Zenta

Its been a while since I last got some time for working on this project. But luckily I've had some time now and then for working on the upper sphere sections. I mentioned earlier that I'm using only six servos for controlling the six upper sphere sections. This mean that each sphere section only have 1 DOF of movement. If each sphere section where coupled together with a simple joint/hinge at the top center of the upper sphere half they wouldn't be able to move at all or at least not at the same time. That's because of several mechanical obstructions between the sphere sections. So I had to figure out a mechanical hinge solution that made the sphere section translate a little away from the top center before it could swing out and upward (bad english.. sight). I hope you get what I mean.  

 

Anyway, pictures tell much more that any words. All parts are handmade, the material is polycarbonate. Here are some pictures of the hinge system:

 

 

The hinge-system are going to be placed above the ARC-32 board. Another picture of the hinges in the max/fan position:

 

 

This picture illustrate how the sphere sections are going to be mounted to the hinge-system:

 

 

Just for the fun of it I've placed the upper sections loosely on top of MorpHex just for giving you an image of how it will be at the end:

 

 

As you can see, the sphere parts does deflect a little under load, but hopefully its not going to be a problem. I'll probably need to make sure there is a little gap between the upper and lower sphere sections:

 

 

I'll come back with more info on how I'll attach the servos. At the moment I'm also very curious to see how it will perform when the upper sections are mounted. It will add about 1,2 kg extra load. Earlier I did some testings and it seemed to perform ok with the extra load. The extra load was 3 beefy 3S LiPo's  :

 

 

One thing is for sure, my workshop is a complete mess at the moment..