R2server

[crazybillybob]

Well after some time spent welding and adjusting the second motor mount is finished.

After even more welding brazing and drilling, the motor mount is mounted in the foot shell

So now I have two completed feet

The nice UPS man came to my house again today
The Heart of the case mod is here!

Now I've gotta design a mount for everything. I'll get to that this week.

Let me know what you think.

Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

Well there's not much to report on the R2 front...Was out of town all of last week (for work), and I'm going to be gone again this week... But while I was gone I got 2 more boxes of R2 goodies

The First one was from DarkJediKeith (he pours the best Resin R2 Parts!), It was a box full of Resin details for R2, Sweeeeeet !

There will be very little clean up to do on these So I'll be washing them, then a light Alcohol bath, dry primer and Paint!.....When I get home.

The Other box was the Netgear 108Mb Wireless Network card.

This will help him interface with those pesky Trash compactors on level 9!

I hope to get most of the building done in the next few weeks so that I have a couple of weeks to spend painting him, and working out all the wiring!

Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

Well It's Great To be Home! If you have not noticed The R2 Updates have been none Existent for the last few weeks, That's because I've been away on Business. I'm back! , at least for a few weeks.

I spent a couple of days setting up the new tool! Here she is in all her glory.

With the Saw set up I've Started on the Booster Covers, What I thought would be one of the hardest parts to make. Not Now! Here's a shot of the booster covers on the ILM R2D2.

(It's the blue thing down the middle of the Leg)

Here's what I started with....Yeap a 2x4".

So I ripped about 1/8" off each side, a 1/2" off the back and Put this Bevel on the top. I did this on a 2x4" long enough to make both the booster covers out of. Saves setup time

The next step was to layout the outline of the booster cover, I used my Handy Dandy 1:1 print out for this.

Once the layout was transferred I cut it out on the band saw. (Quicker then the jigsaw and straighter on this thick stock).

Now you can see that the top of the booster cover (I'm going to call the head) is much thicker then the bottom, and is tapered. So I'm going to make it out of another piece of 2x4" Ripped down to 1" thick and just as wide as the cover. Then I'll hit the bottom with a rounding bit in the router, and finish the curve with a drum sander on the drill press (I forgot Pics for some of this....allot of trial and error here till it worked).

Ok so now the back of the head is flat and the Booster cover is beveled how do you glue them together? Easy Flatten the area where the head meets the cover

Now I'll add some of the basic details, the small lines were cut in with a hand saw the larger groves at the bottom a 1/4" round head router bit in the drill press...If you've got a buddy with a milling machine....Use him It's hard to keep the bit going straight (of course my drill is cheap and has a ton of run out...that's when the bit and or the head of the drill wobbles and are not dead straight when pressure is applied.) But a little filing and it will be all good. And Remember that all this wood will get a lite coat of bondo to keep the grain from popping up when painted. So Little things can be repaired then too.

Now Lets dry fit the basic parts before the glue up starts.

Now a Healthy does of Gorilla Glue and a clamp, and we're all set.

Once this Dries I'll start working on the last bits of details, for this one then Repeat for the other side. Took about 5 hours to make this one, but I also made the rough cuts for the second (the bevels and Ripping the stock to size) so it added time on, and now I know how to do it....The second one will be much easier and quicker.

As always Let me know what you think, and Click on the pics for bigger views.

Crazybillybob


By the way, R2 is going to MML....Even If I've gotta work on him in the parking lot !!!

[crazybillybob]

Well here's just a little update. I spent last night finishing up the detail on the first Booster Cover and Started Cutting out the second. I'm not going to bore you with a rehash of the process just the end results.

Here Everything is glued and clamped up. (Yes, Masking tape counts as a Clamp in my world!!)

And with the clamps (and tape) removed. I've got to clean up the glue overflow (Gorilla glue foams) and sand evrything smooth. Then I'll be getting out the Bondo. (Ok, I already bondoed part of one....Remember kiddos that when you clamp wood up make sure that you have a block between the clamp and your finished peice....cause if not you have a nice big divot where the clamp was.!)

That's all from Hillbilly LAbs.......More later, Yeap we're getting closer to paint everyday.....Soon, Very Soon.


Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

This weekend I was back in Ohio. My Niece had her first birthday on Saturday. But even with that I was able to move forward a little on R2

A few months back you may remember me making these things for the feet.

Well they needed some adjustments. So This weekend They Got adjusted and Brazed into place.

Now I can start the bondo phase (that's just one phase short of paint!)
I'll be running some wire down the legs to run the motors, then putting all the plastic back on them, this week as well as starting all the putty and primering on the Legs, Booster covers and Horseshoes (basicly the whole leg and leg details). Then this weekend I'll start on the mobo mount (I know that's why your all here! is for the PC part!)

Wish me luck...cause I'm going to need it to finish on time!

Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

I got home Last night and had a package Waiting for me
It was the Ball caster I ordered from Atwater Arch. It's a 4" ball in this bad boy....I'll not be getting caught up in sidewalk joints with this thing!!!

On a bit of a down note, My wife left me today and took the Digital camera with her








But She'll Be back

She's spending 10 days doing veterinary aid in Honduras, Like I said before She's very giving and loves People as well as animals (still doesn't explain why she married me?)..... So I'll not have any pic to post for a bit.. There is a chance that I'll hook up the R2 web cam and could use it for pics, but the image quality is really bad on that thing (640x480 I think is wishful thinking for it!).

I'm going to try and Get R2 moving for mml, But it still depends on weather or not I can get a speed controller in time. So I'll wire him like he needs to be and then I'll start bondo and painting.

Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

OK, You all talked me into it!
I'm shooting for R2 to be moving for MML
SO, I ordered this

It's the ScorpionXL from Robot Power.http://www.robotpower.com/products/s...n_XL_info.html
It's a nice little Speed controller, that should take care of R2's movements.

With that on orde I started bondoing R2's feet....(by the way I hate bondo, not the product..just the whole putty,sand,putty,sand,putty,sand thing I've got going on.. Might help if I wasn't so ANAL ) Sorry no pics...but I'll make sure I put some up later in the week (you know when my wife gets back with the camera).

On deck this week, more putting, and sanding, also going to whip up the mobo tray and hard drive mount (drawings nearly complete...I'll post them instead of pics) .

Crazybillybob

[crazybillybob]

It's been a bit since we've had a proper update to this worklog! So here we go!

Well the putting and sanding is mostly done on the feet, as you can see they've got a coat of primer now. There's some light touch up work to be done yet be there close.

If you look at the top of the pic you can see the Red and White 14Ga Power wires for the motors are ran down through the legs.

I also have the battery boxes, (they'll mount to the inside of the feet) These were hand crafted from PVC plumbing pipe (thanks Craig!!).

Now I just need to make a few holes for the motors and mounting and they'll be ready for prep and paint.

While we're on the feet I also got the Caster mounted in the front foot.

The center foot needs prepped and bondoed.

The Speed controller showed up this weekend (Great shipping!). So I hit Advanced Auto, where I found a nice Fuse block, some 15A and 30A fuses, and some 10Ga wire (for the battery to Speed controller link).

I want to place the Mother Board Tray and Hard disk before I mount the Speed controller and fuse block (so everything is neat and tidy). So I whipped up a Mobo Tray out of some 1/8" Aluminum. Still need to drill the holes for the standoffs but I'm having trouble finding a M3 tap locally....Might have to go to plan B (Radio Shack...If they carry standoffs any more?). I'm going to have to Remake the HDD mount ....It wasn't Square I slipped while sanding the edge smooth and took about 1/16" to much off of one end.

I also started and completed a "Mini-mod" I upgraded the battery pack in my Radio. See it came with an old NiCad pack (700MAH) and they don't sell any that are better. So I bought 8 AA NIMH (2200MAH) Batteries and modded the battery pack I had, by cutting the old batts out and using some Brass shim stock from the local hobby shop to join the NIMH batts together in the correct orientation. Now The Transmitter should run all day on one charge

OLD

NEW

Sunday after noon was spent Redrawing the lines that needed etched on the dome (some late night drawing before left some very crooked lines). With that done the Etching can begin.

So I've got allot of work ahead of me, but for the first time in a while it feels like the MML Dead line is doable. He will not be all done and some of the smaller details will be missing but, you'll know it's R2 and most people will not notice the missing pieces.

Expect More From the R2 Camp...As every night here at Hillbilly Labs is a Work night till MML!

Crazybillybob, heading back to the LAB!

[crazybillybob]

Just a little update (no pics....Tomorrow Promise) Just so you all know I'm still alive....been hard at work lately!
I've been Wiring....and wiring to get R2 Running around under his own power. He's very close Just need to punch a few holes into the feet (for the wires to run through) , attach the connectors, and finish up a brace for the speed controller (after a little talk with the guys from Robot power, I decided that to help improve airflow over the SC that it needs to mounted vertically, hence a new bracket!). Oh and there has been painting.....of detail parts..


Back to Work,
CrazyBillyBob

[crazybillybob]

Here's the Pics I promised! and a little update.

The Wiring for the Drive motors is all installed.

I didn't get the Speed controller mounted because I ran out of Screws....Picked some up today at lunch so It will be installed tonight!

That means that Hopefully I'll have some action pics to post tomorrow

I've also been working on getting the legs back to looking perdy, I've started by gluing the inside skin back on the legs.

The Edges should be glued back on soon, just waiting for the inside to dry good.

The nice Pretty Battery boxes that I got from Craig needed moded a bit, because my motors stick out of the inside of the feet. So I had to put a 2 1/2" hole in the side so that the box seats flat on the foot.

The hole is a 2 1/2" top Radius, the bottom is flattish, just the shape the motor needed to fit.
Here it is with the Batt Box in place on the foot. (It's held there with tape for now, need to run a couple of screws in to hold it.

I also was busy Sanding and puttying, priming and painting.
Here's a big lot of Details All primered up, Drying before they are wet sanded (the second time for the eye pieces).

And Here are the Power Coupler insides after their repaint job.

There's still allot left to do, but things are getting there. I hope to finish the etching on the dome tomorrow night. That way I can have the paint done on it Saturday....That will give me a few good days of Dry on the clear.


Crazybillybob.......Back to work!