Legs: Phase 2

A couple of days ago I decided to start tackling the legs.  Because I have wooden legs, this was going to be a bigger job than if I had aluminum ones.  Aluminum needs to be sanded and washed, but then it's ready for paint.  Wooden legs, as I have found, demand a few more steps.

        I had already purchased the sandpaper and Bondo for this portion of the build.  I decided to start with the 60 grit sanding discs on my orbital sander.  At this point the legs had a lot of imperfections, glue that had squeezed out during clamping, slight variations on the cutting of each board causing valleys in places, and the holes in the construction of the actual plywood.  I made quick runs over the wood using a figure eight movement in an attempt to not take off too many corners.  The hope is to have the legs look like metal when it is over.

        After the first pass on all of the large surfaces, and getting completely dusty from the process, I kept going with the 120 and then the 220 grit paper.  The legs were super smooth when I got finished and the Droid Construction Bay was (is) completely dusted.  I had to wipe down the legs with a very slightly damp paper towel to get the fine dust off of them.

        The final sanding job was the under arm detail area.  This is a small area where a resin piece will ultimately go but still needed to be cleaned out.  I decided to do a once over with the 220 paper wrapped around a small block of wood.

        The next day my son had a friend over and while they were playing outside I thought I could get a bit done and try to figure out how to do some Bondo filling.  I have used wood fillers, silicone caulk, and thing of the like, but only once have I used an epoxy.  I painted an epoxy on the floor of my garage for easy cleanup and water issues from snow and dirt and grim.  That job was fine until I got to final can of epoxy and I mixed it up but for some reason, the job took me twice as long as the first two garage bays.  By the time I got to the end of the garage the epoxy was starting to solidify and started getting gummy.  This resulted in pieces flaking off and now I have a few spots on the floor where you can see bare concrete.  

         Using this knowledge because Bondo is an epoxy, I got busy filling the imperfections that were left after sanding.  I started with a small golf ball sized amount of the compound and some hardener.  I started filling and luckily I had read the instructions because that small amount of Bondo hardened in less than a couple of minutes.  At least it was hard enough that I couldn't spread it anymore.  I cut the amount in half for the next section and it worked a bit better, at least I used it all before it hardened.  It took me five batches to get throughout the legs, but now it is ready for final sanding.  Then comes the paint or maybe putting on the resin pieces.

PSIs and Logic Displays

Another package showed up today in the mailbox.  I'm not sure which is more exciting, a small package hidden in the mailbox or a large package sitting by the door.  Every day as I drive up the cul-du-sac heading to the house and i eyeball the front porch step hoping to see a white or brown box sitting there by the door.  For a while now I have been disappointed by the fact that nothing has been there.  I missed the first package, my aluminum frame, and my second package was delivered while I was home, my wooden legs.  I did get a box from Amazon for my RC controller and other pieces, but again I was home when the FedEx guy left it on the porch.
       Twice I have been surprised by opening the mailbox (we have a mailbox large enough for our 3 year olds to get into it when we moved in) and finding a smaller box waiting inside.  The first time there were two boxes waiting for me because we hadn't checked the mail in a few days.  I didn't suspect the mailman of placing my packages in there, I didn't know there would be sent by USPS.  Those were cool presents because they were some of the detail pieces and hinges, neither of which I could use right away, but still neat to see.
       Today was a big one!  Not in size, but in awesome flashiness (both figuratively and literally).  Today my logic displays and PSIs came in the mail.  I lucked out the other day on the Astromech site.  I was stalking for most of Saturday because the guys in the Midwest Builders Club told me that to get anything in the "junkyard" you had to be on when someone else posted an item.  The junkyard is like a garage sale when guys that build electronics or have too many of a certain piece can unload their prizes to others, like myself, that need certain parts.  The site is nuts with guys buying up everything right away.  For example, I was off of the website for two days and they started a skin run (a guy in Germany was going to produce 30 aluminum skins for builders around the world), and the thing was maxed out in under four hours.  I really need skins too.  From that day on, I have been stalking in any free time I have.
       I have no idea what I'm doing with electronics and such so I jumped at the chance to buy a full of PSIs and logics.  Below is a video of them working.  When I get the dome, I can show everyone where they actually go and how they look, but for now this is still spectacular.

New Parts and Some Actual Work

This week has busy super busy for the Royal family.  Soccer, scouts, ballet, and a trip to the Butler Planetarium.  Even with all of the activities, I found some time to glue together the legs.  Benny and I were able to get half an hour to glue the second leg together before picking up Teeny at dance.  At this time, both legs are glued together and ready for sanding.  I also purchased the Bondo to add after sanding has been completed.
        Last night I checked the mailbox (after not doing so for the past four days) and there were two packages in there for R2M5.  We received some of the resin parts for the legs and body and a second package had the hinges for the body and dome.  This was super exciting because I had just finished gluing together the legs and could place some of the resin parts where they belong.  These resin parts are made very well and I can't wait to start painting them.

Gluing the levels of the wooden legs together.

All clamped together, a must for gluing layers together.

One finished leg with the clamped one.

Some resin parts where they belong once painted.

The large data port in the frame (top slot has a white resin piece)

A Nightmare in Glue

       Glue is the devil!  My wood glue was found to be clumpy and old about a month ago.  I guessed it was because it had been stored out tin the garage during the freeze and thaw of the polar vortex this past winter.  So I tossed that container of glue.  I went to Lowe's and got some Gorilla Glue, but then found out when I got home that it was a foaming glue that got bigger when you attached it to items, great for the resin pieces later but so much for the wood pieces of the legs that I was working on.
        Today i went grocery shopping at Meijer's and decided to grab some good old Elmer's Wood Glue.  I got two extra strength containers, I didn't know how much I was going to use.  I got home and collected all of my clamps (and borrowed a couple from neighbors) to hold it together tightly.  I watched the fabricator's, Thomas Clark, YouTube video on how to put them together.  Then I pulled out my brand new glue from Meijer's.
         Unless I do not understand how to use a regular bottle of glue, the glue was not good anymore.  When I tried the first bottle a clear liquid came out first.  I could not squeeze this bottle hard enough to get the actual glue to come out of it.  Before getting frustrated, I decided to try the second bottle.  This bottle had none of the clear liquid and I became a little more hopeful.  That is until I started to squeeze it out.  I discovered that this glue was super thick but at least it came out at first.  By the second piece of wood I could not get the glue to come out of the nozzle anymore.  Unscrewing the top, I squeezed with all of my might to push out globs of the thick paste.  Now it was really making me angry.
         But I struggled on even through the thick glue.  Thomas recommended using a credit card to smooth out the glue all over the pieces as you went and then at the end after clamping as well.  That seemed to work pretty well, especially because my glue was so thick.  I got the dowel rods cut to length and hammered those into the legs for stability during the drying process.  I clamped everything together with small blocks that I had cut to prevent the clamps from making imprints on the wooden exterior.  Now I wait for it to dry.
         I will be returning the bad glue to Meijer's, it had probably been sitting on the shelf for years.  I will head back to Lowe's to get new wood glue, just the regular stuff, nothing fancy.  Hopefully I will have better luck next time.  This was not a horrible problem but the first of many hiccups probably.  I am up to the challenge.

Build Day 2

The fun part started today.  My son and I were able to start putting pieces together to create R2-M5.  We started with the COM-8 frame because it was dry and ready to go.  The instructions were superb.  There were detailed drawings of each steps finished product and the parts were described rather well.  There was a bit of a learning curve with hat was going to be the front, the tops and bottoms of pieces and some of the screw holes were countersunk on one side of a piece and others were countersunk on the other side.  All in all, it was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with instructions.
        The greatest thing about this aluminum frame was that the screws and bolts and hardware all went in easily without too much grit.  Benny was able to screw in a bunch of the bolts and screws as well.  This frame was constructed very well and that made it easy for us to build it.  Benny wanted to watch some Clone Wars while we built, so I brought out one of the iPads and we had that on Netflix.  I think we may need to do that during the whole build.  It seemed appropriate.

 
 

The frame is complete for now.  I have ordered a bunch of resin parts (all of the details and such), I got an email today saying that the domes are shipping, and I have started looking for foot covers.  I suppose the next step is the legs I got.  I'm a bit nervous about starting those.  I know they are going to be a bunch of work and time.  I have to slowly glue them all together to create the thickness for each leg.  Then I have to sand them down, apply an epoxy and sand that after it dries.  Not looking forward to the slow sanding work, patience is not always my forte.  But I suppose that will be next week's project.
         On a side note, I have been invited to participate in the second annual Star Wars Festival at the Fishers Library. The director of the festival found out that I was making an R2 unit and wanted to have me come in with whatever I have completed by that time.  She was very excited to hear that I would come.  I think it will be fun to talk to kids and adults about the project.  This is one of the fun things about building a robot, people want to talk and see it.  May the Fourth be with you.  Can't wait.

Build Day 1

Tonight I started the build of my R2-M5 droid.  I was really excited about getting started on the frame tonight.  I read the instruction booklet while the kiddos took their showers.  The first page suggested that I should sand down all of the aluminum parts in a figure eight pattern and then wash each part with soap and water because they were covered in oil and dirt.
        Sheesh, no building tonight, but that's ok.  It was still very rewarding to get started tonight.  I want to do it by the book.  I sanded down all of the aluminum parts with a figure eight pattern and then sat in the DCH washing, rinsing, and drying each individual part while watching Almost Human and Castle on Hulu+.
        Last night I got another set of parts from one of the Midwest Builder's Club guys on his way to a vacation in Tennessee.  He made me a set of wooden legs and delivered them so I could get started and he could make a few extra bucks for his trip, win/win.  The legs are going to be a lot more work than anything else I'm getting, so I want to get started on those pretty soon.  I have to glue them together, sand them all down, cover them in a hard drying apoxy and then sand them down again before painting them to look like metal.  Long process, but the legs were a bunch cheaper than trying to purchase aluminum ones.  Let's see how well I can finish them off.
        Day 1 is complete and I am off on the true adventure of the build.  Wish me luck!

Wow....and wow!

The past two weeks have been especially productive for the droid build.  And when I say productive, I don't mean in the way of actual building production, but instead in information, parts, and networking.
      I have received a load of parts these past two weeks.  March 24th I received my new RC controller and an R2-M5 banner.

      The building of this R2 unit is a bunch of small life-long dreams wrapped into one project.  When I was a kid I remember going to a hobby show or an airshow or something where guys were flying around RC planes.  I remember the huge RC controllers that they used and falling in love with the buttons and switches and the enormity of the device, yes, I was a techno-nerd even back then.  I have always wanted my own gigantic controller and now I have it.  When I started looking into the possible controller for the droid this was the better one that people had and I jumped on it.  It is really cool and can do so much that I will probably not utilize everything on it, but I have the money and I have to spend a certain amount of it anyway.        The second item that I got on that day was my R2-M5 banner.  as you can see in the picture above it is perfect for my droid.  that is the color and designation for the droid that I am making.  I am not making the regular R2-D2, blue and white, instead I am making the red and white R2-M5.  The Midwest R2 Builders Club has four banners for sale for events or your building space.  One happened to be the droid that I am building.  I was so excited to hang that in my classroom for now, but it will be making its way home to be put up in the Droid Construction Hanger (my third car garage).
        Speaking of the Droid Construction Hanger (DCH), today was also a great day for getting prepared for building.  The kids and I cleaned out the third car stall and I cleaned off half of my work bench.  It truly is a spring break miracle.  Here is a picture of the glorious cleanliness, the next miracle is to see how long I can keep it this way.

        The big item of this two week haul is the COM8 frame that came during spring break while we were gone.  Our neighbor was checking in to feed and care for our cat during the week and she sent us a text while we were gone that a flat heavy package arrived for me from Texas.  I was so excited because I knew it was my frame.  Probably the number one most important part and starting point for any build is the frame.  This frame is made of aluminum and will house the electronics, hold up the dome, contain the batteries and is the command center for the whole droid.  I am so glad that I was able to get one while the part run was still active.

        It was funny too, both my neighbor and my wife both looked at this flat 20" square box that was only an inch thick and wondered how the heck it could be an R2-D2 frame.  I opened it for both of them to see that all of the parts are flat aluminum, but there are three "rings" that are the base, the top and the kinda middle sections held together with the poles that stand upright.  Wait until I start building it and you will believe too if you can't see it.
        I was very privileged to be invited to a Midwest R2 Builders Event yesterday as well.  It happened to be in Goshen, where I went to high school.  The guys there were so informative and wanted to give me pointers on everything.  They were very excited to show off pieces that they had created or figured out how best to build.  I got instructions on the control board electronics, the leg pieces and how to construct them out of wood, and a lot about the dome fixtures.  They had a 2/3 completed R2 driving around when I got there, so I got to see it in operation.

      I also purchased my own pair of foot drives for my unit from one of the guys in the club.  He builds these foot drives for the national R2 builders club and he happens to live in Fort Wayne.  He was the one that had invited me up for the event and had built me a set of drives as well.  One of the other guys asked me if I wanted a set of legs because he could use the money for a trip he was taking the following week.  I guess I'm getting my legs this week as well.  I just can't believe how well all of this is coming together so far.  The other two big "pieces" or "purchases" are the dome and the resin detail parts (all of the little vents and cosmetic details).  The dome is purchased, just not delivered yet and the resin parts have been emailed about.  Time to start building I guess.