September 25, 2015

UK R2 Builder events - Upcoming Weekend Events

Busy weekends for the UK R2 Builders Club......

FACTS over in Germany this weekend.....
click picture to linked site.

October 10-11th.
UK R2 Builders will be up and down the country attending at least two events,
Feel the Force day in Peterborough [R5D4 will be there]
click picture to linked site.

&

Nerdageddon 'DefCon' 4 in Southampton.
click picture to linked site.

September 23, 2015

Electronics & Automation upgrade time..... 1.0

As I was not happy with the limited sounds available, due to the 12 channel remote unit not working properly, I've now got round to it & ordered a new one, should be here next month lol.

I've also ordered some servo's to see about getting his utility arms moving. Also ordered a y-lead splitter in case I need it.

September 22, 2015

Star Wars Celebration 2016 - Son's ticket

Eventually got round to buying a ticket for my Son to come visit, on the Sunday.
He's going to be very happy :)

Click on logo to go direct to ticket sales.

R5D4's Outer foot - shell repairs

The outer feet foot shells were showing signs of wear-n-tear and needed some TLC.

They were not designed to be resting on the thin edges of the newer internal metal frames. This has caused the joins to split apart in places due to the also 'thin' ankle wedges.

So, as I still had fibre resin, from making R5's dome, I started cutting strips up ready to bond onto the joins. Then once clearance areas were clearly marked, started mixing up and applying the resin to the fiber strips.
R5D4 outer feet shell

R5D4 outer foot shell

These feel much stronger now and the new ankle brackets mean there's no forces being applied directly onto the shells.

Think I still need some more support but for now they'll do.

September 18, 2015

**NEW** UK R2 Builders Facebook page

Created for Mr & Mrs Joe public is a new Facebook page to 'like'.
Here will be posted up events attending and attended, with pictures etc.

Please like & share and keep up to date with events, maybe in your area :)


September 17, 2015

September 16, 2015

Star Wars Celebration 2016 - accomadation sorted!!

Good news!!

With the help of the wife, we managed to sort out and book a hotel room, train fares
and route! Will be staying at the Ibis, (London) in Barking.

If your staying there, don't forget to say hello,
I'll be the one in the UK R2 Builders polo top
or if its cold [lol] my R5 'Bad Motivator' hoodie. 

Chippenham Sci-Fi Day - Oct 24th 2015

Looking forward to attending this event again, for its second year.

Follow updates on Twitter @Chippenhamscifi @jamesR5D4
Check out their Facebook page, links can be found on Twitter account.


September 15, 2015

Star Wars Celebration - London 2016 - Accommodation update......or not as the case may be!

Well.....what a nightmare booking somewhere to stay is!!

Hotel's with resonable prices.....all gone, booked up, before I had the chance to sort things out [family attending etc] some hotels that have rooms available are asking £500+ in some cases!!

I wanted to be close enough to Excel that I didn't need to use my car for the time I was there. Need to take it tho as transporting R5 up on the train with a bag & extra's might be a bit difficult lol.

Whilst searching the net for hotels and then B&B's, I found this site www.airbnb.co.uk here you can find accommodation all over the place.

The only problem is that a lot of people DON'T want to take bookings so far in advance! But then if you don't, as in one case, someone else then books them the weekend you needed!

So the hunt continues......

September 12, 2015

R5-D4's 1st year moving anniversary

One year anniversary weekend of R5 rolling!
Can't believe R5's been 'alive' now for a year?!? It was a bit longer before his head moving was sorted tho lol.

Link to post from lasy year:

R5's first steps

September 11, 2015

UK R2 Builders Club attending - Blackpool Comic Con 2015

If your free this weekend,

***TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT!!***

then head on up to Blackpool's Comic Con
and check out some of the UK's R2 Builders Club & their Droid's

......these are the droid's your looking for! ;) lol


click pic for link or this one here

So any pics of the droids I'll post them up on here for your Droid pleasure lol

September 04, 2015

R5's outer feet, Ankle Lock, upgrade - 1.1

Yesterday morning in work I cut to size, filed an angle and drilled a hole in the first ankle locking strip.

This is how the outer feet looked before, here with front caster.
R5D4
I wanted to keep the area of support as large as possible, hence keeping the motor wheel at the back. This had recently been talked about with other club members. As R5's dome is larger height wise, than an R2 unit, his centre of gravity come's into play.

I then positioned it and marked where the hole will go in the channel of the internal metal foot. Then it was a case of cleaning up edges and fitting all back onto R5. The moment of truth....part 1.....

R5-D4
 Look, no front caster.....magic..... lol

R5D4, Star Wars
 Rear shot.....

R5D4, Star Wars
The nice large M10 cap head bolt holding it all together.....

The locking strip has some spring in it which I'm hoping will make things not so rigid.
I need to sort out painting up the strip to better 'blend in' with the leg, but that's once it's all done and tested.

September 02, 2015

R5's outer feet, Ankle Lock, upgrade [& new centre foot wheel]...... 1.0

R5's outer feet were built, as most peoples are, to spec, well mine were as close as lol.

With a single motor wheel and caster at front to ballance, the wheel/foot assembly, then requires ankle locks to help stop the front caster from tipping the foot (due to its diameter being smaller and often 'digging in' where a larger diameter wheel is be able roll across a hole/gap). With how my outer feet and internal frame work is the locks are not the greatest, well, they're ok flat smooth surfaces, but anything slightly uneven and the 'panic stations mode' is flipped!

So the plan is to change his internal feet to better support driving him, real world situations, hopefully, reducing the worry of him tripping over.

Recent event's have confirmed that the casters are definitely the week point on any surface other than flat & smooth! So am drawing up some ideas on how best to fully lock the feet, whilst trying to keep things atheistically pleasing to the eye.

With R5 putting his [outer] feet up, I needed to replace his centre foot wheel. This may also need a future upgrade, but for now, just a new wheel was needed. The size I wanted I could only find at the original place I had got the first one from, B&Q!
R5D4, Star Wars

The original one has worn down and although a harder compound wheel would be more suitable, the size to fit in is the limiting factor. I am looking into similar sized scooter wheels as they're material is harder, so won't wear out as much! [W.I.P.]

R5D4
Spent bout 45 mins, looking for suitable size/thickness wood, figuring out how to best fit it..... When I found some metal strips that would be perfect. So bent one to the angle required and then marked for cutting.

I found a pair of M10 cap head bolts that should do the job of holding the angles in place. I just need some nylock nuts.