Foundry "Robot" - part 2

Following on from "part 1".. the tilting joint (located under the main sleeve joint) is comprised a small pipe/bar joint atop the spigot joint.
The photo below shows the pipe welded to the top of the spigot joint, and the two cheek pieces holding the bar...

Photos of tilt joint in action - from one extreme...

To the other extreme...
The dust cover was also shown is those photos protecting the sleeve joint, and it's bearing shells. There is also a carry handle visible - I put it there since when I first moved the robot, I'd let the spigot joint open, and carry the base as a separate piece form the top... now they are always together with a hook, which is disengaged after movement.

The gripper...
Basically I designed this to be fully adjustable. By changing the "fingers" I can change what it picks up.
The fingers have a full range of movement between two extremes, shown below...

Above was "fully open", now this is "mostly closed"...


I say "mostly" closed since the finger design prevents further movement, but the mechanism permits more movement.

The gripper consists of some major parts - all of which are visible in the photo above.

a - The actuator and bell cranks -square pipe at low left and flat bar bolted to it, up to and including the small plates which tilt between the pincers

b - bolt on "fingers" - held to the bell cranks via 2 of 1/4" bolts - the angle iron "pincer" shapes with the small length of flat bar at the end near the bell cranks

c - nose piece - it's the small piece of round pipe visible protruding from the end of the square pipe... the nose piece actually includes the last inch of square pipe (removable)

These components allow the gripper to work, and be modified to suit the crucibles in use. My pipe crucibles have a "tang" which I use to locate them, and the nose piece mates with that. If I use a ceramic crucible, the nose-piece is swapped for one resembling an up-side-down letter "L" which locates the top rim of the crucible, and the fingers are broader, and more curved.

The next part will show the controls, and a test drive of the robot