LOL

Context: the pneumatic control of the FrankenKern was on a bank of ten cute li'l poppet valves of indeterminate manufacture and condition whose power requirements were unclear and whose remaining service life was doubtful. That, combined with the fact that the spindles required four and one additional air supplies, made me decide to lean heavily into Festo, because they're awesome.

There are fourteen different valves there, all electrically actuated, that do assorted tool-changey, spindle-cooley things. The original flow diagram for the arm was "put air in, arm goes out, put air in different place, arm goes in". I have replaced that rather primitive arrangement with 5/3 valves that, theoretically, should allow me to slowly and gracefully move the arm to and fro, in and out, as regally as the Queen Mother waving at beefeaters. Theoretically.

Practically, I've got some regulator valves that don't work quite like how I thought and I'm definitely not doing more than pushing down one detent at a time so my graceful 5/3 numerically-controlled setup is, in fact, "dump everything in the out direction at 72 PSI" which definitely gets you a "fuck this toolholder in particular" reaction out of your automation.

Right now? It's a finger-masher. It really wants to hurt me. It has some seriously pent-up enthusiasm for destruction that I am eager to channel towards creative ends. Hopefully I won't break anything because right now? It grabs them tool holders like it hates them.