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The company Verburg Holland BV originally constructed the mechanical part of the Senster. After the Senster was removed from the Evoluon, the took back the mechanical construction. It lay in their warehouse for some time, but eventually the parts were bolted together again and put on display in the grounds surrounding the company buildings.

 I drove over on a cold January day a couple of weeks ago, to have look and take measurements. What a sorry sight it is. The old man now walks with a cane (there is no hydraulics fluid in the system to keep the arm up...), the steel construction is quite rusty, and most aluminium parts are corroded away beyond recognition. And did I mention that it was COLD that day?

Mr Verburg, the company owner, klindly allowed me to spend  time with the Senster, and I took as many measurements as I could (but of course missed some valuable ones).

With this info, some measuremenst made in 2003 by students from Utrecht, and a simple 3D model made by same students, I've started modelling a new Senster.

I perform the basic modelling with Google Sketchup. It works surprisingly well. The spaceframe structure is defined by only drawing the cords (as 1-dimensional lines). When a part of the model is  finished, I use a plugin called pipe-along-path, which transforms the chors (lines) into actual tubes. Finally I add some dressings such as faceplates, stiffeners etc. The model so far is looking quite good.

There are some tricky parts ahead, and I noticed at least one construction that seems to provide some kind of parallel movement. It will need some further studies.

So work is in progress... In a next installment I will show some of the ideas and findings regarding the control system. In order to define what kind, size and strength of actuators the model will need, I have to finish the mechanical part and calculate some masses ans torques the need to be moved.

Stay tuned...