Dome work begins - gulp!

At long last after having the domes in the garage and inspired by the Builders meet last week, I have finally taken the plunge and started cutting the dome.

It took about 4 attempts to get the angles right for the pie panels but eventually they were all marked up. They were marked by a circle cutter for the smaller radii, and the metal circle cutter for the large radii of hte panels. With these marked in ink and re-scored so it was easier to see a 3mm hole was made in each corner. I know R2-D2 has sharp coners but I'm making ours a bit different with smooth corners.

No turning back now!!

The dremel was used on the first panel with a little success - to be honest it was a pain on the neck.
So one the second panel using a 2.5mm drill, I drilled between the shut lines. The dremel was then used to cut through some of the smaller holes. Enough to get a hacksaw in and then saw away. That was so much easier, except the drill battery was dying.

That' better1

So with only 2 panels cut out, I retired indoors whilst the batteries charge up ready for after work tomorrow!!!

Must try harder...

Must try harder to build in the evenings
Must try harder to build in the evenings
Must try harder to build in the evenings....

To be honest, I find it hard to go in the DMW to carry on the build in the evenings which means not a lot of time at the weekends to build by the time I've done family time.

But I have been doing a few bits.

R2-ST had an appearance at Skye's school to show her class. The skins were strapped on and a dome on top. I even got the CBI and Dataport lights working for effect. On the way out, beckoned by another teacher and different questions from the children and an emphasis on always learning and problem solving. Just moving to the van and another teacher wanted a visit as they were talking about space. This extended into another 2 classes joining in!!!!

A few more bits arrived to do the slip ring connections and the holo projectors. And more importantly some parts to get some sounds. I have a 12 channel remote relay board which can remotely activate one of 12 sounds.
So tonight, I went out there for an hour and got the relay board wired up to an MP3 trigger board and IT WORKS.

Hurrah! Now its a case of putting R2 back together ready for its first UK Builders meet on Saturday where hopefully R2 will stay in one piece and it could be inspiring to get some ideas from the other builders.

Data Port Logic Bay

Well, not a great deal of progress this weekend.

Saturday, and I had the DMW to myself so I could re-silicone a few bits on the skins. While they were clamped together the skins were clamped to the frame to enable the data port to be configured correctly in its place.

All clamped up and nowhere to go 

I also cut some small Evergreen sections to form a border on the data port logic and give a bit of dimension to it. 

This led to Sunday, and after washing the car, van and hacking/pruning some plants it was a small amount of time to glue this on. 

A little bit of this...

While this was drying, a kick-about with Skye before giving the logic frame and port a few coats of primer. 

Easter Build update

A change of job role means working office hours instead of shift work and that means less build time. Even with 4 days off for the Easter hols I managed to spend a day in the DMW.

Sunday morning was spent using silicone on the front skins after test spraying a piece to ensure paint would stick. It did, so I set about putting a bead of silicone all around the outer skin. Using lots and lots of clips and all the clamps I have the skins were stuck together. It was a bit difficult getting some hatches to line up - it appeared that the skins need to be a bigger diameter to line up than the 18 1/4inch!!!! Hopefully by using the silicone some give will allow everything to be filed to fit.

Ooh!La-La!

On the Monday an afternoon, whilst Skye was round a friends I managed to re-silicone some sections that hadn't stuck.

Where there's a wheel?

I also thought that it was time to make some holes in the dome support
ring. It was a nice windy day to help disperse the dust. I still have the centre hole to make for the slip ring wires, but at least its easier to get out the dome. The holes in the VXB bearing for the frame were drilled through and then it was a case of marking the bearing onto the support ring. Using a tried and tested method of walking round in circles measuring on opposites it was a nightmare. To make it easier to centralise, I placed it in the dome and that was a bit easier.  Once centralised, the bearing/ring relationship was marked and the hole location marked too.

Bulking out.

Just to do another bit of building, I mixed up some araldite (2k glue) and stuck the horshoes onto the legs. Looks good - even if I say so myself. When R2-ST goes to Skye's school it will look a lot better with the bulked out shoulders and a dome on top.

Data Port Logic Panel

Then to top the day off, a little play with the SK10 Data Port Logic surround. As the frame is not designed for this, it requires
a fix. I'm just trying to get this in the right position so that when the skins are on the panel is central-ish.













 But with the clocks changing and 2 weeks at least till the visit theres still time to a do a few more bits so keep an eye on the blog.......

It may be snowing outside......

Despite the cold weather, I managed to wrangle a day in the DMW, doing a bit to R2.

A few bits were rubbed with scotchbrite and sprayed with primer. Hopefully the cold weather won't affect the drying process.

Perhaps an unfinished R2 will be better?

I was also trying to work out how to stick the skins together and then mount to the frame. A little research and I have decided to use clear silicone to bond the skins when I buy some. In order to fix the skins to the frame, as I want the skins to be detachable I will be screwing them in somehow. Clamping the front skin to the frame and seeing where the tabs were on the frame, I opted to mix a bit of P38 filler to screw into.

A little filler here...

While this was drying, some surplus P38 was used on a greased under shoulder section to try and make a mould so that some metal infills cane be made. If this doesn't come out it's going to be fun getting the filler out. Hey!Ho!

..a little filler there.

Before the cold reached to far, I managed to generate some heat by soldering my spare Charging Bay Indicator board with some violet/purple LEDS. AS R2-ST will be purple it may look good to have matching (ish) LEDS when the door opens.

Cat-dog (yes, I know its a toy)  mesmerised by the lights

To end the day, a quick set-up on the laptop to ensure everything worked and 'Hey, presto'

Work after Launch.

After the launch of the works FireBike (https://en-gb.facebook.com/EssexFireBike ) for the new season, it was home to clear the DMW floor space and work on the plan of action.

A little bit of sanding on the booster covers was followed by gluing some covers inside the skirt (just in-case the wind blows). A quick mix of P38 and the gaps were filled to make the skirt look a bit tidier. 

As the temperature was dropping and a steak was begging to be cooked, it took nano-seconds to decide that a few bits needed to be sprayed. 

Oooh!

So with one hand shaking the can, the other set up the spray booth on top of Skye's Toylander. A coat of grey primer was placed on the horseshoes and booster covers and a few coats of black on the rear section of the Data Port logic surround type bit thing!!!

Let's Build - well do a few bits

With the exam out of the way, I can crack on with building R2. This is a bit more urgent as Skye's school has asked me to take R2-ST in as part of their design and technology lesson after the Easter hols. So it would be nice to have a bit more done.

To start with and because it was a nice day, I thought I'd make the dome support ring. Copying an idea from  James ( http://astromecheadaches.blogspot.co.uk/ ) with his router to make the circle, I obviously improvised. A screw in the centre, a piece of string looped round the screw and router, and a router guide bar to help prevent the router from twisting.

Straight from the school of Bodge-it

 It looks crude, requires careful adjustment to make the diameter smaller BUT it works!!!!

Ta-dah!

It worked out that well that this was the end result. I quite please with how well it fits, but may need to make it smaller for the inner dome.










There was no wind this day, and the dust made a lovely cover over my van and my step-sons lovely Clio F1.  Hi-ho!