Thursday, December 30, 2010

I'm not building!

No I am not building, but I was at the store today for some items for the house. While I was there we picked up some stuff for our projects as well. Hey, it is saving some gas! :)
Have a Happy New Year! See you in 2011!

Monday, December 27, 2010

K-9 blues

No real updates as it is the holiday season. For me it is a time to be with loved ones not working on projects.
I have started to take K-9 all back apart so I can later do the final assembly of parts and motors that can not be done while he is together. This stage of building is were I dial everything in to work properly and reassemble it one more time before taking it apart one last time to paint, chrome, strengthen, or detail. I prefer to take these extra steps so I do not ruin a paint job later fixing something. Should be back to work on projects after the first of the year. Right now I am more busy updating my other blog; MooseLife.com.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

501st Armor build day

Today Jim, Chris, and me worked on armor.
Jim got all the strips cut for his stromtrooper.

Chris sanded his armor pieces.
When the other two did not need help I made some brackets and servo holders for inside K-9's head.

Jim is now ready for glue up and Chris still has a bit of sanding left to do. All in all it was a productive evening. :)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

K-9 head and tail movement

Here is just s quick video update on K-9's head and tail movement.



Now to work on the ears and nose gun!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Back to the K-9------>

Got back to work on K-9 this evening. I did some more programing to the view screen and added some more files.
Then I started building the light system for his computer screen. It is kinda like building an oversized R2 logic system.  I also go the motor and mount installed for his tail wagging. Later I will make it variable speeds.
I was going to work on his head tilting system as well but I need to get a special motor to fit in the area I want it in.

Monday, December 13, 2010

New droid room

With such a cold winter already here, and all the events we have to do, we rotated some of the rooms in the house around. Now we have a spare bedroom that doubles as a droid storage area.  No more hauling robots out of the basement every week. With so many local events this coming year our out of town friends now have a place to stay. It is not the Ritz but it is home. :)

Friday, December 10, 2010

DOG FOUND!!!

(UPDATE! DOG WAS FOUND LAST NIGHT AND IS SAFE AT HOME. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WELL WISHES AND HELP POSTING ONLINE FLIERS) 
No robot dog updates, and probably will not be for a while. While working on the robot dog project we lost one of our real dogs on Tuesday and have not found her yet. If you live in or around the Bellevue Nebraska area please pass this image around the web and around town to help find her.
Thank you for any help you can give. If we can not find her there will probably not be to many updates for a while. The robot dog project has been put in storage as it is just a bad reminder right now. Thank you for understanding... we miss her so much.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Lighting up the eye

 This evening I made a light for K-9's eye out of 10 LEDs spread out evenly across a bread board.
Even without a defuser it looks evenly lit up.  He even kinda look like roudolph with his nose all shiney. :)
I also bolted his head on  the proper way so it stays straight now.
I was going to use a few more LEDs but 10 seems to be just fine.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Yet another K-9 video update

Today I got the head mostly together. I also got the video screen wired up to run on DC power instead of the house AC power. No more cords to trip you up. LOL  I also added a few new vids to the screen.


Noggin work

Today is a lazy day so I started putting K-9's head together.  Still got a little heat shaping to do before final assembly but it is getting close :)
The pieces are slowly starting to fit right the more I heat shape them. I do not like the nose so I will make it out of a different material that is a little more sturdy.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Holiday Air Fair

One of the Biggest events for the 501st in this area was this week and the Rebel legion and R2-Central was happy to help.  There are so many photos that I can not put them all here. Here is a link to the others :)
People as far as we can see waiting to take a photo.
Jedi!
Strike a pose!
A few celebrity friends even stopped by!

Vader and the troopers guarding Santa on his way to see the children.

Some of my Blog followers came all the way to the event to see everyone and say hi :) Here is one fan posing with Brad's R2 and our resident Han. :)
Driving my droid with my armor on was fun and interesting.
Jen had her R3 out running around for the whole event!.
Happy Holidays to everyone!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Museum event promotion

Today a few 501st members and me were on the news to promote tomorrows event as well as the 501st itself.  :)

Here is a link to the TV video

http://www.omahamorningblend.com/videos/111112809.html

Thursday, December 2, 2010

K-9 whole body test drive

Now that K-9's body is constructed for the most part I merged his drive system with his body and took it for a quick spin in the cramped workshop. Defiantly need to get him out in the open for a proper test. LOL
Now to get his head together and moving!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

K-9 got back

 Today I worked on the hump in K-9's back  I did not like how much stress was on this piece so I decided to form it a bit better.  I taped it in place and supported it from the inside. I then heated up the plastic a few times till the styrene held the shape all by itself.
 Tada! Now it will be easier to install and hold its shape better.
Once that was done I assembled his computer box and fitted it to the curve.