Some more "foot" work

Well I had some motivation today to do some more work on my R2! Today I figured I'd trim the other battery box much as I did the other one in the previous blog post.

With both of those done, I thought I'd go ahead and mount in the wheels since I plan to buy the foot motors soon.

As with everything in this project, all it takes is one small detail to delay you. In this case, the axle is a "smidge" too large to fit thru the bearing...





...so I hunted around my powertools to figure out the best way to trim down one side of the axle. I figured my best bet was to grind down that segment with my Dremel. So, slowly and evenly, I trimmed material off until I had a smooth kit thru the bearing.

I then bolted the axle & wheel into the foot drive frame, making sure to put the drive belt in before securing everything! Then I screwed in the 2 inch ball and then secured the frame to the foot shell. Here is how it all looks mounted up...

I've heard from others that they remove the 2 inch ball while others keep it. I'll just have to wait and see. But at any rate, the feet are largely done, just waiting for the NPC motors. One more hole will need to be drilled to allow the wires to pass up into the ankle. Once that's done, these are effectively ready to be painted!

And I couldn't resist posting a picture of my "co-pilot". Pudgey is your typical shop cat, can't wait to help out, watch and...well...generally be in the way.

Also, the "KHF" parts (Knurled Hose Fittings). These are the parts that go from the battery box to the feet. I already have some, so these are going onto Droid # 2.

More later!