Power Port

This is the start of my Power Port that goes behind the small hinged door.

The plug I'm using is the same kind found on Currie Scooters. I allready had the 24v. chargers, So I decided to put them to work.

I will attach this aluminum bay to the back of the skins and add a plug to disconnect it if I need to remove the skins.

Battery Box Work

In these pics you can see the Main Batteries sitting on the plate. These are for the 24v foot motors and all I need now is to build something to keep them in place. You can see the Charge Port connector hanging down. This will be wired to the front small door for charging these batteries. I'm not sure yet how I will charge the 12v batteries. Maybe I'll hide another charge port for these. Since they will only be driving smaller acc. and lights, They should'nt need charging as much.

A&A Frame Mod

Here's the ideas I can up with to eliminate the rods in the belly area. After I hinged the Charge Port door and the door with the Restraining Bolt. I ran into a problem. The hinges were hitting the main body bolts that go from the top to the bottom of the frame. 1st I was going to move the rods, But the Arm Carriage depends on these rods for support and there's not enough room to move the rods. So, I used some aluminum to replace the support provided by the rods. The aluminum screws into the main frame and into the door sides and the frame rings. Now I have a clear body opening and the hinges have nothing to worry about.

Word Verify

I had to turn on this feature due to SPAMERS!!!!
I hate the idea that they will come on someone's blog and post bogus
links to garbage no one wants to see or read.
I have'nt done this in the past because it's kind of a pain for the reader
to post a comment and have to type in a special word.
Hopefully this will put a stop to this and building can continue.

Door Revised

I had to rehang this little door.

I normally use 3m foam tape for these doors,

But this little door needed a spacer for it to swing without hitting the edge. So I used a piece of aluminum between the hinge and the panel and this works fine now.

Battery Box

I started building my 24v. battery box. I only have the bottom together so far, But soon I will have the top and lower lip ready.

It sits just above the center foot mount and will add more support for the frame. I made the box alittle bigger than I need for the batteries so it will be easy to add larger batteries later.

You might not be able to see it very well, But I got the rear electronic board mounted back in the frame. It's the shiney area behind the batt. mount.

Charge Port Door

I finally got this door hinged and this will be the port for charging R2.

As you can see in the pic, I have a small magnet that will keep the door closed. I will not be adding a servo to this door because it will only get used for charging. I have a 24v. battery charger that has a aluminum connector for charging. The connector will get dressed up to look like the connector in the movie. It won't be exact, But it will be close. I also plan to build the charge pack and hide a actual battery charger inside. The only problem will be that the movie shows very little of this charger and I'll have to guess at some of the details.

Pie Panel Setup

Here's my setup for the Pie Servo.

It's not fancy but it gets the job done.

I used a Hitec MG85 servo and a 4-40 linkage to the hinges. The hinges I added a small threaded rod from hinge to hinge and this gave me something to attach the rod too.

The only thing I want to change is the treaded rod, I want to used some smooth rod so the arm does'nt grab the threads as it moves. Also the rod in the hinges has to be free floating or it will bind up the hinges as the move. As you can see in the video, The servo has more than enough power to open/close the pie panel.

Pie Panel Servo

Here's this weekend project.

I really don't know much about Servos, But I'm good at figuring things out that move.

I only have 1 Pie Panel moving and I need 3 more servos and linkage to get the other panels moving. Once I get all 4 Pies moving, I will have to make a decision on how to control all four.

Not being limited now with channels, But being limited by the Vex micro only having 6 usable servo ports. I may buy the Servo recorder from Servo City. This will allow me to use 1 channel on the Ebay 12 ch. remote. But the recorder will do the same movement of the pies each time I activate the recorder. More/Less, I can set the recorder to open pies 1-4, Then have it open 1 and 2, Then 3 and 4. This will give me a animation that will happen every time.

Latest Work

Not much to show as far as pics, But I got some work done this weekend.
I finished wiring the dome lights and all I need now is the Slipring for power.
Since the electronics are now mounted to the dome itself, I will remove the plate
on the dome ring.
Things I will be working on next:
I need to install and wire all the servos for the dome Pie panels.
I need to get the dome side panel open and install the servo on that panel.
The front Holo needs a servo to get it moving.
As soon as 4D Electronics gets the video panel I need for the side of the dome,
I can get it installed and it will flash red until someone touches it and then the
pics will show.
That should pretty much complete the dome.

The Vex Remote I was working on failed :o(
The idea works, But I was getting some interference and it was causing the servo to jump.
If it was done as a PC board I think it would have worked fine.

I still have alot of work to get done to the rest of R2 and I will be hitting it hard from here
on out.

Skins vs Arm

More Arm Drive Pics

Here's the last pics I'll show of the drive because I'm going tho mount it for good.

All the parts used to build this drive is in the Vex Kit. It's very simple and could probly be improved. There's only 2 things I wish would have turned out alittle different.

I would have liked to stay with the larger gear in the drive, It held alittle better.

And I would have liked to use a Vex servo instead of a Vex motor, I'll have to be careful not to lift the arm to far. I may add a limit switch to the drive, But that will have to be later.

At any rate, This drive will work in just about any frame because the A&A is limited on space.

Almost There

Ok, After I had to rebuild the drive again.

I had to reduce the gearing due to space inside the frame, But it's mounted and after some fine tuning I'll have this project beat. I'll post some pics of the final drive soon.

Reduced Size

I started reducing the size of my arm drive and also found ways to make it stronger and easier to mount.
How I managed to make the arm turn with the shaft, I used more Vex parts.
They have some little mounts that come with the kit and I cut 1 end off and mount them inside the arm. This gives me something for the shaft to bite into and lift the arm.
As you can see in the pic, I tried not to scratch the arm but I did. This area is hidden by the swing mount and should'nt be a problem.

Well it Moves

In the video you can see it has more than enough power to lift the arm.

Now, I need to reduce the size of the drive and get it mounted into R2.

More to come.

Arm Drive

This is my Proto for the Arm drive.

Not much, But I think it may work.

CPU Arm Mounted

Although I have some adjusting to do to the mount because it's hitting my skin's,
I think I got it post fitted. The mount is bolted to the frame and as you can see it can be raised to the correct position. Now just to fine tune and get it moving.
Just a note: I have a threaded rod inside the arm and I hope to figure out a way to make the arm spin and extend about 1 inch once it's at full attention.

CPU Update

I'm not giving up!!!!

Ethan, From the group had an idea sort of like this and I think it's going to work. I used a garage door opener front mount as a mounting bracket and drilled a pin hole through the arm.

This will give me a tight pivot point and since the cap is not part of the arm, I think I can make it work. This is just the start of a long process that hopefully will turn out O.K.

CPU Arm

The CPU Arm just seems to be too big for an A&A frame :0(

It's so tight that the hinges would have to be placed in certain areas and that's not good.

The whole idea of having the doors open was to use the openings for items to be placed.

I'm really dissapointed in this problem and not sure what to do about it. If I was going to build another R2 I could save the arm, But I don't have any plans to build another. So I may resale the arm to someone on the group. (CRAP!!!!!!)

It would just be a shame to let it just sit there and do nothing, I mean you could see it if the door opened but that's a expensive dead prop.

Rewiring Dome

I moved a few things to the dome instead of the deck I had built on the dome ring.

The reason I did this, I'm working on the Periscope and noticed alot of things were getting to close to the area where the lift for the Periscope will be mounted. Also I want my dome to have easy access, Once I get all the wiring complete there will only be 3 main power lines to disconnect and the dome can be lifted off the body.

I know weight in the dome area is something to keep in mind, But I'm trying to keep it balanced around the dome. There's still many items to add to the dome and I figure by time I add servo's and all the extra goodies the dome will be pretty full.

Remote Update

I attached the little black box on the back of my remote for the extra crystal.

And believe it or not, The crystals fit like they were made for the box.

I did sand the edges of the crystal, So they would slide in/out very easy.

You can see inside where the original crystal would have fit and I cut the stem off of one crystal

to mount the wiring too.

All I need now is my 0n/off/on switch.

Once I get this complete, I'm going to give the whole remote a new paint job to match R2's colors.

Periscope Topper

I added 4 small magnets on the Pie Panel and 2 metal rods inside the Periscope.

I got this idea from Wayne Orr. This will give me a way to remove the Pie so the dome can be removed.

As you can see I have'nt cleaned the inside of the Pie yet, But I will get it soon.

If you look at this Pie very close, You can see 2 small paint chips on the Pie.

This happened at a 501st meeting, 1 little boy was doing his best to remove the panel when it was taped to the dome. And I got 2 battle damage scars from his efforts.

Oh Well, ( That's not I was really thinking ) But it will happen and when it's bad enough, R2 will get his dirty paint job.

Fx Show in Orlando

We had a GREAT time at the show!!!!
We ran into Trent a fellow R2 Builder and we missed Redeye from the 501st.
There was several things that I was disapointed about though.
They had downsized the area it was in and the signatures were too high.
Adam West was one I wanted to get for Jason and he wanted $50.00 for the Sig.
and $20.00 for the pic. That was too much!!!
Last time I was there it was $20.00 for anyone and that's what it should have been this time.
We found some nice items for sale and we will post the pics on Brenda's R3 site.

Next year I will be there with R2, Unless the Megacon is better.
The Megacon comes in March and we'll be there to see which is better for R2.

Comments

Something I want to get of my chest.
I think I made Chris mad and I'm sorry if I did.
My Blog is a learning tool for me and anyone that uses this Blog. As I've stated before, Not everything I do works out and some ideas I get may work for me and not for others.
I welcome everyone to comment as you please. That's why I do not edit any comments made on this site, Unless they are dirty or spam.
I really do value all comments made and to me, There is no negative comments only teaching tools.
I've made some very GREAT friendships here and hope to make more freinds.
Oneday I will find my big contribution to the R2 Builders group, But until then I'm just having fun building my R2.

Anyway, If I ever post anything that offends anyone or I disagree with something posted.
It's just me trying to learn from my mistakes.
I hope to hear from everyone and have fun building your R2D2.
Calvin

Channel Selection

Now that I have more than enough channels, I need to figure out the mapping.
This is what I may go with:
Vex remote side A
Ch. 1/2 = Foot Drives
Ch. 3 = Periscope
Ch. 4 = Dome Rotation
Ch. 5 = Top Utility Arm
Ch. 6 = Lower Arm

Vex Remote side B
Ch. 1 = Right Door
Ch. 2 = Left Door

I'm trying to keep secondary items on side B of the Vex remote.
This way if I have a problem with interfering with someone else it's no big deal for me to stop using this channel.
Also, I noticed if I switch channels during a servo movement it freezes in that position and once I return to that Channel it returns to normal position. This is good for somethings like the doors, But a BAD thing for the foot motors. So I will have to look into a Failsafe for the foot motors.
Some of the Servo's will need a Servo Slower, This will keep things like the Arms, Doors and other things from opening too fast. But this may be something I can slow down with programming.

The 12 Ch. Remote from Ebay:
Ch. 1 = Front Logics
Ch. 2 = Rear Logic
Ch. 3 = PSI Lights
Ch. 4 = Holo Movement
Ch. 5 = Holo Light
Ch. 6 = Side Panel on Dome for Fogger
Ch. 7 = Fogger Spray
Ch. 8 = Automated Pie Panels

Vex Remote Mod Revised

When Chris questioned the purpose behind adding the extra FM board to the Vex remote he gave me a better idea.

As you can see on the back of the remote, I have marked a black box. The hump in this area will have to be removed with my Dremel to give me a flat area to mount a small box. This is the box from Radio Shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062279&cp=&sr=1&origkw=plastic+box&kw=plastic+box&parentPage=search

The box will become my adapter for the extra crystals, 1 mounted on each side of the box. The white picture shows the layout of the crystals and below them I will mount a mini 3 way switch. The switch will allow me to choose which crystal will be active and which Vex micro I will be controlling at that time. I have allready tried wiring the crystals and they don't seem to know they are being wired different than the way they fit stock.

I will loose 1 Tx crystal, Because I need the plug to fit into the original spot. And you can see the inside of the original crystal in the pic.

Also the box is small enough that it will not get in the way of the 4 digital buttons on the back.

Vex Remote Mod

This shows the guts of the Vex Remote.

My idea is to add to the 1 remote an extra transmitter (it's the big brown board).

I will add a switch to control which board will transmit the signal at any given time.

In Essenes this will leave me with a 12ch remote that I can use to connect to 2 different Vex micros on different Freqs.

I'll use some controls to drive the body, dome, arms, doors. Then flip the switch and I can control the periscope, pie panels, etc.

Since I have incorporated the 12ch Ebay remote to the Vex micro, This gives me additional channels to control things like the lights, holo movement, etc.

Now I have more than enough channels, 16 motor ports, and I/O ports to work with, I'm not worried anymore about controls.

Leg Update

This is how far I got this weekend on 1 of the legs. It's not perfect and I got some paint Boo-Boo's here and there. But it did turn out better than I expected it too.

Once the paint dries, I can clean out the holes in the Horseshoe and add the detail parts.

The main thing I'm glad about is: My legs are wood with a styrene wrap and I got a smooth finish. I still have to cut the line around the lower area where the Booster has a line, But I'll do that later. More work on the small details for this leg will come soon.

Part Primeing

I primed 1 leg and the Periscope.

I found alot of BOO BOO's on the leg, Nothing alittle sanding and glazing putty can't handle.

And I added the rings around the side eye's on the periscope.

Both need more work, But I can see the problems now with the primer.

Servo Trouble

I had to move the Servo to another position.

The A&A frame is really limiting me on where I can place servos.

I also placed a rod between 2 hinges and this closed the door much better.

Servo vs Hinges

Ok, This is kinda embarrassing.
My wife did the video and there I sit holding the servo in place, Big Belly and All.
(Jason stop laughing!!!)

Now that the laughing is over :)

The servo I'm using is very small but it seems to have more than enough power.
I'm not very good at servos, But once I get the alignment correct and make a better
linkage it will work fine.
All the hinges will need work and getting everything to work together will take time.
Anyway, This is a learning curve for me, But I won't give up.
( Thomas, Don't you start giggling either!)

Hinged Doors

Here's the doors as they open.

I still have some work on them and someone gave me an idea on how to open/close the doors.

There's a slip cable system they use in model airplanes and I think it will work for this situation.

The cable will attach to 1 of the hinges and I can place the servo at the other end.

The A&A frame is so limited on space in this area that I just don't see away else to get the servo in this area.

The other thing I'm having a problem with is:

The doors when they open are slightly scratching

the paint on the body. I'm going to see if I can find the clear tape they use on new cars in the fender areas. This tape is very hard to see once applied and may protect they body.

Large Door Hinges

I got the hinges on 1 panel mounted and I noticed a couple of problems.

The hinges work GREAT, But when the panel closes theres a slight gap around the closing side.

It's not bad, But I can see it and it's driving me crazy. The servos may close it tight enough that it may not be a problem.

The next problem, I have very little know how when it comes to servos.

And I may have to get help setting up the servos. Also I found that the A&A frame does limit you to where you can mount servo and other items.

Periscope Production

I've put this off as far as I can.

I was not looking forward to the Periscope and I've got alot of work ahead.

This is the Periscope that Scott made for the club along time ago. It's made from PVC type material and very light weight.

Once the glaze dries I will be able to sand and do more fitting of the goodies that go with it.