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Quad Crawler vertical servos — Parallax Forums

Quad Crawler vertical servos

T-manT-man Posts: 24
edited 2007-03-20 18:14 in Robotics
A question,

I've been having success getting my new critter to walk on all fours.· It's an amazing feeling to balance the·Quad Crawler so that it moves freely.· The Ping is working well as usual and soon my·Quad will have IR as well.···He's nearly autonomous, however,·can someone out there help me understand why I keep burning up or gear stripping the·vertical movement servos?· Would this have something to do with batteries?· Servo controller jumper setting?· Or is this·a common problem with walkers?



freaked.gif·T-man

Comments

  • PARPAR Posts: 285
    edited 2007-03-20 06:03
    T-man said...
    A question,

    ...the·Quad Crawler so that it moves freely.·· ...·can someone out there help me understand why I keep burning up or gear stripping the·vertical movement servos?· Would this have something to do with batteries?· Servo controller jumper setting?· Or is this·a common problem with walkers?
    Do the legs move freely (do not bind due to too-tight bolts and/or misalignment maybe due to too-loose bolts) up and down?

    Did you calibrate them correctly to not be commanded to range past their range of travel?

    Have you placed extra weight (excessive) on the Crawler body (causing the legs to have too-heavy a load to lift)?

    Have you powered the servos with too high a voltage?

    Do the servos fail when the leg(s) are lifted or let down?

    Is it the leg that is moving up/down that fails, or one of the other legs which is not moving at the moment of failure? (e.g., causing the legs which remain on the ground to bear excessive load)


    PAR
  • T-manT-man Posts: 24
    edited 2007-03-20 18:14
    PAR,

    Appreciate your assistance.· I think I was less than attentive to the servo range issue.· The stock setting in the code for vertical is:

    300
    1200
    1200
    300

    I'll take a look at this given it certainly could have contributed.· I will also recheck movement again to make sure I'm not missing any subtle binding.

    My battery is a Radio Shack 7.2 volt running through a Parallax PSC.

    I thought it might be a weight problem.· The entire package (with batteries) weighs in at 4.5lbs.

    I'm not certain which leg fails when.· I usually don't notice it until I hear that wonderful stripping sound or smell electrical burning and see smoke.· I've lost·high torque servos that I was testing along with the kit's Hital 322HDs.· The Horizontal servos seem· just fine.

    Are quadrupeds susceptable to this type of a problem?··Or am I just a rookie learning the hard way?

    In any case, thanks.· Your questions have presented likely solutions.

    T-man smilewinkgrin.gif
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