here is the EZ-B mounted in the leg section. I already have the motor controller, fans, and PIR sensors connected in this pic.

Coming together very well Bret!

THanks! Well, here is the drive section moving around.

What was the original voltage to those motors and what are you giving them now? How was it on the floor and off the carpet?

@Bret, As a RAD owner I run my motors at 7.2V (RC Car battery) and they do not sound or bog down like that. More juice I think.

v/r

Kevin

My battery is 6V 12AH and should be enough power. But when I put my smart charger on it, it started to charge immediately. So I am thinking the battery was nearly dead. I hope. Once I have a full charge I will try it again.

They come with 10 percent charge usually , also multistrand with about 14 or 12 guage (like speaker wire) , but the more weight has the more juice it will draw , a way to create more torque is to raise voltage. Just for fun put 12v to it , I bet it will have much more torque at that point. Sorry its not moving on the first try man. I looked up motor specs and they are mabuchi 9-12v motors , a 7.2v battery pack is usually higher around 8-8.5v. First things first , bypass your battery direct to motor and see if it moves fine , if it does its the motor controller as the bottle neck , if it still is bogged down you need to raise your voltage till its moving , if it burns a motor in doing so , you need to upgrade to the motors robotmaker found. So do those things and that should give you an answer (also be sure your output gear is actually meshed or it will just spin freely...

Thanks Josh - first things first. After a full charge on the battery I tried it again and got a little improvement. It actually moved in high gear (albeit slower than low gear and it wouldn't turn). Next I will try it direct to the battery and check the gauge of the wire.

I would do like Josh said , Rum straight from the battery. That would be a good starting place for troubleshooting

Thanks guys! I just ran it direct from the battery and it ran great! Even with a lot of weight added to it. So I am thinking it is in the motor controller. Your thoughts?

Yes those motors are drawing a great deal more than the motor controller can.provide. so now you need to measure your current with bot fully loaded. Write that down , then measure current and purposely stall the motors , hold it in place on carpet or somthing , take note of the amperage it jumps to , this gives you end and max current draw , from there I can help you figure out what controller will work.

Well, as I have 12 amps available, I thought I would get one of those 10amp motor controllers like you have. What do you think? That should give me about as much as the motors can take, right?

Yeah more power is better than less , always the best way to go , if I guessed basses on what I have read your motors could draw 2.5 amp and stall at 4 , but that's only from what others posted. That's why I bought my controller , it was basically low cost but at 10a a motor they would always have the power they need. I bought some l298 controllers of eBay that are 2.5amp a channel , I bought 4. Measure your amps while the bot is running then stall it. If it looks like a l298 will work I will send you one

Okay, not the easiest thing to do and my meter is not the best. But, I read a draw of between 2 and 3 amps, and it stalls at like 5 amps. It was jumping around a lot, so it could be the numbers you said. Do you think the 2.5amp controller will work?

Looks like they went up 5 dollars , but still low http://www.ebay.com/itm/10A-H-bridge-Dual-DC-Motor-Driver-Controller-High-power-Strong-braking-/150800109180?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231c630e7c

Take in mind this is about 3/4" longer than ezb , and with heatsinks wider too. I they claim 60amps peak , 10a continous so there's no way you could overload this ir damage it by stalling ect.

Hmmmm, this looks like the perfect solution. Does it come with those heat sinks? If not, where did you get them? I think I'll order this controller and while I'm waiting for it I can continue work on the torso and head.

These heatsinks I picked up at radioshack , 1.99 each , it doesn't come with them but I like things running cool.

You could try the ESCs like I'm using ESC 20A I know they are listed in euros but they are coming from china and shouldn't be a problem. I have the pdf for these if you want a little more info.

I decided to leave the drive section alone for now and work on the torso and "head". I decided to put the camera in the collar and rotate that separate from the torso. First I had to cut the upper "head section" away from the shoulders

Placement looks good on the camera.

I wanted to have the antenna move like the original so I modified the collar top and a couple of micro servos - then painted it all up

Good job on all the parts Bret !

Your B9 is coming along very nicely.

Thank you! I saw a B9 like mine on ebay today going for 40 bucks, still a couple of days left but....

Here is the lazy susan bearing mounted in the top piece ready to accept the head.

Looks like lazy Susan bearings stock.just went up lol. Do.they turn easily? Are they ball bearing? I'm.thinking of doing a twisting waist if I.could make one of these work. -josh

Yeah, they are ball bearing and can take over 200lbs weight. It spins super easy.

Great work Bret!

Here is the servo mounted that will rotate the head and camera:

Sweet man , can't wait for your esc to come in

Yeah, waiting on China post is a pain.... But lots of other stuff to do in the mean time.

Yea you can otherwise finish the bot lol

Took some time off for other stuff. Motor controller came in and got me amped up again. Will start working on him again tonight.

Pulled these from a couple of computers they were scrapping at work. They work well and should cool something...

Ha ha ha , those are huge , you could cut them smaller to size though.

I just tested out EZ-B control of my antennae, lights, camera, and neck servo. It all works great! The LED circuit looks like it needs a little more juice than it is getting from the EZ-B so I think I will run the power right off the battery (6V).

My new motor controller came in but the Radio Shack by me didn't have any heat sinks so I will have to try some other stores tomorrow. But with a nice long weekend I should be able to get him moving. I'll post some video when I do. I've also started working on the arms. First, I am epoxying some PVC in the arm holes of the torso.

I bet 1 " corregated PVC.tube would make a great arm. I have a design for you of you want one uses two.servos the other 3 and uses Teflon tube and wire to move the arms like on the show.

That's sweet, I would sure like to see your ideas. I have some of my own but I am definitely interested. Thanks!

Cool , ill try to draw it to illustrate those couple of ideas. You have your camera already.moving around , ugh , kicking my butt again lol. Are you.using ezb camera? I can't wait to see you try the motor controller out , that should be more than enough power for you. Remember the motors normally run on 7.2 v , input voltage raises torque but own (pulse width modulation) controls speed. So if you need more torque you know what to do I don't plane on running any of my servos from ezb power , it seems like it can't give servos what they need. So I'm just gonna use one of my step down modules to get regulated 6v direct from power supply. So Brett are you going to give your bot a few IR LEDs to see in low light conditions so motion tracking still works? , my house generally is dark in bedroom , hallway and living room area so I'm going to have like 8 IR LEDs maybe more fitted in eye sockets , maybe you could drill like two or four 5mm holes on each side off the came and glue in water clear IR so they completely blend in and they are always pointed where the camera is pointed. I have several flat top LEDs I could send you but its best to have directional focused LEDs.

Hmmmmm. IR LEDs is a good idea... I think I have some. During the day my house is okay for light, but at night.... Yeah, I'm gonna tie all my servos to separate power too.

And the only reason I'm farther than you are is mine is not nearly as complicated. You are doing so much with your bot it is truly amazing.

Okay, first arm test not so good - back to the drawing board.

I'm excited to see you try out the new controller , I wanna see this guy scoot around!

Okay, finally got back to working on B9. I decided to rewire my power supply with a larger gauge wire since I am using a higher amp battery. After wasting a couple of weeks trying to find the heat sinks like jstarne1 is using on his motor controller, I came up with some from stuff I had taken apart. Now I am trying to wire up the new motor controller. Hey Josh, do you have any wiring info on this bad boy? Have you tried yours out? Just wondering so I didn't have to spend a lot of trial and error time getting it to work.

Thanks,

Bret

My other option is to pull the ESC out of my omnibot BOB (since I have already started using some of his parts) and just use that.

What do you guys and gals think?

Hey.man I have a PDF the manufacturer sent me i will find. Also given the amps your tracks use.even if the other controller works it will end up burning out. If I remember right your tracks draw 4 amps or so when running and more when stalled so this 10amp controller is the way to go.

Thanks - I will use the 10 amp controller. And thanks for finding the PDF, I didn't get one with mine.

Download PDF here http://www.adrive.com/public/N3SAek/10A

THanks, that's what I thought but nice to have comfirmation. Gonna try it out tonight and let you know.

So, to get this motor controller working only requires 3 signal wires. But you have to use 2 digital controls and one PWM control. There is not a single control panel to control it so it is complicated and requires script. One DO controls fwd and rev on one motor,and one DO controls the other. THen you have to use the PWM to initiate movement.

I am not sure this will work for my needs on B9. I would like to use joystick control for movement.

The l298 has similar controls I believe , hmmm isn't there script that would allow it to interface with the joystick?

I don't know. I am not a programmer AT ALL. In the drop down lists there is a generic motor controller panel that works with the l298 where you assign your ports. But it uses one port for fwd Left, one for rev Left, one for fwd Right, and one for rev Right.

So my other robot Bob sacrificed his mobility for this motor controller to see if we can get B9 mobile.

Here is a clip of B9 moving. This is in low gear - from the sound there is a lot of strain on those motors. Then I used the servo mod to change him into high gear and he moves forward and backward fine, but won't turn. Hmmmmmmm Is it the controller, or the motors on this RAD base?

My vote is not enough juice to the motors Brett , remember the test we did before direct to battery take in mind those motors were made to take min 7.4 volts , but that's minimum , rc battery packs usually are a couple volts over fully charged and drop under heavy load. My best recommendation is to use a 12v battery , I have a new one I can send you brett 12v 7.5ah that will fit right in where your existing battery is. , the l298 I sent you can handle 12v+ volts no problem. I and others have tested rad base at 12v , your own controller can be dialed back as you wish , dj will back me up on this , its better to overvolt then dail it back from the ezb controller to what you feel is perfect , if I send the battery I could send a couple cooling fans to keep those motors cool , and grab you some yellow or clear lubtricating grease and grease those gears up really good in the transmission box area , you can't overdue it I promise!

Dude that's awesome! How much $$?

Lol cost of shipping? I can make sure it has a charge and ship tommorow. I could trade you for your 6 volt lol.

Yeah, I'll throw that in with the roomba board for sure. I went ahead and purchased a step down regulator like the ones you have so I can drop the voltage of the battery down to 6 volts for my servos. I'll have that some time in July (China....) but I can get the drive train moving around and continue my work on his arms.

Thanks Josh, you are are truly a good guy.

Bret

Definitely run a juicy 12V SLA battery into that motor controller. I power my RAD tracks off a 9ah 12v SLA & dial the speed back with PWM.

Ndavid what controller are you using?

L298N dual H-bridge Specifically: cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160755601853

Ok that's what I sent Brett.

That's fantastic! Glad to know that 12v is the way to go. I think I will use a couple of those step down regulators so I don't overload them. Maybe one for left side and one for right side. I had just upgraded my wiring to 18ga, do you think that is good enough for the 12v?

@ndavid79 - that is the same motor controller I used in Bob. So that works well with your RAD tracks and 12v?

Don't worry about the step down/voltage regs on the track motors, just dial the PWM back, to the motors its the same difference, but should give better torque. I only ran mine for like 10min so far, as I just temp wired it to test before starting in on building it a body. IIRC, I had set the PWM at somewhere around 70-75% to get a decent indoor speed (meaning not to fast) with just the 6.2lb battery on it, unfortunately I don't know what gear it was in. Turning on these rubber tracks will always be much harder on the motors then going straight, mine (my RAD tracks & my complete unmodded RAD 2.0) makes a more struggling when turning as well. Can't promise anything, but I'll try to get it wired up again & take a video this week.

18ga should be good, it's what I'm using.

Brett I'm sending upgraded wire to go from batt to motor controller , and 12 ga pure copper multistrand from controller to motors , remember to twist the wires , it reduces electrical rd interference with WiFi and Bluetooth

You should have a goody box tommorow! Ha ha , lets see b9 on 12v

Oh Brett do you mine weighing your B9?I've thought about.taking advantage of rad base but wanted to see others end product with more weight added.

Yeah, once I have it all together I'll give you a weight and performance eval. Can't wait to get my parts today! Should have a video tonight. Keep your fingers crossed!

I found this little guy to monitor my 12V battery. Very small footprint on B9, and another cool light.

Got my care package from Josh today and hooked up 12V to B9 - wow, he really moves - in low gear! And he flies in high gear! Thanks Guys!!!!!

Can notice a big difference. Nice.

You might need wheelie bars on that thing!

@brett , thanks for.the shout out in the video! I knew the gift of 12 Volts would do the trick! He looks like he has plenty of torque even on carpet! I'm really interested in how much B9 weights. In high gear you could jog around the neighborhood with him.

Awesome!

Thanks to Josh I now have Dynamat sound deadening installed in B9. The battery is installed and the wires neatened up.

That looks sooooo cool with all the dynamat inside him! You can double and triple layer that stuff , each additional layer cuts like 10 to 15 percent more sound. Great job! I would even double layer the bottom of the base on the outside where no one can see it because the bottom seems to be where most the sound resonates from. Notice a difference in sound? also I was talking to troy , did some research and found white lithium grease works great on those gears , can't overdue it , glob it on , and excess absorbs sound like.in a cars differential.

Be careful of getting dynamat on the ends of the lil gear axles sticking out the sides of the gear boxes. Josh had dynamat'd one of the gear boxes of my RAD tracks before I bought it from him, really took some head scratching to figure out why that gear box wouldn't turn. The dynamat rapped itself around the lil axles the 1st time they got turned.

@ndavid Woops sorry buddy , I was just showing someone a pic of what dynamat looked like applied.

Speaking of where is your project David?

Ahh no problem man, didn't seem worth mentioning after we figured it out.

Right now its just the tracks & a cedar framework for a 7" tall box on top, just tall enough to get a netbook above the battery & electronics. I need to get the EZ-B & h-bridge mounted on it's 4"x12"x1/16" PVC sheet. The fuse block, euro terminal strips, & main relay are already mounted on an identical sheet. And get those 2 sheets mounted & everything wired/hooked up. Then it needs the pvc box made that sits over the wooden framework, a 4ft tall pvc pipe mast attached to the back (where a Logitech Quickcam webcam on a pan/tilt will be mounted & an on/off switch near the top), bumper switches, & the ping sensor/radar servo mounted.

It's just a simple telepresence bot, which will be really useful for watching my CNC machine in the hot garage from my room.

@ndavid79 - thanks for the tip. I'll check it out tonight. I have made sure to rotate the motors after each piece of mat was applied to make sure it wasn't binding somewhere, but never thought about those little axle ends.

Okay Josh, I took your advice and added several more layers of the dynamat to the drive section.

I routed and neatened up the wiring and placed the cover on the drive section. The fan pulls air from above and blows it onto the battery and motor housings.

Hey Josh, on that fan it has a red, black, and yellow wire. How do I need to wire that up?

Red and black are normal , yellow is just a pwm signal wire , just cut it off.

Great job with the dynamat by the way , a lot of first timers with it have a hard time efficiently applying it. For sure once you can get it put together , screwed together like it normally would be let me know how you like the sound difference. It looks great with all the dynamat , it looks professional.

Thanks! But God help me if I ever have to get to those motors or a gear breaks lol.

Lmao , if you needed to get to them something is broken , at that point buy another base lol

Hey, your goody box is shipping today.

Great! I look forward to getting it , did you figure out B9 arm situation?

Yeah, I got it planned out. But it will be a little bit before I get to them. First I want to finish up the base and legs now that I have him moving. But now I am seriously out of ports on the EZ-B, got to figure out how to do some of the things I want to do. Thanks again for all your help.

Hey Josh, what kind of voltage do those little fans take that you sent me?

With a lot of help from Josh and the rest of the EZ Community I have the drive section of B9 complete. Now on to the rest. I placed the rear half of the leg section on the base and started mounting my power distribution block.

@brett they are all 12 volt fans , the little fans are "pull" fans and only work one way. I see a vent above the power distro block. Are you putting them.there? Thought about placement for the speaker yet? If you needed to the case just twists open and speaker comes out pretty easy. It's a 6 watt so it needs a liitle amp or good signal from something like a mp3 player board. The more power it gets the louder it is. There are 5 watt amp boards on.pololu.com really cheap!

I want to.help with.the port issue , can you please number the ports and list what is connected to those ports . Some things may be consolidated or a y connector for servos.

Okay, I think I have my port issues sorted. All my fans will come on at power up. My motion/PIR detectors are on an AI/O. Motor Controller - 4 DO, Gear Box - 1 DO, Sonar - 1 DO, Waste - 1 DO, Camera and servo - 2 DO, Antennae - 1 DO, Left arm/claw - 3 DO, Right arm/claw - 3 DO, Bubble lights - 1 DO, Chest lights - 1 DO, Voice and "mouth lights" - 1 DO.

Total of 19 DO - this leaves one port for the "mouth" lights if I need it, or any other thing I may need.

@Josh - yeah, I figured on an amp for the sound. If you look at the leg section just below my power block there is actually a speaker mount. It is in the back so I may not use it. I may actually drill holes in a grid pattern (like you did for ventilation) below the lights in the "mouth" and put the speaker there. Haven't really decided yet. Any thought?

Sounds good to me , only way I would use the factory locations is if the speaker either fit closely or perfect. It's a 6 watt speaker so its going to be loud , its probably not needed to mount it forward facing. If you can use the factory location I would , and maybe drill a diamond pattern on the back where its not noticeable so sound gets out easily.

Oh very important , I sent you a few IR LEDs , you can put 2 or 4 on each side of your cam and you have low light illumination and night vision. They are 1.5 volts , 8 in series is 12 volts. Over volt them them will get smoked.

Thanks for the tip Josh. I measured the original speaker placement and that one you sent won't fit there (too thick). I do have a 8 ohm .5 watt speaker that fits. But I realized that it would put a magnet within an inch or two of my EZB and the blue tooth. 1> Do you think a .5 watt speaker is good enough and 2> Do you think I need to worry about a magnet that close to the board?

Yea don't put a magnet that close , magnets cause interference and can ruin a antenna (slightly magnitizes it). A half watt isn't very loud , try stripping a headphone plug , connect wires to that speaker and play from a mp3 player or radio , if your satisfied with the quality and volume of sound that will for sure answer the question

Well, if i can't put the speaker that close to my board anyway, then I can go ahead and use the better speaker as it will need to be mounted elsewhere anyway.

I have an alternate location for the speaker in the torso. On the back is a hole where the button to release his arms was. Since I no longer need that and have a hole to deal with, it seems like a good spot to mount his speaker.

Sounds good , maybe add just a handful more holes maybe pattern drill and yea that looks like a great location.

So today I started working on the torso/arms. I dremeled out the old arm mounts and inserted my new ones. I am using 2" ABS couplings as the arm sockets. NOw that they are tacked in place I can do some epoxy and bondo so my arms can function. I think they look pretty good.

So I finished installing my arm sockets and will bondo tomorrow or Saturday. I have also mounted my battery level indicator.

Man your bots awesome. It literally is looking like you bought it that way! No one would have even questioned if your rad tracks were supposed to be there. I mean they wouldnt think it was a scale toy but it looks professional. Consider buying a cheap radio and fm modulator. When you get your sound effects module just use a headphone jack Y adapter and plug your fm radio receiver in too. That way sound from your controlling pc plays directly through Radb9

Ha ha I made up a bot name on.accident "Radb9" I mean its for sure rad lol.

LMAO - I like it.

@bret.tallent -I'm still following your progress. It's looking great! I've been reading up again on this thread about how you made the RAD base more quiet. I recently got a RAD 1.0 and plan on using it in the near future. Keep up the good work.

How well did the sound deadening work?

Started working on my arms tonight. Using a ABS coupling as an arm socket I cut out disks from plastic that fit just inside the pipe and the same size as the OD of the pipe. First I started with wood and realized it probably wouldn't rotate as friction free as plastic.

Glued and clamped my rotation mount.

Looking good! Can't wait to see it in action.

Thanks! Me either lol. So to attache the arm segments to the servos I decided to use the original servo horns mounted to my arm pieces. I needed as low a profile as possible so I cut them down to size and glued them into holes drilled in the arm segments using Gorilla glue expanding glue.

I don't know how all this works together. Do you have a drawing or plan your following?

Nah, it's all in my head. But I found out the Gorilla Glue sucks in this application, so it is off to the epoxy.

The epoxy did the trick! Now the arm sections fit on the servos just right. Here I am testing movement with a servo tester. The two servos are tied together with a Y connector so they move in unison. Once I have this mounted in the arm socket then I will have rotation for the whole arm assembly. Cover it with flexible duct and it is pretty close to the real B9. Yay!! cool

Wow that works really well! Congrats man!

I put my rubber sleeve on to make sure it still works. Pretty good I think.

sweet!

Thanks! I think it looks more fluid than mechanical - which is what I was going for. My servos are metal gear so the whole set up is fairly strong for the small size.

There is "tool dip" rubber spray that would be great for making your flex tubing look like black rubber. You could spray it on the black plastic for the legs to also make them look like rubber , then it would all match!

Those arm covers are actually black rubber - it is the hose from a gas mask. But I like the idea on the legs.

Finally back to work on B9 - Got my arm sockets blended in and sanded. Ready to prime and sand some more.

Brett! That's awesome on the arm. What kind of servos are you going to use for turning the arm? Are the claws going to open and close or you just going to leave them stationary. Most the time they didn't open and close in the tv show anyways. I didn't realize how big your bot is till you have a chunk of the torso in your hand , those two holes on the front of the torso.... Do they have a purpose? Maybe make them "headlights" ?

Thanks Josh! I'm using my MG995 servos for the arm rotation and I am going to have claws that open and close. One of the holes in front (on the right) will house my battery level meter. The other hole is just for a decorative knob but I haven't decided what to do with it. A ultra bright LED might be kinda cool.

Or a group of IR LEDs for night vision O.o. you still got the ten IR I sent you right? Remember 1.5 volts

Good work on that arm socket!

Thanks guys! I have to modify the speaker mount in the back then I think I will be ready to start painting. I still have the voice box to worry about - lights and mp3, and the claws to manufacture. Getting close now.

Ah , are you pattern drilling the back for a speaker mount. Gonna use that loud speaker I sent or something smaller.

i saw that robot from trendmasters while back,looking to get also just omnibot at a very good price thrift store near my house $20 and rad 4.0 at even a better price $10 from ebay,plus perfect shape in box rad 2.0 with remote not using him for EZB for my large collection of robots but other will use EZB

Yeah, I am going to pattern drill the back and use that speaker you sent. Yeah, I haven't seen anyone else modding that trendmasters B9 but me. Would be cool to get another one unmolested for collection.

I would have used the word unmodified or original , but I guess it all depends on where you stick the dremel lol

Where is your ultrasound sensor?

It will be in the center of the chest below the voice box. If you look in the picture you can see where I patched the old holes and I am going to mount my sensor right over the top of that space. It fits perfectly in the space.

Is it radar? Does it scan left to right?

No, stationary.

JOSH you said the rover 5 chassis can handle 40 lb but flex under weight but specs says only 8 lb carry,it is a fair good chassis DAGU ROVER 5 CHASSIS

can you post a video of it carrying 40 lbs

BRET how much does the B9 robot weigh

I didn't do a video , on my thread o posted a picture though , I wouldnt run anything more than 20 pounds on the 4wd rover , 10 pounds on 2wd.

on page 36 of your omnibot post it says you tested 40 lb and it flex some under weight thats why i wanted to see a video ,the company who makes it say under 10 lbs so i wanted to see a video before i buy it

Yea I loaded it down the same day I tested the omnibot base but the plastic flexed under load so its lot worth it if your going for a bigger bot. 15 to 20 pounds max

so far the best tracks for the B9 is the RAD tracks ,it doesnt flex that much has a lot more torque to handle batties and more,plus DAGAU ROBER 5 costs more $50 plus shipping on ebay RAD'S going for under $30,i got one at $10 and another at $15 ,and third one restoring it

on my omnibot project i need super stong tracks like vex robotics ,because loooking at making it a BIONIC OMNIBOT

Yes, I am using the RAD base under my B9 - I haven't weighed him yet as I am still adding things and the weight will go up. But I can give an estimate within a pound or two. At work now but will be home soon and back to work on B9.

BRET you did a great job so far ,looks real good one very good reason to use better tracks,last much longer not much stress,plus less current too

@Robotmaker - Thanks! Altogether - B9 is 17 lbs. And that RAD base with 12V battery moves him around great!

Is there any difference in the RAD 1.0 base and the Rad 2.0 base? I have a 1.0 and was wondering about how much load it can handle.

@rgordon - I am using the 1.0 base in my B9. And like I said, with 12V battery it is moving 17 pounds fairly well.

OK. Thanks.

I got my torso painted and installed my radar and battery level indicator.

So are you going to drill holes with a unibit or stepper bit and mount that ultrasonic sensor from the inside? I see the speaker grate on the back , nice call thats slick! You molded those arms in really well! Can't wait to see the arm covers and claws your going to make! I bet a B9 fanatic would pay big bucks for this guy.

I agree. Bret you have done an outstanding job here.

btw ...ok to use Rex instead of rgordon

Thanks Josh and Rex! I am going to leave the ultrasonic sensor on the outside as I need as much distance from the body as I can get because of my arms. And on the using the speaker grate, I just got tired of drilling little holes lol. But I like it back there too. Thanks for that speaker by the way.

speaker grate always looks better then drilling holes,unless you have a CNC machine

Hey, I'm just lucky I have a drill press - lol. Yeah, I like the speaker grate. Only question is: do I leave it black or paint it to match the body?

match to your boot color,not the shell.so it blends with the other colors thinking others will give you other ideas,so might need to try each one

Post pics of it as it is usually making things blend in is the best.

Okay, got my speaker cover mounted and painted.

Nice , that grill looks right at home in there! Don't even bother painting that grill , its great just like that. Can't wait to see your arms on there , you are so close to this guy running around

i guess soon will be the final test to see the motors can handle the load witch i think it should mine mostly take alot more time,beacuse i fully test everything,motors ,sensor and correct placement ,current load handling,drop test,plus current saving devices drop tests very important,you dont want your robot to fall and repair the plastics latter any robot can fall even if balance correctly look at people we fall if hit a stone or a ditch simple test just let it fall down,i do all theses test because i hate REWORK and CHANGES

Thanks guys

This looks amazing. You made the Rad drive fit B9 with style. Glad you went with the 12v battery. Under power never helps anything. I look forward to seeing him altogether moving his arms and yelling danger. I have a 3d computer model of B9 if you have any need of one. No charge, as I didn't make it myself anyway. I do make computer models and real robots. Making progress with mine EZ-B but want to get the head built before taking pictures or making a video.

Can you make computer models of my finished bot? It would be awesome to have a status screen that runs on my robots LCD screen showing systems status ect. From pictures maybe?

@Josh Sure, I need some pics of your robot.

Ok , ill get you some after I have him painted next week

Thanks Everyone! @robotmaker - yeah, in the torso if you remove the device that pops his arms out. THere is also some room in the leg section.

It would be cool to a computer image of B9 - that would be great? Can you email it to me?

getting home from work in OHIO tonight about 5pm est cant wait,my robot hacking are waiting for me ,and my girlfriend,so many boxes at home,first job need to put up my special large in-wall fish tank i got friday my girlfriend did a nice job getting all the boxes from ups and usps

Good job Bret, I also I have wanted to see it finished.

Thanks everyone! It is slowly getting there. After searching long and hard and trying different things, I finally found a solution for the arms (the flexible duct to cover the arms). The problem was finding something flexible enough and the right size to mimic the original robot b9 arms. And the solution is... Shock Boots.

But I have also found a solution for the lights in the voice box of the robot. By using acrylic tubing and hazing the inside with a chemical, then putting an LED at each end, it lights up like neon.

What kind of chemical did you use to hase the inside of the tube?

where did you get the shock boots (link) and what is the ID of it

Bret, this robot is coming along Nicely. Can't wait to see the finished project. It will be well worth your investments.

I got the shock boots at the auto parts store. For etching the inside of the acrylic tubing I used methylmethacrylate (super glue) on a cotton tipped applicator. You could also use that string type sanding material.

do you know the ID of the shock boots also are you cutting it to use the bigger part of the shock boot too

I use acetone to etch Plexiglas , it usually frosts it evenly

acetone is great for etching,used it on many clear plastics ,,tubes i use syringe works great,pour in shake and your done

Cool, I'll try the acetone too and see which I like better.

shock boots

Are they rubber shock boots?

yup

all rubber shocks are the ones to get for flexible,and try to get them without wire ,for more flexible

Yeah, the shock boots (or fork boots) seem to be just the ticket. Very flexible and if you search you can find them in different ID and lengths. Still waiting on mine to come in, so in the mean time I think I'll work on my voice box or my claws.

i dont think there are many sizes,car shocks mostly come in one size

I got some motorcycle fork boots and those range in size from 25mm to 70mm

BRET have a link to those different sizes i need a 3 to 4 inch one for my omnibot 2000 neck they look great for hands and maybe shoulders ?

Sorry Dude, I just searched ebay until I found a set that would work for my B9. But now that you are home I will send you that 3" (OD) flex duct you wanted. Get it mailed tomorrow.

ok thanks still need about a 6 inch for the omnibot head

So today I have designed my claws for B9 and cut out a pattern. I am going to cut them out of 1/4" plexiglass. As soon as I do I will upload some pics.

looking great so far,looking at may be using real tracks for mine,or may use the RAD 2.0 tracks first my omnibot project ,its looking to be much better the JOSH javis ,even his is good robot but that is where you start with one idea and make it better,and may nbe some day others might make mine better

with your it gave a few ideas to use and some ideas to make better keep up the very good work BRET

thanks

@brett can't wait to see it man!

@robotmaker it should be better than Jarvis for 6 million dollars ...

Bret thanks for the duct. It will work for the neck but unfortunately it wont fit my shoulder joint inside. :/ I will keep it around in case someone could use in thier application.

Thanks... but my claws didn't work out. Plexiglass is too brittle for the small parts I need to cut out. I guess I'm going to try ABS or Delrin. Have to order some in. Oh well, on to the voice box for now. Still plenty to do. But it is getting there. @Josh - I can't wait to see yours with paint!

Perhaps www.rubberstore.com under Convoluted Rubber Bellows

@Glickclik - sorry dude.

JOSH wont cost me 6 million,only like the movie,only in strength and speed i cant wait to see the paint job too,your omnibot might have to much stuff ,BUT still looks good,good name for it OMNIVAC

delrin might be ok .,but the best idea and for paint to stick to is can use any good plastic and thin layers and add aluminium in between is like a sandwitch,and if done right the aluminium wont show i did this before on a project,but dont rember what project it was this way you get really good strength and plastic like the claw plexiglass and acrylic is very brittle,why some like to use it i dont know,its great as windows for sensors or face plates,but impact level very low another good idea about using aluminium ,besides low weight is that you can attached servo or pushrods or other stuff without it breaking or comming loose ma kes it super easy to remove servo's then a gear goes bad or the servo

@GLICKCLICK nice site for bellows

@bret thank you for sending them to me! I will still use it for the neck. The link i posted above is pricey and has a minimum order. I hope we can find a better source for them.

@brett , thanks man! ! My painters out of town a few days , I'm like whaaaaaat? Lol abs from servocity.com cuts small less pricey sheets of 1/4" abs that would be a great choice for your claws.