Constructing the DVD chassis
I was pleasantly surprised to find that my blog of the coasterbot build has been featured in MAKE: Robot Build Dispatch #5. Fortunately I have been working on the bot, so I can add some new material. For this installment I’ll continue discussing the chassis design.
As described in an earlier post, I want to link the DVDs together with the mini-DVDs acting like a swishable tail. I looked into various couplers before going with the “keep it simple” solution: drill holes in the DVDs and screw them together loosely. As shown in the video below, it worked out rather nicely. The tail does swish. It is even posssible to stack the CDs, which looks rather neat, but the addition of wheels and sensors will prevent that in the final design.
If you can’t see the embedded video, here is the direct link.
As far as I can tell, my chassis design is unique. Of course, there may be a reason for this. My robot will lose agility by having multiple segments.
As usual, every time I drill something I tell myself that I need to buy a drill press. The Dremel worked fine for this, but for more precise placement, the slippery CD surface will be an issue. I have the funds, the real question is whether or not I want to expand the workshop into the garage. That would involve moving years of accumulated junk out.