SyRen 10 Motor Controller arrived

Not too much to update today....the UPS truck just dropped off the part I ordered last week...

The SyRen 10A is something one of the other builders spoke highly of, so I took the plunge. This will be wired into the dome motor, which controls which way R2's head spins. I bought this from SuperDroid Robots (http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=847&catid=5).

It's a very small little device! 2 inches across!

So, another part of the electronics puzzle is here. I'll have to work on building the circuit mounting board soon so I can start wiring things in!

Power switch, servo extension wire, push rod and connectors!

One of the pieces that my Spektrum receiver is missing is wiring. Namely a power cord or switch system like most have. After some research, we figured out that the Spektrum uses the 3 wire type connections.

Now, as pictured below, the item on the left gives me a power switch to power off and on the receiver. I simply cut the power leads to go into my power distribution board, which has a 5 volt RC output. Or, if I want to use a central switch that cuts all electronics power, as most do, I can just use the servo extension cable. Simply clip the end and wire it to the power distribution board.

Why buy both? Just to have the option.


While at the hobby store, I noticed a display that had huge assortments of pushrods and connectors. Having recently read about how others are actuating doors and dome panels, I thought these would be good to have for that application later on down the road.

Working out the spin lines on the R&J Dome

About a week ago I posted on the Astromech forums about my battle with the spin lines in my dome. Several builders chimed in with how they resolved the issue...some used palm sanders, mouse sanders, orbital sanders or 3D sanders. Since I have both a mouse sander and an orbital, I decided to buy a bunch of 80, 120 and 220 grit paper and go at the dome with tools! Previously I had only hand sanded.

Here's our "before picture"...

7 minutes later, the orbital sander made a popping sound and stopped working. I am guessing it overheated. So, I slapped the orbital sander paper onto the mouse sander and continued....and it turns out, between the two, the mouse sander works best!

Here's the results of this afternoon's sanding...I only went half way up as that's where the deep lines are. Tomorrow I'll sand with 120 and 220 to bring the finish to a uniform look/texture....



Once my hand stops buzzing, I may go around one more time with 80 grit!

Motors mounted into footdrive

Finally some exciting news...the foot drives and NPC 2212 motors are mounted together.


I was a little unsure about belt tightness and if it really mattered which way the cog faced...but as you can see, everything is lined up.


The next big "challenge" will be removing the motor and installing the assembly into the foot shell. You can't do it with the motor attached. However with the motor cog tightened into position, it should be just a mattered of loosing the wheel bracket, getting the cog into the belt, snug everything up and tighten away. (Me hopes!)

I took a short video clip of everything mounted up and running....note the jolt/torque when power is applied!

Attached motors to frames

Well I can't really claim to have done a lot...I just bolted the motors into the footdrives.

Truth be known, the biggest challenge was finding where I had packed away all the bolts and pieces of the footdrive!

Here's how they look bolted in...they are huge. I put them in a box since they kept tipping over.


Tomorrow I'll start mounting in the wheels and attach the drive pulleys. I also need to figure out the best way to route the wiring into the legs via the ankle.