Prepping for first run.

The past two weeks have been kinda crazy with work, home, preparing my kids for the school year, etc.  I found some time to continue prepping R2 for a first run with R/C.  Before I could do anything, I needed to strengthen some areas and reduce the side to side wobbling.  This wasn't coming as much from the shoulders as it was the ankles.  I did need to fill the shoulders out, which also adds stability to that area.  After several failed attempts at cutting these circles out of wood with a Rotozip, I decided to go back to the old jigsaw method, and had these cut out in no time.  These parts sit snugly inside the shoulder between the shoulder hubs and the outer PVC shoulder.  I haven't fastened these to the leg permanently as I'm still unsure if I will keep these legs for this droid or replace them with A&A legs and save them for droid number 2.  Either way, they give strength to that area and I'm happy with the results.

I cut and laminated the ankle locks.  These parts restrict the movement of the foot at the ankle and keep the foot relatively level.  They also prevent the foot from turning inward, under the body.  I also found that I needed to add a piece of .040" styrene on the inside ankle where it attached to the foot.  This also prevented unnecessary side to side movement in this area.  You can see where my first cable pass through hole was placed.  Looking at the plans for the ankle, there was a hole drilled there and I didn't find any real explanation for it.  Unable to bend the cable through there, I consulted my fellow builders (thank you Calvin!!) and re-drilled the hold at the bottom.  This connection is temporary, as I will need to re-route the cable in the foot to better conceal it before covering the foot with the foot shells - but for now, it will do.

I had these parts leftover for years.  These are rubber bumpers that I got somewhere... but I find uses for them.  In this case, this will provide stability, and little cushion for my electronics panel.  These bumpers will keep the panel from sliding in or out of the frame.

I needed a solution to hold the electronics panel in place on the frame, but make it removable as I will need to access the battery compartment behind it.  I used scrap pieces from when I purchased the frame (this is a kidney shaped piece that is 1/2" thick, originally a cutout from the shoulder hubs...).  After drilling a hole large enough to fit and end of a T-nut, I JB Welded the T-nut  and glued the whole thing to the frame.  Rubber washers will help reduce some of the shock where the bolt passes through the panel.

Electronics panel installed.  This is set up only for the foot drives.  I have an in line fuse placed on the 24V power cable (30amp fuses).  Probably won't do much as I only expect to max out at 14-15amps at start up, but it's there none the less.  Since I don't have a 12V battery yet (still on my "to order" list....), the Rigrunner fuse box at the bottom is left disconnected.  I routed the cabling from my radio receiver to run 5v power from the foot motor controller.  This is just for testing purposes as once I receive a 12V battery, power for the receiver will be drawn from the 12V power distribution (green board at the top/center of the panel...).

I just put batteries in my transmitter and programmed channels 1 and 2 as "mixed" signalling.  Just need to find time to test the systems.

Installing components

Now we're starting to look like a robot! 

I installed the 12 channel relay into the frame.  The circuit is housed in a foam core box that will add insulation, as well as an easy way to remove the whole piece for maintenance.  The board is adhered with Velcro to the back panel of the box, and the box is also adhered with Velcro to the inside of the frame.

I pulled these speakers from an old stereo system.  I tested with these speakers when I wired up the 12ch relay a few weeks back.  They sound great!!  Very clear, and much louder than the cheap speaker that came with the Thinkgeek shirt.  The speakers will be behind the vents on the front of the droid.

I also came up with a solution to house the batteries.  I used angle stock aluminum and JB Weld and created a holder.  The batteries fit perfectly and it allows three 12V batteries (2 connected in series for 24V for the foot drive, and one single 12V feeding the Rigrunner board to run everything else).

I'm currently wiring the power/drive board and will *hopefully* test the drive soon.  I ran into some issues with the Anderson power pole connectors and the 14guage zip cord that I purchased.  The insulation was in the way as I was putting the parts together (30amp power poles).  It appears to be just with this particular wire as the 12 gauge zip line that I have goes together fine.  I switched to 45amp power poles for anything that I'm using the 14 gauge line to connect and those fit together nicely.  More to come on that with the next update.

Shoulder Hubs Installed.

I spent time over the weekend cutting hubs from a piece of 6" water pipe that was given to me a while back.  I cut notches to fit around the frame upright and had originally intended to glue them to the legs, but I'm thinking otherwise right now.  I have been thinking for some time about upgrading or replacing parts.  He's not even complete yet, but I'm not really happy with some of the work I did.  I have mentioned about replacing the skins.  I'm not happy with how they are cut, and being my first part that I made from styrene, they are a little rough.  A group member (Chani) is offering semi cut skins for a good price and I may grab a set of those.  I am also considering replacing my styrene legs with the A&A legs.  I plan on keeping the styrene legs for a possible (probable...) droid number 2, so they're not going to waste.

In any case, the shoulder hubs are on, and even though they aren't glued, they still look pretty good.

You can see how rough the skins look.  Granted, these have not been sanded yet and that will improve the appearance, but I cut the area around the utility arms wrong and have never been satisfied with how it looks. 

The full droid so far.

I added some more LED's to the front logics.  I can't fit all 80 diodes due to the amount of wires looped in.  I may opt to replace these logics with a circuit board, but for now, it's pretty convincing.  In the pic, you can see some empty holes where I don't have diodes placed.  I'm hoping to squeeze one more string of lights into the logics, without breaking a chain....again...   I also plan on filling any leftover open areas with an unconnected diode, allowing the light from the neighboring LEDs to reflect through it.

In the below picture, you can see the gap I have to fill between the legs and shoulder of the frame.  I cut and glued up some leftover styrene, about 1/4" thick, around the shoulder area to add stability and strength.  I have two circular pieces from the frame which will be added as spacers and I'm hoping to either have additional parts made or will cut some plywood to fill in this space, roughly 3/4" thick.  This will add additional strength in the shoulders by reducing the amount of potential sway.  I strengthened the shoulder on the frame and moving Artoo around the house, I don't find much movement in the shoulders as he is right now.  The reinforcement will only add strength.  Additionally, I have 6" water pipe that will give me the proper diameter for the shoulders.  The water pipe will not add any real structural value and will more than likely be glued in place to the inside of the leg, covering up the shoulder hubs.

I finished the modification/construction on the feet.  The last piece was to create a bracket to hold the axle and chain tensioned.  This is one foot.  I have yet to attach some Anderson power poles to the wires on this foot.  The other foot has then connectors attached already.  For all intents and purposes, this part is done until I get the shells to cover it.  (Note - The bottom plate that was removed over the motor area will be re-attached before the foot is mounted to the ankle).

Electronics Board Layout

Ok, so it's not the most complex board to ever fit a droid.  Doesn't run a ton of gadgets, not going to repair my truck while on a trip, and certainly not going to fire jets on his outer legs and make him fly around a room.

But then again, I can't exactly leap tall buildings in a single bound either....

What this will do is provide and distribute power to different areas of Artoo.  These are only some of the boards that will be installed.  From the top and clockwise: RIGrunner 4005 series fuse box, Chinese made 180watt amplifier (how true, I don't know, but I've heard it's loud...). Multiplex IPD 7 channel radio receiver, R2 Builders club made 12V power distribution board and my Sabertooth dual channel drive board (to drive the feet).  Still need to order the Syren10 controller for the dome, which will find a home near the Sabertooth.  Although the board appears right side up, the board will be mounted to position the RIGrunner at the bottom.

I couldn't find any circuitboard standoffs so I made my own from styrene tubing found at a local hobby store.  I cut them to 1/4" lengths to give some cooling underneath the boards.

I went a little artsy-fartsy with the photos...  I miss shooting creatively and just got in the mode to do a little "product shooting" last night.  Here's the 12V power distribution board made for the club.

And a close up of the RIGrunner 4005H.  The fuses came with the unit, but I'll need to change them to meet my needs.  A nice feature of this board is if/when a fuse blows, there is an LED indicator in the board to alert me to which fuse to replace.  Nice piece if equipment, used by the amateur radio operators to run their stations.

Artoo On His Feet

This is work that I have done over the last two weeks.

During the week, I measured and built the center foot. I had to come up with some creative ideas to mount the casters to the plate since the mount to the ankle kind of overlapped a little. All in all, the foot is attached securely.

You can see a little heat damage on the ankle.  Fortunately, this won't be seen when the droid is right side up.

I've had to make some modifications to the frame in the shoulder area. I plan on replacing this area with aluminum shoulder plates, but until I set aside money, I won't be able to do that. In the mean time, I modified and laminated the 1/4" JAG plate that I wasn't using, to the existing 1/2" JAG plate to create one plate that is 3/4" thick. I'm betting that between the thickness of the material and the laminated parts, the shoulders should be strong enough for now, until I can replace them with aluminum down the road.

Last night, I attached the legs to the frame. I still don't have the foot motors or drive wheel installed, so I had to level the outer feet on some hardcover books. I haven't checked the angle on the legs, but I'm guessing I'm pretty close. I won't be able finalize this until the drive system is installed.

Just for fun, I put the dome and front skins on.