More rear skin work...

After a trip to Lowes, I had some more JB Weld to finish covering up the laser cuts since I want the panels to stay in place.


While there I also picked up another set of magnets, some round ceramic ones...I'm not sure how I'll attach the rear door to the frame but at $2.97, why not try!

More rear skin painting, JB Welding the back piece

More painting today...the outer rear skin and the backside of the doors and back panel got a few coats this afternoon....

Tomorrow I'll sand the outskin piece and give it another coat or two of white.

Once I had that done, I had to tape up and JB Weld the panels that will not be removed. This way they stay in place...Mokey decided to beat the heat and hang out in the nice and cool basement while I worked.

We tape the front side so that the JB Weld will dry flush with the rest of the panel. Otherwise, it would seep through and be a real mess. 3M Painter's tape works superbly for this...anything else leaves a gooey residue behind.

I ran out of JB Weld, the large piece used a lot more than I thought....

More tomorrow!

Rear skins get some primer and paint

With the JB Weld dry on the rear doors, I gave them a quick clean up and got everything ready for priming and sanding.

The weather cooperated by being in the 80s and SUNNY (we've had an amazing streak of rain here in the North East USA).

I used two coats of etching primer 20 minutes apart...

After using some 400 grit sandpaper of a few rough spots, on went the Satin White...

After adding another coat 2 hours later, I let them dry in the sun then brought the pieces inside. I'll leave these alone for 24 hours.

With any luck, tomorrow I'll work on bonding the inner and outer rear skins together using JB Weld. I may have to sand off some of the paint I put on today....but that's alright. We'll see!

Progress continues!

Working on the rear skins, getting the doors ready

Trying to keep the progress rolling, I started working on the rear skin panels.

I decided I want the rear, tall doors to be able to be opened. I would like to use them to access electronic switches and such.

Here's the skins....I have already had the door panel cut out. I just need to remove the door pieces and put some epoxy on the horizontal slat on the left.


Door panels are out, I have the door trim pieces clamped to the trim below. I'll use a pencil to trace the perimeter, this way I know where to apply JB Weld.

And here we are, two doors are thoroughly clamped together with JB Weld applied. In the background, on the lower left, I have also applied JB Weld to the laser-cut outline of the slat, this way it will not pop off in the future.

Tomorrow I'll clean up the any excess JB Weld on the doors and get them ready for prime and paint.

Electronics tray mounted in R2-D2 #1

With the electronics portion of R2 starting to come together, it was time to figure out how to mount them inside my old frame. The frame of my first R2-D2 is the first offered by JAG (technically called the T&J frame). JAG has gone on to refine this frame over and over again to its latest version, the v5. R2-D2 #2 has a v5.

JAG offered a bolt-in electronics tray for his frame that is really slick. I really wanted to find a way to make that work in the old frame. After toying with the idea in my head for a few days, I finally decided to give my idea a go.

Since the frame rods are further apart than the newer frame, simply drilling holes into the frame rods wouldn't be the ideal solution. I really wanted a simple solution so that if I had to ever remove the tray, its not major surgery to do so.

So, here's the result of my endeavor...

How? Good ole L-brackets up top, then two well placed and tapped holes for 4-40 screws. I drilled two 10-24 holes in the top ring, countersunk them to stay out of the Rockler's way. With the screw bolt into place, from under the frame ring I slid on the L-bracket over the exposed bolt and secured it into position with a lockwasher and wingnut. With those in place, I could fine tune where to drill the hole to hold the tray in place. A quick drilling, slide a 10-24 bolt thru and lock it in place with a lockwasher and nut.

For the bottom part, I noticed that the edges of the electronics tray sit flush with one of the frame rings. I grabbed my #25 drill bit (for creating 4-40 thread holes) and drilled into the tray and frame ring. Once tapped, I used the countsink bit and had the tray bolted into place. Picture below!

I'm sure I could have come up with a more interesting setup but for me, this works....quick and functional!

R2-D2 #2 Front Door Panels & trim attached

This was my second try at gluing the door trim to the door panels. Last time I clamped the two together and from behind, applied the JB Weld.

The problem with that method was that as your remove excess JB Weld for a smooth door fit, you essentially remove the weld that is holding them together. I learned this the hard way while carefully using the Dremel to clean them up...they just came apart on me.

This time I took the advice Kevin Helmig gave me (I know he's giving me a stern look as he reads this)...lay the trim on top of the door, clamp into place and use a pencil to draw a line where the trim is on the door. Then remove the trim and you will see a nice pencil line...from that line to the edge of tjhe door is where you want to put your JB Weld.

And that method works well...using a popsickle stick to lightly dribble a thin line of JB requires a steady hand. Then, gently place the trim on top and clamp together....be careful not to clamp beyond the trim piece. Why? Because as you surround it with clamps, some JB will oooze out. Cut a popsickle stick in half so it has a sharp, flat edge...then work it around the door to scoop up any excess. Do it while its wet!

Then, let dry 24 hours.

24 hours, it will look like this...


If you have any of those neat Dremel accessory kits that has the wirebrush-mop like thing, that works perfect and cleaning up the excess spots. I had a few spots where the JB smeared while I tried to scrap it clean plus a few other little areas. The Dremel makes really quick work of this...

And these are ready for prime and paint...once we get out of this monsoon season we are having here in the NorthEast USA!

Both doors mounted, motorized...and working!

Today was a very busy day!

With one door working well, it was time to get the second one installed.

Once thing I debated was having the doors open in unison. This would put both on one channel....but I decided I prefer each door opening individually. In the future, each door would have something different behind it.

Below, you can see the servo is lined up with the hinge, being held by plastic velcro, just like the other one is.


Of course, no shop is complete without the "shop pet".

Mokey decided he could assist by shoving rulers, screwdrivers and small screws onto the floor. You just can't get good help these days!

And finally, here's the servo (right side) in position. I have the black top screw out to adjust the servo linkage. Since it is using the FLAP channel, it does not swing out as far as the other one, useing GEAR does. It takes a lot of trial and error with trim and throw settings...but eventually it works out.

And here's the result....as you can see, we still have some work to do on the door closing all the way. (Its turns out the JB QWIK, that dries in minutes, hadn't quite done so after 4 hours of drying...so I had to use a monster clamp to line things back up.

Servo Mount works!

Here's the aluminum grounding block installed with the servo bolted into place...

This setup works great! I have the stability of it mounted in place...and should I need to remove the servo, the velcro holds it in place while while unbolting/bolting it up.

Here are two video clips of the results...

Installing a servo mount

Tonight I thought I would try a new approach to mounting a servo onto the skins.

Using some of the plastic velcro I tried last time, I sliced off about a 1/2 inch of it.


I lined up a conductor block I found at Home Depot where the servo sits, marked off the screw eyes from the servo on the block, then fired up the drill press. I drilled then tapped the holes for 4-40 thread screws.

I layed the block into position then checked that the holes line up with the servo tabs. This should work fine.

With everything in place, I mixed some JB Weld and placed a dab on the skins, then laid the mounting block into the desired position. I'll leave this to dry overnight before moving on.

Trying out plastic velcro on the servos

I wanted to give plastic velcro a chance with the servo mounting.

I also wanted to show off a fasntastic tool I bought from the local RC shop for making the perfect 90 degree bend in the linkage rod...

And finally, you can see how the torque, all 48 ounces of it, tugs the servo off the velcro. (Dang!)

Here's a short video summarizing my attempt with plastic velcro.

Adding another hinge, dismantling a satellite motor

After taking a few nights off, it was time to jump back into R2 work.

Tonight I traced the spot on the other front door panel for adding another hinge. This hinge will be in a better location for a servo to mount, just like I did on the other side last week.


After sanding clear a spot for the hinge, I mixed some JB Kwik and laid out the hinge on top of it. I'll let this dry overnight even though it should be done in less than an hour.

Finally, it was time to remove the shoulder mounts off the satellite motor that has failed. At some point, either through bad wiring or a fault connection somewhere, the motor does not power on.

The motor will not be thrown away. Instead, it is being sent to Jerry Greene to be dismantled. These motors work great with one huge weakness....the gear inside the motors are prone to failing. Several builders have had their motors shear the gear inside. Upon further examination, many have noted that the gear is not made of a very strong metal. With Jerry's CAD abilities and shop resources, it is hoped we can make a replacement gear out of a stronger material that can stand up to the heavy loads our droids put them under.

Here's the motor with the shoulder hub off, all that remains is the mounting piece to the frame.

And here's the satellite motor, ready to be stuffed in a box and shipped away.

That's it for this evening.

Setting up the SyRen controller with dome motor (more); New eye lense

Last night I got the dome spinning via remote control.

The video clip I uploaded was large, so I didn't have time to post some photos and commentary of the setup.

As always, I printed the SyRen documentation, reviewed it then gathered the pieces together to get the assembly going.

In my testing of the receiver and transmitter last week, I learned that the Spektrum power switch was defective. I exchanged it for a new one last weekend. (Its nice to have a fully stocked R/C shop 5 miles away!)

Since this wouldn't be any kind of permanent installation, I used alligator clips and some pieces of a cut up paperclip to make most of the electrical. I also picked up a 12" servo extension cable for the connection to the receiver.

Here it is is, all wired up.

As the video (previous post) shows, the dome turns but it is catching in several spots. There are a few things some fellow builders suggested checking, which I will in the next night or so.

And one more thing...a new part arrival, a radar eye lense. These have the different profile, where they are taller than the old style.