legs

Mounting the Ankle… stuff

So, after the ankle wedge was done, it was a simple task to just slap some paint on to it.

I’ve been toying around with ideas on how to mount this, as I really want most of the things on the droid to be removable, in case of service!

Not fixed the ankle wedge per se, but I’ve fixed the ankle cylinder and the ankle half-moon (The half round part underneath the cylinder that the cylinder rests on.

I drilled a hole from inside the cylinder down into the half-moon, and went as deep as I dared (watch your thoughts, Edwardo), glued 2 long M4 screws into the holes with superglue, cut the heads off with my dremel (wear goggles people!) and finally just secured them together with two bolts.

The cylinder itself sits tight on the ankle, by pressure alone, and if I need to, I can simply add some double stick 3M tape underneath the half-moon to really fix them into place.

Just look how nice it all looks when it’s all in place.

I still haven’t decided how to fix the ankle itself though. I may use magnets, I’ve got a shipment of magnets coming in..

Please note that the leg itself is not painted, but the half-moon is painted satin white. No clear coat, though.

By |2016-12-06T00:01:09+01:00October 11th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Mounting the Ankle… stuff
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Building an ankle wedge

Something I’ve realized over the past year where I’ve been building my R2, is that I really love scratch building things from styrene.

Styrene is very forgiving, and once you’ve learned how, making things is actually quite easy!

Today’ I set out to build a small silly piece with lots of weird angles and stuff: An ankle Wedge! (Actually I built two of them, but who’s couting… I need 4 in total, so halfway there… unless I cave in and use the two resin ones that I do have laying around…)

Anyway, back on track! The ankle wedge is a small piece that is sitting on the bottom of the legs, holding the Ankle Cylinder.

I’ve previously built my ankle cylinders out of PVC pipe and styrene, and even though they still need a bit of work, they sit good enough on my robot in order to me to make the wedges!

These are the main pieces. A big piece of styrene, with no straight angles. The short edge will be closest to the ankle, and the big end will rest on the cylinder. The sides are made up by small triangular pieces. I’ve cut out larger triangles, measure, then place a piece of extra pipe on top my 1mm styrene piece and cut around it (had to cut a few times to get the proper fit) to get the right curve.

This is really a try/test/try/test again sort of procedure in order to get these to sit snug, but after a few test tries, I did get my triangular piece to sit pretty spot on to the cylinder.

Once the triangular pieces are made (be sure to mark them properly so you know which side is which, what is in, what is out, etc) I chamfered the long edge of the flat styrene piece, to make it look good on the cylinder. Then glue time!

Two pieces of tape to hold the triangles to the large piece of styrene, and then just glue it all down!

Once the glue set, I added another piece in the center, just for stability.

Then time to use my secret instrument to make it fit really well…

No, not THAT kind of instrument. It’s not a plastic didgeridoo!

However, the PVC pipe with a piece of sand paper strapped on to it, makes for a perfect tool to sand the little wedge to remove any irregularities after glueing it all together!

Finally, let’s end this brief tutorial with taking a look at the results!

Nice and smooth! Now I just need to paint them blue and set aside as finished!

Oh yeah.. need to make another two… unless I use them old resin ones.. I kinda like these better, and they fit SO much nicer…

By |2016-12-06T00:01:09+01:00October 11th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Building an ankle wedge
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The list of things to come…

So, even though my droid is starting to look pretty finished when it comes to construction, there is definitely a number of things that still needs to be fixed!

I’ve taken the liberty to create a “TODO” list.. or a R2-2DO list, as it were…

R2-2DO:
=======
Shoulders:

  • Fix ridges in second horseshoe
  • Finetune second shoulder shim
  • Dress second shim edges in aluminium tape
  • Prime second horseshoe
  • Fix small things that WILL be showing up after priming with Tamaiya Putty and sand
  • Skin second shoulder hub in aluminium

R2-D2 Dome:

  • Cut open dome under blank panel for easy access (thanks Edwardo)
  • Dremel out Aluminium PSI holder (front) for fitting of Teeces PSI.
  • Insulate Teeces PSI properly
  • Sand painted (primed blue) panels
  • Paint painted panels in proper colour!

Body:

  • Cut out side vents
  • Cut out pocket vents
  • paint pocket/side vents (blue)
  • Fix/adjust long doors on front to add another layer for stability.
  • Work on hinging doors on styrene frame
  • Make Charging Bay Insert
  • Make inside of “large door” on front.
  • Alter back unpainted panel to act as door for switching droid on and off (thanks Sigge)
  • Make unpainted panel door insert
  • Prime body and bondo/sand accordingly
  • sand/paint blue panel
  • sand/paint utility arms
  • mount utility arms properly (currently only stuck in place with velcro)
  • find aluminium power couplers!
  • paint octagon ports (blue)
  • paint coin slots (blue)

Skirt:

  • Bondo skirt properly
  • Prime skirt
  • bondo/sand as needed

Center Foot:

  • Cut out wooden thick shim for center foot, to raise droid slightly.
  • Attach wooden thick shim to frame (under skirt)
  • Add magnet holders to foot plates in order to stick them more firm onto the foot
  • Fix 3mm alu strips

Main Feet:

  • Skin “ridge” in both feet for better look
  • Prime and bondo right foot
  • Attach styrene pieces on inside foot shells for KHF’s to screw in to better.
  • Fix 3mm alu strips

Legs:

  • Insert metal tube in pivot point/mount on ankle
  • Add steel mount for magnetized shoulder hubs
  • Possibly sand holder for new, alu shoulder hubs for perfect fit
  • Fix/remake Ankle Cylinders
  • Fix Mount for Ankle Cylinders
  • Fix Mount for Ankle Wedges
  • Fix Mount for Ankle Cylinder Holders
  • Paint Ankle Cylinders
  • Paint Ankle Wedges
  • Prime Ankle Cylinder Holders
  • Prime legs
  • Bondo/sand as needed.

PAINT THE WHITES! *woohoo*
Weather and enjoy a complete droid!

Future Work:
Dome:

  • Sand top part of split inner dome further for better fit
  • Cut inner dome pie panels for Life Support Scanner and Periscope

Secondary Dome:

  • Fix faulty FLD.
  • Cut holes for FLD, RLD
  • Drill holes for PSI and HP’s
  • Mount HP’s
  • Mount PSI’s
  • Mount FLD&RLD
  • Find and drill holes for rockler mount
  • Mask for blue panels
  • prime and paint blue panels
  • Fix unique sound scheme for secondary identity!
By |2016-12-06T00:01:25+01:00September 14th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on The list of things to come…
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