VEX Transmitter, Receiver, & Crystal Upgrade Kits

I was able to pick a VEX Transmitter & Receiver Kit off eBay for $22.12 and a Crystal Upgrade Kit A for $7.14. The combined total of these items off the VEX Robotics website is $179.98. You've got to love eBay, I saved $150.62. The packages were a little beat up, but the cost savings more than makes up for it. The Transmitter & Receiver Kit comes with channel 89; and the Crystal Upgrade Kit A comes with channels 65, 69, 81, and 85. My plan is to use the J.E.D.I. Control System, but if the run is delayed I will pickup the VEX Signal Splitter for $19.99. At this time, no one is offering this on eBay.

JAG Hinges Arrived

My JAG Hinges arrived today. I got two extra large, one large, one medium, and three small. Everything but the three small hinges came assembled, that look great. The extra large hinges seem to be a little stiff, but I will loosen the lock nut about the time I install them and see how the hinges move. I'm going to use the two extra large hinges on the two long doors in the front of R2. The large hinge will be used for the large panel to the left of R2's center vents. The medium hinge will be used for the smaller panel between the coin slots and R2's center vents. The small hinges will be used to for the sensor scope (one of pie panels in the dome), a small door used for the fire extinguisher (to the left of R2's front holoprojector in the dome), and the charging panel door (above the coin slots).

Ankle Meet Mount

Steve helped me attach the ankle pieces to my motor mounts tonight. We started out by setting the distance of the ankle channel to be closer to the outside of the motor mount then the inside. Once in the correct position, it was clamped in place with a c-clamp and a vise-grip while holes for pop rivets where drilled.

Once all the pop rivet holes were drilled, a builder held a washer in place on the underside of the motor mount while I used the pop riveter to secure everything in place.

I used seven pop rivets in the center portions of the ankle/motor mounts. I'm going to try flush rivets that Moose suggested on both ends of each ankle/motor mount to reduce the visual impact.

A couple wheels, motors, belts, and omniballs and these might look pretty good.

Filling The Outer Leg Gap

After the two 3/4" shoulder hubs are routed out the accept the outer leg hardware, there needs to be another should hub board less than or equal to 3/4" in thickness to fill the gap. Once I get both legs assembled and dry fit on the frame, I will then temporarily attach the skins. Once the skins are added, I will sand the extra shoulder hub pieces I made tonight to leave a 1/2" gap between the out legs and the skins. The work tonight was done pretty much like it was the previous night I worked on shoulder hubs. Except I used my existing shoulder hub to draw the outer diameter of the hub and start a pilot hole. I then used the band saw to cut out the should hubs and the drill press to cut out the hole for the center pipe.

Blackhawk Dome Cutting

I sat on the floor tonight and cut out a couple more dome panels as I watched my Blackhawks eliminate the Canucks from the second round of the NHL playoffs.