Home-made BOE Whiskers

Moneer81

Hello,

I need some whiskers for my BOE bot and rather than making a $3 order for new ones and waiting the week or so to get them (no offense Parallax) I was hoping I could make my own...any suggestions on what is a good way to make them? Where to cannibalize the wire from? Maybe paper clips?

erco

Music wire (available from most hobby shops) is springier and will hold its shape better than paper clips.

Moneer81

Oh yeah? Would that work? any specific gauge or kind? I will definitely check it out, although I know nothing about music wire!

Thanks so much!

erco

.030-.050 music wire will work, see what your hobby shop has.

John R.

Moneer81 wrote: »

Oh yeah? Would that work? any specific gauge or kind? I will definitely check it out, although I know nothing about music wire!

Thanks so much!

You may also find some at a good hardware store. Meaning the old fashioned kind that has creaky floors, and has been added onto about 8 times, with ramps or steps from one are to another.

mmmmmmmmm old fashioned hardware store mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

! Sorry, got distracted! -

It's wire that has been treated to be "springy". Within limits, when you bend it, it will return to it's original shape, yet if you use a vice and pliers (or two pliers) you can bend it to a desired shape. Depending on the shape you're after, you may have to "over bend" to compensate for the "spring back".

Also, this stuff is hard. Don't use your favorite electronics side cutters to cut it, you'll more likely end up creating a spot for stripping wire in the side cutters than cutting the wire.

Use either a good heavy duty side cutters, or something like a Dremel cut off wheel.

John R.

Moneer81

John R. wrote: »

You may also find some at a good hardware store. Meaning the old fashioned kind that has creaky floors, and has been added onto about 8 times, with ramps or steps from one are to another.

mmmmmmmmm old fashioned hardware store mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

! Sorry, got distracted! -

It's wire that has been treated to be "springy". Within limits, when you bend it, it will return to it's original shape, yet if you use a vice and pliers (or two pliers) you can bend it to a desired shape. Depending on the shape you're after, you may have to "over bend" to compensate for the "spring back".

Also, this stuff is hard. Don't use your favorite electronics side cutters to cut it, you'll more likely end up creating a spot for stripping wire in the side cutters than cutting the wire.

Use either a good heavy duty side cutters, or something like a Dremel cut off wheel.

John R.

That's what I was thinking of finding, but I was not sure how to look for it. I figured if I walk into a hardware store and ask for "springy wire" they might not know what to suggest. But maybe I'll swing by the local Ace hardware store that has been here for a long time...it does have the feel of an old hardware store. They might have something, I will also check the music store too.

John R.

Moneer81 wrote: »

I will also check the music store too.

I would be very surprised if you found it in the music store (in a useful form). While it's called music wire, and for a good reason, it is/was used for making instruments (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_wire), the strings you'll find in a music store will have a core of music wire smaller than you're after, and be more than a little overpriced.

At the hardware store ask for music wire, piano wire, or spring steel wire. You may also find some at a "craft" store.

I'm assuming that you don't have a hobby store. As mentioned, they typically carry this stuff for radio control and model railroad users (among others).

If you do a google search for music wire, you'll also find a number of online sources.

John R.

Martin_H

John R, you must have been to my local hardware store as you described it to a tee! Somewhere in that store they have everything, and the owners (a pair of brothers) know they exact layout and location of all the items.

They are used to my coming in asking for odd parts for projects. I recently said it was a shame they didn't sell Dremel attachments (because I never saw the cut off wheels near the abrasives). He said "oh, those are on the staircase wall behind the paint counter."

I will be heartbroken when they retire.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

My local small-town hardware store carries music wire in several gauges:

http://doitbest.com/search-music+wire.dib

You should have no trouble finding it in yours.

Important: Do not cut this stuff to length using your best wire cutters! It's really hard and will ding those cutters permanently. Use cutters that are old or have already been ruined.

-Phil

Zoot

Lots of distributors sell music wire on Amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dindustrial&field-keywords=music+wire

erco

@John R: I have an electronics store near me that exactly fits your description of the ideal hardware store. Torrance Electronics (near Los Angeles) is an old-school store with dusty old cardboard bins full of switches, ICs, banana plugs & various connectors, AC adapters; creaky wooden shelves with boxes & bags of SLA batteries, vacuum tubes, heat shrink tubing, giant spools of coax & network cable, old TV antennas, ham masts, antenna traps & insulators, yada yada yada. It's a geeks' paradise! Just 38 miles from Disneyland, this surely must be the second happiest place on earth! They "work with you" on the price when you buy a lot. Highly recommended!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/torrance-electronics-inc-torrance

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Another source for straight, hard wire is servo actuator "rod" (actually wire) from an RC hobby supply store. You'll pay way too much for it, but in a pinch it's an option.

-Phil