Tank

 

I got the tank loosely mounted into position to see how it looks, pretty good I think. Although I'm still tempted to try anodizing it black. However, I'm told the weld will come out a different colour and look bad.

My first USB interface project

 

Nothing to do with the Mantis but this is my first USB micro controller project utilising a dsPIC and an FTDI USB interface chip. The FTDI chip is really easy to use and is working very well. I had to tweak some of the default settings on the chip to get the serial latency down as low as possible, but initial tests work well for my application.

New Foot Mounted On Leg

 

I picked up the new anodized foot and leg parts yesterday, and today picked up the rest of the components required to attach the new foot to the leg. The assembly went together well, only a couple of small issues that I soon overcame.

 

Here is the rest of the foot mechanism held in place with the M20 bolt.

 

I may have to make an aluminium cable guard to protect the two cables from damage. Otherwise the new design looks great!

New Foot Assembly

 

 The new foot assembly with the pancake load cell sandwiched between the ball joint and tibia mounting hardware.

 

The small box contains the strain gauge amplifier.

New Hydraulic Tank

 

I collected the new hydraulic tank today, looks ok! Apparently anodizing this would not be a good idea as the weld will come out a different colour, so I think I will leave it bare aluminium.

Inside the hydraulic tank.

Side view of the tank.

The last of the tnk parts

 

Here are the remaining parts I required for completion of the hydraulic tank.  Te suction pipe I found on ebay, the 1.5" BSP threaded boss I had made by D&T Precision. These parts will be welded to the back of the SAE fittings as shown, prior to being fitted to the tank.

Don't leave the cnc machine unatended!

 

I should have learned this lesson by now, I left the machine skimming the outside face of the last of twelve of these parts.. and look what happened. I thought of having another made, but I think I will just use it as is to remind me :)

Picked up the new parts for the 3 axis leg from the waterjet company.

 

Above are the outer clamping plates, these are really just dressing, however, without them it leaves the steel structure of the tibia and some very sharp edges exposed. With these in place it finishes the end of the tibia nicely.

 

This is the main part of the 3 axis design. This part gets clamped between the two steel plates of the tibia. The M20 x 160 bolt holds the rest of the foot in place.

Electrical strip down

 

I took the plunge and decided to move the distribution/fuse box. In it's current position it's being shaken to pieces by the engine, actually to be fair nothing has fallen apart bar the silicone shock mounts used to mount the box, however, I think it will be better in another location.

Last of the fourth axis removed

Removed the left leg fourth axis ready for conversion, converted the remaining ankle sensors then got brave and decided to remove the two posterior metatarsus valves. This gave me an idea of how tricky it would be to add he A + B port sandwich valves to take pressure sensors. While the machine is stripped down and the valves are accessible I think it would be a good idea to fir the sandwich valves with the ports blocked, this way if I decide to add pressure sensors in the future I only need remove the plugs.. well and add a new loom to the valve control box... plus the 36 sensors that would be needed!