Custom NPC Motor mounts - Success !

Tonight I finished what I consider one of my most challenging robot building projects. And that was to replicate the Disney R2 motor mounts and the Disney drive system Daniel uses ... using a single picture as a reference.

Tonight I made the final set of motor brackets and drilled and tapped holes in such a fashion that the drive unit is actually adjustable. I was able to easily fit the oversized feet by cutting another notch out of the area where the battery box will cover. The wheels have more than adequate clearance from all angles and this baby should move around nicely.

Doing the left leg will be a piece of cake and then all I have to do is hook up the controllers battery and radios. Then R2 should be mobile. This weekend we're going to Orlando to watch the Buccaneers practice and afterward we'll stop by a famed electronics surplus store I've been hearing so much about. That could be dangerous.

Center foot mount

This is one of those projects I had many options to go with ... just had to come up with the best one. I fabricated aluminum foot mounts to use the JAG bottom plate that normally connects to the aluminum ankle. Since I didn't have an aluminum ankle, I improvised and came up with a rock solid design for the center ankle/foot.

The hardest part was cutting the square out of the JAG plate as it was pretty heavy steel. I busted a few scroll saw blades on that but it was worth it. It's always a good feeling when you fabricate a part. Even though this project uses mainly parts that I bought I enjoy fabricating parts.

Repairing a butchered skirt

Last year I routed out my skirt to fit the busted up A&A frame that I had at the time. It would have worked well on that frame but not on my current aluminum frame. So I took some leftover resin I had and mixed up a batch. It's the epoxy resin that was recommended to me from Mike in Blogland.

I covered the holes with clay the best I could and then poured the resin into the pourous cavity of the skirt. It quickly soaked in and did start leaking in a few spots. I thought for sure it would all leak out but it kind of sealed itself off after a short period and I kept pouring in a little bit at a time to top it off. Of course making sure it's all set up on something to catch the runoff because it can be a mess.

About 10 minutes into it, the mixture started popping and making strange noises. It heated up and even melted the clay in places. It was weird watching a little stream of boiling hot resin mixed with clay drizzle out the sides. At this point I was sure the entire skirt was going to melt down or distort but everything turned out beautiful. The resin hardened and dried clear which looked interesting. And the skirt is now back to it's original form only this time it's a lot more durable and solid than the material it was originally made of.

After inquiring on the board if anyone had a JAG center ankle, I decided I would have to make do with the heavy ankle I had. So the next step is to mount the center foot and get the outer feet finished.

Great meeting of the Southern R2 builders

What a blast !! We had a fantastic turn out of some really super people who brought their projects and droids. The weather cooperated nicely and we were even visited by Darth Vader. This is one of the benefits of building an R2. You meet some really nice people. If you don't have a group nearby then start one.

It was a good day.

Southern R2 builders coming over today

We've been busy getting the house and garage ready for a group of Southern R2 builders that are coming over later today. A few are bringing their droids and miscellaneous projects. It's a talented group of robotic / droid experts so most of us will probably learn something today.

I finished the final version of the motor mounts using a thicker gauge of aluminum and this version is a little longer. The area on the feet that touches the battery boxes was also cut out of my test foot. This is because the motor extends into the battery box some. The bracket on the motor needs a little tweaking but I used some plastic ties to hold the motor in place to position it correctly to make the final bracket. This is to make sure the wheel isn't touching the sides and that it has enough clearance so the foot doesn't drag the ground. So there's still a few things I need to do to get the droid walking. I also need to solidify my plans for the center foot. There are several ways that the center foot can be installed and I just need to make a decision soon.

Foot drive prototype

My attempts at creating the foot drives are definitely a challenge. I'm not sure if it will work but my current prototype seems like it has some promise. But I will have to get some heavier gauge aluminum. As you can see from the pictures, it's close to the one picture I have of the drive I'm modeling my R2 from. As far as I know there's only one person who has made their R2 this way. Maybe some of the builders coming over this weekend will be able to shed some light on this project.

Next I have to cut the feet slots on top out and then cut the inner piece where the battery box is located. It has to be cut out for the motors to fit. Also this drive is directly connected to the leg so the ankle has very little stress on it as opposed to the other 99.9% of R2's out there.

I hope I can get this design to work because these motors are sweet.




These pictures are of my prototype

Dress Rehearsal II

We had a lot of relatives and kids over yesterday ... some from out of state. One little boy in particular kept talking about how much he loved robots and couldn't wait to see them. He was really excited ... until he came onto the front porch and the bus stop robots came alive. Then he refused to come into the house and almost went into a panic on the front porch until his mom calmed him down. Once he got in the house and got used to seeing 6' robots he remembered he loved robots again. The kids had fun playing with the robots. I taught them how to make the B9 robot talk and they manipulated his speech. I told them I was going to recruit them as my assistants at megacon next year.

It's amazing what a difference a couple coats of paint makes. It really makes all the filing, sanding, and cutting worth while. I painted white today using my inexpensive Lowes white paint. I love the color and the price ($3.50 per can) but there were a few times when it sputtered so I learned to keep the nozzle clean as I was painting and it was fine. The shade is perfect ... not too antiseptic and not too creamy. To say I'm happy with how he's looking is an understatement. That robot building kick is kicking high today.

I also started getting serious about creating special motor mounts for my droid. I cut large slits in the top of my aluminum ankles and will run a long piece of aluminum up into the leg. The aluminum will protrude through the ankle to hook up with the motors. Still not sure how I'll get the feet over this but I will make it happen if I have to cut the feet and rebuild them. It's time to get this droid rolling.

R2 Dress rehearsal

So today we're having relatives and their kids visiting ... some from Michigan and some from the other coast of Florida. Some of the kids love robots and are excited about seeing our robots. So I dusted them all off and got them ready for the kids. I put R2 together the best I could with duct tape and whatever parts I could get on him. And he looks great (I suppose all parents think their R2's look wonderful and I'm no exception).

The only problem I had today was the B9 "Lost in Space" robot fried the neon somehow. A lot of humming noise, loose wires and no neon glow when the voice comes through. I'll admit that these robots are high maintenance ..... but it sure beats watching the idiotic TV.

Primer and some white paint

The skins and skin panels were cleaned with acetone and shot with a coat of self etching aluminum primer. Then the stationary panels were glued to the skins and they look nice. I always try very hard to keep any glue from seeping into the edges so it has a nice crisp look.

Several panels that will be on hinges were singled out to get a coat of white kind of as another test to be sure on the shade of white. They both came out very nice and I'm 100% confident with my inexpensive lowes brand of white satin paint. With the dome pretty much complete and the body coming together and soon to be white, a droid is starting to take shape.

C3PO Pistons and final R2 Skin preparation

Got a lot done today. I finished organizing all the body skin panels and gluing the final panels together for R2. Next step is to prime and paint them.

I also installed these beautiful machined C3PO arm pistons I got from Jerry C. last month. After installing them on C3PO, I came up with a great idea to drill a hole in the center of the pistons and tap a hole for a set screw. This solved a big problem I had in posing the arms. Now I can get them to stay in position by tightening the set screw on the pistons. AND IT WORKS GREAT !!! So I'm extremely happy and decided to let C3PO hang out in the garage with R2 for a few days while I get them skins painted.

Another R2 problem thatI may have solved was I used the club blueprints and a partial picture of a Daniel custom NPC motor mount to merge them using a graphics program. I then came up with a rough diagram how to possibly make motor mounts for R2. I was told that there would be a run of the mounts soon ..... and that was about a year and a half ago. So I figured it was time for me to try and fabricate my own mounts to use the custom NPC Disney motors. Confidence is high but I'll have to chop up my aluminum ankles and still a little fuzzy on the way the feet sit on this setup.

Done did dat Dome

Well not completely done but from a casual observer it looks finished. All the nice blue little panels are in place and I have to say it looks really cool. I've been picking away at it for the last week or so and trying to make up for something I missed. I should have drilled out a lot of holes on the inner skins for mini-bolts for attachment of the holos and logics. But what I did this weekend will probably work.

Before gluing the blue panels to the inner dome, I drilled holes and countersunk some small .40 bolts. Then the panels were glued over them and the bolts protrude from the inside giving me something to attach clamps or whatever to securely mount whatever needs to be mounted inside the dome. I probably put in about a dozen or so bolts. The key was countersinking enough so they didn't interfere with a flush fit of the blue panel pieces. Once I countersunk too much and the hole was too big for the bolt.

The body skins are next on my radar. There are different ways to paint the skins. Some people leave the inner skins unpainted so the aluminum shows through in the cracks between the panels. A nice look with good contrast. But I was thinking what if I ever need to touch up the panels. The bare aluminum is too hard to access to mask it off. And as there's no primer on it, going over it in white would be irresponsible. So touch up's would be difficult if not impossible. So I'll prime and paint the skins and prime and paint the doors and panels and THEN I'll glue the panels and doors to the skins. I've been thinking about this for a few months so I'm glad I finally decided.

Cutting a large door out of rear skins

After talking with another builder (Thanks Keith) this weekend and a LOT of thought, I decided to cut the back skins and make a large removable door to access the electronics and insides of R2. I was going to use the little doors in the back but that just doesn't cut it when you need to diagnose a problem. And no matter what way you look at it, removing skins is not a quick easy task ... even with the modifications I did to the skin mounting blocks.

I used a dremel with reinforced cutting discs to carefully cut the door out. I used several layers of blue 3m tape on each side of my intended cut and it helped in visually guiding the blade. It actually came out very nice with clean pretty straight cuts.

I also came up with a neat way to attach the rear door using some modified leftover Daniel D. skin blocks. They will not be on hinges as that seems like overkill and I hear from other builders that's a massive amount of work. Plus I don't feel like spending much time in that area.

Preparing the skins

I didn't do as much building as I hoped during the long weekend as it was good sailing wind. But I did do a bit of work on the rear skins and came up with a few good ideas on how I'm going to mount screws inside the dome for mounting the holo's and other electronics.

One setback came as I was clamping the large rear external panel skin with pretty fast drying silicone. My wife came out and started telling me some things and I was trying to listen to her while working. Well I didn't notice the part moved and by the time I realized it, the piece was glued on crooked. I really doubt anyone other than another R2 builder will notice so I'm not going to sweat it.

It's now official and we will be hosting a group of R2 Builders over our place on Sunday July 27th. It's always fun talking to other builders. Keith and Carolyn were drafted to give a demonstration and information on Robart hinges.

In memory of our Paul

Today will be a day in memory of our dear son Paul who passed away one year ago today. Our hearts are still very heavy and we miss him every day ... more than words can ever describe. I especially miss his funny jokes about my robots as the collection expanded. His humor was unique and it always kept mom and dad laughing.

Love ya Paul !

That darned dome

Well, not really ... I just liked the sound of "That darned Dome" like the old 70's movie about a cat.

Everytime I remove the dome and put it back on the frame, it's been a bit of a hassel so I finally decided to get around to coming up with a reasonable method to install the dome quickly. The solution was very simple and almost not worth writing in this blog. I used my countersinking drill bit to countersink the plastic ring. Kind of gives it that funnel look so the bolts just slide right into the ring. I also marked the areas with black marker so when peeking under the dome I would have a good idea where to start.

I also used the countersink bit on the dome plate.

In other R2 news, I adjusted the radar eye a little more and installed a lens. Makes a world of difference. Its really starting to look like a droid. Oh and I dusted off my old CF-II sound system that at one time was used with my B9. I put some R2 sounds on it and now my droid is communicating. Very exciting stuff for a geek ya know.