Treadwell WED-15 droid build : Part 18 - body/wheels

 

Month of June, and on my list of things to do for WED & things to source - parts:

• Wheels : make/buy/3D print ?
• Speed controller
• Motors
• Tracks : source & buy/make(?)/3D print ?
• Receiver to use with the Flysky transmitter.
• Batteries
• Prime/fill/sand/repeat for the wood base.

Ordered some more primer paint this week.

I drew up a track from the plans in CAD. This was to add to the 3D build and possibly to 3D print in TPU. But the length is a problem for it to fit on the build plate lol, see picture 😂.

So for now it’s just for the 3D model.

Just to see what it looks like. I may have to make these…..how, I’m not sure….????

The rest of the week was working on the msin base:

• Applied wood filler to certain areas.
• Sanded once dried.
• Primer arrived and so I continued on with spraying up the base.
• Once dried I gave the unit a light sanding.
• Then applied more light coats of wood filler to the areas that needed it, mostly to fill in the grain patterns.
• Once this dried, I gave another light sanding. This repeated for some time lol.

Progress pictures:

Repeat until mostly happy 😃.

The same process was applied to the two lid panel hatches. The edges and wood grain were the focus of the work. The rear panel still needs a lower/inner skin of wood fitted.

Once the filling , sanding and primer painting was dry, I gave the whole base a coat of blue.

The two logic housing top panels that were the wrong size, I cut these down to fit under the mast base. These were primed and sprayed blue and clear coated. They were then screwed into place.

I decided to print off a drive wheel!

I had drawn it up in two half’s months ago, but rather than fit them together, I printed them off together as a one piece wheel. One thing I did add to the design was an angled edge on the inner edges. This is for helping align the inner track guide.

And here it is in a test fitting:

Before I left for the weekend, I set the printer to print off the other three drive wheels…… 2days 12hrs in total!!

The wheels have larger than needed axle holes, as this allows me some flexibility with the drive motors, shafts etc.

Drive setup:

Been looking at speed controllers & motors.

Just have to decide on 12v/24v and either belt/chain or direct drive of the main drive wheels.