Monthly Archives: June 2012

Dome sort of completed and some other stuff…

After my initial trip to the Sci-Fi convention, I realized that my front casters were a bit small. It was very easy for my droid to get tangled up in small thing, not to mention its mortal enemy: thresholds!

In order to avoid face planting, like Nixon’s droid, I decided to change this around and make it easier to do stuff like pass through doorways!

I switched my smaller double casters to a bigger center caster. The will also raid my droid up a bit, and make it look slightly bigger than before. All for the better =)

Second thing done today was that I purchased a bottle of blue spray paint at a store nearby, thinking that in worst case, it will be another layer of primer (but blue).

This would at least be enough to take R2 through the midsummer festivities!

The result? Well … this!

R2 painted with “temp blue” color…

Since I’m working towards a deadline of next week, this will have to do for now, but if need be, I can always remove the paint with acetone. Works like a charm!

I had to make a small video as well.

The keen eye will spot that my dome ring needs sticking in place, and that my arduino needs an updated sketch, as the front PSI is not acting as it should…

All in all, a good day! =)

By |2016-12-06T00:01:29+01:00June 16th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Dome sort of completed and some other stuff…

Priming the dome…

After spending two days of painting the dome panels, sanding them, painting again, and sanding again it was time to test assembly of the dome!

I bought a tape used for carpets to try out on the dome, and it seems like it will fit the bill!

Just look at how happy R2 is with all his panels attached, even though they are grey….

He definitely has a lot more personality now and looks more and more like a finished droid!

I also sanded the dome a little bit more, didn’t polish, but ended with 1200 grit paper, and used floor polish to give a clean surface on the aluminum.

I also found what I think is the perfect R2 blue today at my local car dealers, but unfortunately all they had was tiny tiny bottles to touch up on very small areas. I did get the color code, however.

“Biscaya Blue with Pearly Effect” .. makes it quite dark blue with a little sparkle to it. Not as much as a metallic paint, but just the right amount, I think.

According to them, a good car paint shop should be able to mix the color for me and place in spray cans, something I will definitely look in to!

Once the panels are sprayed, they will be clear coated as well, naturally.

I still need to redo parts of the innards, in order to fit the center vent speaker holder properly. I need to move my battery and redo my electronics board, but that is quite easy.

A little more tweaking on the shoulder horseshoes to get them perfect, some hands on touchups on the right battery box, and finish off them ankle cylinders, mounting the utility arms and this droid is nearing completion!

That is … once I get it all painted… 😉

Still .. so far, so good!

By |2016-12-06T00:01:30+01:00June 15th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Priming the dome…

Center vent speaker holder

For a while I had this idea of making the bluetooth speakers I’ve got behind my center vents more accessible.

I came up with this idea that I would make a magnet-locked box that contained the center vents and the speakers that I could just pull out when I wanted to turn the speakers on or off.

A few nights ago I couldn’t sleep, and got up in the middle of the night and drew some makeshift blueprints. I needed a box with curved front, where I’d glue a 1mm piece of styrene that holds the center vents, and another outer skin piece, that would overlap on the area where I pull the box out.

I started with building the actual box that will contain the center vents and speakers.

This fits the speakers quite well, and at the moment I’ve got some styrene holding the speakers in place, but that will be replaced by pieces of velcro that will keep the speakers in place.

Plenty of room for the speakers and power cable through USB and the connection between the speakers.

It even looks good from the front with the center vents in place. The center vents are only placed there for now as I’m waiting for BobC’s aluminum center vents. Once they have arrived in a few weeks, they will be screwed in place from the sides with countersunk screws.

Only thing this needs at the moment is the front skin piece, the blue piece. It is cut out but I will not cut out the center vent holes until I get the actual vents that will be in place, so for now, it will not hide the small gaps on the sides when this has been slid into place.

So, after finishing the box, I decided to tear open the skin and remove the center vents and the supports. Scary stuff!

After cleaning out the center vent area, I glued some support pieces in place that will guide the box so it will sit still in place.

Sliding in the box… looking good…

… and finally in place!

Apart from this, which I’m quite happy with, I’ve also managed to sand and paint the dome panels one more time… They are now primed and ready for proper painting!

Woohoo!

By |2016-12-06T00:01:31+01:00June 13th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Center vent speaker holder
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