Upper Body Complete (Shell-wise)

I just finished up the shell for the upper body. I still need add additional supports on the inside for the pieces to fasten or glue onto.

I've also been thinking about where to attach the arms. Most of the replicas I've seen have the arms attached on the upper side, about halfway from front to rear. The Disney version is attached at the bottom. It would be nice to have the arms move along the track but that just doesn't seem worth it. I could, however; possibly design it such that I could detach the arms and move it around... something to think about.

I haven't checked the dimensions on my model yet but at first glance, it doesn't seem to off. I suppose I'll finish up the body first and then check the dimensions before moving onto the next section.

Another thing I've been thinking about are the speakers. Besides the obvious place of putting one on the charging panel, I would love to add additional speakers elsewhere to give him more oomph when speaking.

One last thing I want to mention is where to put access panels on WALL-E so I can install and work on him later on...

Front Charging Panel

Here's the charging panel with the speaker grill:

Next up will be the "ENVIRO HAZARD" button (the red button). Once that's complete, I suppose I will start working to the left and right of the panel, where his hands are stored.

That's about it for now. Bye.

Edit: Here's a quick update with the ENVIRO HAZARD button:

Doesn't look too bad...

Edit 2: And, here is another render with some of the side paneling completed!

Small Update For Today

Today I started working on the charging panel and that's about it.

Not too bad, if I say so myself. Now is it accurate to the real WALL-E? I don't know. I hope so... I'm not too worried about the accuracy.. number-wise, that is. As long as he looks like WALL-E and can fit through my door, I'll be happy with that.

Alright, time for a short break and then I'll finish up the left side of the front panel.

Edit: I worked on the left side for just a little bit.

Now it's time for me to watch The Walking Dead. :)

Hmmm...

I was taking a look back at the neck and head joint and it looks like I might need to add a retaining ring or some sort of flange to prevent the head from falling out. Although the servo horn is attached to the base of the swivel piece, it doesn't seem like a good idea to let it be the only piece holding up the head.

So, I'll probably increase the height of the swivel piece and add a groove around it. Then I'll add a retaining piece onto the top of the upper neck and that'll be bolted down. Hopefully, that should do the trick.

Next up: Body

It's time for me to start working on the body. I'll probably start with the shell and the basic chassis but won't get into too much detail until I figure out how the arms and legs are going to be attached and driven.

My plan is not to have the solar panels pivot and open outwards just yet. I'll think about it later if I want to actually do that... I want to finish the body shell as soon as possible because it'll give me a good indication on how accurate my head dimensions/proportions are.

I'll work two more hours tonight and then it'll be time for some sleep. I have work tomorrow...

Time for Head/Neck Optimization!

Alright, here's what I have so far with the head and neck sections:

What I'm worried the most right now is the power of the head swivel servo. It's rated for 8 kg-cm @ 6V but that seems to be underpowered at this point. Due to the size constraints in the neck, I'm unable to fit a more powerful servo inside there at this time. Other ideas would be to use gears, pulleys, and belts to run a link down into the body where I'll have more room to work with...

Anyways, I'm almost done with these two sections... just a little bit more to go like:

- Eyebrow design (I keep pushing this off for some reason...) Since it's so small of a detail, I'll go ahead and just draw it on when I start painting it

- Head cable routing through the rear connector

- Rear connector cable link to the neck

- Cable routing through the neck

- Determining if I can fabricate or purchase pieces for the neck

Once those things are complete, I'll start working on the body!

Updated Neck Assembly

Here's an updated neck assembly:

I added the upper pivot mount for the upper neck to attach to. I also modified the upper pivot bracket because I found that the timing belt would run into one of the supporting pins. Anyways, all I have to do now is finish up the upper neck where the head swivel servo will go and then I will be done with the head and the neck!

Neck Design Update

Here's an quick look at the neck design...

This is more of a proof of concept but I'm trying to see if the current dimensions will work with either fabricated parts or off the shelf parts. The internal linkages were designed with readily available parts but the outer shell dimensions will have to change such that I can either make them or use some sort of common PVC pipe sizes.

The internal mechanism for the lower neck is still missing an adjustable idler pulley as a tensioner but besides that, it is good to go. As for the upper neck, I still need to add a shaft mount for the rod to attach to the upper neck somehow. In addition, I still need to design the head swivel mechanism which will be powered by a servo.

The bottom of the linkage in the lower neck will connect to a stepper or gearmotor via a rod end but that doesn't seem too difficult at the moment.

Like I said earlier, I still need to check the dimensions for accuracy as well so that will take some time.

Edit: So, the original design was to use a parallelogram linkage to keep the upper neck aligned with the horizon, but I decided to change it and scrap the parallelogram linkages altogether. Instead, I will be use an aluminum bar instead.

This allows it to be much simpler with less pieces and accomplishes the same thing. The only addition I will be doing to these side linkages will be to cut some slots and holes to reduce the weight. Also, the two bars that hold the last part at the top will probably be changed to be more rigid.

I don't know why I was trying so hard with the other design... let's try to keep things simple!

Edit2: Final edit before I go to sleep.

I finally found an idler pulley with the right size! I had to go to a metric idler used in the Shapeoko but it'll work. Anyways, the position of the idler pulley is tentative for now. I will have to see what lengths are available and adjust the location of the idler pulley accordingly. There should be enough room up and down to give it some tension but if not, I will have to add a second idler next to it. Alright, time to sleep...

Head/Neck Preview

So here is a preview of the head and neck design:

The components for the neck are only there for reference so I can start designing the internal mechanism for the pivot. I have not yet checked it for scaling and accuracy with the film so it may look a little bit off. I may have to reduce the height between the neck and the head because it seems a little high but we'll see.

As for the head, I still need to do the eyebrow design as well as the piece just under it, where the piece will rest on. Besides that, everything is set for the head pretty much. I've also ordered some M5 rod ends from China for the servo linkages for about 1/4 of the cost (with free shipping!) 

For the neck, I'm trying to see if I have enough room to fit some of these timing belt pulleys in there. It's going to be a very tight fit from the looks of it. The original plan is to allow me to control the lower and upper neck separately. If it doesn't fit, then, we'll have to resort to plan B where the upper neck will always be parallel with the horizon using a combination of linkages like in a parallelogram configuration.

Alright, time to get back to work!

Edit: Here's the same image with an update pivot so it looks a little better...

No updates for today

After spending hours researching and looking for compatibles part, I'm officially burned out. I didn't get to model anything today so no pictures. Time to watch some TV and if I'm up for it, I'll get back to this project for a little bit before I sleep.