Hexapod the walking machine fabrication Harprit Sandhu

Pro-E rendering of what the adapter is going to look like. Two plates connected with four pieces of angle iron. All this will be machined so the two alignment/mounting holes, for the engine and the pump are completely concentric or co-axial and the two faces are absolutely parallel. This is necessary to minimize wear on the pump drive coupling.

This design was far off the mark when I got to dimensioning it. (it looked pretty was about it) So I got back on the Pro-E and got this next one designed. It is shown in the four phases of welding fabrication. The holes will of course be machined later.

This new design is based on real dimensions, ease of construction and fabrication and minimal costs. It will work. The next step is to get the plates cut or flamed and weld the thing together. Then the machining and then the mounting to the engine.

The hydraulic pump cannot be run dry so we have to wait till the tank is made/purchased and connected up and at least one cylinder/valve piped up to get to that stage. And ofcourse we have to have hydraulic fluid in the tank.

Machining the adapter. This is a face plate project that can not be done easily in a 4 jaw chuck.

The round plate could have been square but then you would not have a round surface to center the part with after the initial machining. The first side machined is the round side and the hole in it. Then the weldment is turned around and made concentric with the lathe axis. It is bolted to the face plate and the square side and the hole in it are machined as is the spigot for centering on the engine shaft. That is how we make both holes on the same axis and both sides parallel. Got it! But that is not how I finally ended up going it because the free hand welding was ????

Fuel tank and cap being dried under an Infra Red lamp after being painted. This is a good way to speed up the painting process. I do this on the floor with absolutely nothing flamable nearby. I shut it off if I have to leave the area and a fire extinguisher is always nearby. The lamp is 250 watts and is suspended a foot above the tank. The work get slightly warm. I do not recommmend this technique. You do it at your own risk.

I had to make the faces paralled first from this side to accommodate the errors in the welding process. Next it goes to the face plate for work on the round side and the finish up the square side.

On the left you can see that on my lathe (with a D1-4 Camlock Spindle) the collet system can be in use at the same time as the face plate. This is very handy. Turn up a pin that fits in the collet in one side and in the base of the pump adapter on the other. Mount the adapter on the face plate with the pin in the big hole and everything lines up with the lathe axis. Now I am ready to turn the side that the pump will be mounted on.

The last picture on this page will be the finished pump base mounted to the engine and the hydraulic pump mounted on the pump base. All aligned bolted down and ready to run.

This is the progress to date. Now I have to center everything on the engine axis and tie it down. There is no space to install and tighten the nuts that hold the box to the engine so I need to cut in access space on the cross bracing and maybe drill a hole or two to allow access to the coupling set screws. Its a tight enought fit EH! Plasma cutter did it. WOW!

Next I need to move to the fabrication of the chassis for the Hexapod. Work out the relationships of the various parts and order IRON..

As it turned out I needed a small alignment adapter to go between the engine and the box. It makes sure that the two line up axially. This has been installed above. It all seems to line up OK. Wont know for sure till I start the thing up. See below for what it looks like.

Next I need to mount the gas tank and battery and I am done with my target for this winter on the hydraulic power unit module part of the project. Make it all compact.

SURGERY! This unexpected adventure is going to slow things down a bit in the near future but I will be back soon.

Blockage was 85% on my carotid artery but I feel fine now. They tell me it was touch and go there for a while. WHEW!

Thank God for modern medicine or none of you would know how the Hexapod turned out!