While it may be term time at university, I’ve been home this weekend for my Grans surprise 80th birthday party (which went really well!). The party was only on the Saturday afternoon so I knew I’d have enough time to get some building done on my new pair of skates, not forgetting my girlfriend left this morning at 9, giving me a reason to be awake.
This build actually went really successfully and I managed to complete it in around 4 hours in total. A lot of the mistakes I made with the first pair (and in general when working with metal) weren’t made on this pair and I’ve found aluminium much easier to work with, not forgetting faster to machine (drill, saw etc).
It was also helpful having pre-designed the parts in CAD meaning I knew exactly where the holes should be and any cutting I needed to do was still relatively simple. This was also the first time I’d cut aluminium with a jigsaw too! Of all the machining I’ve done so far, the most important lesson I’ve learnt is: Patience. Without patience, your work will be ruined, tools dulled and tolerances broken! So that means minimal pressure, whether it be drilling or cutting, along with slow cutting speeds.
Regardless, pictures!
I’m still waiting for my omniwheels to arrive so they’re just the frames as of yet though I’m hoping they arrive within the next week. I will however be taking the drill back to uni with me anyway. The one issue I currently have is with the DD shaped hole on the main frame. Having got that originally machined by my mums partner, I don’t really have the ability to do it myself though if worse comes to worst, I have a relatively simple idea like so:
Using two M5 bolts to secure the shaft of the hub motor
While this method seems somewhat logical, I feel that the pressure on the M5 bolts will be too large, shredding the thread and potentially causing the hub motor to shear the mainbar, causing some major damage somehow or another. Therefore, my current plan is to see if I can get the DD shaped hole machined in university by either a mate or one of the staff members (which I assume will have a tasty fee attached…). Regardless, the Alumi-lecs are much lighter, better balanced and more aligned than the previous steel-o-sovietlecs so hopefully these will handle better, roll (sorry pun) on time for my omniwheels to arrive!
P.s, sorry for the picture quality, I had to take them on my phone as I left my camera in Nottingham!
