R2-NU

Puttying The Outer Legs

2012-01-10T22:07:00.000-06:00

With the wood glue dry, I puttied the gaps around the ankle pieces and the edges of the outer legs. I went a little overboard, but I figured I could sand everything down at once.

Outer Ankle Detail

2012-01-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

I used a RotoZip with a Dremel bit to route out the outer ankle channel detail. I set the depth and routed out the majority of the channel. I then came back and used a razor blade to clean out the corner to make 90 degree angles. I then used a chop saw to cut down the outer ankle pieces to 4.1" and glued the ankle pieces to the legs.

Ankle Sanding/Painting

2011-10-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

After the wood putty was dry, I sanded the ankle pieces smooth and painted them. I looks like they will need some more wood putty and need to be painted again later, but I can do that after I glue them to the legs.

Ankle Smoothing

2011-10-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

After the flat part of the ankles were glued, I filled the gaps with wood putty to smooth them out.

Continuing The Ankle Fix

2011-10-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

With the new angles cut on the ankle pieces, 6-year-old Joshua helped me trace the new end caps on some flat 1/4" plywood. He loves it anytime he can help! I cut them out and re-glued them.

Battery Box Hiccup

2011-10-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

Clay and I continuted the work on the battery boxes by cutting the inside channel on three of the sets. We also continued work on the beefy ankle pieces. We realized we cut the angle at 35° rather than 55° so we had to cut a little more off. I will recut and reglue the flat portions this weekend so we are ready to cut out the channel pieces with the CNC next Monday.

Starting Work On The Ankle Pieces

2011-10-06T23:11:00.005-05:00

We had an off-schedule build night tonight. Clay and I worked on fixing the battery box sides now that the CNC has been re-leveled.

I bought an 8' long 6" diameter Tape-Ease Half Cylinder (the smallest amount I could purchase) and a 2'x2' sheet of 1/4" plywood from Lowe's to make outer and inner ankle pieces. We used club plans and Victor Franco's tutorial for this project. It took us awhile to figure out how to cut the half tubes with the equipment we had. We also ran into a little snag because part of the half cylinder was a little more flat than the other.

We ended up using a chop saw for all of the cutting. We cut three 4 1/8" length outer ankle pieces and three 4" length inner ankle pieces. The half cylinders have a height of 3". The outer ankle requires a cylinder height of 1 3/8" and the inner ankle requires a height of 1 1/4". We cut these pieces slightly bigger and used the sander to smooth out the edges and get them to the right height.

Once at the correct height, we angled the chop saw and cut a 55 degree angle off each ankle piece. We laid the slanted portion of the ankle piece on the flat 1/4" plywood, drew an over sized half circle, and then cut it out. The half circle was glued to the slanted portion of the ankle with plenty of overhang on each side. The over sized half circle will allow sanding later and still keep the needed angles while allowing the pieces to lay flat on the legs.

Shoulder & Horseshoe Work

2011-07-17T15:57:00.008-05:00

I took a long break from building and I got the bug today. I bought a couple of resin horseshoes from a club offering and realized that my shoulders needed to be trimmed in some places and built up in others. I started by sanding the back of the horseshoes and drilling out the mounting holes.

I used some spare screws I had lying around to mount the horseshoes to the legs. The newly mounted horseshoes will act as a guide for the router.

The wheel on the router bit roles along the horseshoe and cuts the wood underneath. The bit isn't long enough to cut the entire with of the leg, so the horseshoe was removed and the newly cut leg shoulder served as a guide to route out the rest of the leg.

I couldn't help but get a couple of nicks and scratches, so I'm using Bondo to fill the holes and make the legs smooth for painting.

My plan is to run the wires for the legs through the center support bar, so I drilled a hole in the center mounting bracket and ground down the sharp edges with the Dremel.

Contagion Outbreak: 2011

2011-06-12T22:50:00.001-05:00

I had a really good time, and I'm looking forward to going next year!

Making The Dome Motor Connection

2011-06-10T11:13:00.000-05:00

While I was at Contagion, I mentioned to Clay that I wanted to hookup my dome motor working but I never got around to it because of electrical issues. I pulled out the documentation and found that the dome motor runs off of servo pin set four. And once again, we had to jumper power to the servo bank again. After Contagion I will make this look better!

Slip Ring Connection Board Problems

2011-06-09T22:58:00.001-05:00

I could not get a signal sent from the J.E.D.I. Controller Board through the Slip Ring and into the dome. Clay Cardwell came over to help me figure out the problem I was having. It turns out that my signal was getting through the Slip Ring Connection Boards and Slip Ring, but the power was not getting to the servo wire connection. I had to jumper the power inside the dome from the one of the main power terminals to provide power to one of the servo connection power terminals. Thank you for your help Clay!

Installed Sound System

2011-06-06T20:27:00.001-05:00

With the electronics panel installed I turned my attention to the sound system. I installed a small Plexiglas panel on the inside back of R2 next to the hinge side of the previously installed electronics panel. This panel has the speaker amplifier and the unidirectional noise isolator installed on it.

I temporarily attached the speakers to the inside front of R2-NU's body (behind where the center vents will be). Once the center vents are installed, I will have to remove the speakers and add spacers to move them away from the frame. I tacked the speaker wires to the frame next to the speakers and ran them on the outside of the up/down frame base to keep them away from any interior mechanisms that will be added later. I put baffles on the back of the speakers to redirect the sound.

I can't help but get excited about how R2-NU is coming together!

Electronics Moved To The Body

2011-05-31T20:12:00.001-05:00

I started moving the electronics to the body a couple of days ago. I laid everything out on the Plexiglas and marked their positions. I then took a roll of tubing I bought from Lowes and cut them into 1/4" pieces for standoffs between the components and the Plexiglas door. The Plexiglas can be brittle at times, so I drilled each hole with a small bit and swapped out the bits for larger sizes until I got every hole the size I needed. I picked up a fuse panel from Radio Shack and installed it so that a 7 Amp fuse is on the main power switch to the left and two 2 Amp fuses run the J.E.D.I. Control system and sound amplifier. I put blue painters tape around the outside of the electronics panel door to mark off the area the outer skin door will need to open and close.

Electronics Panel Started

2011-05-19T23:17:00.002-05:00

In my continuing attempts to divide the electronics between the dome and the body, I started installing an electronics panel. for my first attempt, I decided to use a piece of Lexan I had lying around. I cut it slightly larger than the back opening. I then picked up some cheap hinges with removable pins so I could pull the entire panel out of the body to work on it. I still need to chisel out the area where the hinges attach to the frame on the left side and install some type of latch or magnet on the right side. Once that is done, I can pull the panel off and start adding the Electronic components to it.

Sound System Test

2011-05-17T23:22:00.003-05:00

After DemiCon I decided I had to get my sound system working because nobody could hear R2 with the cheap test speakers I had. I've been looking for some time for an amplifier and speaker combo that would work in R2-NU. I ran across a post by Paul Bussiere describing some new sound equipment; and after doing research I bought what I needed from Parts-Express.com. There are several posts on Astromech.net talking about how the VMusic2 system has a hard time dealing with feedback and noise, so I purchased a PAC SNI1 Noise Isolator. I did not hook it up because I didn't have the right connectors, so I used my phone for testing rather than R2-NU's electronics.

Sure 2x25W @ 4 Ohm TPA3123 Class-D Audio Amplifier Board (#320-304)

Pioneer TS-A878 3-1/2" Dash Mount Coaxial Speaker Pair (#267-276) with XTC 3" Round Foam Baffle Pair (#260-780)

The amplifier does not have a potentiometer so I purchased a PAC LC1 Remote Amplifier Level Controller to handle the volume control.

My phone providing music for testing.

Bottom Dome Ring Trimming

2011-05-14T20:51:00.001-05:00

In order to install the Dome Base Plate and use the Slip Ring, I had to remove the center section of the Bottom Dome Ring.

The Bottom Dome Ring sits on top of the Dome Base Plate, it sits on top of the Rockler Bearing, and it sits on top of the frame. Because the Bottom Dome Ring wraps around the ouside of the Rockler Bearing and Dome Base Plate, I added nuts and wasters below and above the Rocker Bearing to to make sure the bottom edge of the Bottom Dome Ring stopped right above the top of the frame.

Slip Ring Soldering

2011-05-13T20:14:00.003-05:00

I took my Slip Ring and Slip Ring Connection Board to work to ask one of our hardware experts, Russ Wilt, where the best place to buy heat shrink for soldered electrical connections. He had a personal stash that he was willing to part with and he offered to soldered the Slip Ring. I jumped at the chance. Russ was able to solder the slip ring in 15 minutes; it would have taken me over two hours. Thank you Russ!

I wanted to protect the wires and put heat shrink over all of the small colored wires, but I wasn't sure how to do it and still solder the connections. Russ suggested to put multiple pieces on the wires so they overlapped. Russ shrunk the bottom-most wrap slip the topmost on to be shrunk later once all the soldering was complete. When we were finished, we used four different sizes of heat shrink to protect the wires.

In order to get the slip ring through the Dome Base Plate hole I rolled the wires slightly, making sure not to pinch or break them. I then mounted it to the base plate.

Once the slip ring was secured to the Dome Base Plate I added overs to the DB25 connectors to make sure they didn't get damaged in the future.

Dome Base Plate

2011-05-09T23:27:00.003-05:00

I happened to ask Clay Cardwell if he would be willing to cut out a Dome Base Plate for me if I brought over the material. Clay said sure and that he would want one too. He suggested that we ask others in the group if they would like to join in to reduce the overall material cost. In no time we had five Dome Base Plates spoken for. Jason Neurath stopped by Midwest Plastics and picked up 1/2" Lexan and took it over to Clay's. By the time I arrived, Clay had converted the PDF file I provided him to use on his CNC and was cutting out the Dome Base Plates.

Will the Dome Base Plates were still being cut, Clay and I held my Rockler Bearing and Slip Ring over the design to see how everything would line up.

Once the plate was cut, we used the drill press to make larger holes for mounting the Dome Base Plate to the bearing. We found that the Slip Ring's mounting holes matched up, but the Rockler Bearing had two holes that were slightly off. I used the Dremel to make the holes larger to accommodate.

Everything fits great now!

Slip Ring Connection Board Soldering

2011-05-09T23:21:00.002-05:00

I had a lot of help soldering my slip ring connection board last night. Thank you Clay for all your help! There are two boards. One will be placed in the dome and the other will be in R2's body.

DemiCon 2011

2011-04-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

R2-NU's Dome Is Finished!

2011-04-29T23:15:00.000-05:00

I installed the last of R2-NU's dome panels tonight and his dome is officially finished (until I decide to make upgrades later). I used A LOT of double stick tape to hold the panels in place (that way I can take them off easier later if I need to touch up the paint or make improvements).

Installed The J.E.D.I. Display Holoprojectors

2011-04-28T23:11:00.001-05:00

I finished installing the Joystick Enhanced Display Interface (J.E.D.I.) Display holoprojectors. Clay gave me some scrap styrene he had lying around. I cut three circles (one for each of the holoprojectors) the size of the bottom of the holoprojectors. I then drilled holes in the center of the pieces just large enough to fit the LED in. I placed the circle against the base of the holoprojector and reattached the each of the fender washers to hold both the holoprojector and the back plate together. I poked the LED, through the hole in the back plate its circuit board facing the interior of the dome. I then attached sticky Velcro dots on each side and the back of the circuit board. I cut a longer Velcro strip to place across all three previously installed Velcro dots to hold everything in place.

I installed the Radar Eye using fender washers and nuts on the interior of the dome to hold it in place.

Installing (Most) J.E.D.I. Display Components

2011-04-27T22:34:00.004-05:00

I'm going to DemiCon on Saturday and wanted to have R2-NU there with his lights and sound working, so I installed all the Joystick Enhanced Device Input (J.E.D.I.) Display components except the Holoprojectors. The Power Distribution Board and the J.E.D.I. Display Control Board were installed on the interior of the dome by using small bolts tacked in place with Tech Bond and using offsets to separate them from the side of the dome.

Components like the Main J.E.D.I. Board, V2 Music (with flash drive), and Vex Receiver will eventually be moved to R2's body from the dome once the slip ring is installed, but for now they are being held in place with 3M foam tape.

Turning everything on yielded a successful test!

Installing Radar Eye Lens

2011-04-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

It is finally time to install the Radar Eye Lens. I removed the protective packaging, slid it into the channel through the back of the Radar Eye, and used Super Glue to tack it into place. Tomorrow I'll attach it to the dome.

Installing Logic Displays

2011-04-26T20:06:00.004-05:00

I started to install the Front Logic Displays (FLDs) by attaching the FLD surrounds I had previously prepared. Screws were mounted to the dome so washers were added to hold the surrounds in place. Once the surrounds where attached, the FLDs were installed.

Once the FLDs were installed I attached the outer dome panel.

After installing the FLDs, installing the Rear Logic Display (RLDs) was a piece of cake. Unlike the FLDs, the RLD surround had mounting holes which made attaching it a lot easier. Attaching the circuit board used the same process.

Installing Dome Bumps

2011-04-26T06:18:00.002-05:00

Rather than use some pre-made/cast part from the club, I used the shortest carriage bolts (with the correct head size) for the Dome Bumps. The carriage bolts were still pretty long so I used scrap styrene (glued to the dome) to act as washers to hold the Dome Bumps in place. I then took two nuts and drilled them out to use as large washers (rather than using several flat washers). After adding the drilled out nuts to the Dome Bumps, normal threaded nuts were added to hold everything in place. To make sure the dome bumps didn't move, Tech Bond was used to glue the two sets of nuts together and attach them to the styrene scrap previously glued to the interior of the dome.

Once glued in place, the Dome Bumps looked great.

Attaching PSIs

2011-04-25T21:50:00.002-05:00

I wanted to install the front and rear Joystick Enhanced Device Input (J.E.D.I.) Process State Indicators (PSIs) in the dome without having the PSIs have any light spill over to other panels or items in the dome. I picked up a couple of cheap flashlights from Harbor Freight so I could use the reflective cones. I took apart the flashlights, glued the cables to the cones with Tech Bond, and then reattached the PSIs circuit boards.

I then used Tech Bond to glue the reflective cones on the inside of the dome behind the PSI screens

I Finished Painting The Dome!

2011-04-24T21:59:00.000-05:00

My plan for this week is to attach all the dome panels and install the J.E.D.I. (Joystick Enhanced Device Input) Displays, aka LEDs.

PSI Diffusers

2011-04-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

The front and rear Process State Indicators (PSIs) needed to have the light from their LEDs diffused. I found some Rubbermaid containers at Ace Hardware that diffused them the way I wanted. I cut up the lids to fit where I needed them. I only wanted to diffuse the light for the LEDs a little. I still wanted the outline of the LEDs, when lit, to show.

The holes for the PSIs show a small lip on the outside of the dome, so I glued the rear PSI screen (cut lid) to the inside of the dome with Super Glue. I glued this to the inside because there is not an outside dome panel that gets attached over the hole

I made the front PSI hole slightly larger that I had originally cut it because the outer dome panel would cover the edges. I then cut the lid of the Rubbermaid container to fit exactly inside it. I put tape on the outside of the dome to hold the cut lid in place and used Super Glue to attach it. Once the glue was dry I removed the tape and used a razorblades to clean off any glue that mounded over. I tested the fit by dry fitting the outside panel.

Skirt Priming

2011-04-23T08:18:00.003-05:00

I've filled in the gaps along the skirt ribs and where the skirt attaches to the frame with DAP Plastic Wood. After the skirt was sanded, it was hard to tell what needed more filling; so I decided to prime the skirt.

Krylon Fusion Red Pepper #2328 Search

2011-04-19T08:05:00.003-05:00

I'm still filling holes, sanding, and painting. I'm almost at the end of my Krylon Fusion Red Pepper #2328 supply, so I went to Walmart to get some more. Krylon changed the packaging for their Fusion line and the #2328 now has the word "Gloss" on the front of it. I wanted to make sure I had the correct product so I called 1-800-4KRYLON to make sure. A very friendly representative named Norma informed me that, with the old packaging, if it doesn't say "Satin" on the label then it is gloss. Thank you Norma! Painting will resume this week.

Help With Painting

2011-04-02T08:30:00.002-05:00

I got a little help with the never ending painting and sanding I've been doing. Hannah helped me paint some of my dome panels.

Holoprojector Painting

2011-03-21T21:15:00.002-05:00

I used tape to mask off the white cowling around the base of the holoprojectors and used a razor blade to make sure I had a sharp edge for the cowling to holoprojector transition. I then sprayed the holoprojectors with metallic spray paint. Once it dries, I will remove the tape, add the lenses, and install them with the rest of the dome details.

Frame Work & Nomad Panels

2011-03-14T22:50:00.004-05:00

It was a small build night tonight, just Clay and I, and I showed up late. Clay helped me bore out the holes on the 3/4" plastic plate that holds my center leg. This plate will slide smoothly up and down four copier rods when transitioning between two and three leg modes. I also did a little sanding on R2's skirt. Clay worked on cutting out panels for Talon's Nomad from the season two espisode, The Changeling, of the original Star Trek.

Dome Painting And Sanding

2011-03-12T09:26:00.006-06:00

Sometimes I feel like my dome will never get done. This weekend I sanded and painted my some of my dome panels. Just like the original R2-D2, most of R2-NU's dome panels will be the same color (white); but there are a few panels on the back of the dome that will be red so that they match the dome color. I painted the panels with four coats of spray paint. Once dry, I wet sanded them. After painting and sanding, it became obvious that some of the panels need some touchup; so I will fill in the bad areas and repaint later.

I previously painted and wet sanded the dome front and back logic surrounds, but today I applied the final coat of paint.

While painting, I finished sanding the front and back of the rear panel. This panel needed to have rounded interior edges so I filled in with DAP Plastic Wood. I used a quarter to get the interior arc, and then I used a Dremel to sand the edges down to the size I was happy with.

Nate's Frame

2011-02-28T22:47:00.004-06:00

Clay uploaded the club plans to his CNC for the Mike Senna wood frame. As usual Clay lets any club member use his CNC for free; all anyone has to do is bring their own materials and a desire to help and learn. Nate brought some wood plates for his frame that needed to be evened out. As a club, we used the CNC to cut his center and top frame plates to precise measurements. Next week, the frame base plate.

First Group Build Night Of 2011

2011-02-21T22:53:00.001-06:00

Jason, Clay, Kira, Nate, and I got together at Jason's house for the first group build night of 2011. Jason, Clay, and Nate worked on Nate's frame and Kira and I worked on my dome panels. The size of some of my dome panels needed to be increased so I added DAP Plastic Wood to the edges and let it dry for an hour. Once dry, the DAP bonds to the styrene panels and is as solid as a rock. Kira and I sanded the panels and I applied a second coat to some. I made a mistake when I cut the window out around the rear Process State Indicator (PSI) and cut the inside corners at right angles. I used the Plastic Wood to fill in the gaps.

The red washer on the top of the dome fell off after the last build night, so I glued it back on using Tech Bond.

Building Bug

2011-02-13T14:00:00.002-06:00

After a hockey tournament in Kansas City, we came back to Omaha to find great weather. We grilled steaks and cabin fever started to set in. Time to get back to R2 Building; it looks like we will have our first group build day on Monday, February 20. We just have to decide on a location.

Periscope Lift

2010-11-09T22:20:00.003-06:00

I got to the build night tonight and realized I left my dome panels at home, so I had nothing to work on for R2-NU. Clay has always been good at helping everyone else, so I helped him with his periscope. Clay started out by cutting the periscope opening in R2's dome and seeing how the Periscope he assembled last week (and painted/installed LEDs during the week) fit.

Clay decided to use a modified drawer slide to allow the periscope to slide in and out of the dome.

Clay cut a piece of PVC pipe to raise the periscope to the correct height. Later he will cut that pipe and install a servo to rotate it.

With the work done for the night, we took some pictures of the periscope in the dark with the panel cap installed.

Sanding Dome Panels

2010-11-02T21:09:00.001-05:00

At our build night tonight I sanded dome panels that were a little too large and did not leave the right amount of gap between them and the surrounding dome. I used a marker to mark the other panels that need to have DAP Plastic Wood added to the corners to increase the panel size.

Jason worked on removing the barbs from his aluminum skins.

Clay worked to clean up/Dremel and assemble the periscope kit he bought from a club offering.

Quick Dome Assembly

2010-10-23T16:55:00.003-05:00

I did a quick dome assembly with the pieces I have painted. I still need to fix the bad spots on the radar eye and paint the center of the holoprojectors with the metallic aluminum spray paint.

Painting Logic Surrounds

2010-10-22T15:36:00.005-05:00

I put the last coat of red paint on my dome, painted the white dome ring, painted the radar eye, and put the first two coats on the logic surrounds using the Rust-Oleum Metallic Finish--Aluminum (#7715830) spray paint. There are a still a couple of bad spots on the radar eye I need to fix and then repaint. I need to wet sand the logic surrounds and put one last coat on them.

Another Midwest Robots Build Night

2010-10-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

Jason and Clay reassembled Jason's custom router table and then tested trimming the bottom frame plate down to size. I repainted my dome a previous night and wet sanded it again to get it ready for a final paint job.

Wet Sanding Dome

2010-10-05T22:38:00.005-05:00

I finished using the razor blade/sandpaper to get rid of the drops of glue around panel edge openings.

I was wondering if I should sand my dome before painting again. Clay and Jason thought it would be a good idea. Clay suggested I use a 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

Nate took a picture of me wet sanding my dome, and I returned the favor by taking a picture of Nate sanding Jason's R5 dome while Jason worked on his skins.

Skin Work

2010-10-05T22:23:00.000-05:00

On the first build night in October Jason, Clay, Nate, and I got together to do a little R2 Building. Nate marked his top and bottom frame plates so he could route them out later. Jason worked on separating his skin panels and Clay worked on cleaning my skins (after a previous builder borrowed them to glue up a couple frames and left them a mess). THANK YOU CLAY!!!

Painting Dome Inserts

2010-09-14T12:14:00.003-05:00

I started painting the dome accessories. I'm using Krylon Fusion Satin White(2420) spray paint (for plastic). I'm putting a thin coat on the logic surrounds so they will accept the aluminum paint later. The radar eye will be completely white and the solid holoprojectors will have a white cowling and an aluminum colored top. I covered the bolts with tape so I wouldn't have a problem later trying to put nuts on them.

Filling Dome Holes

2010-09-14T07:16:00.002-05:00

I filled the dome holes/imperfections with gel super glue. Once it dries, I will sand it smooth and try to smooth out some high areas left by the DAP Plastic Wood.

Lens Fitting For Radar Eye

2010-09-03T06:15:00.005-05:00

I couldn't sleep this morning. I stayed up late last night watching several games I really didn't care about and was still up by 5 AM today. I think it's because I'm excited about the Huskers playing tomorrow. The game should be an easy win, but Husker football is Husker football.

Since I was up I decided to do a little work on R2's radar eye. I got the lens for the eye back in May, but didn't alter the radar eye to make it fit. After my work smoothing and leveling the eye to get a tight fit against the dome I am only left with preparing the eye for the lens and painting it.

I will need to use a Dremel to grind away part of the rear edge of the radar eye center hole so the radar eye and lens sits flush against the dome. I determined what a level distance would be from the front edge of the radar eye and made marks. This took a little work because the eye is not a consistent size all the way around the center hole. Once the marks were in place I added tape to serve as a guide while I'm using the Dremel. Once the tape was in place, I cut the tape hanging out the front side of the radar eye hole so it would hold in place and not bend while grinding.

I used the lens to draw lines on the back of the radar eye so I know how much to grind away.

Painting Stopped

2010-09-01T18:57:00.001-05:00

I added a couple more coats to the dome and decided that I needed to fix a fix dome imperfections. I need to fill in some small holes created when adding the holoprojector mounting screws and sand a couple of DAP Plastic Wood areas that are too high. So the painting was stopped and I will start again once the problem areas are fixed.

Dome Painting Started

2010-08-29T21:33:00.005-05:00

I finally started painting the dome. I'm using Red Pepper(2328) Krylon Fusion spray paint (for plastic). I'm not doing the white panels yet. I would like to fit the panel pieces and possibly do a little more sanding on them after seeing them against the red dome before painting them white. When I do, I will be using Krylon Fusion Satin White(2420). I was able to get two coats on before I got complaints about the smell and had to stop for the evening.

Logic Surround Bolts

2010-08-28T11:42:00.004-05:00

I didn't have much going on today, so I finished sanding the dome. I washed the dome and set it aside to dry. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to do some painting. Since I have my J.E.D.I. system running I figured I better get my front and rear logic surrounds finished.

I started off by centering the plastic J.E.D.I. Display cover for the front logic surround.

I used some linesman pliers to snap the heads off the #6-32 x 1½" bolts so they glued inside the logic surrounds.

I then drilled 1/4" depth holes big enough to accommodate the headless bolts.

I then added some nuts and used one of the logic plates to make sure the bolts stayed straight up and down while they were being glued. One by one, I dripped Tech Bond glue into each hole, sprayed the bolts with an accelerator, and then dropped the bolts in the holes. The accelerator cover bolt hardened within a couple seconds (which allow for quick repositioning and adjusting using the J.E.D.I. plate).

Once the front logic displays were done I followed the same procedure for the rear logic displays. I knew this was going to be the case, but the top and bottom line of LEDs are both half covered (by design) by the surround.

Still Sanding

2010-08-25T23:22:00.000-05:00

Dome sanding pictures are pretty boring, so I didn't take any more. I sanded the DAP Plastic Wood and I'm getting close to and smooth even dome. After the latest round of sanding there were still some places that needed to be filled and touched up. Hopefully, tomorrow or Friday I will be able to do the last of the sanding and start painting.

No Work, But Influencing Young Minds

2010-08-01T22:48:00.002-05:00

I didn't do any work this weekend, but I was influencing young minds. I was showing my J.E.D.I. Control system to my nephew Christian and Joshua this weekend. They are still too young to start doing any real building, but they love to hear what I'm doing with my R2. Every time I show kids my R2 progress it gets them interested in science and building. Kids usually spend the next hour or so playing with some of my remote control toys and asking several science, electronics, or building questions.

J.E.D.I. Controller Problem Solved

2010-07-27T06:38:00.000-05:00

As you may have read in a previous post, I was having issues with the J.E.D.I. Controller sending signals to Display Controller. I posted on Astromech.net that I was having an issue. Scott Gray, the creator of the J.E.D.I. Control and Display systems, knew exactly what my problem was.

I previously hooked up the items from the Display Controller and Logic Displays by themselves. When hooked up alone power needs to be run to the Display Controller through the PDCRX pins 2 and 3 (pin 1 is ignored in this case) from the DC/DC Converter. The J.E.D.I. Controller sends signals/power from the PDCTX pins to the Display Controller PDCRX pins (in this case all three pins are use because pin 1 receives the signal). I connected the J.E.D.I. Controller PDCTX pins to the Display Controller PDCTX pins which caused the signals to clash and prevented the Display Controller from functioning properly. I couldn't get past the fact that power did not need to be supplied from the DC/DC Converter when the J.E.D.I. Controller was hooked up.

Everything works great now! The morals of this story: 1) The builders, and Scott Gray, are great and will do almost anything (at all hours of the night) to help a fellow builder and 2) Don't hookup electronics when you are tired.

Slip Ring Connection

2010-07-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

I received the slip ring connection boards I ordered from Scott Gray today. These boards are set up to make it easy to feed up to two power sources (which I call power "lanes") through the slip ring to the dome, and 16 signals such as servo signals, motor control signals, or other control signals such as the J.E.D.I. Display Controller serial signal. The signals are set up on 3 pin headers such that servos (and/or extender cables) can be attached directly to the boards, so there is no wiring fuss. Power for the servos are split into two groups of eight and are powered by two individual 2-terminal connectors. This means that it can pass battery power to the dome, convert it using a DC/DC converter to 5V or 6V, and then connect that back to the board to power the servos. This is a very clean solution that prevents having high current pass through the slip ring.

J.E.D.I. Controller Hookup

2010-07-25T23:39:00.001-05:00

I finally hooked up my J.E.D.I. Controller and Display Controller together tonight. When starting up the Display controller everything runs through its start up procedure perfectly. The FLDs, RLD, and PSIs continue to do their random flashing. I can use my joystick commands and the music and/or sounds play, but the random light flashing never changes to match the joystick commands. It's pretty late, so I'll take another look at it tomorrow night. I may also post something on Astromech.net to see if anyone has any ideas.

Putting Together J.E.D.I. Displays

2010-07-24T22:45:00.003-05:00

I got the J.E.D.I. Display package a long time ago, but I was nervous about putting it together for fear that I would hook something up wrong. Clay grabbed his multimeter and helped test the power input for the system. With my power concerns put in check, Clay helped me hookup my display materials. Everything looked great! I just have to tin the ends of my 18 gauge power supply wires and hookup my J.E.D.I. Controller.

More Dome Smoothing

2010-07-24T22:36:00.001-05:00

At the first Midwest Robots group build day and barbecue I worked on smoothing out my dome cutting lines and gouges. I'm using DAP Plastic Wood to fill in any imperfections. This stuff is great, it dries in an hour and becomes harder than the styrene. It is easily sanded and can be cut with a razor blade.

Midwest Robots First Group Build Day

2010-07-24T22:21:00.003-05:00

Jason Neurath, Talon Culp, and I met to build for the first Midwest Robots build day and barbecue at Clay Cardwell's house. A little discussion about the future of our group, a lot of robot building talk, and even more joke telling. We had a great time! Thank you for hosting Clay.

I was excited to see Clay's CNC machine. The rear track kept binding on it's rear eight foot track. So Clay, with some help from the group, trouble shot the problems. Clay swapped some of the motors around and then shifted one of the X-axis tracks to square up the machine. All of the work paid off. After some fine tuning, the machine started working.

Clay tested the CNC out by cutting a Superman logo in some foam insulation.

With the CNC working as Clay intended, Clay practiced cutting out some Nomad panels for Talon in some foam.

One of the next big things I need to work on for R2 is the electronics. Talon showed me how he wired his droid.

Jason worked on cutting the panels out of his aluminum skins and filing down any barbs.

Talon worked on the his A&A R2 body parts.

Logic Display Mounting

2010-06-19T16:43:00.004-05:00

I had work to do around the house today, but I had a barbecue to go to in a couple of hours so I didn't want to get too involved in some home maintenance. Instead, I worked on R2's dome a little. I started my work off by hot gluing the Front Logic Display (FLD) panel in place so I would know where to mount the FLD surrounds.

I decided to use 1/8"x3/4" Fender washer to mount the FLD surrounds. I used a grinding attachment in my Dremel to grind out areas on each side of the FLDs so I could glue the washers in place.

I glued the washers in place with Tech-Bond.

I drilled and countersunk holes just like I did for the holoprojecters. I super glued 6-32x1/2" bolts in place outside the washer locations. When installed, I will use additional fender washers to hold the logic displays in place.

The thin outer dome strip below the Rear Logic Display (RLD) did not get glued before, so I used dimes as spacers and super glued the strip down. With the strip in place, I lined up the dome panels to find the location of the RLD. Once the location was determined I super glued some 6-32x5/8" bolts in place to hold the RLD surround.

I then started dripping super glue to the top of all the screw heads. I will continue to do this, and sand, over the next couple of days until the super glue is built up enough that there is a smooth transition between the dome around the screw mounting location and the screw heads.

Cutting Dome Base Down To Size

2010-06-06T19:57:00.002-05:00

When I glued the outer dome to the inner dome it fit together pretty snug, but there was slightly more room below the dome ring on one side than the other. Not a big problem, I expected something like this. That is why I waited to cut/sand the bottom of the dome to the right height. The gap between the panels and the dome is about the size of a dime's width, so I used several dimes as spacers between the dome ring and the outer dome to set the dome ring gap. Once the gap was set, I used a Sharpie to draw a line where the inner dome need to be trimmed.

It was time to cut the dome base down to size, so removed the dome ring. When I did, it split in one area and cracked in about three other areas. I guess that is what happens when your dome needs a lot of hands on work. I used Tech Bond to glue the broken part back together and seal the other cracks. I'll sand it smooth another night.

With the line drawn I used a Dremel cutting wheel to start cutting above the line so I could sand it down to the exact size I needed. Tonight was game five of the Stanley Cup. GO BLACKHAWKS!!! I recorded it so I could watch it without interruption after the kids went to bed. Hannah, my hockey player, had other plans. She insisted I come in right away and watch the game. How could I refuse? I guess I'll finish cutting another night.

Dome Sanding

2010-06-05T14:42:00.002-05:00

Covering the countersunk screw heads with Super Glue and sanding them smooth took more effort than I expected. It eventually turned out great; but I had to do several passes with adding Super Glue to the heads, letting it dry, and then sanding it to make sure all the little holes were filled and the end product was felt seamless with the dome.

I then used 330 grit sand paper to sand the entire dome. I'm not posting any pictures because you really can't tell the difference from a photo. The dome is slightly more dull than it was before, but the texture is different.

Bolts For Holoprojectors

2010-06-01T20:00:00.006-05:00

I had a little time tonight so I traced the outside circle of the fixed holoprojector flange on the inside of the dome. I then drilled pilot holes outside of the circles so I can countersink the bold heads on the outside of the dome. When installed I will use washers and nuts to hold the holoprojector in place.

With the pilot holes in place, I used a countersink bit I got from Menards to remove part of the styrene dome to hide the bot heads.

I then used Super Glue to attach the 6-32x1/2" bolts around the lower holoprojector holes. Once the Super Glue on the bolts set, holding the bolts in place, I used the Super Glue on top of the bolt heads to fill in the gap. Once dried, I will come back and sand the Super Glue down to match the curve of the dome.

Inner Dome Hole Cutting

2010-05-28T19:50:00.002-05:00

I needed to get the holes cut in the inner dome today, so I started out by drawing/tracing the inner dome hole locations.

I used the previous plunge and rotate method with the Dremel to cut the holes, and then I used a wine bottle wrapped in sand paper to smooth the circular holes.

Four year old Joshua loves to watch and help build R2 when he can, so I lifted him up on the work bench and gave him a sander. He did a GREAT job!

Finally, all the inner dome holes are cut!

Frame Priming

2010-05-28T15:44:00.002-05:00

I hadn't used a spray can in at least five years, so I decided to prime my frame with some White Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Primer. I think I may have put it on a little too heavy because I ran out. I'll finish after a trip to the store.

Radar Eye Mounting

2010-05-24T23:20:00.003-05:00

I drilled the radar eye holes I marked last night. Once the holes were drilled, I duct taped the radar eye in position. I drilled from the inside of the dome through the newly created dome holes to mark the hole locations on the back of the radar eye.

Once the holes were marked, I needed to make the holes deeper to hold the mounting screws. I added tape to my drill bit to act as a depth gage so I didn't drill to far into my radar eye.

I used some linesman pliers to snip the heads off four 6-32 x 1-1/4 bolts. I then used Tech-Bond to glue the bolts into the holes on the back of the radar eye.

Once the glued dried, I mounted the radar eye by putting the bots on the back of the radar eye through the holes of the dome and holding them in place with washers and nuts.

Dome Cutting And Gluing

2010-05-24T22:40:00.000-05:00

I've been nervous about cutting the inner dome; but tonight, I decided to go for it. I've done all the reading on Astromech.net I can, so there is no more excuses to delay. I put the inner and outer dome together one last time and traced the location of the top dome plate on the inner dome so I could line it up when gluing. I used a Dremel to cut along the top line, sanded the edge to make sure it lays flat against the inside of the outer dome when it is glued, and gave the inner dome piece a light sanding with 220 grit paper.

WHAT A MESS!!! Tech Bond was NOT the material to use to glue the dome together. I put the glue on the inside of the outer dome and I sprayed the activator on the outside of the inner dome. It was too hard to line up the dome piece before I accidentally touched the dome pieces together in a couple locations. By the time everything was lined up the activator had evaporated and the glue had dried so a bond was not made. I had to re-sand the inner and out dome pieces, put the dome pieces together, and glue the dome section by section.

I decided to do something different when gluing the lower portion of the inner dome to the outer dome. I decided to use Blair Artist's Mounting Adhesive. This will eventually make a permanent bond; but in the interim, I can move the pieces into place without fear of quick drying. I cut the inner dome along the remaining line (to leave a gap between the upper and lower inner dome sections), sanded the edge to make sure it lays flat when gluing, and gave the outside of the inner dome a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. This worked much better. I then glued the upper edge of bottom dome piece with Tech Bond to make sure it didn't move until the artist's adhesive set.

Dome Prep

2010-05-23T23:08:00.003-05:00

I had plans to work on my R2 all weekend, but the weather was so nice I ended up working on the my house for the majority of the time. About 9 PM on Sunday night I finally got to do a little work. I used Tech-Bond to glue the washer to the top of the dome. With that out of the way I determined that the best way to get a snug fit between the inner and outer dome was to cut the inner dome. I used a piece of paper sack to measure the distance from the top of the dome to the bottom of he dome panels. I then measured done one inch to determine where I was going to cut the dome. I measured down another inch to show where the new top of the lower portion of the inner dome would be. I was going to cut and glue the dome, but I was informed that it was almost 10 o'clock at night and waking the kids by using a Dremel would be a mistake.

With not cutting on the agenda for the evening, I drew the radar eye the outside of the dome and marked the holes for drilling.

I was running of of things to do that were quiet so I decided to call it an evening by hand sanding my radar eye, front logic displays surrounds, rear logic display surround, and holoprojectors. Once sanded, I washed them with soap and water and let them dry overnight.

Dome Topper Panels/Details

2010-05-18T17:30:00.004-05:00

I've been debating with how to do the top dome detail. I decided to used a washer and door hinge pin.

I decided to use a 3 1/2" Satin Brass pin because it has the head size I was looking for. I drilled out the dome top panel and the inner dome top just large enough to push the pin shaft through.

I then decided to use a 1/17 x 0.98 Brass washer because it provided the correct thickness, overall diameter, and gap between it and the hinge pin. I placed the washer around the hinge pin and traced it.

I then used a Dremel to remove the styrene from the dome panel. I wrapped sand paper around a wine bottle so I could slowly sand the hole larger (while keeping a perfect circle) until the gap between the washer and the styrene panel matched the rest of the dome.

Radar Eye Sanding

2010-05-18T16:13:00.003-05:00

The radar eye I have doesn't exactly match the contour of my dome. I traced the dome panel locations on my inner dome to show the radar eye location and duct taped sandpaper to the dome. I then sanded the radar eye using a horizontal motion in order to get the radar eye and the dome to meet properly.

The finished product!

Front Logic Display Panel

2010-05-18T15:34:00.003-05:00

Some type of bug has been going around our house, so I was home from work today. Once I felt better I decided to spend a little time outside enjoying the sun and working on R2-NU. I didn't trust the lines I made for the front logic display, so I measured the front logic displays and redrew the lines.

Clay suggested I use my Dremel to remove the front logic display styrene. I plunged the Dremel sanding wheel into the center of the hole space and slowly worked the Dremel around inside the lines in a counterclockwise direction.

I then came back with a small saw to remove the rounded corner styrene. Once that was done I sanded all the inner edges until the front logic display surround fit in the hole.

I then repeated the process for the lower front logic display hole and test fit both front logic display surrounds.

This process worked so well I used it to cut out the P5 Picture Panel also

Rear Logic Display Panel

2010-05-17T22:26:00.002-05:00

Jason hosted a build night at his place tonight. I worked on the dome panel that housed the rear logic display. I partially cut out the rear logic display hole out of the panel when cutting the rest of the dome panels the initially. Unfortunately, I cut the hole a little too wide and too short. I was able to increase the panel height, but I'm currently working to find a product that will fill in the extra width.

J.E.D.I. Controller Arrived!

2010-04-15T15:27:00.004-05:00

I got my much anticipated Joystick Enhanced Device Input (J.E.D.I.) Control System today. Thank you for all your hard work Scott Gray! Now I need to find the time to assemble it.

Holoprojector Lenses

2010-03-30T17:23:00.001-05:00

I was looking to buy some holoprojectors in the near future so I asked ResinParts.com about lenses to go with the holoprojectors. He suggested I buy 1½" Acrylic Cabochons from TAP Plastics. I bought three for a total of $14.62 (including shipping).

It's Almost Been Two Years

2010-03-21T18:14:00.002-05:00

On April 3 our local builders group will be two year's old. We decided to have our anniversary barbecue early to coincide with Lynelle's visit for the VEX Robotics Championship. Brad kicked everything off by firing up the grill. And as usual, open flames draw a crowd.

Those who could, brought their R2s for a group picture. We kept them inside while we were eating.

I bought an R2 Cake Pan off of Craig's List. I baked and decorated my first themed cake! Of course I had to walk around and see whose mouths turned blue from the icing.

There was no building today. Everyone just hung out, played games, and enjoyed each other's company.

As the day got later we took the droids outside for a group picture in front of the pool.

The feminine portion of the builders club posed for a picture.

...And then the rest of us decided we wanted to be in a group picture to.

2010 VEX Robotics Championship Of The Americas

2010-03-20T22:18:00.011-05:00

The 2010 VEX Robotics Championship Of The Americas was held this weekend at the Omaha Kroc Center. The builders club was asked to come entertain the crowd for the participant party after the championship on Saturday night. Our contact, Allison Pappas, reserved a booth in the main hallway between two of the game areas so we could interact with everyone. We had two mobile R2s and a mobile R3. Lynelle, Jason, and I had our non-mobile R2's on display also.

Everyone took turns manning the booth and fielding questions from parents, teachers, and competitors

Brad ran his R2-D2 around.

Jeff got his R2-TD running about an hour before the event. It looks like his maiden voyage was a complete success!

Lynelle's all aluminum R2-AL was on display.

T3 ran around entertaining the crowd. Most people didn't recognize it and referred to it as a large robotic dog.

Many thanks to Rob and Ben from the 501st volunteered to watch the booth and answer questions.

As we wrapped up the evening, we gathered the standing droids and posed for a picture

Dome Panel Sanding

2010-03-02T22:39:00.003-06:00

I got together with another builder and Jeff tonight for a mini build night. Jeff worked on Jeff's motor mounts and wheels and I worked on sanding my dome panel pieces. It was a short night, but I was able to get everything sanded.

Cutting Off Excess Dome Material

2010-02-02T21:49:00.003-06:00

When vacuum forming the styrene dome excess material is left on the base that needs to be cut off. I cut off some of the dome material before OSFest so it would not be in the way during the convention. tonight I wanted to make the dome base and inner dome straight and smooth. We started by measuring the lowest point between the top of the wood quilting ring (glued to the dome base and used to hold the dome on) and the bottom of the dome base at several points around the base. Once all the points were marked, a flexible ruler was held along the points and I drew a line connecting the points.

I then used the Exacto knife to score on or below the line.

I used a pair of pliers to slowly bend the excess styrene causing it to tear/break away from the dome base. I methodically worked my way around the dome base until all the excess material was separated from the dome base. I then used sand paper to smooth out the edge and remove any high areas.

Jason showed up and brought his new aluminum dome to compare against an aluminum dome and my styrene dome. There were slight differences between each dome run.

The inner dome needed the same work done as the dome base, so I scored and removed the material below the bottom line.

Jeff's Motor Mounts

2010-02-02T21:42:00.002-06:00

Jeff worked on his motor mounts tonight. We didn't have an air compressor in the house, so Jeff had to pop rivet them together manually.

Plastic Skins

2010-02-02T21:35:00.003-06:00

Some local builders attached the plastic skins they made to R2-PD. I helped by holding up one side of the back skin and clamping down, so it could be screwed to the frame. But mostly, I heckled.

First Group Build Night Of 2010

2010-01-26T21:58:00.014-06:00

It was the second group build night of 2010 but the first one I was able to attend. Most members said they couldn't make it; and at the last minute a few others got stuck at work or doing family things. My first group build night ended up being another builder and myself.

Most R2 skirts have only styrene on the front and back. Because people usually lift their R2s by grabbing the skirt, I filled the area inside the skirt behind the styrene with wood putty. I started out the evening by sanding the wood putty on the bottom of the skirt. I turned my frame upside down and centered my skirt on the bottom frame plate. The hole cut in the bottom of the frame plate is a pretty close estimate. I marked where the extra wood on the bottom part of the frame will need to be routed off. While I held the skirt in place, a rough mark was made where the center of the wood skirt tabs (used as an anchor to screw the frame and skirt together) line up on the bottom of the frame. We then took the skirt off and measured the distance from the skirt hole to the center of each skirt tab.

The skirt tab center measurements were transferred to the bottom frame plate.

Once all the skirt tab centers were located, I drilled pilot holes.

I needed to mark where the center leg should be mounted on the white slide plate for the center leg. So I attached a 3/4" board (the same width of the frame base plate) to the bottom of the center leg base plate (the center of which will be cut out later) in order to make a flat surface to measure and mark the center. Because the frame base plate is not a perfect circle the diameter was not 18" across everywhere. We picked three random points on the outside of the frame base plate and used a ruler as a compass to draw three 9" arcs on the temporary center boards. The intersection of the three arcs gave a general center area where I drilled a center hole. On another day, I will level the frame and drill a small hole through the center leg base plate into the center leg slide plate to mark the center.

With the center leg location marked, I center the skirt again. While it was held in place, I screwed (by hand because the center leg slide bars got in the way of the drill) the skirt to the frame going through the bottom center leg plate, through the frame bottom plate, and then into the skirt tabs on both sides of the skirts. I then screwed the front of the skirt to the frame. I rested the center leg on the center leg base plate for the picture to get a general idea of how it will sit.

With my skirt attached, we worked on "ED." We centered the skirt, marked it's location, and drilled pilot holes in the frame base plate and skirt tabs.

I held the skirt in place while it was attached it to the frame.

With both of our skirts attached, I put R2-NU's legs back on to take a look at it as it should appear when my R2 is finished. Discussion turned to my center leg height, so we used one of the outer leg styrene foot shell pieces to give us a general if the center foot height/reveal.

What group build night would be complete without one final picture of the completed work?

Dome Edge Sanding

2010-01-10T22:30:00.003-06:00

I sanded the dome panel openings off and on over the Christmas Holiday. No pictures because it is hard to tell the sanding differences. I now have to sand the panels themselves and the bottom of the dome ring to make sure it is even with the skins.

2009 Holiday Air Affair

2009-12-12T14:50:00.010-06:00

The 2009 Holiday Air Affair was another success. As an R2 Builder, I took on a lesser role this year opting to spend more time with the kids. Santa arrived on an Ashland Fire Truck and was escorted in by Stormtroopers.

Hannah and Joshua got to sit with Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Wouldn’t you know it, a huge building full of airplanes and the kids decide to play with blocks.

The R2 Builders gathered before everyone got there for pictures.

The crowds and the picture line formed. Everyone loves Star Wars, and Brad and Syrena (Darth Vader and Princess Leia) decided to ham it up.

I saved the best picture for last. One of the 501st members let some kid dress up in his Jawa costume. The R2 Builders got him to hold Brad’s R2 dome above his head (Brad suffered only a mild heart attack).

Star Wars In Concert Hits Omaha

2009-12-08T23:57:00.009-06:00

Star Wars In Concert finally made it to Omaha and when it arrived it brought a blizzard with it. I was hoping the concert would be rescheduled, but no such luck. I was surprised to see how many people braved the storm. I guess when the Qwest Center tells you they won't reschedule or refund your money you find a way to get there (getting home proved to be a little more difficult, but that is a story for another time). The Rebel Legion, 501st, and the R2 Builders were at the concert; but unfortunately, they left their droids at home. I loved seeing all the Star Wars costumes and props.

The man that helped bring down the Republic!!!

I finally got my picture taken next to a back drop. There were LARGE crowds of people in line for every display area.

A senate guard and the Emperor's Guard! I use to have one of these as a kid. I told Michelle this and she looked at me like I had two heads.

C-3PO, the man...the droid...the Star Wars In Concert host.

Builders show off their new costumes!

Han Solo in Carbonite!

Center Leg Support

2009-11-11T22:28:00.007-06:00

I needed a change of pace tonight so I decided to work on the center leg supports. I cut a piece of 3/4" plastic down to 5 1/2" x 12" to use as the sliding plate and then dry fit it to make sure I had enough room for it to move between the side supports of the frame.

I then cut to two 5 1/2" boards to sandwich the plastic and act as top and bottom anchors for the four sliding rods.

Moose and I then lined up the sides of all the boards and clamped them so we could drill holes through all three boards. That way they would all match and we wouldn't have to worry about the center plate binding when the center foot raises and lowers.

The top plate will be slightly below the center outer leg pipe and the bottom plate will rest base of the frame. We temporarily screwed the bottom board into the frame base plate (I will replace it later with bolts) and dry fit the remaining boards. The hole size is perfect for the top and bottom plates, but I will have to make the holes in the plastic plate a little larger to allow it to slide easier. As with framing a door, the center of the bottom board will be cut out once the sides are permanently attached.

The four rods were not cut and the top board was not permanently attached because I want to get the skirt installed and the center leg assembled to determine the exact location everything needs to be.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-27T22:43:00.001-05:00

We decided to take a break this week from R2 Building and do a little pumpkin carving and watch some Halloween movies. I carved a Darth Vader in a real pumpkin and started carving an R2-D2 in an artificial pumpkin.

Cutting Dome Panels

2009-10-20T22:42:00.003-05:00

After my leg work was done, I did a little dome work. I number all the panels and started cutting them out. The smallest arc on the dome panels where too small to use a Dremel so I left the bottom corners of each of the panels uncut with the intention of cutting them after I cut the top arcs. I used a carpet knife (I left my exacto knife at home) to make a deep score in the top arc, finished cutting the bottom panel corners, and then slowing bent the panels inward causing them to snap/break on the score lines.

Sanding/Chisel Work On Outer Legs

2009-10-20T22:11:00.006-05:00

I borrowed a large sander from my father and the group sanded their outer legs. Thanks Pop, the group really appreciated it! I got a little aggressive in some areas, so I will have to use bondo here and there. The legs turned out great.

Steve and Jeff worked on assembling Steve's outer legs with all the new hardware he picked up.

Moose, Brad, Syrena, and Steve cut some pipe and angle iron for their 3-legged R2s. And Brad even did a little welding for Syrena.

Moose, Brad, and Syrena worked on cutting the pipe holes for Syrena's droid.

I used a chisel and file to cut out under R2s shoulders and square off his ankles.

More Dome Cutting Before My Hands Froze

2009-10-13T22:23:00.002-05:00

Before it got so cold in the barn that I couldn't hold the Dremel, I managed to cut three of the four sides of all my dome panels.

First Really Cold Build Night Of The Fall

2009-10-13T21:45:00.002-05:00

I didn't get much work done on my own R2, but it was nice to hang out help out others a little, and joke around. One of Syrena's side frame supports popped out when it was drying; so Brad and I used a chisel, screw driver and a clamp to free it from it's wrong position and then re-glued it. Moose needed some extra light while he was trying to replace the belt on the sander, so I helped out. I either tried to blind him by shining the light in his eyes or burn his neck by holding the light too close.

Dome Panel Cutting

2009-09-29T22:33:00.003-05:00

I started cutting my dome with a hand saw again. This is a very long and tedious process.

I don't know what it is about R Series domes, I just have to try them on.

I borrowed my fathers Dremel. While looking through the box of supplies I found a thinner cutting wheel. I decided to try cutting the panels with the Dremel rather than cutting them by hand with the saw. This ended up working great. It was fast and the lines where straighter.

The Dremel worked so well on the straight lines I decided to try it on the holoprojector holes. I cut close to the edge of the circle but not on it. When I finished cutting all the way around, I popped out the piece and used a Dremel sanding attachment to take it to the line and make the hole perfectly round. I then took a drill, using the largest bit I could find, and drilled out the holes for the dome bumps. I made them perfectly round by using the same sanding attachment I used on the holoprojector holes.

I got all the lower panel cut out, so I had to take pictures.

I got started on the dome panel before everyone cleaned up and went home for the night. I was able to cut the bottom arc and the sides of the panel with the Dremel, but the top arc was too sharp. I will have to find a smaller cutting wheel or use a handsaw for the top of the dome panels.

Finished Sanding The Skirt

2009-09-29T22:23:00.002-05:00

The wood putty was finally dry, so I sanded the skirt hole. Now I have to prime it.

Skirt Reinforcing

2009-09-15T21:26:00.003-05:00

While sanding the skirt the styrene edge started to crack in a couple of places. My plan is to eventually fill in the gap behind the styrene with wood putty or some other material to strengthen it so when R2 is transported it doesn't break. Until that happens I don't want the skirt edge to get damaged, so I reinforced the thin styrene skirt edge with 1/8" styrene. I started by cutting the 1/8" styrene into manageable size strips that would bend easily to the contour of the thin styrene already on the skirt.

The strips were then cut into smaller pieces and glued one by one to the inside of the skirt edge with Tech-Bond.

The inner skirt hole still has a lip where the boards were put together, so I added wood putty to the edge and will sad it when it dries.

Great Day For Sanding

2009-09-06T14:58:00.001-05:00

No pictures, but I spent a good portion of the day sanding my skirt while the kids played in the yard.

2009 Star Wars Night At The Omaha Royals

2009-08-28T23:30:00.005-05:00

Tonight was Star Wars Night at the Omaha Royals. Because R2-NU is still not done yet, I signed up to be a droid wrangler. Until you tried it, you will never know how hard it is to be nice and still keep several dozen excited children from touching their favorite Star Wars hero. By the end of the night I was exhausted.

Syrena taking a picture with her grand kids, and Brad and Moose drove their R2s around.

Jeff, in his rebel legion costume, stops for a picture with Casey.

Brad and Casey locked in a heated light saber duel. By the way, many thanks for letting me drive his R2 around part of the night while he mingled with the crowd and took pictures.

Members of the 501st leaving the stands after Darth Vader through out the first pitch.

R2-CM got cornered by the 501st.

Jeff and the attending R2s pose for a picture.

Skirt Sanding

2009-08-18T22:36:00.004-05:00

The group got together for another build night. Everyone else worked on frames and legs, but I spent most of the night sanding my skirt. Just before it got too dark, I used a flush trimming router bit to make the hole in the bottom plate of the skirt match the inner hole walls.

Once one of our local builders saw what I was doing he ran inside and got both his and girlfriend's skirt and routed them. He couldn't find his mask, so he had to use his shirt. Do worry, I gave him a hard time about it.

Since we have a several new people, we decided to get a group photo before we went home for the night.

Hannah Hangin' With R2

2009-08-14T06:29:00.001-05:00

Hannah wanted to look at my blog and the pictures of my R2. We noticed that we didn't have any pictures of her with R2-NU alone, so we ran down to the garage and took a picture.

More Skirt Puddy Work

2009-08-13T23:46:00.000-05:00

I added wood putty to all the seems around the outside of the skirt. I tried to make a curved edge on the four inner corners of the skirt hole. Next...sanding.

An Attempt To Fill Skirt Gaps

2009-08-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

After making blueberry pancakes for dinner, I attempted to fill the gaps and screw holes in my skirt with wood putty. It wasn't long before the kids wanted to help. We made a huge mess. I will probably have to redo a lot of this work again later, but the kids had fun helping.

Skirt Assembled

2009-08-04T22:48:00.004-05:00

Moose helped me put together my skirt tonight. I cut out two styrene arcs at the last build night in preparation for tonight. Moose helped me glue the styrene to the front and back of the skirt with his Tech-Bond glue. I love this stuff, so I went home and bought a bottle. The arcs were a little big, so a little trimming was required. This glue works great! I think the wood will break before the glue will let loose.

The crew made a mold for the skirt ribs, so I mixed up a couple batches of resin and poured enough for one skirt.

While we waited for the skirt ribs to harden, we cut out another rib pattern to tell us where the place the ribs on the skirt. Moose was the first to try it, and he glued ribs to Patches’ skirt.

The vertical boards that surround the skirt hole needed to be glued in place, so Moose and I clamped the wood and applied the Tech-Bond. Another tight fit that won’t be broken anytime soon.

With the skirt ribs hardened, I sanded them to the size I needed. I had help gluing the ribs in the corners. The corner ribs completely cover the edges of the styrene and line up with the edge of the wood. With the corner ribs in place, the rib locations were marked and glued to the skirt.

The bottom of the skirt needs to be smooth, so I took out the screws holding the vertical boards around the skirt hole one by one and countersunk them. Jeff supervised giving both advice and words of encouragement.

After the skirt was complete I couldn't’t help but start messing around. What better way to test out R2’s skirt then to try it on.