It's been a hectic and kind of rough couple weeks with work travel, workload, school, and family/personal stuff going on... But I've managed to squeeze in a few things.
First, someone was kind enough to make two broken inkjet printers available on Denver Freecycle. Turns out there are three motors in each, of varying sizes. Lots of gears, too. And a rotary encoder. And some rubber rollers that maybe can be turned into wheels. I am hoping that I can use this stuff in robots including Squeaky the Record Cleaning Robot.
On that topic, Squeaky hasn't progressed much. I've experimented with using the vacuum to lift off cleaning fluid and gunk from the record but the suction is high enough that it wants to grab onto the record so I am pondering some options on how to retain the suction without lifting the record off the platter.
I also took apart a 3-in-one stereo system and salvaged a transformer and several small motors (two for the tape deck and two for the 3-disc CD changer). Maybe something to use for a tiny robot or two. The vacuum fluorescent display appears damaged but there's another in a DVD player that I'd like to play with as the status display for Squeaky.
