Machined Terminator endo arm progress thread

This is truly one of the most epic builds on the mind-blowing forum! I looked in the JY and didn't see an INT thread, but I doubt I could afford one anyway. Regardless, I am definitely subscribing to keep up with your progress. Thanks for reminding this Mechanical Engineer what's possible.
 
Just a thought here, Im not sure if your past this point yet but you mentioned brazing the rods to the wrist plate, what would be really cool and I think would look better too is if you made the wrist plate and the rods out of stainless steel and Tig welded them on. Keep in mind the Tig welding would need to be done by an expert and it would look like it was made in space. My buddy welds all of my Titanium for me and it looks like aliens did it because its so perfect. Brazing is usually pretty thick and not very neat looking. The stainless would also be stronger and flex less than the aluminum. I also sent you a pm.
 
caz345 said:
Just a thought here, Im not sure if your past this point yet but you mentioned brazing the rods to the wrist plate, what would be really cool and I think would look better too is if you made the wrist plate and the rods out of stainless steel and Tig welded them on. Keep in mind the Tig welding would need to be done by an expert and it would look like it was made in space. My buddy welds all of my Titanium for me and it looks like aliens did it because its so perfect. Brazing is usually pretty thick and not very neat looking. The stainless would also be stronger and flex less than the aluminum. I also sent you a pm.
Click to expand...


Actually you're pretty close to how im going to do the wrist and hand "bones" (which i will call carples).
I've built a jig to hold all the carples in the correct position, they will be inverted and buried in a casting sand called "bentone" leaving the bases exposed. A properly shaped depression will be made in the bentone the size and shape of the wrist plate. A low temp metal called Alumi-weld will be melted down and poured in, joining to the carples.


This MIGHT work but the tests have been iffy. It may be easier to CNC the plate and just braze to it. Right now im converting my mill to work with linear rails and servos instead of the crappy dovetails and stepper motors it has now. Im also converting the lathe to CNC with linear rails and a 3hp DC servo as the spindle motor. Its just all money and time, and I never seem to have enough of either.
 
WarPig said:
Since you are setting up the process for CNC, does this mean you could make a *left* arm as well? :)
Click to expand...

Yep:) As well as any other part of the body, including skull. The difference between linear rails and servos compared to "hobby class" dovetails and stepper motors is phenomenal. I spoke with a guy who owns Precision Saw and Tool just down the street from me and discussed having the dovetails ground down to precision flats for the rails to mound to. SHould be a breeze, and MUCH cheaper than I thought it would be. I might as well start documenting all that here on this thread since its pretty cool and very relevant to the project.

A metal endoskull would be kinda neat:cool
 
what about casting them from aluminum? melts easy enough and clean them up when cool just a thought looks awesome either way
 
SwampDonkey said:
Yep:) As well as any other part of the body, including skull. The difference between linear rails and servos compared to "hobby class" dovetails and stepper motors is phenomenal. I spoke with a guy who owns Precision Saw and Tool just down the street from me and discussed having the dovetails ground down to precision flats for the rails to mound to. SHould be a breeze, and MUCH cheaper than I thought it would be. I might as well start documenting all that here on this thread since its pretty cool and very relevant to the project.

A metal endoskull would be kinda neat:cool
Click to expand...

I may want a *set* of arms then :)
 
Well, I bought the Petrobond molding medium for fine-detail sand casting. I ordered yesterday after trying in vain to make my own...
Anyway, now I need to cobble together an aluminum smelting furnace. From a little internet research it looks like a peice of cake to make one that runs on waste oil and an air compressor. I'll try whatever works. This would be a good way to make some progress while the mill is down for rail installation.

I have a big iron fireplace in my home so I should be able to do melt aluminum pretty easily in that if I need to. The thing regularly gets the steel poker red hot.

I'll grab some pics of the mill in its current state here in a bit and post them.

Edit: My poor mill...

DSC02653_zpsd2c9a20d.jpg


DSC02654_zpsfc9619b4.jpg



Its being precision ground right now so I can mount the rails. This should help eliminate my need to tighten the gibs so hard the stepper motors lose steps. The result is much nicer and more accurate parts. I will also be able to do WAY more complex 3D parts when all done with the mods. In the mean time Im just waiting on my petrobond and cruising the metal casting forums learning how to use the stuff and keep aluminum molten long enough to pour.
 
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You know what this arm would be perfect for. Have a Terminator poster on the wall and make it look like the arm is busting out of it, like from the otherside of the wall. EPIC.
 
partsguy17 said:
Stunning work! I just wish it was more affordable :)
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Its possible the price will come down as the capabilities of my machines continue to improve. The linear rails will be a huge step up. The machine will then be accurate enough to make other machine parts within tolerance. The lathe is going CNC as well and everything to make that happen has already been purchased. Right now I have mill parts on the longest surface grinder in Texas (Precision Saw and Tool in Converse) and these guys are experts in grinding dead-on precise parts. They will likely be handling all the surfaces I need precision ground for both the lathe and mill.

It just takes time and money...mainly it takes me time to save the money to pay for all this stuff:)

The metal casting in the meantime will be cool though!
 
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