Judd McStudd Sees

Drunken Discovery

So, the reason the mech seems drunk is a: the front is heavier than the back, moving the center of gravity forward and b:

Bent bolts

 Replacing them with 3/8" ones... they were expensive: $21 for 8 and their lock washers!

Improvement!

And since I used gorilla glue instead of PVC cement and primer things are coming apart: some pop rivents and a prayer might do the trick:

Drunk Mech

Leggums and Lumber

Stasis dock fell over:

 

Entire thing wobbles like a paralellogram and tips onto the sides too easily.  Screws ought to do the trick:

Some all-terrain tires

And a lateral stabilizer!  Try falling over now!

Then Linking the shins to the body aka thighs.  I quite like how the different sizes mesh together

Manly chest.

Modeled a chest

Made the chest

Properly mounted the chest

What more could a guy want?

Cats and Armor

So I'm at my folks place watching the cat, Lucky.

We have a sort of wizardy-familiar thing going on: started when he was a wee little abandoned kitten and I bottle fed him and took care of his poopers (you don't want to know about that bit of business).  Now ten years later he occasionally wanders over to say hello, and I can occasionally pick him up without too much hassle, although when I first got there this week he didn't leave my arms for a good 10 minutes or so.  Things have been different around the house since my dad retired, and with my parents leaving on vacation poor little fellow might have thought everyone died.  His only experience with death has been other pets of the house being sick before disappearing, usually with a somber atmosphere similar to that surrounding my dads retirement (life changes, ya know?).  Could I be reading too much into the cat? Perhaps.

Yet since he's tried using doorknobs, opening windows - and was quite surprised when he discovered that a ceramic plate could break- I wouldn't put anything past him.

Anyway, onto the good stuff!

 I brought some materials with me to build some back paneling, when much to my surprise I find that the aluminum flashing is impure!  Must be copper or something...

Still works the same though.

Taping things in place while I drill the rivet holes.

Thank god for my parents basement: its over 100 degrees upstairs!

And the finished... thing.  About 3 feet tall.

Test Run

The legs do rub a bit. I like how they flare out but the main problem is they flop about because the only structural support is on the front. Technically they're supposed to be flush with the sides. If I keep 'em from wiggling there would probably be very little rubbing. Of course I also forgot to put on the belt strap, so the entire thing was flopping around on my back.

There is a lot of flopping at the moment.

Adding the weight of the torso onto the shins means I need more bungees to give proper resistance for the ankles. Gonna change the bungee hookes out for some bungee cord (off a spool!) instead. I'm also working on a lighter shin subframe, because the current ones weight about 20-30lbs!