My Circuit

The Mantis 9.1 design is a radical departure from version 8 and earlier. Most notably, the part count has been almost halved! The current design has 13 parts, all of which can be made with a handsaw and a drill press. Also, I’ve traded away my alignment free exactly-constrained design for extra stiffness. Several unsuccessful attempts to eradicate the last of the slop in the Z axis on version 8 lead me back to the world of over-constrained parallel rods. My previous attempts at an over-constrained design (versions 1-5) all failed because I was unable to make the rods sufficiently parallel to avoid jamming. What to do? [ ]

All parts were developed separately. This allowed adjustments in the assembly as well as smaller changes in case the design of one or other part become required. Focus on low cost and use of materials easily accessible in the local market. [ ]