TORSO VENTS

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I was fortunate enough to acquire a set of Craig Reinbrecht's sliding torso vents and aluminum channels. The problem was to found a way to mount them in the torso so that they worked. I wanted the vents to slide open and close whenever I needed to gain easy access to the interior of the torso.

For me, the ideal solution would be to construct metal boxs similar to the programming unit that Craig designed. Such a box would be mounted behind each torso vent. Each box could be equipped with nice things like DVD and CD drives as well as inputs for USB, telephone, speaker, and electrical cables. These items would then be hooked up to a lap top computer inside the robot.

In the meantime, I was inspired by an idea that Craig planted in my mind about the construction of brackets to hold the aluminum channels together. These brackets could then be mounted to the torso wall.

I trotted over to the hardware store and found a perfect material in the shape of plumbers tape. This is actually a very malleable metal tape that can easily be curved and bend by hand or with a vise. It was very easy to form the brackets.

The aluminum channels are then bolted to the brackets using countersunk screws. You will need a drill press to countersink the screw heads. I bought a drill press for this purpose and have been delighted with my investment ever since. I use the machine practically every day on own robot-related project or another.

Before inserting the assembled bracket/channel pieces, I first had to take plumbers epoxy and build up the floor of the torso so that the channels were raised to the correct height in relation to the opening in the torso.
 

Here are some photographs of the assembled brackets.

Now, after all this work, I have decided not to adopt this method of mounting the channels. The brackets were much too visible from the outside of the torso. Also, I had great difficulty trying to mount the brackets for the side vents because the arm bays were in the way.

I abandoned the bracket idea and decided just to screw the channels directly to the wall and floor of the torso after first building up a lip of  plumbers epoxy. This solution is much simpler and more elegant. The brackets were fun to make, but they were not strictly necessary to hold the channels in place, as it turns out.