Design, Robot

Robot Arm Pan Ring

While testing the robot arm, the movement is fast enough that it highlighted an issue with the panning servo. After a few movements it was popping off the mount. Consequently a strong joining mechanism was required. The original model can be found on Thingiverse. The modifications I have made will be uploaded as a remix of the original file.

Every time the arm is extended or retracted the entire force is centred on the the single axle. Even though the axle is metal the horns are not and gradually stretch and eventually pop out.

There is a lot of weight on the single axle.

The Thingiverse model was built from an OpenSCAD file which is provided as part of the download. Consequently it was fairly easy to update

I started by modifying the top plate to have rotator ring which would allow it to rotate but not rock back and forth.

Various captive M3 nuts (8!) are used to both fasten it down the the surface and to join the rotator ring and servo foot.

A cut-through of the model shows how the top plate fits inside the rotator ring.

With the foot also being bolted to the rotator ring it holds the servo in very rigidly.

Viewing from the bottom up, you can see how it all fits together.

For the new servo foot, a new base was required to mount to the servo stack.

The robot arm fully mounted to the base and the rest of the servo stack. It looks a lot more industrial than the original base!

Please follow and like us: