Okay, I may be a little extra excited about this, but I just got a new work bench for my garage droid factory!
Up until now, I have been taking over the dinner table with parts and other assorted goodies related to this project. I knew from the start that I needed to get a work space setup, preferably in my garage, where I could keep everything together and eventually start working!
Problem was that with all of my resources (a.k.a. $$$$) going into the parts, I didn't have much left over for tools and other secondary pieces required for the job.
It can't be luck, because there is only the Force, but by some twist of fate, my work was in the process of renovating work stations, and had old work benches for sale to employees!
Needless to say, I jumped on one of these work benches and claimed it as my own. I was also able to scavenge several parts from other work benches, like shelves, lighting, computer racks, cabinets, etc. and add them to mine.
Definitely channeled my inner Rey, scavenging through an old warehouse for different parts that I could use. Not as grimy of work, and definitely received more than "one quarter portion" for what I found.
Can you spot the special tool addition? What's a Jedi droid builder without the Jedi's tool?
Bottom line: I purchased this whole bench for $100. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!
Considering these top-level industrious work benches can sell for well into the $2000 range, I'm feeling pretty good about this pickup.
This is a great addition to my project, and will be sure to put me in a position to build a great R2 unit! More to come....
Another part an be checked off the list thanks to 3D Printing!
I was scrounging through the Astromech Builders forum, and made my way to the blue prints sections. Of course I had already been through these all before, but there was one item in particular that I felt the need to revisit...
The Radar Eye, which is probably one of the most recognizable features on the R2 unit. Part #1 labeled in the pic below.
Originally, I had planned to make this part out of aluminum, to match the dome. This is one of the most demanded parts, so there is a sponsored Part Run for these, making them readily available, and cheaper than a one-part order!
However,at $125 plus shipping, it would become the second most expensive structural part on the dome, behind only the dome itself. And I don't have an unlimited budget.
So naturally, I thought why can't I 3D print this? I've done with several other parts, it's small enough to be printed, doesn't seem too complicated...
After only a few minutes of searching the forum, I landed to the Wiki page for this part, where someone has already ready the 3D CAD file for this!
Now it was only a matter of setting up the printer and getting it made! I think it turned out amazing!
A few minor defects due to the actual printing process, but other than that, it's spot on!
You can actually seen the fill pattern from the printer, and how it creates the circular surface you see. Imagine the printer going around 1000's of time, building up the part bit by bit.
All ready to go! I was also able to find some cheap lens for the Radar Eye. $1.50 at my local hobby store for these clear plastic ornaments that come in halves. Just need to spray paint one of these black, and we then have all parts for a completed assembly!
Over this previous weekend, I had modified the RLD mount to widen the opening by 1/8" (.125") since it was too small for my L.E.D cluster for the RLD.
I was able to get in some time on the 3D printer late Friday night, since no projects were ongoing for the weekend.
Came back in on Monday and received my part, fresh from the printer. Turned out great! It has a really nice snug fit, and should be ready to go for install when the time comes.
I'm also diggin' the yellow color! I may paint it red to match the rest of the mounts, or I may leave it. It's a nice change up for my color scheme.
I had the TEECES auto sequence running when I had fit up the new mount. Pretty cool snapshot of the flickering L.E.D. program.
All the L.E.D.s blink on and off at random intervals, creating a cool Sci-Fi robot effect. Check out my previous post to see video of this!
Alright, so it's been a while since my last post, but I have just received and tested the dome lighting kit and thought it'd be the perfect time to make a new post!
I'm a mechanical guy; anything electrical/computer/software engineering related has never been my strong point... so I thought it best that for this project I start with something related to exactly that!
Thankfully, there are some really talented people out there who make "kits" for the lighting effects, which makes it much more simpler for me to wrap my head around and get rolling.
With this I don't have to do much soldering or write the code from scratch, the basics of everything is already included and set up to create a working product for me so I can hit the ground running and start playing around with things.
As far as R2 dome lighting systems go, the most widely used, and simplest, kit for the R2 Builders community is called the TEECES Dome Lighting set. This has all the components one needs to light up all the different parts on the dome!
Pictured below is everything that is included. From left to right: Front PSI, Top FLD, Rear PSI, Bottom PSI, RLD and Arduino Mini board, FTDI Programmer, White LED for HP's, and the battery box.
And when I say Arduino Pro Mini board, I mean it. These things are tiny. That's a pic of the board with my index finger for comparison. Crazy how these powerful computers can be so small!
The FTDI programmer is an add-on that will allow me to tap into the Arduino controller and change/upload a new "sketch". A sketch is basically the controller coding where all the logic is typed out.
Like I mentioned before, the software side of things is not where my talents lye, but I DO know enough that I can get into the code and change a few settings around.
For example, the default startup sequence displays some words across the top and bottom FLDs and the RLD. It normally says "R2-D2" across the top FLD, "ASTROMECH" across the bottom FLD, and "PADAWAN" across the RLD. I changed them to "R2-N7" on the top FLD, "REPORTING FOR DUTY" on the bottom FLD, and "SYSTEMS NOMINAL" on the RLD. Thought it'd be a cool little change up for my droid.
There are also other things I could tweak such as FLD and RLD intensity and "flicker" patterns, speed at which the PSIs move, etc. Minor things. Once I get more familiar with the Arduino language, I'll probably start getting a bit more brave with what I play with.
Check out the short video below detailing the start-up sequence (might be hard to actually read the words) and each LED cluster to see what effects they produce! It's all ready to go!
The last part that I will need to integrate into the dome lighting system is the servo controllers for controlling the movement of the HPs. These guys are small enough that the Arduino Pro Mini board can handle these in addition to the lighting effects. More on that to come later.
Last. but definitely not least. I now had the opportunity to fit up the several 3D printed mounts I had made earlier in my previous post.
The FLD mounts fit perfect, however it looks like the RLD mount was about .125" too narrow in the opening. Most likely that a row of LEDs was added to the board design in the TEECES set without having the drawing for the RLD mount updated to reflect.
Like a glove!
... not quite right.
Oh well. no big deal. Will modify my model and 3D print another as soon as I get another chance
One last thing, I want to throw a quick shout out to the R2 Builders Group member who made the lighting kit shown above. His name is Nate, screen mane Mister Fubar, and did a great job! And for a VERY reasonable price, can't beat that!
He also threw in some cool Rebel and Imperial 3D printed emblems, as well as his card. Badass! he's a member of the Star Wars fan group the 501st Legion!
Over the last couple of days, I've been working on creating some miscellaneous parts for R2-N7. My plan is to start with building the dome first, then work my way on to the rest of the body. So this includes the dome itself, different parts that attach to it, the lighting effects, as well as RC (or automated) control of the the different HoloProjectors (HP) and turning the dome itself.
So while I get a list of parts together (a.k.a. the Bill of Materials, or BOM) I have been also working on creating some of my own. There are several pieces that will go into the dome and I figured if I can make them myself, it'd save me a lot of money.
I was able to model a few mounts and random buttons and 3d print them using the printers here at work.
Fortunately, I was able to find all the drawings I needed on the R2 Builders website. This is a GREAT resource for prospective droid builders where you can find pretty much all the information you'll need to build your droid. And anything that isn't already there, or if you have any questions at all, the community is super friendly and willing to help you along with your journey.
There are also members who make and sell custom parts! This is super helpful for some of the more odd ball parts that would cost a ton to have an outside source make them. There are also frequent "Part Runs" where members will take orders for certain parts from all the other members, and place a big order at once. Which definitely helps bring the cost down more!
(As you can probably tell, this can be an expensive hobby, so try to cut costs wherever applicable!)
At work everyday, I often use our CAD system (NX by Siemens) for various tools and other projects, so I'm pretty familiar with how to model up some parts. Yay for being an engineer!
So I was able to model the Front Logic Display (FLD) mounts, Rear Logic Display (RLD) mounts, and these "dome bumps" (fancy, I know) which are on the back side of the dome on R2-N7.
Here's some handy pictures showing what's what on the dome.#3 are the FLD's, #10 are the dome bumps, and #11 is the RLD. The HP's are labeled as #5 (what R2-D2 uses to display the holograms of Princess Leia and others in the movies).
Below are some screenshots of the modeling I did. Took about 10 minutess to model the FLD mounts and dome bumps, the RLD mount took a bit more time as I had some trouble getting the circular shape of the front base and the extrusion to take shape.
Aaaaaand, here's the final product!
They turned out perfect! Will just have to finish them a bit with sand paper to remove the seams from the printer and smooth them up a bit, but other than that, couldn't be happier. We even had red printing material, which is the color they will be on the droid. SWEET.
I also received the dome bearing today. This is what the Dome will actually mount to, which will enable it to spin on it's center access. I will then just need to integrate a motor to the dome, then BOOM, full movement with control! More on this later as I progress further along with the build.
Fortunately, this is available as purchased part and happens to be the perfect measurements for the dome I plan on making! Rule #1 of engineering; always see if you someone else has done it first.... then buy it.
Next post will be about the Lighting effects for the dome (the FLDs, RLD, and HPs). This will be a big one covering everything from the hardware to the control systems and how I plan on integrating them with the above parts and more!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
R2-N7 - This is my favorite droid on the Citadel...
This morning I spent sometime using a simple picture of R2-D2 that I found online and played around a bit with the colors to find the scheme I wanted!
Some of you may have already picked up on this, but the latter coding in the name designation for my droid is an ode to one of my other favorite sci-fi universe (besides Star Wars, obviously), Mass Effect!
The "N7" is the reference for the special forces division in the Alliance Military in the Mass Effect universe. I've copied this snippet from the Mass Effect Wiki: "N7 is a vocational code in the Systems Alliance military. The "N" designates special forces and the "7" refers to the highest level of proficiency. It applies to Alliance personnel who have graduated from the Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) program." Basically, it's the most bad-ass division of the military. The main protagonist of the Mass Effect series, Commander Shepard, is a part of this group. Star Wars is my first love, but Mass Effect is right up there with it as being, imo, one of the most epicly amazing Sci-Fi universes. So when I started brainstorming this R2 Droid Build project, it came to me that I should try to have elements of Mass Effect in there as well! I tried to match my R2's color scheme with that of the armor that Command Shepard wears. Notice the white striping on the right leg, just like the armor of Shepard. I also updated the PSI (Process State Indicator) Light from Blue/Red to Green. Also liked the electric blue color on the feet lines. I used a free website called LunaPic for changing the colors. All I had to do was upload my pic and play around with the settings a bit. At first, I was a little annoyed by the pixelated way it came out, but as I worked it my, I really dig it! Looks like some old school 8-bit shading/wear and tear marks! Check it out!
Pic of Commander Shepard for reference
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
First Post!
I've created this blog because I wanted to document the entire build from conception to realization.
I'll be posting updates and pic/videos for every step along the way, starting with concepts for color scheme, and the first step of setting up the electronic control systems. Dome lighting and movements, body movements, and sounds.
