DAY 40 & 41... (I think)

I am starting to lose track of what day(s) I have worked on R2.  Some have been more productive than others, and some results don't seem like all that much, based on the time spent on a particular project.

After my recent divergence posed by the dome electronics, it was time to get the little guy back up on his feet and moving around again.   I switched out the wireless relay for the periscope once again, as the previous version had a very difficult time picking up a steady signal once the dome was on.

Ebay and a Chinese supplier to the rescue.... Here is what I settled on.  This remote is dedicated to one channel forward, and and another in reverse.  Actually two channels that perform this trick.  One set of channels is being used for the periscope and the other will be used for the telescoping LFS - Life Form Scanner.  (Still waiting on the parts from a club member for for that assembly)

Here is a photo of the relay board on the dome electronics panel.  A separate 12V 9ah battery sits inside the dome now.  This is used to power the periscope and will also be tasked with powering the LFS which will be a converted power antenna from a car.  I just had too much trouble with the main power / drop-down regulators / current draw of the periscope.  Everything else in the dome will work off of the main power supply.

In case you are wondering what the LFS is - her is a photo.  It will come out of one of the pie panels on the dome, and will require some tricky hinged panel servo coding that will, no doubt, prompt me to use some colorful language.

The dome power panel setup from the other side (complete with the hole I cut for the old wireless relay).  

Not the most flattering photo of Dad, but his help has been invaluable getting this project together.  Whether it is an extra set of hands to hold something, or pull wires in places where wires don't want to go... he is willing to sling a wrench wherever a loose nut is found.

In an attempt to keep things fresh, I decided to concentrate on getting the aluminum legs and feet mounted.  First up - center ankle with the ankle cylinders.  Here are the cylinders mounted on the outside of the ankle.

A shot of the inside of the ankle.  Small spaces that require special tools.  This little thumb screwdriver accepts various bits, and works in places a normal stubby screwdriver would not.  I picked these up at AutoZone a couple of months back, thinking that I would eventually use them... and I was not let down.  The screws inside the ankle are used to mount the cylinders, and this nifty little tool performed without a hitch.

Next up - the mounting plate that will hold the center ankle to the main body.  4" X 6" X 1/2" aluminum plate.  This is mounted to the center ankle via angle brackets inside the ankle.

I can't believe that I am running out of bolts.... It never ceases to amaze me that I am scrambling to find 4 like-sized bolts practically every day I build.  I blame the big box stores, you can only buy bolts like these in packages of 4.  Remember the days of buying 50 bolts for $5.00 when you needed 6 ?  Yeah, those days are long gone.. now you get to buy 4 for $1.29.  So here are a couple of mismatched bolts just to test fit the mounting bracket.

A shot of the ankle and the foot shell with the bushing in the center.  R2's center of gravity all rests on this bushing (shared by a similar setup in the outer legs).

Here is the first test fit.  You will notice that the center foot is a bit askew.  This was due to the fact that even though I measured 15 times, and drilled once, I did not hit the mark (or did not drill where I marked).  Regardless, there was a major change to come with the center foot mount.

On a side note, as Dad and I were assembling the outer legs, ankles and feet, we were scrambling around looking for one of the ankle bolts.  I am a big fan of putting important items in a "special place" so I have quick access to them when they are needed.  Apparently, nephew Kaden has developed a new hobby... tuning on the "ights" is still all the rage, but he now likes to "feed" R2.   "Feed" meaning something akin to sticking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the VCR.  While we were playing with the ights earlier, I noticed him opening doors in the body and putting various things inside.  Mmmmmmm... How cute.  Most of the parts he put in fell right through to the floor, so I thought nothing of it.  It turns out one of the parts he put in was one of the ankle bolts, and it did not fall through.  After about 30 minutes of searching for this part, I remembered that Kaden was feeding R2.  I looked on the bottom plate, and there was the errant fastener, perched on the plate - right where the little no-neck monster left it.

On all three feet again, including wiring for the foot motors complete with Anderson power pole quick disconnects.  This was one part where I did not plan ahead.  I was so excited to show Dad the power pole connectors, that we assembled the wiring before it was run through the foot shells... scratch four power pole connectors with awesome heat shrink.  Live and learn.  Plan ahead.  Blah, blah, blah....

As I showed before, the center foot was not lining up to my liking, so I made a decision to re-work the center ankle mounting setup.  This was a tough pill to swallow, as I was rather proud of the Pillow-block linear slides that I was using for the center ankle.  These would allow me to retract the center leg into the body.  Ultimately, the space inside the body was becoming more and more cramped as more and more items were added.  The rear linear slide was interfering withe the electronics panel on the back, and it was going to be a HUGE hassle to manually convert him from 3 leg to 2 leg mode.

After a little thought, I decided that if he needed to go into 2 leg mode for storage / transportation, it would be just as easy to remove 4 bolts from the bottom plate and take the center leg off.  This new mounting system offers me a TON of extra space inside the body.  I also noticed that after a day of sitting on three feet, the angle brackets on the linear slides had bent ever so slightly - a condition that, no doubt, would get worse over time.  A 12" X 6" aluminum plate was used to span the gap in between the existing cross members.  

Three bolts hold the mount plate in place on each end, and the four bolts near the center hold the center foot plate on.  All I need to do is remove the 4 bolts and the center foot will pull off.  While not as cool as the linear slides, in the end, this is much quicker, cleaner and more sturdy mounting solution.

Another view of the new plate.  The piece of aluminum in the center is something I laid there... no reason for it, other than it fit.

Here is the new look with the center foot, uhhhhh, centered and looking mighty fine.  I now have 1/2 a droid body to fill with other stuff.  I may invert the Bose speaker and drop that down into the new body cavity, as it REALLY puts a crimp on the space available beneath the dome.

Once everything was back together, I powered him up and drove him around a bit.  I am happy to report that he still moves !  A few tweaks will have to be made to the angle of the legs and feet.  It is surprising how easily the center of balance can be thrown off, causing the drive wheels to lift off of the ground.  I need to find the correct balance of A: what I think looks good, and B: what will actually allow him to move.

One more quick Kaden story.  As we were playing around with the lights and sounds, he was having a ball watching the blink blinky and the rotation of the dome.  Then I inched him forward...... WHOA - HOLD THE PHONE.  I really wish I had the video camera on him, as he was not quite sure what to make of R2 actually walking.  Kaden slowly backed up into the corner, not diverting his gaze from the tin can that just moved into his comfort zone.  Wide-eyed, and still oogling R2, he worked his way into Grandma's arms and most things were right in the world again... most things.

Later on that day - we were watching Episode IV, and I still get a kick out of every time R2 comes on screen.  Kaden will be sitting on the couch idly sucking a thumb, taking it all in.  As soon as R2 appears on screen, he sits straight up and says "TOO-TOO !!!" as to let us all in on the fact that he knows what is up in the Star Wars universe.  Keep it up kid, you have taken your first step into a larger world...