Progress!
We finished assembling, greasing, and burning-in most of our transmissions.
We also experimented with Pem Nuts in our continuing effort to use only blind fasteners without tapping any material. Most methods worked well at setting the Pem Nuts, aside from the hammer. Also pictured is one of the 12V Rigid impact drivers that we recently acquired. We really like them and their 12V drill companions.
We also assembled a drive module! 6in AM mecanum wheels direct-driven from a single-speed double-reduction Vex transmission. The shaft is not cantilevered, but supported by a bearing in the outer plate. Free speed is a little higher than I'd like at 14ft/s, but I felt this was a reasonable compromise to use virtually all OTS parts, especially with the ability to throw 4 mini-CIMs into the drive to up the drive's performance. As-pictured it weighs around 18-19lbs.
The drive pod also fits the battery quite nicely, which will serve as a counter-balance for our arm. We will be relying on closed-loop control on the mecanum wheels to account for the inevitable CG variances.
