Made a start on the Center Leg Mount last night. They’re based on a design by Atomic Pickle/JAG.

Started off with some aluminum plate and a nice block of 3/4″

I didn’t have access to a mill, so I rough cut the parts. I then sanded the block down on my bench sander till it fit and marked off the holes ready for cutting and tapping.

I’ll probably still go back at some point and mill out the center to reduce the weight.

Block inserted in leg

I still need to get some spacers to go between the plate and the frame.

More photos

I got to test a few of the satellite motors tonight for the first time. There’s an enormous amount of torque in them, but before the motor will turn you have to release the break using the white and black/white wire connected to a 12v or 24v battery. You should hear a snap or a click when I releases.

The motor is an integral part of many peoples 2-3-2 leg design, or even straight 3 leg designs, mostly due to the very popular JAG frame. I’ve yet to see anyone use them successfully in a 2-3-2 astromech, and heard some horror stories of people who have tried and failed. I’m hoping we’re going to see some working 2-3-2 implementations at C4 that overcome the shortcoming of the motors. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

I’m still not sure I’m going to use them right away, if at all. The major drawback with the motors is that on a heavy droid the gear teeth can sheer under stress. It’s not so much from stationary rotation of the legs/body, but when driving the droid around. The only thing hold the leg in that position is the small number of teeth that are engaged in the gearbox, and the inevitable happens.

Robert Ross has a prototype design for an external mechanical lock mechanism that will removes the stress on the gearbox. I’m trying to decide if I want to fabricate something similar or wait and see what happens after C4.

Another step closer today.

I was fortunate to pick up some shoulder to body hubs, and this is the last complex machined part that I need. I owe a lot of people drinks at C4 for helping me find stuff.
Frame build is well underway, and I’m now realizing how heavy this thing is going to be when done. People keep on saying 200-250lb for an all aluminum droid, but until you hold a stack of the parts bolted together it’s hard to imagine how heavy that really is. Time to start working about transport and storage in our two story house.

New Leg Hydrolics and Buttons arrived today from Ryan 🙂

Some other good news, I ordered a few more things today.

1) The super fantastic aluminum holoprojectors from Scott this week. I already had a set of Jason’s but these are just amazing so I couldn’t pass them up. Should have them sometime early February.

2) Aluminum Rear Logic Surrounds from Wayne – that means that all the visible components of my dome will now be metal.

I didn’t get much done this weekend as I’d planned, but some good news. Jerry is doing another run of the aluminum legs so I’ve placed my order for those, and I also just paid for my aluminum skins from John. With a bit of luck both should arrive around the beginning of March. At this rate I’ll have 80-90% of the parts for a static droid by Star War Celebration 4, but no chance of assembling it.

My R2 Bell…I mean JAG Center Ankle showed up today. Very nice work as always.

P.S. It does make a really nice bell sound when you strike it.

A few more parts arrived today: Rear Logic Electronics, Aluminum Front Logic Sorrounds , Aluminum Feet Half Moons.

I also placed an order with Jerry for a Center Ankle. It’s in stock so should ship soon.