Lots of new things!

So I've finally started at Anoka Tech and am now able to use class time to work on rover things. My second day in, I managed to get some of the suspension parts on the 3D printer. Unfortunately, there was a conversion issue and the parts came out 3 times bigger than they were supposed to. We had to stop the machine in the middle of it's 31 hour run and got this:

Kind of a cool cut-away model I guess. My instructor was really excited to see it anyway. He says it'll make for a good show and tell for the 3D printer and for my presentation at the end of spring semester. 

 After this little over sized issue, we went back and found the problem and got the parts back on a few days later.

Being printed

Finished parts next to large parts

All the parts (minus 2 motor mounts) put together next to the rover

The parts compared to my drawing

 It was really cool to see these parts go from a (technically) 2D drawing to a fully functional 3D object. I had an idea of how small these parts were going to be, but once I got them in my hand, I realized just how small they actually were. I did find out though that the resolution on the prints wasn't very good so today I set the resolution higher and beefed up the thin spots. I'm ready for the next print and should hopefully be able to attach these to the rover by the end of next week. 

 I'm also working with an instructor on making Inspiration GPS guided. I ordered the parts and should have them next week also. Which reminds me, I've decided to upgrade from the Arduino Uno to the Arduino Mega. After conferring with instructors and other students, it was deemed to be a good idea since I still need to add the GPS, temperature sensor, battery monitor, and metal detector which all need inputs and outputs from the board.  

 And in more social news, during the snowball effect of this project, it was decided to start a website and somewhat of a company. The company name is now Stray Robotics (a deviation from Stray Rockets and Robots). You can find the (at this moment, unfinished) website at www.strayrobotics.com 

 Also, the Stray Robotics YouTube channel and the Google+ page. That's about it for now. Hopefully things will start really picking up once I get the suspension parts made. Stay tuned!