I’m dreading the next devlog.
So, I made a lot of progress since the last devlog. In the last devlog, I managed to finish the gearbox to convert the dc motor’s high speed into a lot more torque. In this devlog, I managed to add a front and the top of the car, which means all the wiring was done too!
The front uses a servo to rotate the front two wheels (with disconnected axles because they turn at different speeds) which is connected to my xbox controller, so I can control it wirelessly. In this video you can see it in action, I use the d-pad because I do have stick drift so it’s just more consistent. Anyways, the x button centers the motor so you can instantly switch back to going forward immediately.
Now the bad news, when I tried making the car actually turn forward, the gears don’t turn. I assume this is because there isn’t enough torque being created, which would suggest another gear, but I don’t have the time before my vacation for that. Instead, I’ll focus on optimizing the current design as much as possible. The first of which: re-making the gearbox AGAIN.
This time, it’ll be a lot quicker, I already have the ‘template’ of the gearbox ready and I plan on ensuring the gears are aligned properly and adding straws as barriers between the cardboard and the wood axles. This is because the cardboard probably causes lots of friction, losing torque.
So yeah, tons of lessons learnt, but still a long road ahead.