Been meaning to draw up a new LED holder
for this unit to 'sit' in properly.
Used my standard version and altered it
to accept the lower contacts.
It's bright, so may look at blocking out the centre/front LED.
More work to come.
Droid Builder
November 30, 2018
New Club Mug - UK R2D2 Builders event 2018
Whilst at MCM Birmingham I picked up a club mug.
These were available firstly to attending club members
at this years first weekend meet-up event
& then available to anyone after if there were surplus.
Thankfully there were a few left.
November 27, 2018
MCM Birmingham - November 24th (Saturday) 2018
Saturday morning I was awake before my alarm went off at 5:30am lol.
Car was already loaded and once Paul arrived in his van with his wife & R2, we headed up in convoy to the NEC Birmingham (UK). No snow this time. On arriving and navigating the unloading/pass/procedure, we joined others who had also arrived prior to us, to set up the droids on our display area.
This was one of our biggest attended events with 15 droids, plus 2 work in progress ones and two extra domes on display (one being R4).
This time round the event was held in different halls, we were in hall 19 of three (17 & 18).
We had so many droids, some had to roll over to a clear area and have their pictures taken.
No parade was able to take place on the Saturday, but a full line up with the UK Garrison & friends was arranged for photograph purposes.
The event was busy, tho not so crowded that you couldn't move.....
Here's a droids-eye-view of a mini procession we did around a section of stands and back to ours. This drew quiet a crowed, surprising to hear people say that they hadn't seen us (the stand) as they were taking photos.
Come the end of the first day, we grouped all the droids together for a group photo of them.
Most of the day was spent chatting to the public about the droids, building them and the club. Before I knew it it was 5 o'clock. The group photos were set up to be taken and then it was almost 6pm. Time to pack away, for those who were heading home, lke myself, loading up and back on the road back home.
Another great time with the group members, some I've not seen in a few years now. Others this was their first time at an event. The other builders had a second day to look forward too.... and they had another great time. Checkout the UK R2D2 Builders Club on Facebook.
Car was already loaded and once Paul arrived in his van with his wife & R2, we headed up in convoy to the NEC Birmingham (UK). No snow this time. On arriving and navigating the unloading/pass/procedure, we joined others who had also arrived prior to us, to set up the droids on our display area.
This was one of our biggest attended events with 15 droids, plus 2 work in progress ones and two extra domes on display (one being R4).
This time round the event was held in different halls, we were in hall 19 of three (17 & 18).
We had so many droids, some had to roll over to a clear area and have their pictures taken.
Here's a link to my You Tube account
with a short video montarge.
with a short video montarge.
And some of the day's pictures.
No parade was able to take place on the Saturday, but a full line up with the UK Garrison & friends was arranged for photograph purposes.
This picture was taken by fellow club member George.
The event was busy, tho not so crowded that you couldn't move.....
The first time at an MCM event that R5 actually found
and had time not once but three times
to have his picture taken with the MCM Logo sign lol.
Later R5 with Chis' s R2-D2 (work in progress)
& some Ewoks from the UK Garrison 501st.
Come the end of the first day, we grouped all the droids together for a group photo of them.
Most of the day was spent chatting to the public about the droids, building them and the club. Before I knew it it was 5 o'clock. The group photos were set up to be taken and then it was almost 6pm. Time to pack away, for those who were heading home, lke myself, loading up and back on the road back home.
Another great time with the group members, some I've not seen in a few years now. Others this was their first time at an event. The other builders had a second day to look forward too.... and they had another great time. Checkout the UK R2D2 Builders Club on Facebook.
- My next event is this coming Sunday, this one is a first for me and Paul (with his R2D2), more next week on how this one went.
- Next club event is December the 15th, this is our Christmas builders meet up.
3D printed Y spliter for smoke system - TEST 1
I drew up and 3D printed up the 'Y' splitter as I wasnted to see if the idea would work. Last week I got time to try it out.
My current system setup runs on 6volts, this was mainly due ot the air pump I have, which at the time I could only find at this voltage. I drew up and 3D printed a new 'dual' support bracket to hold two e-cig catomiser units. I also printed off another of my collars to fit around the e-cig base. I then connected up the plastic tubes to them and the pump and test fired it all up.
Here's some pics.
As you can see in the video the unit works, though I perhaps was expecting more lol.
Next.....just as something to try.....I plumbed in a second air pump to power the second e-cig unit.
This made a slight difference, but not as much as I would like lol.
I've got some new bits on order to try a few more ideas. There are a few people now building for sale of this type of unit, so this is still just a fun 'upgrade' project for R5. If this is of help to you then that's a positive bonus to my trial and error work.
My current system setup runs on 6volts, this was mainly due ot the air pump I have, which at the time I could only find at this voltage. I drew up and 3D printed a new 'dual' support bracket to hold two e-cig catomiser units. I also printed off another of my collars to fit around the e-cig base. I then connected up the plastic tubes to them and the pump and test fired it all up.
Here's some pics.
As you can see in the video the unit works, though I perhaps was expecting more lol.
Next.....just as something to try.....I plumbed in a second air pump to power the second e-cig unit.
This made a slight difference, but not as much as I would like lol.
I've got some new bits on order to try a few more ideas. There are a few people now building for sale of this type of unit, so this is still just a fun 'upgrade' project for R5. If this is of help to you then that's a positive bonus to my trial and error work.
New RC Transmitter - Exmitter EX7 + mini review
25.10.18
So, at Optimus Bristol, I had a slight accident with my Optics 6 Sport transmitter. Basically I managed to cross the battery contacts whilst swapping old/new ones over. It turned on but no signal to R5. So the rest of the event, he was shut down for display only.
Really gutted about this as the controller had been really good and it was a gift from a fellow builder friend Colin. Not to mention the additional extra's I'd addded to make it more user friendly.
Never mind.
My next headache then was getting a NEW transmitter, installing and testing/setting it up all before my next event at MCM London. This might not seam like a big deal, but shop availability isn't good and transmitter choice is limited for me unfortunatly. Due to more financial restrictions, this expense was the last thing I needed.
I did find on tho and picked it up from the shop on the Monday lunchtime.
(Would just like to say thanks to Rob for the loan offer of his spare transmitter until I was mobile again). Got the transmitter home Monday night and got to testing and setting up the transmitter/reciever.
It's a Volantex Exmitter EX7. Link (this is an example, product link)
It has a 7 channel reviever.
I wanted to first check it would work ok, so Monday night was just a plug everything in and power up. Then (due to limited free time), Wednesday evening I was able to continue setting up and adjusting the settings.
This post was written before MCM London, so once the transmitter has had it's first outting, I'll write up a report and add it below afterwards.
Swapped over the left stick mask and the stick 'pads'.
REVIEW:
Setting up was quite straight forward, once I had the control sticks sussed. Reversing was also really simple to do and the instructions are really easy to follow. The transmitter itself is very light, and after it's first outting at MCM London, there was no wrist ach, which was the reason for the hand strap I fitted to the Optic 6 unit. The sub-trim was easy to set up, again, thanks to the instructions and the fact that once you get the button order, it becomes second nature.
I've not added anything to the other controls yet.
I did have one moment when setting up where the reciever seemed to loose connection with the transmitter??? I was sat right next to R5 and the reciever was in an odd position.....
Nothing bad happened, as I had already set the fail safe positions to zero. This ensure that R5 doesn't carry on in whatever he was doing if the signal is lost.
This is one of the safety features all droids should have in their settings!
The transmitter now has a few event's to it's name and even though it uses four AA batteries, these have lasted well and from the on screen monitor, are still going strong!
I can say this unit gets the thumbs up from me.
So, at Optimus Bristol, I had a slight accident with my Optics 6 Sport transmitter. Basically I managed to cross the battery contacts whilst swapping old/new ones over. It turned on but no signal to R5. So the rest of the event, he was shut down for display only.
Really gutted about this as the controller had been really good and it was a gift from a fellow builder friend Colin. Not to mention the additional extra's I'd addded to make it more user friendly.
Never mind.
My next headache then was getting a NEW transmitter, installing and testing/setting it up all before my next event at MCM London. This might not seam like a big deal, but shop availability isn't good and transmitter choice is limited for me unfortunatly. Due to more financial restrictions, this expense was the last thing I needed.
I did find on tho and picked it up from the shop on the Monday lunchtime.
(Would just like to say thanks to Rob for the loan offer of his spare transmitter until I was mobile again). Got the transmitter home Monday night and got to testing and setting up the transmitter/reciever.
It's a Volantex Exmitter EX7. Link (this is an example, product link)
It has a 7 channel reviever.
I wanted to first check it would work ok, so Monday night was just a plug everything in and power up. Then (due to limited free time), Wednesday evening I was able to continue setting up and adjusting the settings.
This post was written before MCM London, so once the transmitter has had it's first outting, I'll write up a report and add it below afterwards.
Swapped over the left stick mask and the stick 'pads'.
***********************
REVIEW:
Setting up was quite straight forward, once I had the control sticks sussed. Reversing was also really simple to do and the instructions are really easy to follow. The transmitter itself is very light, and after it's first outting at MCM London, there was no wrist ach, which was the reason for the hand strap I fitted to the Optic 6 unit. The sub-trim was easy to set up, again, thanks to the instructions and the fact that once you get the button order, it becomes second nature.
I've not added anything to the other controls yet.
I did have one moment when setting up where the reciever seemed to loose connection with the transmitter??? I was sat right next to R5 and the reciever was in an odd position.....
Nothing bad happened, as I had already set the fail safe positions to zero. This ensure that R5 doesn't carry on in whatever he was doing if the signal is lost.
This is one of the safety features all droids should have in their settings!
The transmitter now has a few event's to it's name and even though it uses four AA batteries, these have lasted well and from the on screen monitor, are still going strong!
I can say this unit gets the thumbs up from me.
Transport upgrade - New Handle
R5's transport sledge finally got the handle I needed to fit on it. I managed to get this all done last week before MCM Birmingham.
Due to the weight/balance point it was uncomfortable to more it around. You had to bend at an awkward angle to balance the weight.
So I removed one of the top 'supports'. These were just to give the upper section some stability when R5's loaded up and is in transit in the back of tha car. It wasn't actually needed, hence why I used it. I literally cut it in half as to get the maximum height. I then positioned the uprights in position. Then using the holes already drilled, I fixed them in place. Next was to drill a large hole through to fix a t-nut for the M6 bolt.
I then drilled two 1" dia holes for the two new aluminium sockets I had to machine up in work. Then it was a case of screwing and bolting both uprights onto the frame.
I had already checked that these wouldn't be a problem once the sledge was led down in the rear of the car.
I just need to paint up the sawn pieces.
The MCM Comic Con event was it's first 'test' and it was a great help. Still not perfect, but WAY better than it was before lol.
Due to the weight/balance point it was uncomfortable to more it around. You had to bend at an awkward angle to balance the weight.
So I removed one of the top 'supports'. These were just to give the upper section some stability when R5's loaded up and is in transit in the back of tha car. It wasn't actually needed, hence why I used it. I literally cut it in half as to get the maximum height. I then positioned the uprights in position. Then using the holes already drilled, I fixed them in place. Next was to drill a large hole through to fix a t-nut for the M6 bolt.
I then drilled two 1" dia holes for the two new aluminium sockets I had to machine up in work. Then it was a case of screwing and bolting both uprights onto the frame.
I had already checked that these wouldn't be a problem once the sledge was led down in the rear of the car.
I just need to paint up the sawn pieces.
November 14, 2018
MCM Birmingham - November 24th (weekend) 2018
It's one of the clubs biggest attended events,
with 15 club members & droids signed up for the weekend.
Really looking forward to this!
There wil be plenty of different Astromech droids to see,
plus one or two non astromechs,
chat to the builders and ask us questions,
as well as optertunities to have photos.
Myself & R5 will only be attending Saturday.
November 09, 2018
'JamesR5astromech' Etsy shop - first sale
First patch sale on Etsy this week!
It's had a few likes, but my first customer is an R5 fan
who plans on wearing my patch on a custom jacket
to Star Wars Celebration in 2019.
November 02, 2018
MCM London - October 27 - Report (..........at last)
What a day!
Awake at 4:30am! Out the door and transport away by 5am. Pick up Jamie en-route, just off the M4 motorway and arrived in plenty of time........
Well, that was the plan.....alarm set wrong PM not AM, I woke up at 6am and then it was a dash to pick up Jamie and on up to London.
Unloaded the car & met Sam, drove R5 to the lifts & up to the arena. Lee (P6B-LT2) was a surprise attendance as he was available & Simon (R2-FETT) were there. Simon was off else where so we didn't get many/any photo's of his droid.
Early door's opened and the event was crowded then till about 3pm, when it seemed to thin out a bit.
 |
| P6B-LT2 (track droid from 'Solo') R2-SHP & R5-D4(left to right) |
For once, we didn't have an R2-D2 unit in attendance, though that did mean the rest of the droids got some attention lol.
The 501st display was right next to one of the stages for talks, so we were always swamped by people queing up and then leaving after each talk.
 |
| The kid who does cosplay (family) were there. Have seen them at events but not able to catch up with them. Managed to get a photo for Rogue One. |
 |
| Qi'ra - Solo a Star Wars Story |
 |
| A Rebel Pilot |
 |
| The Tardis |
 |
| Dr Who |
The event eventually closed up just before 7pm, which was when we were able to pack up the droids & for me & Jamie, start our long drive home. Another fun day with Lee, Sam & Jamie, lots of laughs & chat's bout droid stuff lol
Next event is
MCM Birmingham, Saturday 24th November.
This will be a BIG one for the club, with 15 builders, with a minimum of 15 droids, some builders may be bringing two droids! Only three of us only attending on the Saturday, the rest will be there both day.
Event's requests are already coming in for 2019 to the club,
so a lot to look forward to attending.
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