Event: Stars of Time @ Weston-Super-Mare

This coming Saturday, November 30th......

Link here:

https://www.starsoftime.co.uk/weston-s-mare-winter

Just some of the droids [from our last attendance] will be joining us this Saturday.

Event Report: Newport Comic-Con 2024

The South West Droid Building represented the Droid Builder’s UK Club on Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th August, over the bridge in Newport.

Mike and Paul attended Saturday, with their droids R2-TNGO & R2-D2 (respectively) along with Emma as a helper/spotter.

Matt attended by himself with his R2 droid on the Sunday.

They had a great time and it was a busy weekend.

They managed to get some video from the day along with photos, YouTube link here.

Mike got his dome signed by non other than Moff Gideon AKA Giancarlose Esperito!

Though this wasn’t intentional lol.

Check out the YouTube video (link above) for a short video from Saturday 👍🏽

Droids at the Mshed 2024 - Event Report

WHAT A DAY!!!

This post will also be uploaded to the Droid Builders UK website, events page, so for more events attended by the Droid Builders, checkout the the link here.

It was that time of year again, the Droid Builders invaded #Bristol, for our now annual, Summer event.

This was our fourth event, our biggest attended by Builders and also by the public.

I didn’t get to take many photos myself, so photo credit to fellow builders and my Brother.

video link to my YouTube Channel here.

Saturday 6th July:

Saw Mike Berry & Chris Williams and myself arrive early to set up everything, well they were early…

……ready for the big day. I wasn’t THAT late 😂

Sunday 7th July:

Arriving early [7:15am] to organise things with Mike with Helen (& family) and myself. It was cloudy but dry. The outside advertising boards were put out at strategic locations to catch the most foot traffic. An area just to the side of the Museum, allowed easy access for unloading and parking had been kindly been made available for us.

www.PodPadStudios.com's

Mr & Mrs Maker, arrived early doors to unload T1-FNY.

26 Club members signed up, four were 'spotters' these are helpers of droids being driven. They help keep the public in check lol whilst the operator, operates.

The area inside was arranged with the intention that the droids could be lined up, but we had that many that it was basically just cram them in wherever lol.

Here are just some of the droids, big thanks to Billy for the use of these photos.

Droid lineup

Droids grouped together

We had a few props table next, Chris & Helen displayed 3D printed items.

Photo credit: Kim Atkins

Our VIP for the day, was Sarah (as TC-14, silver) & would have been Chris (as C-3P0, gold).

Of course everyone is special, but unless you have, AND wear, a Protocol Droid suit at an event, then you are a VIP!!! If you've worn any sort of armour/costume, you will be aware of how limiting it can be, wearing a Protocol Droid suit is this x100%. Apart from from having to fit yourself into one, the face [head] is an extremely tight fit with very limited vision AND it can feel very claustrophobic! Both these builders were in attendance last year at Celebration Europe 2023 as well as other Club attended events.

Event Begins:

Organising, helping to unload droids and set them up, before I knew it, it was 10am.

The public was allowed in and within minutes the whole room was packed!! It was like this for the next few hours. Then the rain came mid morning . This didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds though.

After lunch and the rain had stopped, the clouds cleared and yet again, the sun shone down on our day. The crowds increased as the droids and cosplayers from the MK Garrison were able to venture outside, which attracted more people.

There were lots of happy people, having their photos taken. Following pictures credit: Matt.

Crowds

TC-14 and Dalek getting luv from the public.

The other side of the event was Droid MOT testing. A few renewals and two new initial MOT’s.

I did R2-B00’s, built by farther and son.

And the second initial MOT, was carried out by Mr Lee Towersey. This was a club first as well.

B2-EM0

Checkout the video of B2-EM0 in action.

Congratulations to both builders on their droids passing and being added to the ever expanding community of Droids.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up was the lucky dip which had some amazing prizes up for grabs & raised more than the two collection buckets put together!! There was Lego sets, posters, hats, t-shirts, key-rings and lots more. Big thanks to Clare and Mark.

The crowds didn’t abate and the sunshine just attracted more. Thanks to Helen and Sara for donation bucket duties, as well as parking organisers xx

Loads of positive comments from the public and lots of questions asked about droid building.

GRAND TOTAL RAISED ON THE DAY

£684.08

Including £100 via online donations

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Big thanks to all the builders who gave up (in some cases their whole weekend) to attend the event.

Nik, Matt, Jamie, Shaun, Mark, Clare, Emma, Andrew, Doug, Phil, Chris, Lee, John, Chris W, Paul, Sarah (TC-14), Loz, Dale, Andy, Helen, Ashleigh, Chris O, Susie, Glynn, lan.

(Don’t think I forgot anyone)

final bit: this could quite possibly be our last event held at the Mshed Museum. Due to the shed area being redeveloped by the museum for a new permanent exhibit. We won’t know for sure till later in the year, but we’ll keep you informed, on here or my YouTube channel 😎👍🏽

Droids at Mshed : Bristol 2024 - 1 WEEK TO GO!!!

 

Just 1 week left till #Bristol see’s the Droids arrive at the Mshed museum again, 2024!

YouTube channel: link

Please like and share for others to see. The event is a free one so don’t miss out on seeing your favourite droids, built by fans, of film and TV!!

Droid Builders UK: Events in the UK 2024

Here’s the link to find out where club droids will be attending

(2024).

https://droidbuilders.uk/public-events/

Don't forget to check out the clubs links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/droidbuildersuk

Twitter (X): https://www.twitter.com/DroidbuildersUK

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DroidbuildersUK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/droidbuildersuk

Treadwell WED-15-77: Part 26 - The last pieces

 

March into April into May 2024

Final pieces………??? :

The second mix of rubber for the tracks was ordered and arrived in a few days.

I poured the remaining tracks and then it came time to join the first complete track together.

Because of the flex, I had to hold the joining ends in place with two metal ‘V’ blocks, above picture.

Teeth moulding attempt No1:

I printed a larger version of this mould (above picture) with more recesses, so one mix could do loads in one go. I didn’t use it though.

I tested the loctite 480 glue again and although it held, it didn’t last long though.

Then I remembered Sikoflex! This is similar to silicon sealant, but is stronger for bonding. I bought some to test on a sample piece of track.

Before I used the Sikoflex, I attempted to bond the ‘teeth’ onto the track using some of the rubber mix. This time I didn’t press down too hard, just held it gently in place. Two test pieces later and they were on solid….. but again it didn’t last long. Tried to fix in place with a pop rivet, but that didn't work.

NOTE: I think the main problem is that the 85 shore hardness is too hard when poured to the thickness required. It's ok (flexible) when poured at the track thickness. May need to look at using the softer shore hardness that I had a sample mix of previously.

Ordered some 60 shore rubber (sample bottles I had previously purchased and tested) to test in the newer mould. These should be a lot softer but still retain some rigidity due to the height.

As for fixing them onto the track, think this will require a definite mechanical process.

Teeth moulding attempt No2:

Here is the second attempt at moulding the tread teeth. The mould was dimensioned to the unofficial blueprints, they are longer than my mould version 1.

** pic **

These came out great, though some of the mix did leak out of the bottom of the mould. They will flex, but still have rigidity.

After more YouTube research, I noticed that the surface needed to be 'roughed up' before bonding to help give the glue something better to 'key' with. On the first test 'tooth', using loctite 480 glue, this worked to help bond it to the track!

Track Fitting:

Next up, test fit of the assembled track No1, onto the wheels.

Track mouldings No2:

Here are pictures of the last section of track being moulded.

Still managed to have some problems with bonding these together. Patience is definitely a requirement lol.

May

Saw the completion of the tracks.

I found that the faces of the track and teeth, needed to be really roughed up! So dug out a wire wheel and attached it to a drill.

Once done the teeth bonded much better to the track. Wire wheel on drill.

Track one was complete,[May 7th], time to fit it onto the wheels.

🛞🛞🛞🛞

Front Wheels location:

Before I could work out the length for the last section of track. I needed to fix a few things. The exterior plate needed to be modified slightly, to allow locking nuts and washers to be used.

The plate was increased in thickness to locate the nylock nuts in place (along with a recess for a washer).

This worked great and made locking the front wheels in place even easier. This upgrade did through up a slight hole alignment issue, requiring two to be drilled slightly larger and straighter lol.

[April]: The next issue though was that there wasn't enough movement to pull the track tight. So after measuring the possible distance needed, I modified the inner and outer locking and location plates to be able to accommodate.

These were re-printed again and helped with keeping the track 'tight'……but the next issue was…..

Wheel alignment: [April]

When tightening the track on the front wheel, the axil would 'bend' (not actually). I would that the 'washers' I had 3D printed were flexing under the tension of the wheel. I swapped them over so the metal washer was next to the bodywork and then the 'plastic washer' between it and the wheel hub. This improved the alignment.

**pics of new brackets**

Speaker:

Didn’t get this far….

Battery brackets: [April/May]

Was thinking about repositioning the battery and combining the brackets into the mast base bracket. Didn’t get much further done either lol.

Servo leads: [May]

New servo wires were made to connect the Sabertooth speed controller to the RC receiver. Then the servo leads from the mast socket were connected to the receiver.

Not in correct slots yet!

Additional arms:

As I mentioned in Blog post (part no.) I had painted up left over arms that I was thinking about using. I then had a thought about actuating the gripper tool, which led on to actuating the whole arm, like the claw one.

This I completed, and will share the files on my Prusa account, but for actually using it on WED, it wasn’t till I’d made a new bracket that I realised that there wouldn’t be enough room for the servos etc.

**picture**

April/May:

After being paid I was able to purchase the (hopefully) last mix for the rubber tracks.

I made tracks to gets these finished as I NEED to get him ready for the South West Droid Builder’s day here in Bristol, Sunday July 7th 2024.

Last few pieces to fit together for WED to be done.

Powering everything up…..

Testing of the motors, servos etc and the transmitter….. in next post!