This is short video of Gary Weaver’s aluminum R2 that inspired so many of to start building. Someone posted the videos on the Builders Group today, and I thought I’d pulled together this little montage.
It may not seem that impressive today as droids are a dim a dozen, but this was built many years ago and he helped pioneered the way for all us aluminum junkies. I can clearly remember Gary posting regular updates on the Replica Prop Forum and thinking to myself that I’d never have the patients, the skils or the money to pull something like that off 🙂
Here’s a great video by Mike Senna on how to pick and fit castors for your center foot.
I’m currently using omni-balls, but I may switch them out soon.
See also
Believe it or not I am still alive and working on Artoo. I’ve had an incredibly hectic couple of weeks, but I’ve still been able to fit in some building here and there. Unfortunately, I’ve not had time to blog the progress, the good news is I have been taking photos so hopefully I can go back and post what I’ve missed later. WonderCon is also coming up in two weeks and I’m rushing to get Artoo back together and presentable.
Most of the work this last week has been working on the electronics and finishing the skins, like attaching the small detail pieces, doors, panels etc. I’ve only got a few more bits to go and he’s looking really good.
The panels and inserts I simply attached with silicon. Nothing fancy, just held in place with tape while it dried over night.
Some people use epoxy to fix the rear panels just in case they decide to collect signatures, but I really don’t care for signatures (nor epoxy) and this is a much cleaner/quicker method for me at least.
I did get one door hinged, the one I’ll be using to access the on/off switch and charging port. Like a lot of builders, I had a lot trouble getting the Robart to work correctly. In the end I left the hinge in the default setup as suggested by the manufacturer, but ended up using some spacers to lift the hinge away from the skin/door slightly. I’ll try and take some better pictures and detail how I add hinges to the remaining doors.
To secure the door closed I attached a magnet and metal stop for it to hold on to.
I also added a small warning sign to the inside of the door. It’s my interpretation of the one seen in ROTJ where Artoo helps free Leia from the chains.
One of the issues I’ve had is that the back door doesn’t fit well. I’ve been avoiding it, but I would like to have it attached for WonderCon. The problem is the skins don’t quite wrap around the frame snuggly, which leaves the back opening wider than it should be and the door has more of a gap around it than I’d like. I’ve still going some tweaking but I think I may have to live with it for now.
This is the correct gap at the top of the door
I now need to remove the skirt and bottom ring to drill and tap some holes to attach the octagon ports and power couplers. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to disassemble the frame for a while.
Here’s a summary of work and posts for January
Posted by Chris on January 31st, 2008 in Update | Comments Off on January 2008 Summary
Update 4/21/08: Click here for the latest wiring schematic.
A few weeks ago, I’d posted my simple charging schematic that I’ve implemented in my Artoo. It allows me to switch between normal usage or battery charging. I’m not an electrical engineer by any stretch of the imagination, and my wiring diagram wasn’t very elegant, but the setup worked fine.
Bob Ross pointed out that I really didn’t need to isolate the ground connections in the system while charging. This would save me one relay, and power to run it. He was kind enough to redraw the simplified circuit for me, and also came up with an improved design which allows me to run my droid (low load systems) from an external 12VDC power supply while the batteries charge.
Now that I have my new 60A relays I’m hoping to wire this up over the weekend, but thought I’d share it here first.
[PDF Version]
Thanks again Bob 🙂
I’m using simple 12V SPDT automotive relays in my droid to control switching of power between normal operation and the charging system.
Typically automotive relays are 30A/40A, but I felt I needed something a little bit more substantial. I found these 60/80A relays at SkyCraft for less than $5, which is very reasonable. I’d tried to find something local but came up blank.
The only catch is the terminals are 3/8″, instead of the more normal 1/4″, luckily I found some at Pep Boys for a couple of bucks. I’m hoping to work on getting my electronics re-installed this week and i’ll swap these into my setup at the same time.
I finally got around to fitting my newly painted skirt and skins to the frame. Overall I’m happy how they came out and can’t wait to get the panels fitted.
For some strange reason there’s now a gap where the skirt meets the bottom of the frame which wasn’t there before. I’m not sure if it’s something I can fix easily or if I’ll even notice once I get him back on 3 legs.
I still need to glue on the small panels with silicon, but that should be relatively easy. For the larger panels I’ll probably use silicon too, but I’m hoping to hinge some of the front one’s.
Now that the skins are on I could mark the holes on the frame rings for adjustable brackets that hold things like the octagon ports and power couplers in place.
I vaguley remember doing a few interviews at C4, but never thought I’d see any of them. But today I found one on Youtube.
