Today: Mounting Things
I spent today mounting things to the robot. I started the day planning to finally cut that sheet of stainless steel that Bobs found me, but I discovered that his saw blades weren’t manly enough for the task. After the teeth literally melted off a couple blades, I decided it wasn’t possible. I sent Wyatt an order to buy a sheet of polycarbonate for the top, which was my original plan anyway.
After I gave up on cutting the steel, I started working on mounting the electronics to the bottom panel. I started with the cRIO. Although I originally wanted to mount it upside-down, there isn’t enough space under the bottom panel to make that work. Instead, I made a bracket out of 2” aluminum L channel. The bracket is 7.5” long and has #10 through mounting holes for the cRIO and to screw it to the polycarbonate. I tapped the polycarbonate for 10-32” screws and mounted the cRIO in the front left of the robot, with the IO connectors facing in.
Next, I mounted the 13.8v power supply. Here again I used 10-32 screws tapped into the polycarbonate. The power supply is mounted in the rear left of the robot.
I can’t mount the inverter yet because I’m waiting for threaded inserts to replace the rubber feet that it had. However, I drilled 1/4”-20 through holes in the polycarbonate to mount it. The screws will thread into the inserts that I’m going to press into the holes that the rubber feet were in (I drilled them out to the size of the press-in inserts).
Last, I mounted the motor controller and E-Stop relay. I’ll have to mount the E-Stop receiver enclosure after I build that, but for now, I’ve got everything else mounted, and it all fits. Pics below.
After I finished with the bottom panel, I made some small cuts and drilled all of the holes to mount the front panels. These hold the LIDAR power supply (right) and DIN Rail power distribution (left). I also mounted the router on the vertical rails with velcro. The IRC5 still fits in the frame. I think my next step is to finish up layout on all of my circuit boards so I’m ready when the DigiKey parts come in. I need to remember to update all the CAD files.
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