Thames and Kosmos reinforcement piece for robot arm

thingiverse

The robot arm in the Thames and Kosmos Remote-Control Machines set has an underpowered attachment for the up-and-down motion's worm drive. The upper part of the worm screw's axis is attached to a component with excessive play, causing the worm to disengage from the worm wheel. This issue could be easily resolved by reinforcing the setup with a 5x hole piece and two studs, but unfortunately, there are not enough studs in the set. To address this problem, I created a simple reinforcement piece. In the accompanying photo, it is visible as the green component. You might want to adjust your printer's tolerance for optimal results. The spacing between the two studs on this piece mirrors that of a standard 5x hole piece. When placed diagonally, the piece doesn't fit perfectly and consequently applies some pressure, drawing the worm screw and wheel closer together - a desirable outcome. However, if you prefer the piece to fit more easily, simply change its length from 5 to 5.24. This reinforcement piece could also prove useful for other Thames and Kosmos projects.