…Or lack thereof. But not intentionally so!
So here’s my rad “robot” kit. The Scribbler. Cool, right? I mean if Maker Faire liked it to be Editor’s and Educator’s choice, it’s gotta be good!
…But the crux. I purchased a DC/Stepper mount for this guy but the head of the motor wouldn’t fit through the holes, plus the thinness of the cardboard (as you can see it’s very almost cardstock like thin) might be a problem for the screws. If this was say, replicated in wood or some plastic, the mount would have been ace. Also would like to note the switch and DC motor is different than on the site.)
Built the circuit– cool thing being I can if I want to remove the electrical tape and hook this up to a microcontroller if I wanted to! And easy to read instructions with adhesive tabs to build the box. Mine was having some problems with one of the inner adhesives so I had added some of my spiffy checkered duct tape.
Finally the circuit and the ‘feet’– 4 markers. And then I let it go!
And it’s final masterpiece!
his was pretty fun to build, and everything was done in about a half an hour. Definitely more for the younger crowd, I will say it’s a nice and fun way to get a younger person than I into electronics and fabrication for sure. It would be interesting to break it down with plywood, and build it to be more durable rather than the cardboard and see how it would go. So really, my takeaway on improvements is really more about retro-engineering and what I could do to elaborate upon the design. Maybe even painting or covering the carboard with decorative duct or washi tape to make it look less…boring. (My only complaint about this project, boring old brown cardboard! Even having it be white would have been a nice change!)
(I think in the future I may like to find another more advanced build kit to stretch my muscles since I feel like this was bit of a cop out by the end of making it…)
But after these seven weeks I feel more confident in my building and more inclined to get into the fabrication part of work instead of just designing and relying on others. I mean I still would like to try my hand at the 3D printers and possibly the lathe and CNC in the future, but for everything else in the shop I can go in and work just fine now. And having a better head for tools to boot.