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Stuck in the Gears (fursuit progress update)
10 years ago
Some people have to find something in their lives to be frustrated with at all times. I am definitely one of those people. But I've recently realized that this is ok as long as you are frustrated with something you are interested in. That way it motivates you to do more instead of dissuading you.
I've been working on the tail portion of my fursuit, and I've got a skeleton that works very well for posing. It consists of 3d printed vertebrae and spacers, then using high-strength fishing line for tendons. My goal is to get the everything connected up to motors that will be automated by a raspberry pi.
I've pushed myself through a crash course of basic electrical engineering, and the software engineering side is really easy for me. But now I'm hitting the classic issues when it comes to embedded systems - how to get enough power to do what I want and how to store that power. I'm using small DC motors, which just barely do the job of moving the tail when they're directly connected to the batteries. But once I go through the raspberry pi's PWM and an h-bridge, there's enough inefficiency that it doesn't work at all. And I haven't even put the foam/fur on yet.
I tried various battery configurations to see if I just needed more amps, but that's not the case. So I've been learning some basic mechanical engineering, and am currently trying to figure out how I can use some gears to translate my high rpm into the necessary torque. I've gone with a 4-1 gear ratio which gave me plenty of power with spur gears, but found them to be way too loud (though that's with no lubrication and pretty inaccurate scaffold holding everything together). I've been trying to print some herringbone (double helical) gears, but my old 3d printer is having issues printing that kind of detail at the size I need. I've been stuck on this for close to a week now, but I want to get this figured out before I continue.
So with all of that, and the chemistry that was involved in casting silicone for the paws, I hope this helps to motivate any furs currently in school studying math, physics, chemistry, electronics, or programming.
In other news, I've picked out some higher-quality fur and ordered what I would need to make the full fursuit. It arrived a couple of days ago and I'm happy with the quality, but I'm currently going through a slight redesign to include an additional accent color - a light blue - to help visually clarify or emphasize some of the markings. Once I get a new ref sheet completed and the proof of concept complete on the tail, then I'll update my paws to the new fur and make the actual tail.
With ♥'s,
Par
I've been working on the tail portion of my fursuit, and I've got a skeleton that works very well for posing. It consists of 3d printed vertebrae and spacers, then using high-strength fishing line for tendons. My goal is to get the everything connected up to motors that will be automated by a raspberry pi.
I've pushed myself through a crash course of basic electrical engineering, and the software engineering side is really easy for me. But now I'm hitting the classic issues when it comes to embedded systems - how to get enough power to do what I want and how to store that power. I'm using small DC motors, which just barely do the job of moving the tail when they're directly connected to the batteries. But once I go through the raspberry pi's PWM and an h-bridge, there's enough inefficiency that it doesn't work at all. And I haven't even put the foam/fur on yet.
I tried various battery configurations to see if I just needed more amps, but that's not the case. So I've been learning some basic mechanical engineering, and am currently trying to figure out how I can use some gears to translate my high rpm into the necessary torque. I've gone with a 4-1 gear ratio which gave me plenty of power with spur gears, but found them to be way too loud (though that's with no lubrication and pretty inaccurate scaffold holding everything together). I've been trying to print some herringbone (double helical) gears, but my old 3d printer is having issues printing that kind of detail at the size I need. I've been stuck on this for close to a week now, but I want to get this figured out before I continue.
So with all of that, and the chemistry that was involved in casting silicone for the paws, I hope this helps to motivate any furs currently in school studying math, physics, chemistry, electronics, or programming.
In other news, I've picked out some higher-quality fur and ordered what I would need to make the full fursuit. It arrived a couple of days ago and I'm happy with the quality, but I'm currently going through a slight redesign to include an additional accent color - a light blue - to help visually clarify or emphasize some of the markings. Once I get a new ref sheet completed and the proof of concept complete on the tail, then I'll update my paws to the new fur and make the actual tail.
With ♥'s,
Par
