Autopilot Behavior Box
A modular box for training mouse-sized animals
Modality | Enclosures |
---|---|
Build Guide Type | Construction Build Guide |
Creator | Jonny Saunders |
Version | 2 |
Submitted Date | 2021-06-10 |
Ingredients
Materials
Name | Quantity | Dimensions | Manufacturer | Product ID | Price | Page | Datasheet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
80/20 - 1010 | 8, 4 | 10", 8" | 80/20 | 1010 | |||
Cast Acrylic | 1, 5 | 10x10", 8x8" | EPlastics | [1] | |||
Neodymium Magnet | 16 | 3/16" x 3/8" | K&J Magnetics | D36 | 0.54 | [2] | |
T-Frame End Fastener | 16 | 1/4-20 | 80/20 | 3682 | 2.3 | [3] |
Tools
Name | Tool Kind | Dimensions | Manufacturer | Product ID | Datasheet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drill Press | Drill | ||||
Laser Cutter | Laser | Universal Laser Systems | VLS4.75 | ||
Miter Saw | Saw | ||||
Thread Tapper | Hand Tools Etc. | 1/4" - 20 |
A modular behavior box made of 1" 80/20 - 1010 extruded aluminum and 3/32" thick transparent acrylic sheets. Every panel except the bottom is removable, attached with a combination of slots in the acrylic and magnets. This box is 10"x10"x10", but is adaptable to any size by scaling the cad files
Prepare 80/20
Cut to Size
Cut a length of 1" 1010 size 80/20 (or order to size) into lengths
- 4x 10" - for the vertical beams
- 8x 8" - for the horizontal beams
Drill Access Holes
The horizontal beams are connected to the four vertical beams using End Fasteners, which need an access hole to tighten.
Drill holes from both faces (through all four faces) 0.5" from the end of all four vertical beams. The position and size of these holes do not need to be precise, they just need to allow you to reach a Hex wrench through it to tighten it while the horizontal beam is flush with the end of the vertical beam.
I recommend using a drill press with a clamped jig to position your beams, but doing it by hand with a handheld drill works too ;)
Tap Ends
To attach the end fasteners, both ends of all the horizontal beams need to be tapped (cut threads into the inner cylinder). Since we are using 1/4-20 screws in this build, you should use a 1/4-20 tap (but substitute as needed)
This can be done with a tapping stand, but because the 80/20 beams already have the center cylinder extruded through them that guides the tap quite well, so in my experience a handheld tap was perfectly fine. When using a handheld tap, add a drop of cutting oil on the tip, and check from two 90-degree angles (eg. top and side) to make sure the tap stays square through the first few turns. Once the tap catches and starts to cut, the resistance will increase. Turn the tap slowly and consistently, and make sure not to apply any lateral pressure to/bend the tap while turning it or else you will shear it! If the resistance is too high and you are worried about snapping your tap, you can always back it out, clean it off, and go back in.
You only need to tap 3/8" or so, just enough to let you screw down the end nuts.
Prepare Acrylic Panels
Score & Snap Raw Panel
If you are making the acrylic panels yourself, you probably have some huge sheet of plastic that you definitely won't be able to fit inside of your laser cutter. There are plenty of ways to cut acrylic, but one simple and quick way is to score a groove in the surface of the acrylic and then snap the piece off. I like to use an Acrylic Knife and a swift karate-style chop, but any blade and percussive motor pattern should work.
The main advantage of the acrylic knife is that it has both a sharp blade for making the initial line, and then if you invert the blade as pictured below the backside can be used to scrape the plastic out much more quickly. If you are having trouble cutting the acrylic, your blade is dull! Don't waste your time struggling, they're very cheap.
Laser Cut the Panels
Find your nearest laser cutter! These are usually found in "makerspaces," which tend to be cheaper to access than machine shops. You'll need:
- 1x Behavior Panel Bottom
- 4x Autopilot Hex Panel
- 1x Autopilot Hex Panel Tripoke (If you plan on using the tripoke panel for your experiments)
Every laser cutter works differently! For the one we have, we load up the .dxf files in autocad, set the lines to a particular weight and color to indicate different colors, and then let er rip.
When cutting the hex panels, you'll want to adjust the laser power and speed to where it just cuts through the acrylic --- if you go too slowly then you'll end up melting the acrylic a bit and getting brown smudges on it (which aren't too bad, and can be cleaned off, but to be avoided if possible)
Attach Pegs & Handles
- Print the relevant parts!
- We just use superglue!
- Insert magnets
Assemble Boxes
Next Steps
- Build an Autopilot Tripoke to do some experiments!!!
- Build a Triple 5V Solenoid Board and a Multi-Box Gravity-Fed Reward Delivery system to deliver some rewards!!!
- Build some Soundproof Boxes to put the behavior boxes in