project update: nanner

Here's a new photo of nanner that Bill bbum Bumgarner snapped at maker Faire. Check out the super-hi-res version for a nice look at my handiwork. That's free-formed circuitry people- solder and superglue.

The most recent pass at this project was the construction of the solar engine. I used a simple flashing LED engine or FLED SE, which I explain here. I used a very small 100Microfarad 16volt capacitor for the main unit, which I mounted in front of the transistors and in between the two resistor/tantalum caps. In bright sunlight this gives me a very fast discharge rate, almost 3 trigger firings per second.

I dropped the original motors I had here and replaced them with a couple even smaller 4mm Namiki's from Pagermotors.com and mounted them onto the chassis with the included micro mounts. The front and back screws in the chassis side rails still provide a level of adjustment for the motor angle, like a camber setting, which is very handy when guestimating/calibrating the bot's stance.

Next came the modifications to the chassis where it connects to the circular frame, I dremeled two small notches in the front and back of the motor chassis carefully trying not to ruin the aluminium. The frame then slid down perfectly into the notches for a tight fit. I added a little solder but superglue worked best. The frame was a good conductor, and so I needed a way to insulate it from the FLED circuits that would fit inside. For this I tried several things- thin strips of electrical tape, plastic O rings, but settled on a small rubber band that I cut to fit and then affixed with an adhesive.

I fabricated tiny rear-wheel out of hobby aluminum and a walkman pulley and secured the axle. This worked nicely and although it't not very bug-like, it would have to do until I came up with an alternative. Finally I soldered all the leads, attached the motor in it's circular frame (a herculean task in itself), and affixed a small Panasonic Sunceram solar cell to the top of the frame with some double-sided tape.

The motor tips still need some rubber for traction but I'll get to that eventually. I'll post a video of him soon.

For more about nanner check out my earlier post.