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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Droid stand


In the never ending quest of conserving space in my workshop, a droid stand was recycled from an adjustable support stand ... something I haven't used in years. This provides a stand to contain whatever project I'm currently working on. And in this case it's the battle droid.

Last couple days, the hips and leg mounting hardware have been installed to the lower abdomen area. And the hip area was also welded to the chest. The welding continues to get easier and it's still a lot of fun. The leg attachment system I devised will make for poseable adjustable leg positions.

It's coming together but at this stage, it's a bare body which needs a lot of detail added as well as shoulders and much work for the head and neck. Also there will be a backpack created soon. And the wrists will be cut off of the arms to be remounted as poseable wrists.

3 comments:

Gary Cook said...

Jim,
Its looking good so far! How much will he weigh when you get done? Sometimes all those pieces of thin metal tend to turn into one heavy "chunk" when everything is said and done. Have you played with different gauges when it comes to bending, shaping or welding? You can do some interesting freehand metalforming with a ball peen hammer and a sandbag to back things up.
Last week I went to the "Star Wars in Concert" in KC.MO. with my R2. It was an interesting, crowded affair. It was so cold, R2's head didnt want to rotate because the grease in the rockler was so thick. Otherwise it went well, definitely a once in a lifetime affair. Keep posting the pics, its fun to watch your progress!

Jim said...

Gary, It's hard to relate to R2's head freezing up here in Florida but I can just imagine. Do you have any pics of the event?

I recently purchased a special sand bag with hammer for metal forming from Eastwood company that my friend Brad recommended. Other tools on the way ...

Thanks for the encouragement.

Jim said...

Oh yeah, Also Gary, I've pretty much settled into using 20 gauge steel which is pretty strong but still flexible enough to work with. It probably will be pretty heavy (it is so far). Most of the projects I built can be broken down into smaller user friendly pieces so I don't dislocate parts of my body when moving them around.