Feature: George Berndson
George Berndson is a technician for security systems. He’s building a custom robot arm for fun and personal education. The goal is 70cm reach and 1.5kg payload.
When do you think it will be finished?
I hope to finish the arm sometime around new years.
This is my second 3D printed attempt. Before this every couple of years I tried to build one. As a teenager of cardboard, later wood and aluminium profiles but I never was really happy with the results. The 3D printed version is the first that really satisfies me.
Does it have any custom parts that are not 3D printed?
The machine has no custom metal parts – everything is either off the shelf or 3D printed.
What sensors does it have for positioning?
In previous attempt I tried to build an rotary encoder but I ran into several problems like bouncing and problems with higher data rates in the I2C-Bus I worked with, so in this version I just stick to limit switches.
What is the part of this robot that is most satisfying to you? Which part is the least satisfying?
The wrist joint (axis 1 and 2) is the most satisfying part for me. They run smooth and I can just sit and watch them running.
Axis 3 is the least satisfying. I did not find affordable slip rings so I had to run the wires through the joint and the moving angle is limited to 220°.
Do you have any specific plans to use the robot?
No serious plans for the robot, I just felt the urge to build a working 3D printed one. 🙂
I wanted to try this kind of gearboxes I found on the youtube channel “gear down for what”. He never finished his big robot project, so I had to do it myself. 😉
Are there any lessons you learned while making this machine you’d like to share?
Lessons… hm… I learned, that 100% infill is not necessary to get the required strength of the parts. For my needs 7 to 9 layers of wall thickness and an infill of 30% were sufficient. But the most learning is yet to come when it’s get to the programming of inverse kinematics.
Final thoughts
George says he may publish it as open source, given that he’s satisfied with how it works.
Stay tuned to George’s Instagram for more pics and videos as his project develops. I love the aesthetic, the clean design and wiring. This post may expand later with follow up questions.
