Soldering and Electronics

       I asked my father-in-law if he had a soldering gun a while back knowing I was going to need it for some of my electronics that I got from Astromech.  Most of the electronics that I would purchase through the runs that they produced would need to put together not just plugged in.  I will admit that I have been extremely diligent in checking for pieces that people are getting rid of and very luck y to have found many electronic parts that have already been put together for me.  My father-in-law said that he actually had two soldering guns and that I could have one.  He brought it over and handed me an old looking plastic carrying case.  I opened it and the insides were still shrink wrapped.  When I opened the wrapping I found that the gun was copyrighted May 1973, this soldering gun was older than me! Hilarious.
        A friend of mine knew I had the soldering gun and needed a couple connections soldered in his key fob.  We pulled out the "brand new" gun, which is really heavy for its size, plugged it in and got to work.  It was amazing.  The gun heated up perfectly and the sodler that was included worked perfectly.  He got home and tested the fob and it worked great.  I was amazed, I guess they made products to last back then (even when shrink wrapped in a time capsule for 40 years :)

The gun of the future from the past :)

We both took turns playing with the new toy.

Disney and DroidCon

        Disney World this year was a great trip as it usually is for us.  You might be wondering how this fits in my Droid construction blog.  Two things make this section viable, first that the trip took time away from construction and second because of Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios.
        Star Wars Weekends was awesome this year.  For the first time, Mark Hamill was going to be in the parade and have a talk (which I did not get tickets to :(   We did not line up in time to get on the regular parade route that day, which would have been cool because the Florida garrison of the 501st was marching in the parade and we could have seen all of the stars that were riding in cars along the route.  The stars that were present for that day were Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Ray Park, James Arnold Taylor, and Ashley Eckstein.
         Well, like I said, we didn't get to the parade route early enough to actually see the parade itself but as we made our way around we found a spot where a few hardcore looking fans (a guy dressed in Luke fatigues from Dagobah, and a girl dress as Leia from ANH) behind the stage area.  We listened to their discussions about this large roped off area and it turned out that this was the area that the cars came by to turn around so the stars could then be taken back down the parade route and out of the park.
         As the parade came our way the cars stopped at the side of the stage and let the stars out to climb the stage.  But when the show was over, the stars came down to our area to walk back to their cars which were right in front of us.  Mark Hamill's handler wouldn't let him walk over toward the fans (his car was parked in the second row away from the fans) but he was very excited to wave and point to people including Stephanie, my wife who yelled for his attention.  Ray Park's car was right in front of us and he was super excited to shake hands, take pictures, and sign anything that people put in front of him.  Benny, my son, got to shake his hand.  Pretty neat experience for me and the family.

That's benny's orange Magic Band and the R2 hat with Ray Park.

Mark Hamill pointing straight at Stephanie, but what is he wearing :)

         The next big event was DroidCon.  In all of the US and even the world there are droid builders.  JAG (a guy that fabricates a lot fo the aluminum and steel parts for the club) was in charge of setting up the annual droid event.  He chose Indianapolis :)  DroidCon is a chance for builders to meet each other, talk about problems and work on their droids together, and just to hang out and show off.  They had workshops during the convention and I was able to look around at the 50 or so droids that showed up.  I have made some friends in the Midwest builders club already and most of those guys were there since it was so close.  But I also got to meet some of the great guys that I have purchased parts from and that have helped me online.  It was a really cool experience to be able to meet these guys and, more importantly, pick their brains about certain troubles that I see myself getting into.  

          It was also a chance to network a bit.  I met two guys that are fairly local to Fishers.  One guy that is building an R6 (the red lampshade droid with the bad motivator in A New Hope) lives in Noblesville right next door.  Crazy!  I met and exchange info with another guy that lives in Zionsville and is at roughly the same stage in the game as me.  We have already communicated a few times about parts we both bought at DroidCon.  He came over the other day to hand off a cord I needed and check out the progress.  I think we will definitely be helping each other with issues and ideas as we finish up the droids in the next year.  

Group photo at DroidCon 2014

My Costuming Tangent

         But wait, I am getting ahead of myself a bit since many of these parts stories are concurrent.  After May the Fourth at the library I was kind of hooked on the idea that I would be a part of the 501st Legion: Vader's Fist and our local Bloodfin Garrison in Indy.  But to be a part of the national group I would need a costume for myself as well as constructing the droid.  The droid would be able to be in the group but it would be better if I were also :)  

         That was all of the convincing I needed.  I looked up stormtrooper armor and then quickly backtracked when I found that a set of armor costs roughly $1800.  Instead I thought about my favorites in the movies, which all live on Tatooine.  I love jawas, but contrary to popular belief, I am actually too tall for a jawa.  Gramorrean Gaurds are a cool aliens as well (green bacon, they are pigs :), but I am not a sculptor and there are not sites out there that make a superb mask. 

          The Tusken raider on the other hand does have a few people online that make a mask kit and the clothing didn’t look too hard to make.  I found a mask online that someone had started and purchase it on Ebay.  The face and top of the head had been put together and it was perfect, it also came with the robes (which look like a blanket and cloak).  I had to finish the back of the mask so the long fabric strands did not show and covered the back of my head.  I also had to dye my own fabric and cut into strips, dry in the dryer to rough them up, and create real looking leg and arm wraps and shoes.  The only thing I am currently missing is a neck wrap and gloves, which should prove easier than the other parts.  All in all, I am pretty proud of this costume and will be sending in pictures for admittance into the 501^st at the end of the summer.

The Head

Me in the costume

It's Been a While

First off, sorry.  It really has been a while since I posted here.  I really am sorry to those builders out there that have been following for advice and help.  I am also sorry to myself for not getting anything on "paper" for that amount of time.  Hopefully I won't forget anything important that has happened.
        I will say right off the bat that life got busy (this happens to all builders, I have read this exact post multiple times in other blogs).  The end of the school year has come and gone, a vacation to Disney World with the family has come and gone, summer committee work days have come and gone, DroidCon, and fixing some mistakes.  Now back to R2.
       Many exciting things have been purchased for our droid in the past 4 weeks.  At this point I have almost all of the parts that I believe I will be using.  That does not include small minor things like screws and bolts and glue, but the major R2 parts.
       The large parts that I have been able to get since last time are the skins and the skirt.  The skins was a part that I was very worried about getting before August as I missed the run on Astromech.net by an hour.  A new guy in Germany was going to do a run because there hadn't been one on the club site for about a year and a half.  The Builder's Council (BC) for Astromech allowed him to do 30 sets since this was his first and they wanted to test his fabricating and delivery time.  I had not been checking the website very frequently at that time and because the guy was in Germany and it was a Saturday, I missed slot 30 by an hour.  The whole list filled up in less than 4 hours while I was sleeping.  I was crushed, and until I had every part I needed I decided I would check the site almost every hour just in case.
        The skins guy only took three weeks to fabricate, roll, and deliver all 30 sets of skins.  When the guys who had gotten their skins started receiving them I put a post out there that requested a set of skins, just in case someone had another sitting around and bought the new ones.  I was very pleasantly surprised when a gentleman emailed me and told me that he had just that, a set of skins from the last run a year ago and would wait until he received his new set.  He said I could have the old ones soon after that.  I was thrilled and so excited when they arrived the day we got back from our bi-annual Walt Disney World trip.
         There are actually four skins that make up an entire "set", 2 front and 2 rear skins.  The reason for 2 skins each is that the front set has the panels for the doors that will be glued or screwed into the smaller panels in the second skin to create a lip for the doors to rest upon.  You can also bolt on the hinges through the second skin (making sure they are flush by countersinking them) and covering up all of the screw heads with the top skin.  Pretty nifty designing.

        I also received a large delivery of resin parts from WORRparts.com.  These are all of the detail parts on the legs, body and dome.  One of the fun parts for me in this project has been learning what everything is called.  The horseshoes, battery boxes, octoports, exhaust vents, side vents, utility arms, large data port, radar eye, holoprojectors, and such.

How many do you recognize?

       In the next couple of weeks lots of real world events occurred and slowed down any production.  The last week of school was busy and I did not feel like working once I got home most of those nights.  Then we left for Disney the next week.  When we got back I had a couple of full work days with a committee at school and didn't get any work done.  Then we went on a camping trip with our neighbors for two nights.  But, that whole time I was still getting online and buying parts that were still needed and good thing I did.  The biggest scores were the electronics for the drive system (what makes R2-M5 drive around) and the MarcDuinos (that are going to make the sounds and all of my panels open and close with servos).  

        The Marcduinos (named for the guy that created the system, a play on the arduino boards that most robotics people use) were a huge find.  I got on the site one morning and found a guy selling a complete set with sound board, holoprojector lights, wi-fly, and two boards for a very reasonable $300.  I got online two minutes after he posted and I jumped on the chance to buy them.  Right after I posted my reply another guy posted with "Looks like I missed it by 1 minute."  Vigilance was rewarded that morning.  Now R2 has taken over the dining room as well with all of the electronics, speakers, lights and servos that have been purchased.  I needed an area that wasn't being covered with dust every day in the DCB. 

All of my electronics and R2 overseeing the construction.

DPL and CBI connected to an Arduino.