Some initial work on the neck assembly. Motor and transmission installed, but a box is needed to cover the transmission and keep the lubricant inside (will order tomorrow). A rotation sensor will also be installed below.

After that, I need to attach it to the inner bearings on the axis shown in the previous post, and install a pantograph to keep it upright. That will happen just a little later. Also note that this isn't looking all pretty - it's work in progress, for one, and it's also going to stay inside. I care more about "robust" than "good-looking" in here.

After a bit of a break (they seem to happen all the time, don't they?), managed to do some more work on the neck assembly. Installed a gearbox (literally, a box to cover the gears), attached the sliding contact to it, and, finally greased and fully assembled the neck mechanism.

Next steps (hopefully, today) - install the rotational sensor.

Rotational sensor installed, neck assembly on a test stand.

If time permits, a few more cuts on a miter saw, and full body can be finally assembled, with the neck and all the rest.

Here is the main body frame with the back parts installed...

Front is going to be done much later, when I know the configuration for the arm. As for the neck... well, here it is:

Again, some more work needs to be done on it to "finalize", but this is a much needed step on the way to completion.

For now this contraption weighs just below 11 kg. Which isn't bad and is very much inline with the estimates.

This is a really cool project. I love seeing the progress when you post the updates.

@chrismeyer6 Thanks! It takes a lot of time, which I rarely have, so progress is quite a bit slower than I'd like it to be. But it's there, and I won't be stopping.

I fully understand the lack of time but it'll be a fun project and worth the time involved.

It will indeed. One of the problems is that here in Latvia, there isn't much of a DIY culture. Not in a sense that people don't make things on their own, quite the opposite - people here are handy with anything from a hammer all the way to a TIG welder. But there isn't much in the way of what you would call "brick and mortar" DIY stores. There are large construction stores that either sell the cheapest and most commonly used tools and materials, or expensive and massively overpriced pro grade stuff (with nothing in the middle); there are more specific tool shops; there are at least a couple electronic components stores, and a hobby chain or two. But you will be hard-pressed to find something a bit more exotic, or even stuff fairly common in construction, but on a hobby scale.

For example, you may have noticed that the body is essentially a cage. I am planning to have side panels, and for that I need aluminium-plastic sandwich sheets, such as the ones commonly used to cover buildings. But there are no stores where I can get that in my quantities. There are either very thin short strips, or you could order it in 2mx3m sheets. Obviously, that's too much for me, and I'm not even sure if I could order just one sheet there and have it cut.

Likewise, all the ball bearings and other specific stuff is something I have to order. Even screws below M4 aren't common in stores, and have rather limited selection at M3. M2 and below? Not a chance, or, at least, I've not yet found a store that sold them. And TCT hole saws? No chance, not in the largest construction store chain anyway.

All this usually means long waiting times for parts that I suddenly need (and I am planning a lot ahead). Some operations are also a bit problematic to perform without specialized equipment - some I have, to other I have access at work. But all in all, it's not a 100% coverage.

Finally, I'm not an engineer, I'm a programmer with some electronics background. Which means I have to learn quite a bit, sometimes to the point of trial and error. And there aren't many people I know that work in prototyping that would still be using aluminium and all the appropriate manufacturing processes. We 3D print most parts for our prototyping at work, much faster and cheaper that way. But one of the goals I set here is "no 3D printing of anything that is visible on the outside", not to mention this has to be tough and foolproof enough to withstand someone sitting on it (by accident or otherwise).

While I do have overall layout and blueprints of this, I keep constantly improving a specific part I'm working on, until I am happy with it and the time comes to implement it. This also drives me nuts when I have a solution, but still need to wait for parts, or, quite the opposite, I have to perform some operation, but I'm not 100% sure of the outcome. And I know I won't have time for this in the nearest weeks. So it's "up in the air". Ah well, to get along a road one has to keep walking.

There, just a little bit of venting. Like I said, project won't stop, but it's one of those things that are like CR says: "it will be done when it's done".