Introduction: MDrawBot - Draw an Egg Using MEggBot Robot From Makeblock! (Part I)
I like drawing a lot, on paper, on tablet, on PC, on egg.
Years ago when i was in college, my teacher Miss.Hong told me that her daughter was upset because her egg-painting was destroyed by a naughty boy. Miss.Hong knew that i liked drawing, so she asked me whether i would like to help. Of course i said YES. She gave 2 empty egg shells to my bff Jessie and me. It’s not an easy task cause we needed to be really careful not to crumb it. The first picture was taken after we finished the “mission”. Jessie on the left and me on the right.
That was really fun and exciting. So when i got the mDrawbot from Makeblock, i was “astonished”. This mDrawbot can be assembled into 4 different forms: mEggbot, mSpider, mCar, and mScara. I decided to try from egg thing first.
(here's the link of the kickstarter project of mDrawBot: click here )
No more trash talk, let’s do it now: (see the packing and the accessories, looking like it's complicated)
Step 1: 1. Pen Lift Mechanism
Since pen lift mechanism works for all the 4 forms, I started with this part.
1.1) 1 x pen holder; 1 x plastic hinge; 1 x hinge gasket; 2 x nut m4; 1 x screw m4 x 16. Assemble them together as Diagram 1.1, making sure that the hinge gasket is placed upon the plastic hinge. Don’t screw the nuts tooo tight (personal suggestion)
1.2) See diagram
1.3) See diagram
1.4) In this step, make sure the long side of the little “white cross” is pointing upwards.
1.5) Assemble what we got from Step 1.3) and Step 1.4) using 2 screw M4 x 14 and 2 Nut M4.
1.6) 1 x Square Nut M4; 1 x Screw M4 x 16. So far, i have finished the pen lift mechanism.
Step 2: Note!
Most of work while assembling the mEggBot was to find the right screws and do the nudge. I made some mistakes when finding the correct screws since there were 5 sorts of screws in different length, especially Screw M4 x 14 and Screw M4 x 16 which were almost the same length.
Hence i strongly suggest that make some marks on the plastic bags.
Step 3: 2.mEggBot Assembling - Section One
This will be a quite long steps.. so i am gonna cut them into sections.
2.1) Assemble the base with 8 Screw M4 x 8
2.2) Assemble the 1st motor on the base. Since the manual does not tell which direction should the cables be, I guess it doesn’t matter.
2.3) See the diagram
2.4) See the diagram
2.5) Assemble 2.4) to the base by 2 Nut M4. Then insert a flange bearing into the hole as shown in Diagram 2.5.
2.6) See the diagram
2.7) Compress the spring and use a shaft collar with headless set screw M3 to fix its position.
2.8) Since it’s an egg-painting machine, it has to have some protections in order not to break the egg.
Step 4: 2.mEggBot Assembling - Section 2
2.9) Assemble the plate and the beam using 2 screws and 2 nuts. And then add the assembled part on the base with another 2 screws and 2 nuts.
Note: While adding the assembled part on the base, make sure the 2 column of the upper beam aligns with the 1 column of the bottom beam.
2.10) Start to assemble the timing pulley.
2.11) Assemble the timing pulley to the base.
Step 5: 2.mEggBot Assembling - Section 3
2.12) 1 x shaft collar; 2 x Screw M4 x 14; 2 x Nut M4; 3 x Screw M3 x 8; 1 motor; 1 screw M3 x 5; 1 x 42BYG Stepper Motor Bracket.
2.12.1 -Put the 2nd motor together and assemble it to the base. For this step, only 3 screw M3 are needed for the motor
2.12.2 - insert the timing pulley and fix the position by using the screw M3 x 5.
2.12.3 fix the 2nd motor on the main body of the mEggBot using 2 screw m4 x 14 and 2 nut m4.
Step 6: 2.mEggBot Assembling - Section 4
2.13)
2.13.1 - See diagram
2.13.2 Add the plate to the plastic timing pulley 90T
Step 7: 2.mEggBot Assembling - Section 5
2.14) Connect the pen lift mechanism with the main body of the mEggBot
Accessories involved (see Diagram)
2.14.1 - See Diagram
2.14.2 - Use 2 screw m4 X 8 and 2 nut m4 to fix the pen lift mechanism to the bracket mentioned above.
Here, we have finished the main body of the mEggBot! Congrats!
Stay tuned for the 2nd part of wiring and software part!
(BTW, i heard that Makeblock is having a project named “One Robot Per Kid” on Kickstarter which is quite awesome, too. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1818505613/m... I am starting to become their fans now. Mwahahhaah)
