Body Update

Here's an updated look at the body so far:

I enabled contour lines so you could see the WALL-E decal on the front. So far, the body is coming along nicely. Like I mentioned earlier, I'll probably get the body shell completed first and then work on the inner structure using the t-slot extrusions.

As for access panels, I'm thinking about making the front hatch, the charging panel, and the rear body removable to access the inside. Some other modifications I need to make are the cutouts for the arm attachments. Since I haven't started on the arm quite yet, I'll leave that until later.

As for materials, I'm leaning towards mostly balsa and HDU where possible and opting for 3D printed plastics for the more delicate and thin pieces. There'll also be some MDF and aluminum for structural supports.

Alright, time to work on the rest of the body sides!

Update: So here's the rest of the body I did today:

The first problem that I have right now is modeling the front lower corner bumpers. For some reason, I just can't get my head to figure out how to model it. One of the problems is that the rounded corner between the front hatch and the side is incorrect, especially towards the bottom. Unfortunately, I'm going to keep it like that for now and I don't feel like it's a priority. The bumper, however, I need to get that modeled for sure. Hmmm...

The other problem is that the rear corner bumpers aren't correct as well. It's suppose to extend slightly towards the middle on the backside but on Rev. 0, I didn't model it for some reason. I'm not sure if I can model the rest of the bumper without interfering with what I have so far.

Let's see, I'm also working on the rear cylinders right now as well. 

I still need to finish the piston but I'll do that tomorrow. The clevis and brackets will be machined while the shafts and pistons will be PVC pipes. I had to make some adjustments to the dimensions to fit the available PVC pipe sizes. Luckily, they are pretty close so it'll be very small changes.

One final note I remembered is the status of the CNC router I need to build. I'll be using the ShapeOko 2 and modifying it to cut larger pieces. So far, my largest pieces will be the side panels of the body and the top panel of the body. The top panel is 18" X 18" so I'll probably upgrade my ShapeOko to have 24" X 24" rails.

Alright, it's time for some sleep!