Max The Megapod FAQ - Revision history

Vorpalwiki: /* Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field? */

2020-03-25T17:55:02Z

‎Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field?

Vorpalwiki: /* When will the files be posted? */

2020-03-25T17:54:24Z

‎When will the files be posted?

Vorpalwiki: /* Will the Megapod be Open Source? */

2019-10-30T15:06:43Z

‎Will the Megapod be Open Source?

Vorpalwiki: /* When will the files be posted? */

2018-10-15T21:54:33Z

‎When will the files be posted?

Vorpalwiki: /* What type of battery does it use? */

2018-09-28T15:52:54Z

‎What type of battery does it use?

Vorpalwiki: /* Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field? */

2018-09-28T15:51:22Z

‎Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field?

Vorpalwiki: /* Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field? */

2018-09-28T15:49:30Z

‎Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field?

Vorpalwiki: /* What about gaming and other accessories? */

2018-09-28T15:47:10Z

‎What about gaming and other accessories?

Vorpalwiki: /* How much filament do I need to print Max The Megapod? */

2018-09-28T15:41:14Z

‎How much filament do I need to print Max The Megapod?

Vorpalwiki: /* What type of servos does the Megapod use? */

2018-09-28T15:36:51Z

‎What type of servos does the Megapod use?

@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 Right now, the only accessory we've published is Megapod sized eye attachments. We will be prioritizing and releasing all the accessories over the next few weeks though, so stay tuned. I'm shooting to have all the accessories available by about mid November.
-==Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field?==
+==Will Max The Megapod fit on your Vorpal Field?==
 Alas, no, Max is way too big for the Vorpal field. He steps right over the 4 inch high walls and can't even take one step. Remember, he's 22 inches in diameter when standing, and the field is only 24 inches wide!

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==When will the files be posted?==
-Files are posted right now on [http://www.Thingiverse.com Thingiverse]. Just search there for "Max The Megapod" and they'll pop right up.
+Files are posted on our public dropbox folder: [http://tinyurl.com/VORPALFILES VORPAL FILES]. Go to the STL folder then the MEGAPOD subfolder. There is also a GAMEPAD folder at the top level (the same gamepad is used on all our hexapod projects).
 [[File:Vorpal-Riding-Max-tilted.jpg|300px|right]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:06, 30 October 2019
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−	==~~Will the~~ Megapod be Open Source?==	+	==Is Max The Megapod an Open Source Project?==
	All of our projects are open source, and so Max the Megapod will be as well! For details see: [[Max The Megapod Creative Commons License Information]].		All of our projects are open source, and so Max the Megapod will be as well! For details see: [[Max The Megapod Creative Commons License Information]].

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 Files are posted right now on [http://www.Thingiverse.com Thingiverse]. Just search there for "Max The Megapod" and they'll pop right up.
-NOTE: What is posted right now is considered preliminary. Files for version 1.0 will be official when we start shipping the week of October 1.
+[[File:Vorpal-Riding-Max-tilted.jpg|300px|right]]
 ==How Big is Max the Megapod?==
 Max stands 13" tall when in a normal standing position. The diameter from the tip of one leg to the tip of the opposite leg is 22 inches when in normal standing position. It is exactly twice the size in every direction as Vorpal The Hexapod (eight times the volume). Vorpal The Hexapod looks very tiny standing side by side with Max The Megapod.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 ==What type of battery does it use?==
-Max uses a five-cell NIMH battery pack with a nominal voltage of 6.0 volts to drive its motors, and it uses a standard 9v battery to drive the electronics (Arduino, Bluetooth module, etc).
+Max uses a five-cell NIMH battery pack with a nominal voltage of 6.0 volts to drive its motors, and it uses a standard 9v battery through a 5V regulator to drive the electronics (Arduino, Bluetooth module, Servo driver, etc).
 Our standard configuration uses a standard size Tamiya male connector on the NIMH battery pack (there is a matching female Tamiya on the robot). We recommend 4000 mAh or more, and we recommend a minimum wire gauge on the battery of 18 gauge.

@@ Line 111: / Line 111: @@
 At Maker Faires and other demos we are using a portable dance floor. These are reasonably inexpensive (you can find many models on Amazon and other online stores) and come in 1 foot by 1 foot tiles that can be expanded to any size desired.
-In most demos we're using 4 feet by 3 feet of flooring up on a doubled up pair of six-foot folding tables.  If we have room and are on a level surface like an indoor floor, we go with 4 feet by 4 feet. Of course, if the floor is already a suitable surface such as tile we can run Max right on the existing floor and we've done that too. Short cropped industrial carpet is ok but sometimes the legs get hung up on a thread.  We're working on "shoes" to put on MAX that are designed for industrial carpet (found in schools, offices, etc.)
+In most demos we're using 4 feet by 3 feet of flooring up on a doubled up pair of six-foot folding tables.  If we have room and are on a level surface like an indoor floor, we go with 4 feet by 4 feet to give the big guy a little more room. Of course, if the venue floor is already a suitable surface such as tile we can run Max right on the existing floor and we've done that too. Short cropped industrial carpet is ok but sometimes the legs get hung up on a thread so it's not ideal.  We're working on "shoes" to put on MAX that are designed for industrial carpet (found in schools, offices, etc.)
-Note: if you run Max on a wood floor you'll probably scratch it up, so don't do that. Max weighs six times what Vorpal weighs and plastic can scratch wood quite easily with that much weight behind it.
+Note: if you run Max on a wood floor you'll probably scratch it up, so don't do that. Max weighs six or seven times what Vorpal weighs and plastic can scratch wood quite easily with that much weight behind it.
 {{Megapod Quick Links}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:47, 28 September 2018
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	Right now, the only accessory we've published is Megapod sized eye attachments. We will be prioritizing and releasing all the accessories over the next few weeks though, so stay tuned. I'm shooting to have all the accessories available by about mid November.		Right now, the only accessory we've published is Megapod sized eye attachments. We will be prioritizing and releasing all the accessories over the next few weeks though, so stay tuned. I'm shooting to have all the accessories available by about mid November.
		+
		+	==Will Max The Megapod fit on your Thingiverse-published 4x2 foot Vorpal Field?==
		+
		+	Alas, no, Max is way too big for the Vorpal field. He steps right over the 4 inch high walls and can't even take one step. Remember, he's 22 inches in diameter when standing, and the field is only 24 inches wide!
		+
		+	At Maker Faires and other demos we are using a portable dance floor. These are reasonably inexpensive and come in 1 foot by 1 foot tiles that can be expanded to any size desired.
		+
		+	In most demos we're using 4 feet by 3 feet of flooring up on a doubled up pair of six-foot folding tables. If we have room and are on a level surface like an indoor floor, we go with 4 feet by 4 feet. Of course, if the floor is already a suitable surface such as tile we can run Max right on the existing floor and we've done that too. Short cropped industrial carpet is ok but sometimes the legs get hung up on a thread. We're working on "shoes" to put on MAX that are designed for industrial carpet (found in schools, offices, etc.)

	{{Megapod Quick Links}}		{{Megapod Quick Links}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:41, 28 September 2018
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	We recommend you take some time to really dial your printer in before starting the bigger parts.. Make sure your bed surface is good, your nozzle is good (or new, we replace our nozzles every 100 hours of printing and it makes a huge difference in print quality and reliability), the printer is lubricated, etc. It's heartbreaking to kill half a spool of plastic on a large part that fails 80% the way through because of some preventable maintenance issue!		We recommend you take some time to really dial your printer in before starting the bigger parts.. Make sure your bed surface is good, your nozzle is good (or new, we replace our nozzles every 100 hours of printing and it makes a huge difference in print quality and reliability), the printer is lubricated, etc. It's heartbreaking to kill half a spool of plastic on a large part that fails 80% the way through because of some preventable maintenance issue!
		+
		+	==What about gaming and other accessories?==
		+
		+	Trust me, I want to joust two Megapods against each other as much as anyone! But we had to concentrate on the main robot at first.
		+
		+	Right now, the only accessory we've published is Megapod sized eye attachments. We will be prioritizing and releasing all the accessories over the next few weeks though, so stay tuned. I'm shooting to have all the accessories available by about mid November.

	{{Megapod Quick Links}}		{{Megapod Quick Links}}

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 We're using genuine Tower Pro MG958 servos. We tested many different servos but found the MG958 has the right balance of torque, speed, and is economically priced. As with the small hexapod project, beware of low priced counterfeit servos on sites like banggood and aliexpress.
-I know a lot of you will be tempted to substitute the lower priced MG995. It is the same size as the MG958 so it will fit the project. But beware! First of all, 99% of the ones you find on the low priced sites (ebay, banggood, aliexpress, and even most vendors on amazon) are fakes that will fail quickly. Genuine Tower Pro MG995 servos have significantly less torque than Genuine Tower Pro MG958 servos and the robot might function but it will struggle and you really won't be happy with it.  You're spending a lot of time printing these large parts and building this project--skimping on the servos for a walking robot is really not a good idea!
+I know a lot of you will be tempted to substitute the lower priced MG995. It is the same size as the MG958 so it will fit the project. But beware! First of all, 99% of the ones you find on the low priced sites (ebay, banggood, aliexpress, and even most vendors on amazon) are fakes that will fail quickly. But even if you get real ones, Genuine Tower Pro MG995 servos have significantly less torque than Genuine Tower Pro MG958 servos and the robot might somewhat function but it will struggle and you really won't be happy with it.  You're spending a lot of time printing these large parts and building this project, do it right! Trust me as someone who's personally built at least a hundred walking robots: skimping on the servos for a walking robot is a ''really'' bad idea!
 With the MG958 this robot really shines. It leaps up off the ground on power up. It moves quickly and impressively and keeps working hour after hour, day after day. We spent an enormous amount of time researching and testing different servos, and the MG958 was the clear winner for this project.