Project R2-D2 PC

[TheGreatSatan]

I stood up R2. He's stable for now, but later I'll add whatever I decide to keep him that way.

Here's another with my 5 year old daughter next to him, just to get a real idea on R2's height.

I've decided to use the bottom portion of a Weber Grill for his head. It measures 22.5 inches and will be perfect. The grill will be about $60.00. The only problem is that after I remove the grills legs and the ash catcher I'll need to do some bondo work to cover the holes left.

[TheGreatSatan]

I'll obviously have to paint it. I'll be using bondo on the holes and to avoid seeing that work, I'll have to paint.

For the legs, I will get some steel rods and bend them to the shape of the leg's interior then fill the dead space with expanding foam.

I'll be getting the weber grill on Wednesday and will hopefully get started that night.

[TheGreatSatan]

I bought this large plastic outdoor flower pot. As you see, I set it inside of R2. It will hold the PC parts and support the 150mm fan in the bottom blowing upward. Under it, and still tucked into the body, will rest my phase change cooling system.

[TheGreatSatan]

$800

I bought the grill. Here you can see the holes I'll need to fill in with bondo.

The lip on the lid I'll need to cut off, so the head will stay on the body.

Here's an idea of what it'll look like. It's gonna be perfect!

[TheGreatSatan]

I started cutting away the lip on the grill. Without it there the head will fit even and snug. I started first with a jigsaw, thinking it would go faster than a dremel. The blade broke and I barely scratched the surface!

So I switched to the dremel. The first blade was gone after an inch or so.

After about 45 minutes I cut off maybe 40% of it and went through 8 blades.

[TheGreatSatan]

I bought the jets I'm going to use on the legs of R2. They are actually PVC piping for bathrooms. First I've applied a Plastic primer, I'll paint them silver/grey to match the dome.

Here's the 1/4 inch rods I'll be using to frame the legs.

And the foam I'll fill the legs in with for support. Behind them you can see the gold wires/tubes that come out of R2's feet. Those will go on later.

As you can see I fixed the paint blemish that everyone has noticed.

Here's the bondo, paint, tack cloth, and plastic bondo spreading thingies.

Lastly the sheet metal that'll go behind the holes in the grill before I bondo. I'll be using JB Weld to attach 'em.\

[TheGreatSatan]

Nice relaxing day today. I just painted the jets for R2's legs to match the color of the dome (which is still to come).

The dome on R2 will go a lot faster now that I bought an an angle grinder with cutting disk!

[TheGreatSatan]

Last night I worked on the legs. I used 1/4 inch rods and that foamy stuff. I have used many tools and methods when modding over the years, but this expanding foam has got to be the coolest.

In the first pic you can see the support rod covered by the foam.

And after it expanded and dried. I'll still have to shave off the excess and paint it.

[TheGreatSatan]

I've been working on the reinforcement of the feet/legs. I had shown you the foamy stuff in action and here's what it looks like after I cut it down.

I sketched out the feet.

And I cut them out.

Here's what I'm doing for the bottom. Between the mobo's components and the Phase Change cooling system I will be putting up a heat shield. Obviously I'll make the cuts where I need to in order to feed the heatsink to the Proc.
I bought a 24 X 36 inch sheet of aluminum that I've marked (below) to be cut down to 22 X 22. Then I'll cut off the corners and make it into a 22 inch circle, before dropping it in.

I also finished the dome cutting with the angle grinder. I used a 4 inch cutting disk and it cut the dome like butter. Loud, sparky butter. The silver squares left behind were from the where the handle had been.

And here's an image of the flush edge as it sits on R2's body.

[TheGreatSatan]

I got to work on the heat shield. There was a lot to be cut.

I got the 24 X 36 inch sheet down to 22 X 22.

Then I drew where the circle was gonna be.

I cut it out. A little rough and I'll fix it later.

Then I slid it in. Once I figure out where the fans and stuff will go, I'll make those cuts too.