aluminium

Back into Building!

So, after a two week hiatus on my R2 build I am finally back.

Well, to be honest, things have been pretty ok with me in the past few weeks, since I have been in the Maldives and relaxing and diving.

Naturally, I have been thinking about my R2 build, and seeing shapes and forms everywhere that reminds me of the droid at home, waiting.

It all started on the lovely little Twin Otter sea-plane out to the resort: When looking up inside it, I had this staring down at me. I know I was doomed.

I couldn’t even walk on the beach without noticing things…

The shape looked familiar… and I had to draw what was missing around it.. Quickly, of course to keep the girlfriend from noticing 😉

Yes! The center foot detail plate!
This lessened the withdrawal symptoms somewhat…

All joke’s aside, I had a great time, and really needed the break!

So: What have I been up to the past few days when I’ve been back?
Well, waiting for me was an envelope containing some under shoulder detail base plates that my friend Sigge made for me (Thanks so much!)

After a bit of filing and tweaking to get them into the spots, they fit like a glove!

With these plates superglued into position, I could finish off skinning the legs, and write that off as done. All that is left on the legs now is going over the edges with bondo, some light sanding and of course painting them. In any case, the construction phase of the main legs are now COMPLETE! Woohoo!

Just look at how nice they look!

So, when the legs done, I resumed work on my main ankles. Not a lot done, but some fitting, some gluing and some cutting. Looks good so far:

Yesterday, I didn’t update the blog, since there wasn’t really anything to show, but I did file all the tabs from the dome, and debarred the outer dome. I also realized that the outer dome is a bit too large around the inner dome than I’d like it. It also feels like the inner dome has a slight dent, which could explain why the outer dome is not sitting flush all around it.

For now, I just taped the main holo projector, the radar eye, and couldn’t help to add a few blinking lights as well just to have fun. R2 is starting to emerge!

No, it did not give me goose bumps. But it did bring a smile to my face! =)

Lastly, I went to a local store (Clas Ohlson) that has just about everything and bought a storage box, for putting my finished parts in. I figured it would protect them better than just having them stacked in my tiny office =)

Looks good, right?

So, it is with a box full of R2 that I leave you readers for the night and wish you pleasant dreams.

With blinky lights.

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:57+01:00February 8th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Back into Building!
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D-Day (Dome-dagen in Swedish…) (and ankles…)


So.. Today was D-Day!

One of the first items I ordered for my R2 build arrived.. in this small package:

Opening the box gave me this view:

Removing the plastic and paper gave further info about the mystery contained within..

Yes, it is my laser cut dome that finally arrived! It will sit on my shelf for two weeks before I can start working on it…

After the joyful feeling of receiving this box, I started working on my main ankles.

I realized that I had forgotten to add the ankle locks built into my ankles, as I did with the center ankle. I may fix this before skinning the ankles or not, but for now, I’ve left them as is.

Main ankles are mostly glued together and are not going to harden before doing any further work with them.

Note the cables running through, which is just a placeholder for trying out the cable channel. The pinpoints are not yet sanded, and are therefor still a bit uneven, but I have plenty of time to fix that! =)

Finally, I also unravelled the blue Mummy inside my work area, and it turned out to be my left foot shell, now complete. Needs a little bond and sanding on the lower parts, but other than that, looking good!

Now, I take a little break from R2 building. I’ve had a few intense buildweeks, but for the next two weeks I have other plans… I’ll tell you more on that later!

I’ll see you with more updates in February!

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:58+01:00January 18th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on D-Day (Dome-dagen in Swedish…) (and ankles…)
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New parts, feet getting done and some more stuff done..

I know ..

I’ve been lazy, not updating this here properly!

Good thing is, I’ve been building!

I’ve narrowed my search for glue down to really 3 candidates that I’m using for different tasks. Yes, the “remover” is actually used as glue. It’s a nail polish remover that consists of nearly 90% Ethyl Acetate, which is a strong solvent that melts styrene, thus welding the plastic together!

Very volatile, sets very quick, then needs 24 hours to harden, but a joy to work with!

The thin needle is standard polystyrene cement, not as fluent, not as quick setting, and with a needle applicator that allows me to squeeze some extra glue into small crevices!

Finally, the standard superglue. Used for anything where I need something setting fast, or for gluing resin parts to styrene!

Since the Ethyl Acetate chemical is not really healthy to breathe in, I decided after a day of testing to invest in my health and get myself a proper mask. In this baby, I don’t even smell the thing.

Last thing I want from my hobby is health issues due to breathing too many fumes from glue!

 

Anyway, so what have I actually accomplished?

Well, the legs are now *nearly* done. I need a tiny metal insert, that Sigge is kindly providing to me, hopefully this weekend, and after that I can skin them fully, and then my droid’s legs are 100% DONE!

They are partially skinned now, as you can see in this picture:

Skinned the sides, sanded them down, and now the main part of the leg is ready to be skinned. Then the tiny pieces under the shoulder needs to wait for a tiny piece of aluminium.. =)

While waiting, I’ve started work, and made quite a good way into making the center foot. I attached my resin half-moon’s which are both screwed and glued, and then I realized that I had actually purchased the full plates in resin some months ago, and these half-moons were actually planned to just be half-moons on the outer feet!

Oh well, more spare parts to sell to someone else. Starting to get a few of those!

The foot needs to sit and harden overnight, and then the top pieces sanded down to match the angles. After that, It’s “only” the bottom parts left!

The inside of the foot is complete with mounting plates for 2 double casters. They run smooth and should be quite shock absorbant. I’ve used quite a bit of styrene inside the foot, but since R2 is going to be top heavy, I don’t really think this will be a problem.

I also designed a quick and easy (and sturdy) way to be able to have the main foot detachable. My idea is to have both legs and center foot detachable for easier transport.

I’ll jot up a design tomorrow if I have time, and see if my new CNC friend can make them for me! They should be quite simple, though.

Speaking of Aluminium, these arrived today:

Long awaited, all the way from Australia comes these machined logic surrounds, which will fit nicely into my dome, that should arrive any day now.

Apart from that, I also received and soldered together what might possibly be the controller for my R2 unit. Cheap and simple, and allows for a few servos and/or signals to be controlled from a PS2 compatible controller.

Since I have an Arduino Uno, I’m also hoping that I can use the receiver part in this, and program the Arduino to actually interpret the buttons pressed, and thus allowing me more control with combining buttons pressed on the PS2 controller!

All in all, a good build day, even though it was quite short for me.
Tomorrow, I’m hoping to get some more skin on the legs or possibly finish the center foot!
nite all!
//Micke
By |2016-12-06T00:02:00+01:00January 9th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on New parts, feet getting done and some more stuff done..
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