Monthly Archives: February 2012

Inner skins glued in place, center ankles just about finished!

So, apart from making the slip ring explanation, I did glue the inner skins in place.

It was a bit scary, as any mistake here can be hard to undo later on. Especially since I don’t have enough styrene to cut new skins!

Anyway, the whole procedure went well, took about 90 minutes in total with everything. I noticed that once the glue started setting, the whole construction is a LOT more solid than compared to just the frame with skins taped on.

These skins will now set overnight, and hopefully I’ll have time to add the outer skins in the next few days.

Once the skin was on, it was time to put some more focus on the main ankles. I sanded down the new layer of styrene on the beefy parts until they fit nice and snug, and glued them in to place.

I also decided to fasten the leg inside with 4 60mm long 6mm screws, countersunk from the inside. I will try and find white screws to replace these metal ones, but for the moment, these will do. It will also provide a good, solid fit for the legs inside the main ankles. As soon as my metal plates for the top of the ankles are made… or at least painted =)

As usual, tiny R2 is inspecting!

Now: time to spend some time into making the shoulder hubs!

By |2016-12-06T00:01:55+01:00February 15th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Inner skins glued in place, center ankles just about finished!
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Slip Ring explanation

I received a question about how my slip ring solution was, and I thought I’d explain it in unnecessary detail here:

 

These are the pieces I cut out and the slip ring on top. The tiny bit goes underneath the long piece with the circle in the middle on the lefthand side. It creates sort of a lip that will go down into the bottom left piece. That, together with the extra flanges on my top ring in the frame will keep this in place.

I have only one acre, that is screwed down in the bottom right piece, that is glued on the location where Dave Everett has placed his dome motor. I have tapped these to 6mm and therefor only need a screw to secure or completely remove the center bar with the slip ring.

Enough talk, pictures will explain better!

Here’s the bottom right part glued into the top ring of the frame.

Bottom left piece glued in place on the top ring. Note the extra flanges on the top ring, creating a nice trench for the center bar to run in.

Tiny piece glued on the long bar. It is glued on sticking out a bit, as it will help lock the bar into place.

Center bar with locking screw and slip ring in place. Since this is a test mount, I don’t know if I can keep the slip ring mounted on top of the bar. I may need to move it below the bar, but you get the picture =)

Close-up of the locking piece…

Slip ring on its center bar locked into place. This is steady enough and easy to remove for maintenance with only one small screw =)

By |2016-12-06T00:01:55+01:00February 15th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Slip Ring explanation
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Biggest post so far…?

Wow!

A lot of things to report after today!

First off, I finished gluing the frame together as promised!

When the glue was setting, I did do additional work on the ankles. I’ve added a layer of styrene outside the beefy parts in order to make them the same size as the ankles themselves. Here’s a pic before I added the styrene, just in case I messed it up…

Nice and smooth… next incarnation of these will fit the ankles too!

So, what to do when the frame is setting and the ankles are done. I know! Let’s start playing with the LDP!

The original flatpack of the LDP was essentially 4 parts, and it looked very … well .. thin and boring, so I looked at some reference pictures and added a lot of more styrene. I added another 3mm piece to the bottom, filed it down to get a nice smooth curve, then added a 3mm and a 2mm piece to the top part, and sanded that down to get a nice smooth curve as well. Best thing: it fits the hole like a glove!

Not to shabby for being made from scratch and made a design for them off the top of my head =)

This is what the top looked like before I started sanding..

So, as if this wasn’t enough. After the frame had set for long enough, I just had to test fit my skins. Armed with half a roll of blue tape, I mounted all four skins on my R2, and they fit perfect!

Closeups of the interior follows:

Well.. So the skins fit nice and snug as you see, and I just HAD to put the dome on top.. My first glimpse of what R2 will be like in a few months…

Tiny R2 is inspecting…

Anyway, that concludes today’s work and update! Tomorrow is spent (wisely) by taking out the girlfriend to a nice dinner, but Wednesday will be spent finishing the last part of the ankles and start working on the shoulder hubs!

For now, R2 is standing on his own little table in my small room that I use for office (and messy build room)… He’ll have a nice view over night!

That’s all for tonight, folks!

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:56+01:00February 13th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Biggest post so far…?
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