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I finally got a wire-feed (flux/MIG) welder last week, and a sharp looking (if kind of cheap) rolling cart to keep it all on. It's... just amazing. Normally when you buy a new tool, it gives you a new capability, and that's cool. But sometimes you get the magical experience of a new tool changing how you do everything. This is one of those times. Being able to weld cheaper/faster/better means I'm already turning to welding as a solution for all kinds of things I never would have bothered with when using my old oxy/accetylene set.
Other than cleaning up the workroom and shop last night, my focus continues to be on incrementally working towards the grand hexapod project. I have a working hydraulic testbed now, with a tiny little electric pump driving a small cylinder through a real directional control valve. I just finished mounting the cylinder to a pivoting arm, to give me a complete mockup of a single (1 of 18!) hexapod joint. I have the electronics working to control the valve from an Arduino, a frustrating but very educational process. Next: attaching a position encoder on the arm and implementing precision control. I might make a series of videos showing the relative performance of hysterisis, proportional, derivative and integral control loops, that would be neat. Assuming I can get that working, it's time to start working on a full-size leg. Which means a larger electric pump, amongst other things. That will be the final sanity check before getting absolutely stupid about this project. The point of no return. Whee!
Other than cleaning up the workroom and shop last night, my focus continues to be on incrementally working towards the grand hexapod project. I have a working hydraulic testbed now, with a tiny little electric pump driving a small cylinder through a real directional control valve. I just finished mounting the cylinder to a pivoting arm, to give me a complete mockup of a single (1 of 18!) hexapod joint. I have the electronics working to control the valve from an Arduino, a frustrating but very educational process. Next: attaching a position encoder on the arm and implementing precision control. I might make a series of videos showing the relative performance of hysterisis, proportional, derivative and integral control loops, that would be neat. Assuming I can get that working, it's time to start working on a full-size leg. Which means a larger electric pump, amongst other things. That will be the final sanity check before getting absolutely stupid about this project. The point of no return. Whee!
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