RigRunner installed

 

Today I installed the RigRunner 4005H.  This is 5.75 inches wide and fits nicely on the back of my electronics tray.  The open door panel on the left is where the power switches are located for toggling this power panel, the main drive power and charger port.

I had previously purchased a RigRunner 4008 but at 9 inches wide, it was too big.

The Anderson Powerpole connectors are quite nice.  I purchased the TRIcrimp crimpers and that made attaching the connectors a breeze.  The RigRunner came with rentention clips that help secure the connectors to the power panel.

With that installed, the cables are now better organized.  

R2-D2 and I made the cover!

I wanted to share this....R2-D2 and I were featured on the cover of the weekly Eastern Maine Medical Center newsletter.

New arrivals: RigRunner 4005H, crimpers and resin CPU Arm

Some new parts and pieces have arrived over the past few days!

First is from ResinParts.Com , the CPU data arm.  

I need to use some rubbing alcohol and cotton balls to wipe off the remain release agent from the piece.  Then, a dunking in some warm dish soap to complete the cleaning.  The top piece comes off, so I need to drill a long hole in the shaft.  The tip I will drill and tap out.  A remote control 4-40 thread push-rod should work nicely.  I already have a motorized pan/tilt system for this to mount to, I just need to add another servo at the base for the tip to slide forward and back.  Once I have all the drilling and such done, I plan to use an chrome spray paint and some metallic model paints for the finer details.


The other arrival is a smaller version of the RigRunner, the 4005 H (horizontal).  This will fit on the back of my electronics tray and provide a main power junction for the electronics in the body.  Items like the ServoCenter control board to the servos, the dome motor and other items yet to be added.  I also relented and bought the special crimper for the Anderson Powerpoles.

 

I'm in the midst of setting up R2's new "brain", the Asus 1201N netbook.  This will run my ArtooSoundz application nicely, which controls the sounds, video and servo actions of my droid.  I chose this model since it sports a Dual Core cpu (Intel Atom), nVidia ION graphics card and decent battery life, all in a small package.

NewEgg had a special and included a free cooling pad, which draws power from a USB port.  I'm debating whether I will need that inside R2 or not.

More tomorrow!

 

Dome re-wire!

One issue I keep having is with the dome and the power wires.

 

As I had it, I had the battery sitting on the dome plate, which spins with the dome.   

 

The problem I kept running into was the wires would get caught on something inside the body and get yanked off the electronics.  The wires were made long so that I could remove R2's head and have enough wire to set R2's head down a short distance away.  This just wasn't working, as spooling and stuffing all that wire under the dome was a huge hassle.  It would also make the installation of other dome accessories, such as the projector, a problem.

My local Batteries Plus operator suggested some small, 6 volt batteries attached in series to provide 12 volts.  Since they are very thin, they would sit inside the dome ring and be held in place with velcro.

 

So, I began the process of untangling all the wires and figuring out if the maritime 12 volt fuse block would fit....

It turns out that the fuse block would fit inside the dome.  I would do what I did with the JEDI electronics that power the dome lights, make a small mounting plate.

 

 

Its no very pretty in there, but now the dome runs independently from the body.  I didn't go crazy cutting and shortening wires as I would just have to do it all over again once I start hinging and attaching servos to the top dome panels.

 

 

And then, there was the moment of truth....everything powered on and worked!

Next week will be really busy for R2...

• New main computer.  The current netbook is being replaced with a brand new Asus 1201N.  This netbook features an Intel Atom dual core processor, 4 gb of RAM, nVidia ION graphics and will run Windows 7 64-bit.  With R2 doing sounds and video projector work, the big boost in processing will keep things moving along nicely.
   
• Resin CPU Arm.  This arrives next week and is a resin copy of the aluminum model.  I have some resin cleaning, priming, sanding and painting ahead of me.  Then, the fine work of setting it up to work with the servos for R2's computer to control.

The week after that, R2 has a visit planned with some great young adults.  More on that later!
 

Servos are now controlled by R2's onboard computer

I've made some more progress on the ArtooSoundz software, which may need to be renamed!

Using a ServoCenter USB to Servo controller card, I have the ability to control the servo movement.  I have been assigning two buttons to open and close a door panel.  I have also been testing a LynxMotion pan/tilt system for the CPU arm that would be inside the door.

Here's my latest video clip on YouTube showing it in action.

I have also been working on a few tweaks on R2's dome and power system.  Instead of using a large 12volt/7amp battery on the dome plate, I am going to use two small 6 volt batteries in series (double the voltage) mounted inside the lip of the dome.  I am going to use a smaller fuseblock that will be screwed into the plastic dome ring inside the dome.  No more wires dangling between the dome and dome plate.  On several occasions, the wires have been yanked out while R2's dome rotated around.  This caused the electronics to short out....thankfully the fuse taking the hit.

The projector is still not mounted up yet, as I am trying to find the best way to secure it to the holoprojector.  The tolerance between the projector output and the HP are pretty tight, if any get misaligned, no video will show.  It turns out developing the software to play it on demand was easier than implementing the hardware!

And finally, once the dome electronic re-fit is done, I can begin work on the dome panels lifting and devices emerging from them.  I am trying to find some compact lifting mechanisms to lift the periscope and life form scanner from his head.  So far, the only thing I have found with promise is some VEX components.  More on this when the pieces arrive.

That's all for now!