Picture catch-up

Here are a few pictures of the latest work...

This is R2 sitting comfortably in my Smart car for the ride to Freds.  Got some funny looks on that trip.

Above are the second-hand items I bought from Mark.  I fitted the details which I had already bought into the shoulder horse-shoes and I'm over the moon with them.

Above is the Large Data Port (LDP).  This is fitted just under the dome and above the utility arms at the front.  Unfortunately this doesn't fit.  I'll have to take some of the material from the frame to allow this to be fitted.

Another picture showing the detail of the shoulder horse-shoes.  Unfortunately, I don't have the main legs yet to fit them to but it's coming together.

This is the coin slots fitted to the inner skin.  I only fixed them in with 2 bolts for the time being.  They will have to be removed at some point for painting so they are a temporary fit.

The logistics of the build are quite a lot to think about.  Buying or making the parts is one thing but the order in which they go together is quite another.  I won't be able to attach the out skins and doors until I have all of the body details as there cuts to make in the skins and fixings to hide like the bold heads for the coin slots.  It's proving expensive at the moment simply because a lot of the parts which are large and required to make the overall robot are being made and sold to the club members and if I don't buy them now it could be a couple of years before they are made again.  I have already ordered the legs and ankles.  The foot drives are in the process of being paid for and I think Jerry may be making the feet next.  I feel that in purchasing these items, I can get R2 looking like he should and then I'll be able to concentrate on some of the details.  Of course, then it's time to start on the electronics!

More work and more parts

I've been sanding the dome like a madman and all of the panels too.  It would appear that I may never be fully rid of the spin lines but they are seriously reduced now.  Took R2 to Freds again on Wednesday.  We re-aligned the skins, fitted the skirt and milled a small amount off the dome baseplate so the dome sits better over the top.
I was recently lucky in that a fellow builder called Mark advertised some aluminium parts on the forum and I managed to snap some of the parts up.  I'm hoping to post some photos of the parts and progress tomorrow.

Mock-Up

Couldn't help doing another mock-up with the frame, the inner skin and the dome.  It's noticeable that the dome is in the middle of being sanded at this stage.  Also, the front vents and the octagon port are my resin ones just hanging in there to fill the spaces.

Inner skins mounted

After fitting my mounting brackets, I ordered some more stainless nuts and bolts to continue.  I fitted the skin snaps to the brackets then the inner skins to the skin snaps.  Here's how it turned out...

On the next picture you can see how the skins can be removed for maintenance...

Then clipped back in when the tinkering is done...

These incredble skin snaps are made from nylon by Daren Murrer of the R2 Builders group.

Dome sanding and skin mounts

I've been doing a lot of dome prep work.  I marked and removed all of the panels from the outer dome and de burred the edges.  I then set to work sanding the spin lines out of the outer dome.  It's hard work.  To take a break tonight, I thought I'd attach the skin mounting brackets that I made from aluminium angle.

First I traced the shape of the frame ring against the aluminium then cut and filed them to shape.  This gave me two of these...

I then mocked up the inner skins around the frame which allowed me to see what height I was going to mount the brackets.

Once I Drilled through the side plates and attached the brackets, I offered the skin snaps up and I found that there were two moulded pieces on the back that prevented them from sitting flush.  I took my current favourite file and filed off the offending pieces.  Before and after pic here...

So they fit a lot better now.

So now I've ordered some more stainless steel hardware to continue the skin mounting part of the build and I'll continue with the dome sanding.  More to come soon.

Slow work

There's been a lot of unseen work going on with R2.  I've also had a 300mm dome kit delivered.  This is excellent but will take a lot of prep work to get finished.  Here it is sitting on top of the frame...

For the casual fan, the main part of the dome will remain bare aluminium while most of the panels will be painted blue.  I test fitted one of the painted resin holoprojectors in the from just to see what it was like and I was very pleased with the result.  Here's a closer picture...

Parts. Parts. Parts.

I've been collecting a number of resin parts and I took the plunge and painted them using Plasti-kote brilliant metallic.  I have to say that the results were impressive.  Not due to my painting skills, far from it, but due to the finish of the paint.  The next picture is one of the leg struts and a shoulder button next to their respective aluminium counterparts.

This is one of the holoprojectors I bought from Don Jarr on ebay...

I've also been working on the frame with Fred.  The universal arm carrier (UAC) has been fitted along with the speaker rails.

On the top of the frame sits the Rockler bearing which is what will connect the dome to the frame and allow it to spin.  On top of the Rockler bearing is a dome base plate by Jerry Green aka JAG.  Jerry is a droid building genius.  He designed the frame I built and supplies aluminium parts through the builders club.  Here's a picture of the aluminium skirt...

Next duty is to countersink all of the UAC fixings, tap the spindles which will attach the skirt to the frame and mount the Rockler bearing to the frame.