Long time since an update, I have not given up on the rover yet. I have a working scissor lift for the cameras and an idea for an arm. I also have a new design for the wheels and drive system. I am going to use LX-16A servos. They have plenty of torque and they are very easy to control.
The story of designing the new wheel.
At first, I used tiny little motors, and even though they worked, they were not very durable. Then I switched to much larger motors, and I never tried to see if they would work. I am sure they would be great, but they require speed controllers and fancy programming to keep an eye on the speed of each of the motors. I then switched gears a bit when I built my scissor lift I tried out one of the LX-16A serial bus servos and was impressed with the ease of use and the power. The price of them is not bad either. You can find them for under $20.00 each.
Another pause happened during the holidays when the LX-16A servos became hard to get, the price went up to over $45.00 per servo. I became concerned that maybe they stopped making them. Looks like they are back to normal price and availability.
I wanted to design and build my wheel for the rover. It looked silly with RC truck tires and wheels, I wanted something a bit wider and would not leave as much of a track out in the desert.
My first attempt at a new wheel was a bit large, too large, and took 25 hours to print. Here is the printed wheel next to a large coffee cup. The next attempt was a bit small, about the same size as the RC truck tires and wheels. Finally, I hit the sweet spot and have the wheel I think I will use. It takes about 12 hours to print, but it’s a great design.
I then set out to make the servo mount and steering arm. At first, they were a direct connection. After printing one and putting it together, it worked but had way too much play and looked fragile.
I also picked up some Flex Seal rubber spray paint. I want to see if that helps as well.
The first photo is the design I went with. It allows room for planetary gears and is easily replaceable.