Fingertech Viper top plate with battery access

This is a modified top plate for the Fingertech Viper Lifter Kit from Fingertech robotics.

FingerTech Robotics

Requires one M3 heat insert with an M3 screw. The other screw just uses the stock Viper screw in to the pre-existing chassis threads.

I made these quickly to help streamline quick battery swapping at a maker faire where we had crowd members fighting all day. The primary goal was making it quicker and easier to swap batteries instead of removing the whole front wedge. I also added a few internal walls to avoid the internal components rubbing against the wheels or sliding under the lifter arm linkage. I left enough clearance under the walls to run wires.

I didn't think of it at the time, but it was pointed out to me that if you print the battery cover out of thin TPU, you could reduce the amount of screws needed to swap batteries down to one by just folding the TPU up.

We ran 2 of these in 100% solid PLA all day with small breaks to cool the electronics down, and swap batteries. It saved us a lot of time and effort.