Shoulders, legs, and pipes

Tonight we finished our leg hubs.

First Dash tested out a bit to drill the 3 3/8 hole for the resin hubs. It works but is not strong enough. I will have to order one online.
While we were waiting for everyone to show up Dash sanded his frame.
We finished drilling all the holes in the hubs for attachment.

After getting the layout drawn our newest member Jen traced out the center portion of the leg to be cut out of the 3/4 inch pieces.
After Jen traced them out Clay cut them out on the ban saw.
Dash and Brad cut the leg pipes to length....
...while I ground off all the burs and sharp edges.We also ground the burs off the electrical plates.
We bolted the hubs together and covered both threads with liquid nail.
Brad held the pipe with a pipe wrench while I torqued on all the fittings by hand.
Now we have 5 sets of leg connectors!
Here is a group photo with our newest member.
From left to right we have... Dash, Clay, Jen, Moose, and Brad.
L.C. could not make it :(

Copying Patches' leg holders

Tonight we got some more leg work done on the new droids. We took one of Patches' legs further apart and used his shoulder hubs and electrical plates as templates to drill all the mounting hardware holes.
Once all the bolt holes were copied we put one all together....
So far so good! Only 4 more sets to go!

Patches is down but not out.

Had to change out my dome motor after breaking some teeth off it at NebrasKon. I think it started happening a long time ago when my dome became stuck at Vala's. Lucky I had a spare.

The guys are coming over for a build night to see how the legs are put together and I decided to take Patches completely apart so I can sand the frame a bit smaller so the skins fit better.
Denny came over early to help and take pics.
Here is what Patches looks like before the tear down.....
First we took off all the doors then the skins themselves.


Next I took out the motor controller and recever so as not to get them filled up with saw dust.
Next I took out the arms and the Fire extinguisher.

Once the rest of the gang came we took the outer legs off and took them apart

Poor R2-CM looks like R2 in that one scene of clone wars where he is taken all apart.
We got an inventory of what parts and pipes I used for mine and multiplied it by 6. Then we went to Menards and got the parts for the six new droids.

Come to find out I have an event to be at on December 6th, not a lot of time to get everything done and back together.

NebrasKon 2008 music play along

An hour before the end of the Con my dome motor gave out so I decided to give Patches a break and take him watch the costume contest, While waiting in line a Tuba player was taking requests to play songs. Patches went up and nudged him in a high pitch voice after one of the songs. "Do you have a song reqwest" the Tuba guy asked.
Patches then started playing the main Star Wars theme and this is what happened.....

NebrasKon 2008

Went to the NebrasKon anime festival with fellow builder Clay and a few member of the 501st. We had a blast playing human Chess, doing demonstrations and skits, and just meeting the public at large. I also wore my Jedi costume I made but it still needs some work. Here is a Video of part of a skit we made up on the fly, I am the one with the green saber in the start. Patches shoots Vader with the fire extinguisher and eggs him on. LOL I have tons more vids I will add later on Youtube.


Here is a video of Patches coming in before the opening and before everyone else arrived. Denny shows off Patches while i hide in the background controlling him.


Here are a few of the 200 pics from the event that my friend Denny took. you can see them all at R2Central.com or on my Myspace page.

Patches getting his ID badge
Jedi Vs Sith. I'm the one with the green saber.
Fighting Vader's apprentice
Tuba guy playing to Patches playing the main Star Wars theme.
Patches meeting and greeting the crowd.
Patches playing human Chess as the black King.
Group Photo!
Now that is a cute Bunny!
Everyone just loves the droids!

"Scrub's" first drive

The other day my friend Denny came over and gave me a hand with my scrubber droid.
After I had built a new Luggage rack for the top of the Hummer He helped me cut off all the screw heads, reasemble the Hummer, and put on the velcro.
Carefully I lined up the Hummer after getting it put back together and gently set it in place and pushed down evenly so the Velcro was seated.
The clearance is an inch all the way around to the ground and the tires do not rub when turning now.
We took it out in the cold for a quick spin and everything works fine.
I even took it off road and it still zipped along fine. The battery only lasts 20 minutes. 25 if it is on level ground. Plenty of time for me :)

The birth of "SCRUBS"

When I was at Wall-mart getting the tub for the body of my scrubber droid I saw a remote control Hummer that looked like it would fit perfectly inside it. I got it a few days later and after taking off the bumpers and all the other non esential body parts it fit inside like a glove.


I will make a frame attached to the top of the Hummer out of plastic 1x2 that will keep the vehicle centered on the container and raise the wheels an extra inch outside the container.The inside of the box and the top of the new upper frame will have Velcro for easy removal from one another.
Here is a picture of all the parts I got so far for my Scrubber Droid.
Surprisingly the left over aluminum from my R2 skins fit inside the logo area perfectly!
Other things are, stove gas line, LED lights for a trailer.....
Craft parts from a hobby store.....

kitchen door pulls from Menards
Cable hold downs and pull threws.
I am also adding one of my PICAXE controllers to blink the LEDs on the unit. The top two Red LED trailer lights will blink in Morse Code the word "SCRUBS". I wonder how many non builders will notice. LOL