Thanks, and upcoming experiments

Just wanted to say thanks, having a few folk chip in over here has been a nice bit of encouragement, so I wanted to share the things I'm working on over the next couple months.... unless a cooler idea appears.

SR2

Currently working on a OSR2 case replacement with a focus on sound reduction. I used a very precise tool (silicone tube held up to my ear) to listen around a servo and noticed that the vast majority of the noise comes from the obvious place, the gearbox near the output shaft. The same areas that are kinda exposed on the OSR2 case.

I've got a few ideas for how to improve that. The easiest is to just put a wall there that the servo output gear pokes through. Easy. Except that'll get hot, so it'll need a fan. Probably using a 5015 or 40x10mm fan, because I doubt the servos need more than my 3d printer.

Current plan is a two level case that folds open on a screw hinge and locks with a M4 screw superglued into a plastic finger knob. Pocket nuts on all holes that make sense. Top level is the servo zone, wire routing, and air channels. Bottom level is where the board, bus, and wiring are handled. Mounts in the same ways as the stock one does. I really like being able to change out board trays in my SR6, so I would like to do something similar with this case. Step files will be published.

Gear noise also goes up a lot when there's off axis force on the servos, and I'm playing with an idea that adds a bearing surface that follows a printed channel on the rear of an arm, basically giving the servo two points of rotational contact instead of one.

Real life is a bit hectic right now, but making sex robot parts is a fun escape from that, so hopefully I have some fun things to show off within the week on this front.

Sleeve Stuff

Other long term project is a silicone diy printed/molded sleeve with air bladders. This one ended up being tougher than I expected, because the more I try, the more I realize that the whole fleshlight platform sucks.

Don't get me wrong, it RULES for getting people into this hobby. I bought in because I had one in a bag from 2012. But making a sleeve that fits into the relatively sloppy fleshlight case sucks. Takes a ton of silicone. But making a different sleeve means a new case. A new case means that I should really try to add a gear ring to the case higher up and do twist/valve/lube all in one componen....

Oops, project creep.

Still, I've done some test molds and found that the optimal wall thickness for ecoflex 30 is about 4mm, 3mm if untextured, and between 6mm and 8mm for exterior walls. Too thin and the walls bubble, too thick and it's just a rough blob of silicone in the toy if it compresses weird because a dick poked it.

Instead of 4 air chambers, I'm going to go with 3, because I'd prefer to avoid having an X shape. Geometry that is situated in a Y shape seems to collapse a lot easier than stuff in an X shape when made out of silicone. I'm just going to need to commit to a general shape, make an extremely basic case, and see if it works as hoped.

This one is probably about 5-10 hours of work away from being done, but there's still a few things I'm unsure about to address first.