How To Build A Robot Arm From Scratch – This article shows you how to build your own robotic arm, mostly made of 2mm aluminum. Although ready-made robotic arms can be purchased, they are expensive and small; I wanted to see if it was possible to make a quality 6 DOF (Degree of Freedom) hand from aluminum ingots and sheets using simple workshop tools (CNC, 3D printer and no laser cutters).
The mechanical design of the arm is based on the design of 2 universal brackets and a series of smaller brackets. To keep the design as simple as possible, the rotating parts are made from standard hobby servos and small flange bearings.
How To Build A Robot Arm From Scratch
Each part is covered in its own section below to help show the construction of the arm in as much detail as possible. If something is unclear, you can ask for more details in the comments.
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All parts are designed in libreCAD (an open source 2D CAD package), so you can install CAD and reuse the downloadable plans below. If youare interested in the CAD files and do not have libreCAD installed, I have also included a PDF version of the 1:1 scale plans. As an example of diagrams, here is a photo of a servo bracket design (not to scale):
The servo mounting bracket is made of 2mm aluminum sheet (I got a 500mm x 500mm sheet from elfa.se in Sweden, but you can get similar dimensions from your local hardware store). Since you need 5 of these brackets, it’s a good idea to build a template and string to make them easier and more consistent.
All parts of the robot arm are made using very similar techniques, so for this first bracket I will show as much detail as possible for the construction.
To make the template I used a 60mm x 1000mm x 4mm aluminum strip, cut with a miter saw to have a square edge. The bracket template is then printed out and cut to size with a sharp hobby knife and metal ruler.
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To line up the template on the material, I first put a small amount of paper glue on the back of the template (a regular craft paper glue like Pritstick is ideal). This allows you to line up the edge of the template with the aluminum without moving too much. After the mold is set up, wrap the masking tape over the template and hold it in place until it is completely covered:
Once prepared, punch the template at each of the marked punch points. This makes it much easier to accurately drill the template, as the tip of the drill without the point mark will slide over the surface of the aluminum.
The idea behind the template is that it allows both punching and point punching (for fold lines), so you need to make sure the drill size is wide enough not to punch through your point hole. too wide and makes the template inaccurate. I used a 2.5 mm drill.
Once the template is drilled, a simple thread will be made from scrap wood to hold the template in place. To make the jig, simply stack 4 pieces of wood around the template and secure in place with a pair of wood screws. You’ll want to leave some space around the jig to allow you to place the drill when using the template:
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Now that you have the jig and template, you just need to cut a piece of 2mm thick aluminum (for this I used a combination of a saw, jigsaw and file). Place the aluminum over the mold and start hitting the markers and fold lines indicated on the mold. Then use a bench drill to drill pilot holes for the rest of the bracket.
Now remove the aluminum from the wire and drill the correct size guide holes as shown in the CAD drawing. When drilling thin aluminum you will find that the bottom of the drill holes can rotate quite a bit. You can either use a drill bit or use a drill bit that is much larger than the original hole (for example, an 8-10mm drill bit for 3mm holes) to remove the unnecessary drill bit.
To make folding easier, I marked the fold lines along the dotted lines with a square ruler:
Before bending the aluminum, you must first see the two lines at the top of the bracket. They looked down at the dotted lines. To fold the bracket, insert it into the seat (a woodworking hole works well because it doesn’t mark the surface of the bracket as much as a metal circle):
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Line up the fold line and then place the wood over the brace. Press the wood and fold it back. This will help keep the pressure on the bracket even and allow it to bend without twisting the shape. In the same way, you can use the edges of the wood to bend back small pieces.
After bending the bracket, use the template and ruler to mark the cut line on the front of the bracket, then cut away the excess material:
If the bracket is all cut and ready, it is a good idea to go over the bracket with a file and smooth any sharp or rough edges. If you want to remove stains or scratches on the surface of the bracket, you can rub the surface of the bracket with wire wool. This gives a nice “brush” to the bracket. The last parenthesis should look like this:
The C-bracket is made almost identically to the servo mounting bracket. Here I used 25mm x 1000mm x 2mm aluminum strips for the template and bracket. As with the servo mounting bracket, you first cut the aluminum to size, then glue and glue the CAD template on top. Dot punch the material, then punch the template with 2.5 mm holes (or the best size for dotting). The finished template and jig should look like this:
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After the bracket is drilled in the jig, remove the part and re-drill the correct size holes as shown in the CAD drawings. Be careful when bending the bracket, bend each evenly. For the robot arm, you need to make at least three of these brackets:
The robot arm has 3 different L-shaped brackets for the middle arm, wrist and end effector assembly. These brackets are all different sizes, so you don’t need to make a wire and template. Just cut the aluminum to size (they all use a 25mm x 1000mm x 2mm strip) and tape the CAD drawings over the cut strips. Punch the template with a point, then turn the pieces straight.
Because the robot arm is relatively heavy, the bottom servo needs a lot of support to rotate the arm smoothly. To achieve this, the arm is mounted on a rotating platform, which is supported by four wheels, which relieve the servo of weight, which is placed laterally, which, if not supported, the servo easily rotates and can damage.
The base of the turntable is made like brackets. The printed CAD template is placed on top of the aluminum sheet and held in place with adhesive tape. The cutting and drilling pattern is then punched into the material with a point. After removing the paper, use a steel ruler to mark the cut lines:
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The resulting shape is then cut out of aluminum with a jigsaw and then shaped. Note the rectangular pattern in the center of the piece. This is a drill pattern to cut aluminum so the servo can be mounted. This part is drilled and then cut with a Dremel before being shaped so that it fits easily into the servo slot.
The turntable has four small furniture stones placed around the outside of the unit to support the upper rotating part. Wheels are 30x17mm with 15x14mm rollers. These are very common items and can be purchased at most major hardware stores. The wheels are attached to the base using M4 screws and nuts.
The turntable base is then attached to four pieces of aluminum cut from a 40mm x 1000mm x 2.5mm strip. Again, the dimensions and drill pattern are entered into the CAD drawings.
There are 4 aluminum tubes (1 mm thick 8 mm tube) cut to 30 mm length to attach the turntable to the robot leg. These are cut to length and then held in place with a pair of M3 threaded rods bolted together
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