Rear Door

I started on the DREADED door!!!

I really don't like this door, But you have to have it to gain access to the electronics in R2.

The A&A frame comes with the door hinged by a threaded rod, But it doesn't work that good.

So I started framing the skins to allow the door to slide into place and I'll add magnets to the door frame and the new skin frame to hold it in place.

As you can see I ran out of aluminum near the bottom of the skin.

I'll have to buy some more and finish this later.

More Painting

Everything turned out pretty good except for the Horseshoe. It's not bad, But right around the edges of the silver area there is some rough showing.

I'll touch it up as soon as it dries.

Once all these parts dry, I'll put them back together and get R2 back on his feet.

Weathering

I'm not ready to make a decision, But I'm thinking more about weathering my R2.
It's not because I did a crappy job on the painting or on the assembly, It's just because
I had the skins out in the sunlight and even though the paint is a Satin finish it's just too bright.
You can't see the details on the skins and it kinda blinds you from the light.
If I do the weathering, It will be lightly done not a heavy coat.
I will have to learn more about the process and since my dome is shinny, I don't know how
I'll do the weathering to it.
So, Guys I really need help on this one.

The Other Leg

I used Glazing Putty to cover any little cracks around the edges of the

Polystyrene on the leg. After this I sanded it down and gave it the 1st coat of primer. This will show me any bad spots I need to fix. Tomorrow, I'll be able to sand the leg and hopefully paint it Satin White.

Rear Skins Painted

I got the rear skin painted today and you can see I painted the inside like I did the front skin.

Now I know the inside doesn't look all that great, But I just wanted to cover all that bare aluminum. The camera makes the skins look shinny, But it's a Satin finish.

Rear Skin Work

I finished my rear Pocket Vent today. I had the paint allready complete, Just had to add the deep channel to the bottom and I bonded 1 of the rear doors. Once I get the other door mounted, I will repaint the rear skin and it will be complete.

General Video Update

Just showing where I stand at so far. Yeah it's my junk room with all the droid goodies.

Charge Port Video

As you can see in the pic, I need to clean up the wiring. But you can see the Micro switch on the right. This will control the Leds on/off functions. In the video the lights are on when the door is open and they shut off when closed. You can also see that area by the hinges that I need to take care of so the insides don't show.

Charge Port

I installed the Charge Port today and I'm waiting for the bond to dry. Once I can work with it, I will install the micro switch on the rear so when you open the door the lights will flash. Now the Leds in this setup are set for 12v., So when I'm charging my 24v. main batteries it will not interfere with anything. You can see to the left near the hinges I need to do some work and I also want to find some fiber cloth to hide the hinge openings, So when the doors open you can't see inside the droid. The small door that is taped shut is where I will mount my switches to protect my electronics while charging. I have it taped down right now because the magnets on the inside are drying.

Panels Painted

I got the front skin and the inner door panel painted today.

I also painted the inside of the skin. I couldn't stand the Aluminum showing and this was a big improvement to me.

This will be the last time I paint the skins, It's allot of work tapping all the goodies on the outside.

So if it gets banged and scratched, It will be weathering to me.

More Small Work

I installed another inner skin design, Although this is not where this design was meant to be placed. I wanted something on this door so when it opens and my unnamed gadget comes out it will look good. I also hinged another door. It's the little one by the front vents. I never intended on this one opening, But I need a place to hide some switches. As soon as everything sets up, I'll start painting and installing the charge port.

Inner Door Skins

I started installing the A&A inner door skins today. I used Amazing Goop to glue the design to my Aluminum door. Once I get everything finished on the front skins, I plan to paint them one more time. This will be a paint job for the outside and inside.

I'm jumping around allot on my current build because I'm still sore. But allot of small things will get done.

New Gadget

As you can see in the Movie Pic, There's a Gadget coming out of R2's wide door to the right of the vents. Now I have no idea what this thing is called and I've never seen anyone else build this part, So I'm giving it my best shot. I started with some circles I cut and then skinned them with Polystyrene. I had a few junk parts that seem to give me the basics for the gadget.

It's in the rough stage right now and I'm still not up to speed after the surgery, But I'm trying to get back to normal.

My Friends

Thank you!!!!!
Jason, Victor, John, Johnathan, Aaron!!!!
Thank you so much for the flowers, I'm in allot of pain and can bearly walk.
The surgery went fine except for the fact they had a problem waking after the surgery.
They were starting to worry.
I don't know when I'll be back, But Thank you so much for thinking about me.
I'm going to lay back down now, So if I don't respond don't worry.
My friends, I'll be thinking about you guys :o)

My Last Post

This will be my last post for awhile.
I will be having surgery this Friday and will not be working on R2 for quite some time.
It may take a month for me to recover from the surgery and get back on my feet.
I will miss everyone and working on R2 and Brenda's R3 :o(
I'm trying today and tomorrow to get my notes together, So when I return to R2
I won't have forgotten where I stopped.
Don't forget me guys.

Dome Power

Hey, I managed to get the Slip ring powered up without burning the Slip ring up.

So, I made a new video of the lights working and they're powered by the Slip. I can't turn the dome yet because I need to modify my dome connector mount. Most of my lights are 12v. except for the Holo 9v. and the rear Logic is 24v. Now the Vex Micro will be powered by the Slip also, Which makes me nervous about it's power demand. Down in the body I have 2-12v. batteries that will only power the accessories and I have some Dc/Dc power converters that will help me with the different voltage. I'll post more pics soon.

Slipring Mounting

Here's a video of how I'm mounting my Slip ring connector.

This is not exactly the way I wanted it to work, But I couldn't find a better place to mount the connector. The problem this causes, The dome itself will not separate from the dome ring as easily as it has been in the past. The wiring in the dome will connect to the female connector and the male connector will run through the body as a power source. If I need to separate the dome and the dome ring, I will have to unbolt the female connector from the dome ring. This is not really a hard task, But it sure was nice to grab the dome and slide it off the ring.

I'm not sure if most builders separate the dome and ring much anyway. When I sit the dome back on the body, I will be able from the back of the body to bolt the dome to the bearing using 4 wing nuts and then connect the 2 connectors together.

Slipring

Here's the slipring I'm working on and I'm not sure if I'm doing this right.

I don't know allot about Amperage and Voltage, So I wouldn't copy me on this project. The Slip ring wires are suppose to hold 2 amps and the 24 pin connector pins hold 3 amps.

So what I did was: I connected 2 wires each to 3 pins as a positive and the same for the ground. Now I don't know if this will support my Vex, But we'll find out soon.

The other connections will be soldered as I need them in case I'm doing this wrong. The other connector is for the dome itself to power everything in the dome. This Slip ring will allow the dome to rotate and receive it's power from the body batteries. More to come.

General Update

I have'nt been doing much lately and I'm still working on the Periscope setup.
Here's what I have been working on:
I have my Slipring now and I'm able to do some wiring. This is my current setup.
I'm using the 12 ch. remote from Ebay and my Vex Micro to work almost everything in the dome. Here's the layout-
Ch1. = PSI Lights on/off Ch.2 = Small Logics on/off
Ch3. = Alternates Small Logics to logo
Ch4. = Front Holo Light on/off
The above works with the 12ch directly connected. The below will be in juction with the Vex Micro.

Ch5. = Front Holo movement - "Uses" motor port 1 and Dig. 16
Ch6. = Periscope up/down - motor port 2 and Dig. 15,14,13,12
{Periscope uses 4 Dig. ports - 1 activates - 2 limits - 1 light switch}
Ch 7. = 2 Pies by 1 Y-connector - motor port 3 and Dig. 11
Ch8. = 1 Pie between the 1st two - motor port 4 and Dig. 10
Ch9. = Lifeform Scanner Pie - motor port 5 and Dig. 9
Ch10. = Lifeform Scanner - motor port 6 and Dig. 8,7,6,5
{Works the same as the Periscope setup}

This layout may change as I go along, But I'm using it as a guide to help me.

Lifter Top

I started working on the top plate for the lifter.

As you can see it's in the rough stage now and I have allot of filling to do. The Periscope will fit through the plate and the 4 holes are for the Aluminum rods to mount from the bottom plate through the slider and bolt to the top plate.

The flat area to the right is where the lift motor shaft will have a bearing. Once I get this cleaned up, I'll post some pics.

Small Lifter Update

Not much to show, But I thought I'd show the changes made to the drive.

I had to drill the holes larger where the threaded rod is sitting at temporarily. I have them there to give me a visual of where the smooth rods will sit.

Drilling the holes larger gave me the means to adjust the rods. I will also be adding 1 threaded rod as the drive in the open area. I had planned on using 2 of the 4 rods for a drive, But that's not working out.

From the new drive rod, There will be a small plate added under the X plate as a hoist to lift the X plate.

I need more parts and this will slow me down for a few days until I get them.

New Lifter System

After my Failed attempt to build a Vex type lift, I started building again.

The Vex system gained way too much weight, So I dropped the idea.

The new system I'm working on now is taking much longer to build and I'm watching the weight this time. The pics show the base under the X plate. This will be for mounting the drive to something attached to the dome ring and will also have a drive motor attached to the open area.

The X is where the Periscope will be bolted and you can see I reduced as much weight as I could and that's why it looks like an X. If I can find a threaded type rod I like, I will have 2 threaded rods across from each other as to even the force needed to lift the Periscope.

The 2 steel rods are there for support and keeping the drive smooth. You can see from the other pics, I'm really cutting this one close. As the Periscope will have just enough room not to hit the rods. The last pic shows a belt drive pulley I took from a Garge Door Opener. Althought it's to big for what I need, It gives the idea of where I'm going with this drive.

Lifter Video

Here's a small video of the system at work. The only thing I don't like about it so far is the noisy Vex motor.

Periscope Lifter

I just started building my Vex lifting device. This is the real rough stage of the build, But it will give you the idea of what I'm building. In the pics you can see the gearing and the Vex motor assy. along with the 2 slides that control movement. Now, I will have to cut the slides down to the correct length to fit inside the dome. I took a rough measurement inside the dome and it looks like I have about 10/11 inches to play with and so far this assy. is only 8 inches. I'm not sure how much lift is needed for the periscope, But it looks like the periscope is about 6 1/2 inches long. Once I get all the bugs worked out this should make a nice system. More to come.

Utility Arm Motors

Sorry the pics aren't that great, But it will show where and how this works. The Vex motor will push the slide system back/forward and this will be connected to the rod that is connected to the arm. All I need is a rod pivot to connect the arm rod to the slide. The sldie is very smooth and stable. The gearing is fairly quite and I'm happy with this. Once I get this completed, All you will see is the small rod in the arm area and I'll paint it to hide it from view.

Dome Drive Motor update

The drive assy. works, But the motor does not have enough power to turn the dome.
You would think it would be strong enough since a small Vex motor spins the dome with
no problem. It's just the Vex motor makes so much noise that I can't go that route.
If the noise is not an issue with someone else, Then the setup will work fine.
Here's a link to the next motor I will be trying. Other builders have used this motor
so I'm sure there's enough power in this one. Just got to redesign my setup.

Center Foot Casters

I'm following Jerry C's idea on the caster system.

I need to order the wheels that will be used in place of these hard plastic wheels.

I bought the casters from Home Depot and they're pretty nice and smooth turning.

Dome Drive Motor

Here's the motor I plan to use for my Dome drive.

I robbed it from the Satellite motor assy. It has more than enough power t o do the job. And you can see my shaft adapter that will connect to the angle drive in the previous post.

Dome Drive System

Here's 2 pics and a video of how I'm building my dome drive system. In the pics you can see how the setup looks. And mounted in the body you can see the short shaft that will have a motor I removed from the Satellite motors assy. I did this because I'm trying to save all available room in the chest cavity for other goodies. I know this assy looks flimsy, But Vex gears and components have not let me down yet. If you watch the video, You can see the shaft turning and that's where the motor will connect. I just need some more parts.

Charge Port Leds

Here's a video of the leds in the Charge port working. I used a Carl's Pic Flasher to make the leds flash. Once I get the front skins complete, I'll mount it in R2.

Now, Mine is not the same as Chris J's but it will do the trick. Chris' has allot of electronics in the background and his charge system is AWESOME. This is 1 of the Secrets I was going to install, But I was beat to the draw. Soon I will be working on some of the other ideas I have and more action will be incorperated into my R2.

Vex Goodies

Got some goodies today!!!

In the pic you can see the small Vex controller and the gear set I ordered. The small Vex will allow me to control some items that I don't need to be fancy like the Vex Micro.

In the video you can see the start of my Utility Arm servo. This will be hidden in the body and a small rod will be attached. As the assembly moves forward it will move the arms in/out. I've got allot of tuning to get it right, But it's a start.

More Charger Port

The Leds finally came in and I had Brenda set these for me in the fixture. I shake to much to get these into the correct position.

But we now have 5 rows of red and the red and green in the top right corner.

My charge port is alittle offset, But it was the best I could do.

Once the flashers come in, I'll wire this thing up and post a small video of them working.

MegaCon Trip

Our trip to MegaCon in Orlando was GREAT!!!!
Keith and Carolyn meet us there and made our trip even more fun.
The Con was packed full and the 501st was there and everyone really enjoyed them.
Doug Dixon had his R2 running around and the crowd went crazy. Next year Brenda and I will have our R2 and R3 up and running and will make our 1st big show.
There's more pics of the Con on Brenda's site www.r3t7.blogspot.com
Now I will return to working on R2 even harder than I have been.

MegaCon Video

Here's a smal video of the Con.

Easy Door Hang

Just to let everyone know, I use 3m doublesided foam tape to install the hinges on my doors.
I use this because, Sometimes it takes several trys to get the hinge set correctly.
The only down fall to the tape is it tends to let the door sag, But there's a solution for this problem. After you get the hinge set, Tape the door closed and around the hinge apply
Amazing Goop. This stuff dries clear and really has a strong holding power.
Now the hinges can not sag or release from the skins.

Random Work

I'm starting to jump around on different parts. As 1 part dries from painting and modding another item, I'm moving around a bit. I finally got my other Booster painted - Added a back brace to the Battery Plate - Hinged the door over the CPU Arm.

Led Video

Here's a short video of the Walgreen Leds.
If I can get more of these leds and the Carl's flasher, I think it will turn out nice.

Power Port Leds

Today, I started drilling the holes for the Leds to fit. I made the matix 4x5 (20 leds), They will all be red and will flash in this seq:

Center line - 2 lines out - 2 lines on the outter edge horizontal. The large hole is for the power plug and there will posibly be a green and red led in the top right corner.

The leds fit the holes perfect and the thinkness of the aluminum is correct for the leds to stick out very little. This gives me a flush design.

The electronics to do the flashing, I'm not sure what I'll use. Maybe a Carl's board can handle this seq. Now to sand, prime and install this project.