That looks solid - well done!

In a post by @Chris Annin on his blog on June 7 he stated: "The Annin Robotics hardware kit comes with the newer belt and pulleys..." You can see the post here: "https://www.anninrobotics.com/post/new-belt-upgrade-for-joint-3

@Kstan Simit Thank you for your enthusiasm for an ar4 and your efforts to involve the community in developing requirements of what an ar4 would focus on improving! Personally, I agree with each of your proposed enhancements. It's a great list! I would like to add: 1. Haptic feedback: in general, I'm talking about a process when robot arm collides with a person / object, it can 'feel' it and stop. 2. Limit switches always active. 3. Look at placing J2 and/or J3 motor in a manner that acts as a counter-weight. Like what https://www.hdrobotic.com have done. 4. Graceful fail: a pre-emergency-stop solution that stops the robot cold and holds it in-situ to avoid it flopping down and breaking itself. The ar3 is amazing as it is - completely an incredible job @Chris Annin has done here! But things can always be made better, and now that he has built a fantastic community we can source their experiences and expertise and design THE BEST "democratic robot".

Hi Dexter, I tried your software and it works so well! Thank you for sharing your efforts. Cheers, Michael.

Just added washers - all smooth now.

The 'T' is relevant to the StepperOnline brand. This is the brand that @Chris Annin uses in the manual. Any quality DM542 microcontroller should suffice.

Hi Daniel, The gripper referred to in the manual has 2 x pneumatic lines coming into it. No cables. You can see a proper installation of it on the front cover of the manual. I can see that the picture of the gripper in the Bill of Materials depicts a used assembly for 2nd-hand resale, not a new one. So, the cable you see coming out if in that picture could have been retrofitted for anything... but it is certainly not needed for the gripper to work as it is pneumatic. Note, you will also need a solenoid, and this apparatus did not come with my gripper. The required solenoid is not listed in the Bill of Materials; so refer to Chapter 5 and you will see a picture of it.

Here is a close-up of the “J1 turret platform” on the ”J1 turret housing”. I noticed it is grinding , and the aluminium “dust” is building up and likely what is making the grinding progressively worse. The current assumption of the next step is to disassemble and add a shim. Has anyone experienced this, what was your solution? Have I done something wrong somewhere?

I’m also experiencing issues with J1 turret locking up. When initially completing the turret it worked fine, but now during operation it sounds like something is grinding and it is getting worse to the point it can seize. @gkosin302 where did you add the shim? Could you please add a photo of what you did?

Thanks for the advice Redlunn - I'lll stick with Teensy3.5 and watch your thread for future updates. Best wishes for your efforts!

I would say this is awesome and a great capability. Personally I would love to use your program. I'm still undertaking my build, so would you recommend me/us upgrading to Teensy4.1? Does Teensy4.1 still support the existing AR3 software in the mean time?