{"id":158,"date":"2008-10-24T18:57:34","date_gmt":"2008-10-25T01:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dougandruth.com\/blog\/?p=158"},"modified":"2009-02-28T13:13:41","modified_gmt":"2009-02-28T20:13:41","slug":"talking-birds-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/blog\/talking-birds-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking Birds, Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

As previously discussed, the first generation talking bird was mechanically larger than the feathers covering it (fur, actually). While I did not have time to improve on the first bird, the second bird will be mechanically more compact.<\/p>\n

The trick is in how to mount the ball-and-socket rod ends. While the the ball-and-socket allows for the rod to swivel 360\u00b0 around the pivot point, it allows only a couple of degrees of movement up and down. That is if you screw it down on a flat surface.<\/p>\n

I figured out that by cannibalizing a rod end, I could screw the ball down atop another ball. This gives a lot greater freedom of movement. By doing this I’m able to place the rod at a steeper angle; thus, the servo can be placed closer. See the rod end mounted to another ball:<\/p>\n \n\t\t