ThePropBox
Active Member
PORTAL 2 - Animatronic Wheatley - 12.05. - Coming to life...
Hello!
I’m back. With a lot of news and images and all that good stuff. My motivation in the last weeks has been quite low since I was tired of all the 3D modelling and so only minor progress has been made.
However, I’m really happy to announce that I’m now filled up to the brim with motivation and dedication to finally get to it again.
In the last few days I made more progress than I expected and even the first printed parts found their off of my printer.
The most complicated part was without any doubt Wheatleys face so it took quite a while to get it done. But when I finally finished it up it was time to start printing it.
Here you can see both halves of the inner parts creating the main part of the eye. All the weird groves and slopes and edges are there for a reason and I will explain as we go along. Please excuse all the messy parts, not much sanding or filling has been done yet
A few of the holes are there to hold a shaft with a pulley later on where a fishing line will be running along. This line will pull Wheatley’s eye lids up and gravity will pull them back down.
As the servos are quite fast and gravity kicks in instantly too quite fast movement is provided to make the lids open and close.
I hate to say this but unfortunately there will be a 10mm gap when both are in the “closed” state. Compromises due to a lack of space
The square-shaped holes in the back are there to provide a seat for the servos.
The upper and lower one’s are for the lids, the one at the left is for turning the face plate. This is done by some sliders hooked onto some arms to get a proper range of movement.
This one here is for rotating Wheatley's face plate...
and this servo is pulling the string for the upper lid.
This whole section is extended by some circular parts which got cable canals constructed into them to hide most of the cables and lead them to the back of Wheatley where all the electronics are going to get stuffed into.
More to that later on
And here’s Wheatley’s face how we all know it. Since my printer is only capable of printing parts below the size of 200x200x180 I had so slice the face in four parts and stick them together afterwards.
In the back there are some grooves which complement the shape of the sliders which are moved by the servo. Neodym magnets will hold the face onto the main body so it’s easy removable if maintenance is needed to be made.
The black parts on the right and the left are the sliders which mount to the face plate.
Details are still missing...
Next stuff on the list are the rails.
The top and bottom rails are the same and are mounted on Wheatley’s face and meet up at the back. As the face is going to end up weighing estimated 1,5kg some modifications to the backside of the rails had to be made. Those slots you can see on the images are for casted lead inserts. They will end up as counterweights to the front-heavy build and take a lot of pressure off of the stepper motors in the end.
The rails on the sides will include inserts too but I haven’t got time finishing them up as the internal mechanics in the rails are quite complicated.
This is the mounting plate for the face and is attached via four M5 screws. The support structures from the 3D printing are still in place and have to be cut out later on.
Now what is this? Right, the positive for the lead insert!
After the poured in MoldMax30 is cured a wonderful mold has been made. God how I LOVE 3D printing. Even though it increases your laziness by 100%.
The lead was heated up and casted into shape. And yes, you can cast liquid lead inside silicone molds!!
And here is one of the lead bricks. A little bit more sanding is needed to fit it nicely in its respective slot.
So the next thing I got to tackle is to print Wheatley’s eye lids.
I’ve been sitting pretty much one whole week at the code to control all 15 of the servo’s and stepper motors simultaneously so now there’s the time to actually make the first things move
I will try to get another update out as soon as possible although earliest two weeks from now! I'm going to head on a business trip to LA next week so if someone is around wants to hang out, PM me hahaha.
Cheers and take care all of you!
Mario
Hello!
I’m back. With a lot of news and images and all that good stuff. My motivation in the last weeks has been quite low since I was tired of all the 3D modelling and so only minor progress has been made.
However, I’m really happy to announce that I’m now filled up to the brim with motivation and dedication to finally get to it again.
In the last few days I made more progress than I expected and even the first printed parts found their off of my printer.
The most complicated part was without any doubt Wheatleys face so it took quite a while to get it done. But when I finally finished it up it was time to start printing it.
Here you can see both halves of the inner parts creating the main part of the eye. All the weird groves and slopes and edges are there for a reason and I will explain as we go along. Please excuse all the messy parts, not much sanding or filling has been done yet
A few of the holes are there to hold a shaft with a pulley later on where a fishing line will be running along. This line will pull Wheatley’s eye lids up and gravity will pull them back down.
As the servos are quite fast and gravity kicks in instantly too quite fast movement is provided to make the lids open and close.
I hate to say this but unfortunately there will be a 10mm gap when both are in the “closed” state. Compromises due to a lack of space
The square-shaped holes in the back are there to provide a seat for the servos.
The upper and lower one’s are for the lids, the one at the left is for turning the face plate. This is done by some sliders hooked onto some arms to get a proper range of movement.
This one here is for rotating Wheatley's face plate...
and this servo is pulling the string for the upper lid.
This whole section is extended by some circular parts which got cable canals constructed into them to hide most of the cables and lead them to the back of Wheatley where all the electronics are going to get stuffed into.
More to that later on
And here’s Wheatley’s face how we all know it. Since my printer is only capable of printing parts below the size of 200x200x180 I had so slice the face in four parts and stick them together afterwards.
In the back there are some grooves which complement the shape of the sliders which are moved by the servo. Neodym magnets will hold the face onto the main body so it’s easy removable if maintenance is needed to be made.
The black parts on the right and the left are the sliders which mount to the face plate.
Details are still missing...
Next stuff on the list are the rails.
The top and bottom rails are the same and are mounted on Wheatley’s face and meet up at the back. As the face is going to end up weighing estimated 1,5kg some modifications to the backside of the rails had to be made. Those slots you can see on the images are for casted lead inserts. They will end up as counterweights to the front-heavy build and take a lot of pressure off of the stepper motors in the end.
The rails on the sides will include inserts too but I haven’t got time finishing them up as the internal mechanics in the rails are quite complicated.
This is the mounting plate for the face and is attached via four M5 screws. The support structures from the 3D printing are still in place and have to be cut out later on.
Now what is this? Right, the positive for the lead insert!
After the poured in MoldMax30 is cured a wonderful mold has been made. God how I LOVE 3D printing. Even though it increases your laziness by 100%.
The lead was heated up and casted into shape. And yes, you can cast liquid lead inside silicone molds!!
And here is one of the lead bricks. A little bit more sanding is needed to fit it nicely in its respective slot.
So the next thing I got to tackle is to print Wheatley’s eye lids.
I’ve been sitting pretty much one whole week at the code to control all 15 of the servo’s and stepper motors simultaneously so now there’s the time to actually make the first things move
I will try to get another update out as soon as possible although earliest two weeks from now! I'm going to head on a business trip to LA next week so if someone is around wants to hang out, PM me
hahaha.Cheers and take care all of you!
Mario
