April 30, 2015

Corsham Sci-Fi 2015 - event report & photos

Had another great time at this local event. This was R5's third year of attending but his very first event with all his systems operating. Feet motors, dome rotation and sound.
(His bad motivator and smoke system are extras still W.I.P. lol)

The event was supported by lots of costume groups. Southern Troopers, Milton Keynes Garrison, exewing group, 1st Sensory legion (link) to name a few. Plus all the great guests; Dave Prowse, Mike Edmonds, Femi Taylor, Trevor Butterfield, Danny John-Jules and others....

There was plenty to entertain the kids too. A fancy dress competition with two age groups, this was not for us lol, just the public :). There were making stuff area, stalls and other displays, like the Alien heavy load lifter & Alien, also an endo terminator skeleton. And opposite, the appropriately name 'Skynet' satalite company stall lol.

R5 had lots of pictures taken by the public and group pics with Jedi & Stormtroopers alike lol
 Event opening
Mike Edmonds, Star Wars

Femi Taylor

Trevor Butterfield

Dave Prowse

Daleks, Corsham Sci-Fi Day 2015

Souther Troopers Group

Bumbelbee - Transformers

Souther Troopers, Milton Keynes Garrison

Marine, Aliens

Winter Soldier, Captain America

Mara Jade, Southern Troopers
 All of these photo's were taken by my Son :)

R5-D4

R5-D4, Corsham Sci-Fi 2015

Corsham Sci-Fi 2015

Corsham Sci-Fi 2015, Zoe, Podpad Studios
Mark Enwright was there with his collection of droids and other props. Is always good catching up and getting build tips for tech looking things that are simple to make and don't cost the earth! He was also promoting his new company that he's set up turning a hobby for making props into a business. See his link at bottom of page.


R5-D4, Zoe, Podpad Studios

C.I.D., Podpad Studios

Danny John-Jules

R5-D4

R5-D4, Corsham Sci-Fi 2015

R5 joined up with Mark of PodPad Studios, and his collection (only a few came today) of droids from Zoe, Izzy (Steampunk), K9 Borg, CID & his latest piece Bubo (from Clash of the Titans)


UK R2 Builders Club member, Paul, popped in too & was good to chat bout build stuff etc. Plus another builder, who’s name I've forgotten (sorry) also stopped to chat.

The main room quietened out in the afternoon, which isn't a bad thing as the droids got to roam a bit more. Loads of photos were taken and questions asked about building droids etc.

The event has even been in the local press, link here.

Day finished at four PM, and as I started to load R5 up, the rains came. The amount raised was split four ways with each charity receiving over £600 each!


Check out the groups at these links below:

April 26, 2015

Upgrade work needed on Dome rotation system 1.0

Yesterday I had to temporarily 'fix' the dome motor's socket to shaft grub screw. It screws through and secures onto a flat thats pre machined onto the shaft. When I first fitted this I was NOT happy at the small size of the grub screw and when tightening it the allen key would slip in the hex socket when being tightened up.

Well yesterday, it slipped under the strain/weight of R5's dome. At first I thought it was an electrical issue until I removed the dome to see the motor shaft still spinning, just not the wheel!

So my plan is to drill and tap a larger thread and use a larger grub screw with a flatter face for contact with the shafts flat. I'll also apply some thread lock to it too.

Corsham Sci-Fi 2015 - update

yesterday was another great day for the Charity Sci-Fi group. Lots of fun, lots to see and do, great guests as well. My Son did a great job of taking photos of event go'ers and guests and even managed a few selfies with them too lol. Lots of pics and more to come soon.

The amount raised was split between three charities.

April 24, 2015

R5's prep'ed ready for Corsham Sci-Fi day 2015

An early night tonight! R5 is loaded and ready for transporting to Corsham tomorrow (Saturday 25th).

The plan is to have fun, take pics and video as well as try an give Twitter updates lol, So if you'd like to see whats happening, find R5 on Twitter here @JamesR5D4 :)

April 23, 2015

R5D4 - video of his limited sounds

Quick video of the limited sounds available to R5
.....well.....he doesn't say much in the film anyway lol


Just click on the pic to take you to R5's YouTube page

R5D4 - prep'ed ready for transportation

Spent two hours re-installing all of R5's electrical boards, sound system board and then testing it all.

This was the first time he was all together, dome on, lights on, sound on!
R5D4, R5-D4, r5d4, r5-d4

The sound system was loud! Which is a good thing as you forget that when testing in your garage or at home, (though not at half past 12 at night! lol). You normally DON'T have any loud background noise. But at event's, this increases dramatically. So to be on the safe side, I tested the amp on full power by flipping the two dip switches.......now THAT's LOUD!!! :D
R5-D4

April 22, 2015

New switch for unlimited powerrrrrr....... lol

With the new sound board in, I needed to distribute the power but AFTER the main switch. I'd missed this little detail when installing the main power switch and hadn't left enough cable.

In the process of sorting this, I broke off one of the switch rear connection tabs.
So ordered another switch.

Due to the shortness of the cable from the switch to the speed controller, I needed to add in an extension cable. And rather than solder up the cable to the stitch, I fitted spade connectors with their holes opened up to take the switches screw's. I then fitted heat-shrink over to ensure contacts were safe and this also prevents the screws from coming out.
R5D4 power switchR5D4 power switch

Connected the last cable on and then fitted all back onto the control board.

Sound problems - 12 channel remote....

Where to start......

......this Build Blog is about the up's and down's, and here's a down post.....

Well, I'd missed crimping an earth connection lead in the eyelet socket, so that explained why one channel didn't play. So redid the wiring into a new eyelet, only to find it wasn't the right size hole (a rouge size). So had to re-do .........again, third time lucky?
12 channel remote
Before I found the missing earth crimp.
Then, all this time testing for sound and not getting anywhere fast, only to find that the remote channel I thought was no1, was in fact no7, (these come with no instructions mind). Am still having issues with actually setting up the remote, as one minute it works (you can hear the relays click) and plays when buttons are pressed, the next some don't??

Another 3 hrs of waisted effort last night, out of the 12 channels, I have 4 channels that will play sound, because the relays or the remote/board programme? And 2 channels that are for some reason repeats of two of the 4 channels?? And there not even connected up???

Conclusion:

  • Either the 12 channel board is faulty.
  • My soldering defo needs improving [this goes without saying lol]
  • There's a problem with the Audio FX board [not likely as test triggers all the sounds]

*** Corsham Sci-Fi Day 2015 ***

R5-D4's first event of 2015
Motor's = check
Dome motor = check
Sounds.......sort of.... check

(thought I'd posted this, but with all the sound system work, I'd forgot!)

April 16, 2015

Sound board - installation complete 1.1

Made up some wood location stands, cut slot's into them and screwed them to some MDF base plates. These were then screwed into place.

I then made up a cardboard template of the metal bracket I wanted to make to secure the top of the board. Cut, drilled and then bent into shape, marked position on board and drilled a clearance hole for a bolt, washers, spring washer and a butterfly nut, to secure in place.

I then finished off some more wire's, soldering and connected these back up to there respective terminal blocks.
R5-D4,

R5-D4

R5-D4 sound system
The top securing bracket can be seen better in this image.
This lot took over an hour to complete!

April 15, 2015

Sound board - installation begins 1.0

Here's where the sound board will go once fitted inside R5.
Right at the front. I was originally planning on having the panel attached to the side support wall where the legs attach to, but this would of limited accessing the batteries for removal. Plus here the speakers fire right at the Centre Vents, result!
R5D4

The speakers position couldn't of been in a more perfect position if I had planned it lol
R5D4

I need to make up some mounting brackets to slot the board into at the base and then brackets at the top to the frame up-rights.
R5D4

April 13, 2015

R5-D4's Sound system installation - UPDATE

I've cut down the perspex sheet to a more manageable size, though it's still to be test fitted inside R5's body. Cleaned up the cut edges with belt sander, nice and smooth.


Next was to fit the digital volt meters. I wanted to save space, so I milled holes into a 'stand off' piece of perspex and fitted it above/next to the voltage regulators.

R5-D4 sound system


The wires I had previously prepared......had the heat shrink & sleeve's removed. As it was to restrictive on the bends. I was also not happy with my attempt on the 'negative' wires for the 12 channel remote, so this was redone (in blue wire). I then fitted a single earth connection bolt with eyelets.



I then drilled location holes in the perspex speaker board. This will be mounted, stand off style onto the rear of the sound board. The ground loop isolator unit is also fixed to the lower half section of it.

R5-D4 sound system
Fan's spinning, digital volt meters reading
R5-D4 sound systemR5-D4 sound system

Plugged my 12v adaptor in and powered up sound board. All lite up!! Though at first I was worried the light on the 12 channel unit wasn't working......looking closer I realised it wasn't an led but a diod lol, I then pressed the bind button and it buzzed!

Next is to load up the audio and program the remote
.

April 08, 2015

New Back Drop for the UK R2 Builders Club - credit PaulJwiz

Easter Sunday, some of the UK R2 Builders had a get together. A wide selection of droids were in attendance from, just started to fully operational battle sta......sorry, droids ;D

The new back drop was on display, created by the VERY talented PaulJwiz!

Check out Paul's twitter feed and the UK R2 Builders group too.

Also my twitter feed is at JamesR5D4