The goal is to replace the rear wheel of a bicycle with a strandbeest walking mechanism before November 10th and see what happens. Similar to this but hopefully something much faster / smoother / maneuverable (Going to try 3 legs instead of 4). In the future we may be able to race multiple walking propelled machines against each other.
The current design can be viewed or forked online
Anyone who is interested in helping with the build is welcome to come lend a hand, build days will be on the calendar, there will be a lot of lathe and machining work if you are looking for an excuse to practice on the lathe.
The first build day is this Saturday October 13th 2pm, where at a minimum I will be CNC cutting all the pieces for the leg linkages
The immediate todo items that anyone could help out with include:
- Cut and prep all plywood pieces
- A 6 foot rod of delrin that needs to be turned into 18 0.460" thick bushings and 18 0.920" thick bushings with 0.500" holes reamed in them
- 1.250" tube has been rough cut to 2" wide pieces, need to face to final dimension and bore ends to press in bearings
- 1/2" smooth rod needs to be rough cut and then faced to final dimension and both ends drilled / tapped for #10-32 bolts for crank
- 1.5" wide 1/8" thick steel bar needs to be rough cut then holes drilled precise crank distance
- Build jig to weld together center crank pieces (sides of crank are 120 degrees offset)
- Find a bike to use (any full size bike with gears)
To volunteer just find me in the workshop and say you want to help make something.