I noticed that with the new casters, R2's center foot is sitting a bit higher than before. Not by a huge amount...about 1/2 an inch. I wanted to see if I could reduce that height a bit.
(I'm referring to how much of the center casters you can see beneath the foot)
I'm also curious about the outer legs angled downwards a bit. But I'll get back to that later.
Here's what the inside of the center foot looked like. The casters sit on top of 4 nuts which secure them to the inner frame. There are 4 bolts that hold the plate into the structure. Those screws are rounded and prevent the casters from sitting level.
The female-to-female couplers that connect the plate to the inner structure are 1.25 inches tall. I found some couplers that were 7/8th of an inch. The old couplers are 10-24 thread while the new ones are a larger 1/4-20 sized.
While this isn't a ton of height savings, every little bit helps.
I had to widen out the existing holes with a 1/4 drill bit. I also countersunk the holes so that the flat head screws would sit flush.
I also widened out the holes in the structure piece with a 1/4 drill bit. I used 1/4-20 socket head screws (1/2 inch) with a lock washer on each.
And here's the structure and mounting plate installed with four 1/4-20 flathead screws (1/2 inch long).
Now it was time to mount up the casters...
One thing I had to remove with the new casters is the 1/2 inch rubber pieces I had under each foot. It really made a difference on bumps...but the larger caster has done well without it. (It could be the wheel material is softer than the previous one)
After all of that work, I put the center ankle back onto R2-D2. Less of the wheel is visible under the center foot...a change of maybe a 1/2 inch, if that. But the structure is a bit more solid with larger bolts keeping everything in place.
As usual...I had to compete with the pets for an obstruction free photo...
