Most of my work up to this point has been research, collecting tools, and getting some code working for the microprocessor. I also took the original 27MHz circuit board and diagrammed a schematic out. A few days ago I started implementing the mechanical changes and upgrades to the truck. I ordered some books on robotics to help out with some of the details as well as to provide an easy reference if I need it. I've been able to do more work on it lately since I was off work to recover from having gallbladder surgery.

So far I have taken the truck apart down to small pieces and started the replacement of the front steering. It was using a motor with gears and a small circuit board inside that provided feedback to the controlling circuit so the motor would stop when the wheels were turned. I took that apart and removed all the gears and motor and used a Dremel tool, a drill, and some files to be able to fit the servo inside the old motor casing. My challenge was to place the servo inside the truck in such a way that it would require no modification to the servo itself if I ever needed to replace it. After carving it up, I used electrical tape to secure the servo from shifting around inside. Then I took one of the metal gear posts from the original parts I removed from inside the casing and secured the post in a location so the new unit would still fit into the truck in the same way the original motor component did. So that fits into the car well and lines up just right.

Now I am working on designing and creating a bracket so that I can attach the old linkage that controls the wheels to the servo without modifying the servo at all. I have a general design in my head at the moment, but I am testing some of that liquid welding stuff between the 2 different metals I am going to use. I applied it this morning and it's currently drying. If all goes well, then making the bracket will be simplified. Otherwise, I'll just come up with an alternate design. So the plan is to get the steering functional this weekend. I'll also be working on a design for the speed controller and I may order some parts to be able to create that. I've found a couple of good designs already, so I'll most likely be using those as a base. I also found a good design for an H-bridge online, but I'll need to look that up again since I forgot where it was (although I think I remember). Hopefully I'll be able to at least get the truck running as an RC truck with digital proportional steering in the next few weeks. Adding sensors (such as an IR sensor) shouldn't really be all that difficult and there's supposedly a good design in one of the books I bought as well as some designs that I found online.