October update

It's October already? Im slowly getting closer to having stuff done. Which essentially means that there's lots of uncompleted projects laying about! I should have my COM8-1A frame in another two weeks (hopefully not much longer than that!). That frame has a different bottom to it, which makes the GenIII skirt from Crash unusable. I had to dig around the couch cushions to order an aluminum skirt which meets the design specs of the 8-1A, but financially was not planned for. I am considering, strongly, of building a mostly wooden droid, probably of the R5 variety, as a second droid. I'll be able to use my GenIII skirt for that.

Here's a few pics of my progress and mess. :-)

I'm working on my skins slowly. I started using VHB tape on the doors, but recently saw a droid that was powdercoated. It's cool, very durable, but my original plan was to do all of my on painting. If I choose to powdercoat I have to remove the VHB tape, and JB Weld the doors. I've managed to pick up some leg parts over the summer - Com-8 Shoulder/Horseshoes, and a pair of type 1 ankle bracelets to fit my extended booster covers and leg struts. And as if I didn't have enough to do that's a Mouse Droid frame sitting there (shells sitting in a box). 

My son and I went to DroidCon II and have continued to learn to solder. It's getting easier, or I should say I'm getting more confident in my abilities. Better tools help a ton too - ditch those cheap soldering irons! Another big plus is having this large surface to work on.

Parts keep rolling in. Here's my Booster Covers. Lightweight aluminum, but is the dirtiest part that I've recieved to date. This is after a good scrubbing too! Some light sanding to prep for painting and it'll all be good.

I recently bought a bunch of 3mm LEDs off of eBay for my Tecees project. I bought some earlier but they had flanges. After trimming the flanges of of about 10 of them I decided to just hunt for the flangeless ones. 100 each of 5 colors, straight from China, was $20. I paid for it last Thursday, and it looks like they'll be delivered tomorrow (Thursday). 

Some big items should be offered in the next couple of months, aluminum legs and the new 300mm aluminum dome. those will be costly, but essential. 

Build on!

 

Slow, but steady, progress

(Edit: I found this post that I forgot to publish. It's my new worktable!)

Part of this R2 project required me to clean my garage and make room. This is something that I've tried to do over the years, "clean the garage", which in the past mostly meant reorganizing the piles of stuff into new piles. This time it's different. Not only have I successfully cleaned nearly 3/4 of the space (there a much smaller pile now, donated a lot and threw away some, and what's left is stuff that we want to sort through.....later), but its given me plenty of room for a new work bench and room to have an R2 once it's on legs. Here's a pic of the new table. The top is a 4'x8' sheet of plywood that I got from Home Depot, but the top layer was some kind of wood that looked cool. So I sanded, stained, and clear coated it. It looks way better in person, and my wife says I'll be afraid to scratch it - how can it possibly be a work table?!? She may be right. Then there's two shelves for storage of parts and "works in progress", and I have room to sit at the table to work (I forsee lots of soldering in my future).

They call it an "update"...

Sorry for the lack of updates, I forgot my password then kind of didn't take the time to chase it down. But all is good now. No pics this time around, but I've made some progress. Mainly I've been buying parts from various club members. Everything I've gotten so far is top notch - the stuff that's being produced is really remarkable. From resin parts from WORR Parts, circuit boards and electronics, various aluminum parts from several different club members, to my incredible skirt from Crash. I'll update with a new post this weekend and catalog (with pics) where I'm at right now. I should also show my workspace that I've build just for this project. I think it turned out really nice, with room to work. And room to buy new toys, like a drill press. I recently finished rebuilding a Rockler slipring to mount the head on, and the drill press came in quite handy. Anyways, more later, and thanks for reading!
-Mark

My first official R2 part

Two Dome Topper parts - they are tiny!

I've already received my first part, it came two weeks ago. It's a "Dome Topper" that I got from 'Corellian Exports' out of Beaverton, OR. So I'm officially starting from the top!

I have other parts on order, either paid for or waiting to be invoiced for, and waiting to be put into manufacturing. I have 'JAG Hinges' that connect to open/close the doors and hatches on R2's body and dome. Another part that should be shipping in the next two months are servo controlled hologram projector mounts. Oh, and I just ordered the circuit board assembly for the projectors (there are 3 total). I also am waiting for aluminum utility arms to be made. I've also provided intrest in aluminum legs

This project doesn't phase me too much, other than the fact that there isn't a "shop" where you just go and buy the parts you need. I know that this won't be a fast project by any means, so for now I'm just buying parts as I go. I try to figure out what the part is, what it's made out of (aluminum/styrene/other?) and try to decide it that's the purchase for me. I've figured out some of the parts that I want, but there are still others that I'm trying to decide on. Right now it's whether or not to go with wood legs or aluminum legs. I think I'll go with aluminum feet for durability, but if I go the wood route for the legs I could totally build those out myself. I do like the look and feel of aluminum, and the prices for such parts don't shock me much, but it would be cool to build some of the parts from scratch if possible. Of course, a big factor is how it's going to look as an end product.

So there we go - part #1. While I'd like to keep a log tracking each purchase, who made it, etc., I know that my attention span will fade pretty quick. I'm starting out doing it, but I just know somewhere in the middle I'll lose track of stuff, and lose intrest.

Until next time....

Realizing a childhood dream...

And so it begins. It really all began back in 1977, as a 10-year old, when my friend Dustin told me of this movie he just saw. The way he described it to me was this: "There's this moon thing, and these two guys have a sword fight on it". Needless to say I wasn't all that impressed by his description, although I tried to picture it in my head (pirates...in space??). Soon after that my dad said the two of us would go see a movie together since it was playing next door to where he worked. Two and a half hours later and my life would never be the same. And with all the villains and heroes, it was that little R2 unit that grabbed a firm hold on my imagination. Playful, adventurous, scared, brave, a real smart alec - how could this metal trashcan with lights and wheels be all of these things?!? That was the summer of my first R2 build. I got an empty ice cream tub from the local 31 Flavors shop, and used one of mom's Tupperware containers for the head. I colored and taped on the various component drawings as best I could, for a 10 year old. I placed a flashlight in the head to shine through and illuminate his "mouth". And even though it was crude, and very static, it was the best damn toy ever! Later on I would try to put a small remote controlled car in the middle foot so it could move, but it never quite worked well (but good enough of course!).

Fast forward to 2010. Fan based R2 building had already been around for many years prior, but I was only becoming aware of just how technologically advanced they were. They looked like the real thing. Over almost three years I would read and try to understand all that it took to build one of these beauties. My hopes and dreams were dashed many times as I would research, and without seeing one closeup it was hard to tell what was REALLY going on. That all changed when I got to opportunity to meet some of the Pacific Northwest R2 Builders at the 2013 Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. Mind blown. 6 fantastic looking, fully functional in different ways, R2 units on display, in action, over three days. On Sunday they put on an hour long panel describing their R2 units, with a quick overview of each persons build. Wood frame, aluminum frame, styrene and aluminum parts, all coming together just right. Cost? Plan on $11,000 and a few years to gather parts, to scratch build, and lots of patience.

That inner 10-year old was beaming with excitement. I was hooked, and knew it was time to start my own R2 build.

That brings me to today. I've cleaned out the garage and built a rather large workbench/table with shelving (gotta have a place to store R2 parts like legs!). I've purchased two items, the first of which I've received - the Dome Topper. Two weeks ago I ordered JAG hinges, used in the body and dome to facilitate opening and closing of panel doors. I'm planning on buying an aluminum frame from Commando-8 later this summer, and hopefully a 300mm Dome. Perhaps the body skins too. I'm on the fence about the legs - wood or aluminum? I also purchased an Arduino programming kit, so I can start learning how to use it.

So within this blog I hope to post pics of each step of my build. Not only as a personal record of how things transpire, but also to show other people who might be interested in doing this on their own that this IS possible. You too can own your own R2 unit.

And while I really look forward to a completed unit, I am very interested in doing public appearances with it. From Children's Hospital, to Comic Con, to other events, I hope to share some of the magic that R2-D2 has brought into my life.

And so it begins....