May Wrist Page

To June 2003 Progress Page
(coming soon -- in June perhaps!)

CNC MACHINED ALUMINUM WRISTS WITH REVOLVING CENTERS BY NORMAN SOCKWELL
When Norman Sockwell, famed producer of high-end robot parts, revealed his new line of aluminum robot parts in early 2003, I jumped at the opportunity to re-outfit my robot with the latest in robot fashions. Although my robot already had a set of resin wrists with revolving centers, as well as Norman Sockwell's earlier line of rubber arms, I felt that a spare, contrasting set of wrists and arms would be a good thing to have. I have learned the hard way that it is always beneficial to have spare robot parts on hand.

Although it would be natural to assume that the aluminum wrists are heavy, they are, in fact, surprisingly lightweight. Norman must have worked carefully with his CNC design to machine away the maximum amount of metal without compromising strength.

Rather than paint these beautiful aluminum wrists, I will instead have them powder coated. Powder coating fuses a colored "glaze" into the metal, thereby creating a durable and permanent color treatment. Since the color is fused with the metal, scratches will be unnoticeable. The best thing about powder coating, however, is that the aluminum wrists will still look aluminum. One of my objectives in using aluminum throughout the robot is so that the robot looks as realistic as possible. It would defeat my purpose to paint the aluminum and thereby mask its essence.

The parts arrived on 22 May 2003 and were almost instantly assembled and fitted to the robot. Here are some pictures that reveal what wonderful parts Norman is able to produce.

Click on Thumbnail image to see full-sized photograph

Here, you can see the wrist with the two sections of the revolving center inserts forming the Mickey Mouse ears. If you look closely, you can see the bearing ball channels.

In this shot, you can see the aluminum bearing balls inserted into the front channel in the wrist. Inserting the bearing balls requires patience, time, and agile fingers.

In this shot, you can see the bearing balls inserted into the back channel in the wrist. The front piece for the revolving centers has been inserted and is now holding the bearing balls securely in the front channel.

The back piece of the revolving center has been screwed into place. The wrists came tapped and ready to receive size 10-32 machine screws.

My partially completed robot is shown wearing one of his new arms and wrists.

Close up shot of the aluminum wrist supporting an aluminum claw that is holding a bag of new CNC machined aluminum light rod ends -- also from Norman Sockwell. This should give you a hint about the subject matter of the next construction update.

Back

	Here, you can see the wrist with the two sections of the revolving center inserts forming the Mickey Mouse ears. If you look closely, you can see the bearing ball channels.
	In this shot, you can see the aluminum bearing balls inserted into the front channel in the wrist. Inserting the bearing balls requires patience, time, and agile fingers.
	In this shot, you can see the bearing balls inserted into the back channel in the wrist. The front piece for the revolving centers has been inserted and is now holding the bearing balls securely in the front channel.
	The back piece of the revolving center has been screwed into place. The wrists came tapped and ready to receive size 10-32 machine screws.
	My partially completed robot is shown wearing one of his new arms and wrists.
	Close up shot of the aluminum wrist supporting an aluminum claw that is holding a bag of new CNC machined aluminum light rod ends -- also from Norman Sockwell. This should give you a hint about the subject matter of the next construction update.