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janewilliams20It's been years, but it looks like my basic mechanical/electrical design skills have not completely deserted me.
Yes, I'm still trying to build a BUA for a 25mm army. With movement and sound.
I'd got some cheap speakers that I was going to plug into a cheap MP3 player: they're a bit big, but they'd do. Dave, while stripping a dead PC for its assets, found me a pair of much smaller ones, but with PC-board connectors, not a jack plug. So, for my first task in soldering for well over a decade, I wired a jackplug to take two speakers, not just one lot of wires. Yes, in stereo. Yes, it worked, first time. Sadly the speakers don't have the volume for the job, but they'll be useful for something else, I'm sure.
Onward. Maplin have delivered my parcel, and I have battery boxes, switches, and wire. And after a bit, I had a motor, a battery box, and two bare wire ends, ready to talk to each other. When they did, the motor turned, and so did my gearbox. At the speed I wanted, too!
Dave, after much nagging, cleared the workshop enough that I could get to a bench vice. A little while later, I had my bits of wood drilled to match my diagrams, I had the pulleys drilled out to fit the gearbox output shaft, and I had the upper axles cut to size. Assembly time.... well, I'm happy. I've got a few problems with lubrication and attachment of pulleys to axles (it's a friction fit, but there's less friction between pulley and axle than between axle and bearing, ATM), but that's fixable. Everything fitted, first time, and the final output speed is about what I wanted. And I have the option to take-off other speeds if I wish.
I was a little concerned about the torsional strength of the enture construction, but my fears may have been groundless. The basic design is such that the tension on the pulley bands actually holds it together rather than pulling it apart. I just need a solid means of anchoring motor to base, and I'm there: and that's already planned, just not yet implemented.
Yes, I'm still trying to build a BUA for a 25mm army. With movement and sound.
I'd got some cheap speakers that I was going to plug into a cheap MP3 player: they're a bit big, but they'd do. Dave, while stripping a dead PC for its assets, found me a pair of much smaller ones, but with PC-board connectors, not a jack plug. So, for my first task in soldering for well over a decade, I wired a jackplug to take two speakers, not just one lot of wires. Yes, in stereo. Yes, it worked, first time. Sadly the speakers don't have the volume for the job, but they'll be useful for something else, I'm sure.
Onward. Maplin have delivered my parcel, and I have battery boxes, switches, and wire. And after a bit, I had a motor, a battery box, and two bare wire ends, ready to talk to each other. When they did, the motor turned, and so did my gearbox. At the speed I wanted, too!
Dave, after much nagging, cleared the workshop enough that I could get to a bench vice. A little while later, I had my bits of wood drilled to match my diagrams, I had the pulleys drilled out to fit the gearbox output shaft, and I had the upper axles cut to size. Assembly time.... well, I'm happy. I've got a few problems with lubrication and attachment of pulleys to axles (it's a friction fit, but there's less friction between pulley and axle than between axle and bearing, ATM), but that's fixable. Everything fitted, first time, and the final output speed is about what I wanted. And I have the option to take-off other speeds if I wish.
I was a little concerned about the torsional strength of the enture construction, but my fears may have been groundless. The basic design is such that the tension on the pulley bands actually holds it together rather than pulling it apart. I just need a solid means of anchoring motor to base, and I'm there: and that's already planned, just not yet implemented.
