Been quiet around here in all sections.
I was too slow to paint the kenco and it rusted up. Recut it in stainless and painted it. Found some super thin .15mm THK M1.6 washers for assembly. Flipped the electro magnet to the top for added weight when collapsing. Needs some custom decals. Accidentally roasted one electromagnet by giving it full 3s lipo voltage through the ESC. Got real hot. No real harm since I have a spare.
Need a scale rigging system and route wiring to look like aux hydraulics.
In the short time I played with the machine at a hobby shop in Mesa, it was apparent there's little traction on plywood. Most noticeable at reach as there is no real counterweight. Fix is some molded "rubber" track pads. I don't think I could pull off self made rubber molded tracks, but snap on inserts are doable. First step was some cad and 3d printed prototypes. Got some SLS TPU and some rigid abs samples. Fit is fine, the rigid ones are difficult to snap on. The TPU ones are good. Nice attachment, and feels like improved traction. They're way too expensive to print each one, so I have to cast my own to actually try them. Done it a little at work. Made a 2 piece silicone mold and started pouring.
Pads will be polyurethane. First material I got is soft durometer, but way too flexible kinda feels like a silicone. Second material is higher durometer, and higher stiffness but still too flexible for retention. Neither are exactly what I'm looking for, but I'll pour as many as I can to test them out. I can only make 2 per day. Need 84 for a full set.
Printed samples. Were also used as the mold master.
Mold making in progresses. Added fill and vent ports, then poured the top half of the mold.
leftmost is my casting, other two were printed. No black colorant added so I don't waste it. Casting is full of bubbles. I don't have vacuum degassing, but maybe I should build one.
Also looking for a affordable toolmaker to possibly switch to injection molded parts. Protolabs doesn't want to cam out the snap fit undercut, so I'll look overseas. Proper injection molded parts will be nicer and have a better selection of materials.