Thanksgiving weekend - unfortunately, I was sick the day after Thanksgiving, but I got some good progress done with the day and a half that I worked on R2.
Wednesday before Thanksgiving brought a nice package from the friendly UPS man. I have been talking about this piece for a good month and a half now. When the package arrived, the suspense was too much, and Dad made sure it was what he thought it was, so he opened......one of Crash's Fiberglass domes !
Wow - what a piece of art. These domes are formed from fiberglass from a mold of an aluminum dome. These things are really well made - and surprisingly light weight. I feel more comfortable working with fiberglass - so I opted for this dome. (Although, I have to admit that working with the aluminum pieces is not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be.)
I placed the dome on top of the skinned body, and it fits without a hitch.
A little higher angle to show the pie panels that will eventually be replaced with Carbon Fiber panels. Mmmmmmmm Carbon Fiber. Some of the panels on the top of the dome will open to reveal a periscope.... and maybe something else in the future.
The circle in the top pie panel will be removed for one of the holo-projectors. There are three total holo-projectors on his dome. My brother, Kris and I both admitted to remembering only one - possibly two on the dome. These are the kinds of details that you don't really pay much attention to unless you are actually building one of these guys.
So begins the process of cutting out all of the slots, spaces and windows for all of the wonderful gadgetry. Having cut a number of holes in my boat over the past decade to mount electronics, speakers, fish finders, gauges and rod holders - this was relatively familiar territory for me.
The process starts with drilling a number of holes as close to the edge as you feel comfortable. This rectangular section will house the rear LED light array on the back of the dome.
After the holes are drilled with a standard drill bit, I move on to a roto-saw bit. Beware, these things are devastating, an accident waiting to happen. They are the equivalent to using a reciprocating saw - destruction is their primary purpose - and they should be used with respect. I have marred many a finish with this tool. A tight grip and a steady hand are required. I stuck to the inner edge of the holes with this tool, always applying pressure towards the center of the cut-out. This way, if the tool got out of control, it would not damage the finished edges of the opening.
Flash forward a couple of hours. After using a combination of Fast-Cut Dremel bits, Sanding Flappers and good old files and sandpaper, almost all of the cutouts have been finished. This is truly the unsung part of these builds. There are countless hours spent prepping and sanding parts so they fit, and look good when complete.
I really like the results of static electricity and dust that formed some Sith Lightning on the dome. Fortunately, a brief rub with a towel got rid of this pattern. All the same - it looked pretty cool, when it was on there. Now If I actually WANTED to create a finish like that - it would never come close to looking this way.....
Here comes the fun part. There are three layers to the bearing that allows the dome to spin.
- The Rockler Lazy Susan Bearing
- The Acrylic A&A Gear
- The Dome Plate for mounting internal goodies beneath his head
Here is a photo of the pieces dry-fit. Of the hundreds of dollars I have spent on Screws, Bolts, Washers & Nuts, I did not have nuts to fit on these bolts. Off to Sun Hardware to see Gordon and get what I need. Sun Hardware is about a 5 minute drive from the laboratory, and has saved my bacon on numerous occasions during this build. Gordon is getting used to the fact that when he asks me "Metric or Standard ?" - he gets the same "DUH....." look from me every time.
As long as I have the piece available, he goes directly to the bin that holds the nut, washer or bolt that I need. As we all know, places like these are few and far between. Men like Gordon actually want to HELP you as opposed to being bothered by pesky customers constantly interrupting their text sessions. Thank you Gordon, the big box stores should hire you to outline and implement customer service programs nationwide.
(Old guy rant complete - resume Building blog)
The tricky / perplexing thing about the dome ring assembly is the fact that you have to get the height of the three rings exact for the dome to spin true with minimal clearance between the bottom of the dome and the top of the body.
I also needed space between the gear and the mounting plate to allow for the hub and drive gear to pass underneath. After a few variations using washers, nuts and thin nylon spacers, I finally got it right. There is an inner "shelf" inside the dome that sits on the dome plate. This required a bit of sanding, as it caused the dome to wobble when it rotated.
Here is the drive gear that I installed a hub in. The hub itself needed some grinding on the bottom side. It also has a shaft extension that fit after a little grinding as well.
Top view of the drive gear. Keep in mind that the bolts need to pass freely underneath the mounting plate, hence the spacers in between the plates.
Here is the drive gear mounted on the Pittman motor and motor mount. I scored this a couple of months ago, and I am very happy with the results.
Here is a view of the motor and drive gear from below. The spring would offer tension if I were using a rubber wheel to drive the dome. The spring will be removed and some kind of fixed arm will be inserted to hold the motor in a stationary position. No need for tension with a gear - just need to have the proper spacing.
I did receive my batteries this week. I am still not sure if I am going to go 24 Volt or 12 Volt. The little gem below is a DC power converter that allows you to set voltage from 0 - 24 volts and bench test motors and electronic assemblies. Doing projects like these lets you buy an item like this, that may never be used again, but dang if it aint cool to have one.
The dome spun well at 12 volts, but really cranked at 24 volts. Not TOO fast, mind you, it just spins with more authority. I feel that I will find the same once the scooter motors are hooked up. If so, I have a 24 V to 12 V converter saved in my wish list on Amazon.....
Back to the dome. Cutting out holes that are pre-marked is one thing, but drilling holes for the radar eye, is something completely different. I got out the Ipad - did some research to see what position the eye needed to be. Surprisingly, there are a number of different positions of the eye from the various movies. I found a post via google that compared something like 16 different positions of the eye over the course of 6 films. Wouldn't you know it, I can't find the photo for the life of me now.
I grabbed the Dewalt Cordless drill, held my breath, and drilled away. A few washers and wingnuts on the inside.....
... results in - BAM ! Radar Eye.
You can see the 100mm half-globe cutout for the radar eye here. My plan is to coat the radar eye lens with an automotive headlight spray that darkens the plastic, but still allows one to see through it. The fast-and-furious crowd uses this product to "black-out" their clear head lights and tail lights. Many builders paint the inside of the lens black.
Ultimately, I want to cut an access hole behind the radar eye lens and mount a Go-Pro camera for taking video. Go-Pro recently released a Wi-Fi backpack that will stream video to a Wi-Fi enabled device. I think it will be really cool to "see" what R2 is seeing, and capture some video along the way.
Mounted the foot shells complete with the motor mounts inside. Things are coming together nicely, but I still have NO idea how to get the bolts tightened inside the foot shells. Thankfully, this will be (hopefully) a one-time process.
Right. Face.
I took some time to re-configure the stock A&A center foot. The A&A center foot assembly does not allow for use of the "beefy ankles". As my confidence grows with this build, I am starting to go "off the chart", relying on my own ideas on how to assemble certain pieces. Although these may never be seen, I felt that I wanted to have the beefy ankle details (the tan colored resin parts below) on the center foot as well.
This is also my first foray into using Weld-On. I had read a number of posts about how messy this stuff is.... believe every one of them, they are all true.
Even in this state - it looks like he awaiting a command.
Next week should see the arrival of the LDP (Large Data Port) for the front center above the arms. Once I have this piece, it will be time to find out how I am going to attach the skins. Wish me luck.
No doubt, more sanding and filling on the legs and feet will be in store next weekend. I feel that if I do a little work on the legs every week, before too long, I will be surprised (and very happy) that they are complete.
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