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by garply
3335 days ago
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Lots of comments on here about the software, but I'm really fascinated by the hardware. Where did you get the conveyor belts and how much did they cost? For the belt that lifts item up out of the hopper, I notice there's a little white hook (or platform, not sure what to call that) jutting out that does the actual lifting of the legos. How did you get the size of that right? Did you install that jutting-out part, or did it come pre-attached to the belt? What tools are you using to make a computer do the actual belt rotation? I'm wondering how low-level it is - are you spinning the steppers directly or did the conveyor belts come with some kind of API? I'm guessing the belts don't have a USB port for easy control. |
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If you look closely at the belt you can see the traces of many failed experiments before I found a shape that worked without accidentally getting stuck on a part.
It is attached with super glue to the belt. I use the narrowest parts because that way it doesn't end up fighting with the curvature of the belt when it goes over the roller.
The belt rotation is done with a 3 phase AC motor hooked up to an inverter for the vertical belt, the camera belt is driven by a DC motor hooked up to a variable power supply.
So no steppers, that would have made life a bit easier because then I'd know (modulo some slippage) where the belt is positioned. So now I have to reconstruct that optically, hence the wavy line on the belt.