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The-Nevik - Construction
November 1997

click photos for hi-res photos (400x600)

 2 Overall view.

The chassis is some nice yellow cardboard from a toy box, cut with scissors and glued with hot-melt-glue.
The wrap round skirt is just to give strength the the chassis.
The motor shaft can be seen resting on the top of the wheel.

 9 Mother-board with two 12-way bus-connectors.

The connectors are wired in parallel, one for the Stamp Brain and the other for any add-on.

12 Charging connector, and wedges.

The blue wedges behind the motors are so The-Nevik can be stood on end whilst charging.

13 Axle mounting.
The outer support is glued inside the skirt, and has a hole into which the end bearing on the motor fits.
The motor is then glued on the inside with the motor shaft protruding through the hole.
The inner axle support is glued onto the motor.
The wheels must be large enough so the tyre can press on the motor shaft with the wheel axle clear of the motor body.
The inner axle support has a round hole for the axle, while the outer one has a slot so the axle can move up and down enough so that the tyre can press on the motor shaft.
(The little bit of wood by the outer axle hole is to make the slot narrower because I made it too wide.)

14 Bump-sensor switches.
The Bump-sensor microswitches are hot-melt glued in place on pieces of card hot-melt glued to the body. The two Feeler microswitches are attached using sticky foam pads after soldering on the wires. It was quite difficult soldering on the wires to the Bump-sensor switches after they were in place and hence the use of foam pads for the Feelers.

15 Bump-sensor plates (Fenders).
The supports for the plates are brass wire, bent in a zig-zag down the microswitch lever and then out to form the support for the plates. They are held onto the microswitch levers by heat shrink tube. The plates are made from cardboard and glued to the wire. The decoration is gift-shop sticky tape.

16 Completed Bump-sensors.


17 The Toe.
The Toe is a plastic cover for a screw, hot-melt glued to the end of a piece of dowel which in turn is glued to the battery compartment.

18 Battery compartment.
The battery compartment for a 9v battery is a cardboard 'U' with ends to stop the battery falling out.

19 Shorter end plate to battery compartment.
One end plate must be much smaller then the other so the battery can be slid in and out.

20 Charger circuit.
The charger socket, resistor and diode were soldered to a scrap of stripboard and hot-melt glued in place on one of the wedges.

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23 The Feelers.
The Feelers are tie down wire from the packaging for a toy, with beads hot-melt glued on the ends. Each wire was made into a 'V' for the two feelers on each side and held onto the microswitch lever by heat shrink tube.

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25 Those protection diodes!!!