Project S.A.M.

Hey All
Since I have finished the V12 Engine, I have been going through many ideas what to do next and after taking 3 options I have settled on a transformer.


Now I am not really a fan of the movies but the idea of making a transformer has been there on the bucket list for quite some time now, I have looked into which is the best one that one can make work and move and bend and so on, and this one is the best shoot of getting it to work.
My model is going to be close to this version in that of the type of truck but that is as far as it goes.
I have looked at trucks out there and the Scania is the truck that I best like and I found some good drawings of these trucks.
The scale of the model is going to be big, the smallest that I will think of is maybe 1:24, but it is most likely going to be on the scales of 1:18 or 1:15 because of the detail I want to add in the movements.
For those who are wondering what S.A.M. is: it's Symbiont Articulated Mechanism.
This model is going to have a lot of moving parts, the best way for me to get this to even be a workable model is to design it in Inventor (Which by the way I am busy teaching myself. I do have some experience in 3D design packages namely Pro-Engineer, but Inventor is by far easiler to design in)
So that I can see and test the movements before even cutting the first piece of paper.
At this moment that is also the extra part of mobile weapons storage platform that will go with the truck/transformor as well.
May the Force be with me.
Retunga

With this transformer it does make sense in what is needed to get it to transform, and the one reason that I have chosen this also is that it has a lot of space to have the arms and legs in a way that it will unpack and re-pack into a truck that makes sense, the cars and other vehicles make no sense in the scale and the movement needed to to work.

My biggest tricks and work is going to be the hinging system and the movement of the legs and arms hydraulic cylinders as in the real world one would use cylinders for movement.

The waist is done as the model needs to go from truck robot and the rear part of the truck needs to slide quite a bit to get the C.O.G. right, I will post a photos of my prototype hinge for that soon, the size of the hinge will still need to be locked down, but for now the R+D work for now is the hinges and movement parts.

I Found on YouTube a good video where a person reviewed the toy and going frame by frame I have figured out how this one works in the movements, but the rest of the model all going to be my ideas of the truck.

Wild ideas of making a reactor to power the truck is there but how and what it will look like is going to be fun, and that is why I am thinking on doing the larger scale of the model for the detail work.

R

A bit of an update, I am busy working on the number joints that are going to be required to get the model to work as a robot, and man is there lot !!

So what I have decieded to do is start a build of a model that will just be moving parts firstly and the second model will be the vehicle that changes into a robot, reason been is that to get the model to work smoothly I need to first get all of the joints and movements right.

So I have named this project for the movement model "Project Patches" it will look alot like a robot that is out there but I am making it work and move to get to understand how and what is required for a robot to move.

After all of the build and R&D of the movement the vehicle will be built around it to complete the S.A.M.

Here is 2 photos of the legs and the starting point of the movements needed for the legs to work 100%

Enjoy

Update Time on "PATCHES"

I have now finished the leg design, there is 6 axis of movement on the leg, the rotation of the leg will be done on the hip deign phase.
The photos that I have posted shows the leg straight and with all the movements taking place.

Enjoy


straight


movement shot 1


Movement shot 2


R

Update time.
I have now finished the deisgn of both legs, and the hinging point that joins the legs.
Next part is going to see how one can add wheels and some leg guards around it.
Enjoy the update photo..

Update Time, I have been off work for a week on holiday and of which I have been able to get some more deisng work done on patches.
I have now completed the hip design which adds 3 more axis of movement, which then brings the total movement to date at 9 Axis.
here is the photos with the hip and read wheels in place, the armor is a bit on the low side for now, that will come later.


Now the next major design point is the Arms.
At the moment I have 4 axis done for the arms, more work is still needed before it is complete.


Enjoy.

R

Hey Z

I am not phased by the lack of comments at this point in the project as most of the work now is design work and that 90% of the time is R&D.


R

Hi All
Update time, I have been a distracted with my normal day to day work and 3D design training courses which has taken up it’s time.
But I have finally completed the arm design and it has been revised at least 2 times to get it right in movement and so on.
The arm has 6 axis of movement which includes the hand fingers(all 5 little piggy`s) . Many of the guards and shields have not been designed yet, that will done later when I get to the other shielding that is needed.
Enjoy.

I am sure that Inventor can do it, at the moment I am designing and checking the movement axis by axis. If I remember which can be scary at times there is a way, but I will have to go back into the books and on the net to remember how or see how to...