Subject:
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Re: Problem with auto-steering mechanism.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 25 Oct 2002 18:51:47 GMT
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Original-From:
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John A. deVries II <zozzles@&NoMoreSpam&lanl.gov>
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Viewed:
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691 times
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At 12:27 PM 10/25/2002, you wrote:
> In lugnet.robotics, Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net> writes:
> > > I hope it's not some 'iffy' deal with subtly adjusting the friction
> > in the drive versus the friction of the turntable - but I suspect it
> > might be.
> I find it hard to believe some 'iffy' condition would be required for a
> mass-producted childs toy. (so you hope)
The "Cy-Purr Mouse" cat toy seems to be sold just about everywhere
(including my local supermarket) for $9 US or so. See, for example*:
http://www.petdiscounters.com/cat/toys/mechanical/ep_2842_cypurr_mouse.html
It employs the principle you are describing about as precisely as I can
imagine. The only problem I've had with it -- partly because it is so low
to the floor and because the turning mechanism is so small -- is that it
tends to pick up a lot of fur and fluff and so forth and eventually jams
altogether. Given the size of the wheels you are using this should not be
a problem.
Taking it apart is fairly easy although the wires for the LED "eyes" and
the "speaker" are attached to the shell whereas the circuit board, motor,
and mechanical bits are on the bottom plate. The device isn't terribly
difficult to put back together (presuming you'd want to) but in fact the
drive/spin bit can be slightly tricky to do properly. Otherwise, however,
it works well and might help you with your design.
If you happen to buy one of these, be prepared to cut the wire to the
"speaker" because the sounds it produces are almost unimaginably
irritating. It makes my cat happy in the middle of the night, though
(grin). If you don't want to do anything quite that drastic, a couple of
pieces of tape over the holes where the sound emerges (on the hump of the
back in the photograph, almost at the very top) will help a lot.
Hope this is of some value,
John deVries
Los Alamos, New Mexico
* I used the key "cy purr mouse cat toy" with Google and it returned 457
results.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Problem with auto-steering mechanism.
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| I've been trying to build a mechanism I remember seeing on a kids toy. What I'm thinking of is a vehicle with two un-driven wheels at the back and two wheels at the front that are mounted on a turntable such that they normally pull the vehicle (...) (22 years ago, 25-Oct-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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