I bought my first mechanical keyboard (a QFR) last December. Over the last 3 months, I swapped some key caps, installed some O-rings, and installed some programmable controllers. Naturally, the next thing I wanted to do was build some keyboards myself. The problem is I had zero soldering experience. Well, my girlfriend bought me a birthday present that has since rectified that void. Behold, gentlemen.
Yes, a DIY Robot kit. Come with me as I recount the assembly of what I have affectionately named Killbot 3000. First, the parts:
After watching several youtube videos and reading the amazing
comic, I took my first step.
After the first solder, the rest was pretty straight-forward. At one point, I did solder a metal pin upside down. A perfect opportunity to practice desoldering! Well, I ended up lifting a pad and had to perform a truly horrific patch job. I used a screwdriver to chip away at the solder mask, soldered a tiny piece of wire to the exposed copper, and soldering the other end of the wire to the metal pin (it wasn't a resistor lead - it was a big, inflexible pin I had to connect to the motors).
But that was about the only obstacle I ran into. The rest came pretty easily, although I highly suspect I would have burnt some PCB with a hotter iron. I suppose mkawa knew what he was doing when he assembled the beginner's kit. Anyway, here is the completed top of the PCB:
Once that was done, I assembled the non-electronic parts of Killbot 3000. This was the easy part.
And finally, with fingers crossed, I flicked the on switch...and it worked! It began moving around, flawlessly avoiding obstacles with its infrared LEDs and presumably searching for a suitable target to annihilate. For the first run I decided not to have any hostile targets in the area, but the eventual plan is to introduce it to my girlfriend's kittens. Hopefully, it will instill a sense of terror in them of such magnitude that they will learn a tiny shred of humility.
Special thanks to my girlfriend for supporting my hobby even though she doesn't really get the keyboard obsession, and also to mkawa for all the advice he's given me over the forums and through PMs.
