Troops

Troops (Cops/Star Wars Spoof)

A Broken Machine | MySpace Video

R2D2 on Fox News

I just hope all this publicity doesn't go to his dome

Welding robot bones

I finally had a little time to start experimenting with the acetylene torch this week. First thing I figured out is the acetylene tank was just about empty. So yesterday in a downpour I exchanged it for a full one.

After reviewing my "how to" video to make sure I didn't blow up the house, I started adjusting the valves and pressure making very sure to keep the acetylene pressure below 15 pounds. After accidentally going far into the DANGER DANGER ZONE 3 times, I finally figured out the CORRECT way to use the valves. And lived to blog about it. Having a full tank makes all the difference in the world. Torch is very hot now.

So tonight I experimented by creating some robot bones for upcoming sculptures. Wanted to try welding copper to steel and use brazing rod. Surprisingly strong compared to what I was expecting. Also did some spot welds with a thin gauge of steel and practiced filling in holes with filler rod. Most of the welds came out pretty good and even though a few were pretty ugly, they were strong.

I like the idea of using acetylene instead of wire feed. The acetylene is a little slower but more versatile. Plus less intimidating. Don't need a big honking welding mask and the sparks don't fly as far (so I don't set my workbench on fire). Plus you can texture metal with an acetylene torch which makes some pretty interesting effects for metal sculpture. I can now picture about a million projects this would be good for. My poor wife ....

Another good thing is the weather is starting to cool down a tad here in Florida. So I can wear long sleeve shirts and pants while welding without getting heat stroke.

Time to laugh

A friend just sent me this link and it cracked me up. Enjoy

Video of hydrocephalus event

Helping out a fellow builder

We had a last minute opportunity to bring R2 to a walkathon that benefits a Hydrocephalus support group. The woman who started the group has a son with hydrocephalus and he just so happens to have a passion for building robots. Check out the following link to see a room full of robots he built. Well after seeing that, how could I not show up with R2 and talk robots with the little guy. And was he sweet. He spent the better part of the day next to R2 and helped keep R2 safe from people who tried to touch him. It was a joy to be there. And the members of the 501st and Rebel legion who attended were outstanding in the way they interacted with the crowd. Words do not describe the fun we all had. I'll have to post some video when I get a chance. Mike who was the imperial officer stood by with all the kids and kept R2 in line. Listening to him and R2 go back and forth was priceless. The kids loved it. Thanks to Lori and the rest of the group. It was a great time.

When it came time for the walkathon, R2 accompanied Jeremy in the front of the group.

This is the pre-event video of Jeremy filmed by Fox news. The anchorman and his family were also at the event on Saturday.
Click here to see the Fox Video

Star Wars in Concert - St. Pete Times Forum

Words cannot describe how fun the Star Wars in Concert event was. Hanging out with the 501st and Rebel Legion was the highlight of the trip. We met some very nice people and had a ball. Out of all the places R2 has been, this was definitely the most crowded. After the doors opened, it was so crowded that you could not move at all. When it was time to leave, we all lined up against the wall and were led out by an officer of the 501st in a loud commanding voice announcing "Make way for Lord Vader". That parted the crowd pretty good although several members were cut off and separated from the group by people asking for pictures.

After the event was over we were told we could stay around for about a half hour so Yvonne and I brought R2 back up to the display area. At first we couldn't get through and then a supervisor at the Forum told us he'd get us there. He cleared a path to the exhibit and we found a little corner to put R2 as he was surrounded by picture takers. As the crowd closed in, you couldn't even move. People started smashing up against me with my controller and I worried about someone triggering R2 to move into someone. That's when I started doubting our decision to return. Luckily I eventually found a safe place to stand where I could watch R2 and keep the controller from being bumped.

A great time and we met some super people.

Post Halloween 2009

R2 is currently sitting in the garage on the charger after a long night of trick er treating. R2 drove a good mile and ran for over 4 hours continuous. I was pleasantly surprised this new battery I recently purchased for the Spektrum transmitter held out so long. It still had juice after 4 hours.

Some of the terrain was a challenge. The reflector discs in the road stuck out and once R2 hit one and was really jarred. A few cobblestone areas and speed bumps were obstacles R2 had to be watchful of. I had to run R2 in the street because the sidewalks were too confining with the amount of people out. There were some big Halloween block parties around here and every year it gets more and more popular. Running him in the street was a little challenging when the mobs surrounded R2 and cars were trying to get by. But the cars were driving slowly and it never was a big problem.

My nephew Joey was a Jawa but the temperatures in Florida have been hotter than normal lately and after about 20 minutes, his hood and gloves came off. He looked more like a monk than a jawa but I don't blame him. It was really hot last night. I noticed a lot of kids had their masks off. Joey was a good sport and waited up for R2 when the mobs surrounded him (which was every couple minutes). The reactions were incredible when people realized R2D2 was tooling down the road in their neighborhood. I answered the same questions about a million times. Where did you get him "I built him" How much was he "I can't let that be public knowledge because if my wife finds out I'm in big trouble". How long did it take to build him .......

The kids were all pretty good. One little guy was completely engrossed with R2 and I detected a future builder with him. The force was strong with that one. His mom told me he wanted to be R2 but they couldn't come up with a costume so he was spiderman instead.

R2 performed flawlessly although having the rear door installed now made it harder to communicate to the CF3 sound system and transmitter. It's harder to get a signal through the aluminum so we may need to tweak the antenna configuration again.

Oh and I almost forgot the funniest part of last night. A little guy dressed as Darth Vader was afraid of R2 and it took his parents a few minutes to coax him over to take a picture.

Halloween 2009

Pumpkin carved, Batteries charged, and R2 ready to go out trick er treating tonight. Our robot pumpkin turned out pretty cool although I can't take credit for the idea. It's similar to a pumpkin I saw on one of my favorite websites (Robotsnob.com) a week or so ago. Very appropriate for our house even though I don't plan on having any other robots out tonight other than R2. And R2 will be out in the neighborhood. I was going to drag B9 or Robby over to the front door but my back's a little sore and yanking them monsters around wouldn't do it much good so our little robot pumpkin is going to have to fill in.

I also removed the bus stop robots from the front porch to keep kids from yanking their arms and legs off. Most of the kids are very good but it just takes one or two to mess things up. One kid last year started wildly beating R2 over the dome with his bag of candy. Sugar high no doubt but at least an adult stopped him before he did any damage. Tomorrow we'll be bringing R2 to The "Star Wars in Concert" which is endorsed by Lucasfilms. We'll be with the 501st which will be a ball and we're looking forward to it.

Out of the country for awhile

October was a busy month and not much done in the building department. We did a last minute trip to Ireland and had a great time. With Halloween coming up, I decided to redo the back door because it just didn't fit correctly. There was a gap and it rode a little too high. Plus the paint job on the rear door wasn't very good and it needed to be sanded down and prepped better.

This was on my mind for the last couple weeks so the first thing I did when I got back was removed the power coupler from the rear door as that was my number one suspect on why the door rode too high. Nope, that wasn't the culprit. It turns out the pegs I have in the frame that the door slides onto were hitting the bottoms of the coin returns. So after removing the pegs I cut about 3/8 of an inch from them and now the door fits much better. The power couplers will be fairly easy to re-attach with a fresh tube of glue.

Doors are primed and ready for some final coats of paint. This weekend R2 went back out to the garage and to go for a long walk to do last minute checking of the drive systems. All systems go for Halloween.

The inspiration

Markku Lahdemaki created the beautiful robot artwork which was the inspiration for my next big robot project. I "hope" to build robots similar to his design although I may take some liberties in a few areas and the finish unfortunately won't be shiny like his. It would be nice for them to be shiny but being outdoor robots they probably will end up with a greenish patina finish. Plus I was thinking about putting army boots on them for the feet. Not sure how that would weather in the Florida moisture though.

It would be nice to build a family of them for our backyard. One robot (the Dad) will be pushing an old fashioned push lawn mower while the other two (mom and daughter) will be holding Flower pots with flower in them. So that's the plan at this stage which can be completely changed around depending upon my whims and building abilities. The following are pictures by the very cool artist Markku Lahdemaki which were my inspiration. His website is at http://www.markkuphoto.com if you are interested in purchasing his artwork.

A speedier droid and Robot Shoulders on Sale at Lowes

My instincts were right about the reason for R2's slight power drop. The quick disconnect harness I used for the motors had inferior wire that just didn't cut it gauge wise. It really does make a difference. Instead of the quick disconnect harness I instead installed two toggle switches so the motors can be easily shut down if I ever have to push R2. That way no damage to the electronics due to electric discharge from the motors. AND ... another BIG plus I realized is when I leave R2 idling for a long period of time I usually turn off the transmitter to save batteries. And once that transmitter turns off, the speed controllers and foot motors invariably start making those weird annoying noises. So by turning off the motors, that annoying noise is no longer an issue. R2 is ready for anything now.

In other news, I'm still modifying my workshop to accommodate welding with acetylene and a low end wire feed welder. But at this stage I start going into "visualization" mode. Or compulsive obsessive mode my wife might say. I do a lot of thinking about the upcoming project and look at pictures of the robot I'm planning to build. I spend a lot of time thinking how I can make the individual pieces. There are a million different ways to do it so it's best to come up with one of the better solutions in that million.

So I'm walking through Lowes looking at shop lights and guess what amazing items I find in a box on the clearance rack. The very part of the robot that I've been racking my brain about. I keep thinking it's going to be the hardest part because I didn't have a good idea how I would make it. The robot's shoulders. And there in the clearance box for .89 cents were the large shoulders (.59 for the small ones). I think these will work great. They're some type of electrical junctions but I'm not completely sure. If my camera was back from the repair shop I could post a picture. So officially the steel robot project is started and 3 robots are taking shape even though they only consist of shoulders at this point.

Robot room gets a new roommate

After years of sitting in my garage, R2D2 finally rolled into our living room last night (the robot room). The cat wasn't too sure and watched cautiously as R2 drove through the house trying to navigate the tight doorways. When he finally came to rest in the robot room, the lighting and ambiance of that room made R2 look amazing. We sat and enjoyed the moment as our little droid lit up the room and just looked cool as can be.

However I think one of my upgrades didn't take so well. The wire couplers for the motors use a lighter gauge wire than I originally had. These go directly from the foot motors to the speed controller. Maybe it was my imagination but it seems as if R2 doesn't have the power he did before the upgrade. The problem was even more evident on the carpet in our home. So I'll need to rework that just to be safe. Reminds me of some early power problems R2 had when he first started driving around ... and that also had to do with lighter gauge wire.

I've also been working on a welding booth in my limited garage space. I'm trying to make it safe as can be so I don't burn the house down. I purchased fireproof welding blankets that will ring around my welding area. I'll also get a protective welding screen so I don't burn the neighbors eyes if they happen to look into my garage. And protective clothing and fire extinguishers. Then I will begin the next big project. After the garage gets rearranged our new outdoor robots will slowly begin coming to life.

My droid is officially DONE

Yes, it's been a very very productive week working on R2D2. It's amazing to see him complete and looking good. All the little details are finished and the electronics have been organized and made much more efficient. The ankle cylinders and wedges are installed and the holes in the foot shells are complete and I even started weathering them.

I redid the electric to allow me to completely disconnect the motors in an emergency. Because if you break down and are a ways from your base, it's possible to push the droid. But if you push R2, the motors will generate electricity and I'm told that it could do serious harm to your electronics. So I'm glad I have a quick disconnect system in place which also allows me to remove my main electronics panel quickly. R2 also has a plug and switch that will allow me to put him on a charger with no worries of someone accidentally powering on R2 while the charge is in progress. Because that too will completely fry the electronics. Now the switch can be toggled to "Charge" or "Activate Droid". To Charge, I modified a battery charger and added a plug to the ends that will mate up with the reciprocating plugs on R2. And it works nicely too.

I say R2 is officially done but there will be a phase II which will entail trying to get a periscope to work and possibly an upside down fire extinguisher to make fog via the remote. Plus I'll be working with the new JEDI controller once it is received.

When I get my camera back from warranty work I'll take some pictures. R2 looks and runs great. It's a good feeling after a couple years of working on R2 off and on. A challenging couple years in more ways than I can explain here.