After a long wait, I finally acquired a laser-cut styrene dome for R2. These domes are awesome. They consist of an inner and outer dome and a base. All of the panels are laser-cut out of the outer dome, making it very easy to paint the dome, and making the details very sharp.
Continue reading R2-D2’s new dome!
I’ve decided that I’m a real slacker when it comes to updates here. Over the last month, I’ve made a LOT of progress on R2. I received the motors from jaycar in Australia, and got them installed. R2 is now moving and is radio controlled! Here’s a quick video:
Continue reading R2-D2: An Upwardly Mobile Droid!
In the middle of this last week, I received the fuse box for the electronics board. This allows me to put each motor on a separate fuse. That way, if a motor shorts or overloads, it will blow the fuse and not destroy the expensive speed controllers. I got the fuse box mounted onto the electronics panel and wired it up.
Continue reading R2 Update: Electronics, Wheels, and a 3rd Foot
This last weekend, I decided to do a proof-of-concept with R2’s control electronics. I wanted to be sure the radio transmitter, receiver, and motor controllers not only functioned, but functioned the way I think they should.
I had an old Kenner radio controlled R2 given to me a few years ago, but it didn’t work. At one point, I took it apart to fix it (I did go to school for electronics after all) but the electronics were in pretty bad shape. Bad capacitors, cold solder joints, etc. I decided this would make a perfect “proof-of-concept” test, since the basic layout is the same: 1 motor in each foot, and 1 in the dome.
Continue reading R2 Update: Control System Proof-of-Concept
Welllll….
I was looking back through my entries here and realized I haven’t done an update on R2 in a LONG time! I’ve made a lot of progress since the last update.
Last fall, I received the CNC-scored skin set. This set consists of 4 skins (2 layers for the front and 2 for the back) that have all of the panels pre-scored in them. It wasn’t too tough to cut them out (some of them just snapped out with a little bending) and get them glued in place.
I used the scrap that punches out of the utility arm area to scratch-build some utility arms. I also scratch-built the large data port (the long blue slot on top). I think they turned out pretty good for scrap:
Continue reading Major R2 update!
Not a ton of progress the last couple of days… really decided to take a day off of working on R2 after my adventures with the paint on the dome. I did decide to try to put together something that at least somewhat resembles the leg struts, since budget doesn’t really permit for resin cast right now. These will eventually be replaced with more accurate pieces, but these will work for now. I machined up the detail pieces out of PVC, and added them to some polycarbonate tubing I had left over from a previous project.
Here are the unpainted detail pieces on the tubing:
Continue reading R2 Progress – Leg Struts
Well it’s been a busy couple of days on R2. I trimmed the foam in the skirt, painted it, and temporarily installed it:
Continue reading R2 Progress – Skirt complete, Dome Work
First, as promised here is a photo of my PVC spacer system for mounting the shoulders. These spacers are cut just about 1/32″ shorter than the black PVC shoulder hub, and they offer support for tightening the bolts down while allowing the PVC hub to snug up square against the shoulder mounting plates on the body.
Continue reading R2 Progress: Skirt and shoulder mount system
I’ve made a lot of progress since my last post. First, a quick recap of the dome. It’s aluminum, I don’t know the maker. I picked it up for $40.00 and got the resin-cast vents, power couplings, and octagon ports as part of the deal. This is what the dome looked like when I got it:
And this is the current state of the dome:
Continue reading R2 Progress – Legs, Shoulders, Frame, Booster Covers