We have had two sessions so far, and things are taking shape.
We are starting at the bottom, with the drive module. This involves:
Soldering. Here we are rigging two Barby Jeep gearboxes to run together.
Wheels need to have hubs attached. The tough plastic of the airport cart wheels stripped out the clutch on my cordless screwdriver.
Attaching wheel/gearbox pairs to the base.
Drive module being hauled out to the hallway for test driving.
Top view showing the battery and electronics in place. The drive module works pretty well. As the final machine is going to be fairly heavy we parked one of the smaller sixth graders on top and drove him around a bit.
A hint of the final proportions of the project.....
It will actually be a bit taller than this. All the tubes and such in the upper modules are just supplies we have not put to use yet.
Various other subsystems are also starting to come into focus.
It is always the little things that pester....middle schoolers do not have strong hand grips, so crimping connectors is not easy for them. And working with only hand tools there are a variety of mechanical things that are impractical, so I have to fab a few adaptors and such on my lathe at home.
Off next week for parent teacher conferences, so Chapter Three in two weeks.
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