Improvements / Ideas brainstorming

1

Hi all,

as I am going through my assembly process, I´d like to use this thread as an improvement
collection for you for future releases. Maybe most of the topics are already known, maybe not.

PCBs screws:
Please use plastic screws to connect the PCBs to the studs. The distance to electrical connected
parts is sometimes very exciting :slight_smile:

V-Wheel plate hole tolerance issues:
Please reconsider a better tolerance for the fixed to the eccentric spacer holes, see thread: "Gantry Plate" and "Cross-Slide Plate" hole location error

V-Wheels tolerances of plastic notch inside the wheel:
The tolerance of the notch inside the wheel should be less thick than the shim. Otherwise
the bearing is sitting on that notch and the inner bearings do not make contact. See post
below…

Motor housings:
It does not seem that the motors like humidity at all (from looking at them).
Looking at the very tight lower ends of the X-Axis motor housings, I don´t hope that a motor
will die because of too much rain being pressed into the housings during a heavy rainy day!
I guess you need to improve the water tightness of the motor housings!

UTM electrical contacts:
Looking at them from an electrical standpoint of view it is horror. As my bot is not into operation
yet I cannot tell how reliable they are, but that seems to be a weak point to me. Have you had
a look at other technologies as well?

Quality:
At the moment I only have a quality issue with the cheap china tubing which is smelling like
plasticizer 1 km against the wind. I do not feel very comfortable to water my vegetables with this…
The tools do not fit into the screw heads without force and I rip my hand against them, but this seems
to be a personal thing…(inbus and the other two tools).

The aluminium parts are great, keep them as they are!

2

Actually, I disagree, I think the metal fixings were fine :slight_smile:

Something that could be improved is the cable support; the trunking is great, but in between the trunking, and especially around the electrical box, the cables need support too.

3

For the Raspi that would be indeed acceptable because there are special screw head “rests”.
But for the Arduino it´s quite hot in my opinion. Look at the distance of the lower left hole and
the whatever connection of the loudspeaker connection:
https://www.google.ch/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwig3PGrgtjTAhVQYVAKHWDFAR0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arduino.org%2Fproducts%2Fboards%2Farduino-uno&psig=AFQjCNG_Jmt-iqbWXCnDUsD9Q4XYtnB5vA&ust=1494048449529576

4

Yes, that ones a bit tight I agree. A fibre/nylon washer be good there rather than relying on the solder resist insulation. I wouldn’t use plastic fasteners though, they’re really not very strong and too easy to cross thread.

Actually, the screws I would change are the M3’s fastening the Perspex carrier into the box, there I’d use a self-tapper. But nothing wrong with what they’ve done IMO.

5

V-Wheels plastic:
It seems that the tolerance or quality of the inner “ring” of the plastic wheel is varying too much
from wheel to wheel. Ideally I guess one would like to have the shim a little big bigger than the inner
plastic ring for the outer bearing, right? Therefore if I assembly the bearings and turn the left inner
ring, the right inner ring should turn as well, right? Such that the force is translated through the shim…

I will find out if that fits into place once I install it with the screws, but I don´t think so…

6

import the coordintes from the plants, just as with the toolbays to make the program easier when watering only one type of plants