Frame Almost Done
I was able to use a friends lathe and mill again last night, and got a few more parts of the frame made. I’m now at the point where it actually looks like a frame, and can hang it from the legs if I want. I Still need to machine 8 more rods for the lower section and I should be done.
Some advice on tools – don’t buy a cheap Harbor Freight Tap and Die Set. They’re not worth the money and I wasted an evening last week fighting the small crappy tap wrench that came with mine. Trust me go out and buy a beefy set or just the taps you need and a good $20 tap wrench. Your hands and patients will appreciate it.
Someone also gave me a tip that I’ve not tried yet, but supposedly you can use a cordless drill to tap the hole using forward and reverse and low torch. My drill is dead and waiting a new battery otherwise I this would have saved me a lot of time. Hopefully it’ll show up before I need to tap my last set of rods.
Next thing on my list to machine are two plates to attach the center Ankle/Leg to the bottom of the frame.
Oh! and did I tell you this thing weights a ton?
Posted by Chris on April 25th, 2007 in Body | 2 Comments
Calvin Thomas remarks on April 25th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Nice frame work!!!
Not being nosey, But how much did you save by building it yourself?
How’s the Vex going?
I have’nt had a chance to get back to the Vex.
Been to busy building wood legs for R2.
Yeah I know WOOD 🙁 But money got tight.
Calvin
Chris remarks on April 30th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
I think when I’m done it’ll be in the $300-400 range. Aluminum is expensive these days.
That price includes the shoulder hubs, and satellite motor hubs, extra aluminum for other things like center leg mounting, a real battery harness/holder for 3 batteries, a few plates to mount electronics, outer ankle leg spacer and all the hardware.
To be honest it’s a lot of work and if there was a frame run going right now I’d have waited it out.
Vex is also going good. For C4 functionality will be limited probably so programming will be easy.