| Today, I'm going to cut the tracks. First, however, I need to trim these bolts for their date with the drill press tomorrow. That'll take just two quick cuts. |
 |
| These can no longer be called bolts. I've cut off all the threads, leaving only a little over three inches of the un-threaded length. That's exactly what I wanted here. For this attach point, I was going to design a steel pin with a head on it that would allow me to apply torque to align it, but then I realized that I'd just described an unthreaded bolt. This was much easier than making my own. |
 |
| I rigged up this little device with the intention of using it as a jig when cutting the track. It didn't really end up working, but the plan was to clamp along the oak board (which should provide stiffness) and run the saw's foot along the metal strap. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep it clamped into place, but it still gave me a pretty good surface to run the foot on. |
 |
| Looks like the circular saw is working pretty well. It's got a lot more power than the jigsaw I was using before, and I've turned the blade around to prevent binding. You can see here I've gotten pretty good progress along the first cut, which trims about three quarters of an inch off the edge of the track. |
 |
| I've finished the first cut, and it only took me about an hour. You can see I'm doing all this outside. Last time I worked with the track, it put up so many fumes that it became almost impossible to work safely in the garage. This time I'm doing it all on my driveway, which provides much better ventilation than my garage. |
 |
| Here I am well into the second cut. I've switched from the plastic runner to a metal one -- I have to be a lot more careful not to clip it with the blade, but it gives me a little better depth of cut. |
 |
| The second cut is done. This is going pretty smoothly. Of course, these were edge trims, so the excess lifted away from the blade fairly easily. The next two cuts are down the middle, so I expect a lot more blade friction as the rubber slides along the sides of the saw blade. |
 |
| Here I've gotten started on the third cut, and I was right -- it is binding up a lot more. It's also a lot harder to adjust when the cut gets a little bit off. That being said, it is still going really well. The saw is getting really hot, and I'm not sure but I think the blade might be bent a little, but it's still cutting at a pretty good pace. Unfortunately, one of my neighbors just came by to complain about the noise. I guess I'll have to pack it in early today. |
 |
| I would have really liked to finish these four cuts today, but that just isn't going to happen. I'll have to get up a little early and finish this up before school tomorrow. Anyway, here's the width of the tracks I'll be cutting. I still have to trim the paddles, so the tread won't quite look like this, but that's how wide they're going to be when they get put on the robot. |
 |