Trading Card Dispenser: WIDE version

December 2023:

Mike’s card maker, unfortunately, don’t always cut them to the same tight tolerance, so in the past I’ve had to trim them down to fit in the TCD unit.

This isn’t really practical lol so I decided to make a second WIDE version of the TCD to allow for this. I couldn’t just increase the size in Cura, as this would mess with all the other dimensions.

So the cartridge inside width was increased and the main body’s slot opening was also increased slightly.

I 3D printed off a full set from the files & assembled them, cannibalising motor parts & spring plate from an older model.

January 2024:

Testing the new version and it worked.

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October 2024, I'll be uploading this version to my Prusa account in the near future.

Treadwell WED-15-77: Part 28

July 2024:

Here was to be the final instalment of the Treadwell build 😀

Recent work has been mostly focused on making the sledge to transport WED on, via the cars roof rack.

Sounds:

Needed to fit a speaker and wasn’t happy with my original position idea. So decided to fit in inside the ‘logic housing’.

Position located:

How to find the centre of a circle lol

Dug out this adjustable hole cutter. Think I last used this to make the holes in R5’s legs!

Making a start on the hole.

One hole cut out.

Speaker fitted with its spacer ring, that I had previously made for the GOID-4 messenger Droid.

Re-installed the ‘Logic housing’ (the hole cutter wouldn’t fit inside it).

I had added longer leads from it to reach the amplifier board.

Just need to finish off some connections and save some sound files. Keep forgetting these last two pieces. Needed to buy a proper servo controlled switch, similar to the one used in R5, but this ones a single and much smaller.

Another tweak, was the addition of a volume (potentiometer) to boost the sound. When I couldn’t hear it at Mshed event, I knew I had to install one.

3D printed the knob from a file on the Prusa printables website.

Had to rewire the signal to volume dial to amp to speaker wires.

Claw arm servo:

The new micro servo arrived sooner than expected lol, but I had already started on a modified 3D printable housing to fit a new metal geared SG90 size servo. It didn’t take up much more space , but i had to reposition the securing screw, and add a second one.

I used brass knurled threaded inserts & M3 screws.

I made a slot in the side to allow the servo horn some freedom. This once finished, could be covered.

I needed to add a slot in the claws tube to allow some flexibility for the wire that connects to the servo horn.

I also added a location hole for a screw.

Next was to remove the servo plug so that it could connect with the servo lead.

Almost forgot about painting it…..

Primer applied after some sanding.

Weathering:

Dug out the paints and got to adding brown, yellow and ochre.

Then black to give the dirty oily look.

At the Mshed event, I was asked by some of the builders if Tread was metal construction, they were surprised to hear the upper section was all 3D printing.

Upgrades:

I know I said this was going to be the last post on this build, but I have a few more tweeks to do with things I wasn’t happy with, so there’s more to come.

July 25th…….

Wheels:

The original wheels were spaced away from the base, as can be seen in these two  photo.

original deleted scene SW ANH

remade version for the prequals

    

So I decided to draw up some spacers and 3D printed them. This along with some more substantial axle bushes with bearings in, to better support and properly align the wheels. And finally, some new axle's at over 180mm in length!

Events Media display unit - idea

August 23rd 2023

Having the huge tv screen at our Mshed event, reminded me to sort out a smaller more portable unit for other events.

And the best reminder is when your works IT are scrapping off old (but still good condition) flat screen monitors. I grabbed two the same and that  used standard power cables. I also grabbed a mini PC unit…..but again, no power unit.

Next came the ‘how to??’

Internet searching for power cables led me to smaller media units like the one I was able to purchase off eBay for a tenner (£10 GBP).

I needed an adapter from HDMI to VGA to connect to the monitor, again, off eBay for £5.

Once all connected up, I got this…

And that’s as far as it got. Played around with different ways to access the video, but my suspicions were confirmed when I messaged the seller about the video not playing. These are old devices and they don’t seem to like the newer, faster, more advanced video types. He made some great suggestions on how to attempt to convert to a usable file. So I went online and used video a converter to hopefully a more usable format.

3D printing - Jake Lunt Davies (Part2)

Last week (December 2021), I finished off the lower body of the GONK, as well as creating the unseen sides.

Now, I’ve not drawn this to scale, but by eye only. When it came to 3D printing, I decided to print it at 50% half scale. To save on material and mostly time, as I wanted to see it lol.

Here's the link to part 1

Here's the link to the 3D model I created.

Magazine article about building my R5-D4 (......back in 2018)

Back at the end of March 2018, a fellow builder, Nik H, who happens to work at a magazine publishing company, asked if I'd be interested in writing a piece for his editor. He's proposed the idea to her and she was very interested in it.

Good Woodworking magazine

lol

The Woodworker magazine

So I started writing how I went about building R5-D4 out of wood. Trying to condense three years plus work & to simplify it down to 500 words was a definite challenge lol. I also sent in photo's of the build.

.... unfortunately tho, this didn't get published.

October 2024:

I do still have the transcript, so I may post it up one day lol.

The Age of Plastic 3D - website R5-D4 history info etc.

 May 2nd 2023

https://sites.google.com/site/theageofplastic3d/all-about-r5-d4

Social Media for updates and more 2023 -> 2024

April 25th 2023

(updated October 2024)

Its been a while, but R5’s back on Facebook 😁. (2023)

Since Google+ ended, Blog notifications ended and so did the amount of visitors to this site. I do Tweet 😂 and of course have my YouTube channel. No adverts as I’m not here for the money lol, just entertainment/knowledge/help.

So to keep up with what’s happening in R5’s world of Droid Building, I would say you can follow me, like, subscribe, search up 'James R5D4'. And any questions, comments, feel free to post up or DM me if you’d prefer.

Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram

R4-D4 dome - life form scanner update 2024 (not completed)

Original post - July 2024:

It’s been a few years now since I last worked on the lift setup. So decided I needed to get back on it again.

The problem I had was being able to set up the Pololu control board.

October 2024: didn't get around to following up on this......

OpenR2 - original ‘77: R5-D4 Blueprints - 3D drawn up (Part 2)

 May 29th 2023: this was going to be the next stage, not completed.

Sanding, primer and silver paint.

I drew up a location plug that would fit inside the rear of the eye and match the original hole locations in the dome.

Once the rear had been sanded to the curvature of the dome for a snug fit, I refitted the cabochon lens and the retaining ring.

Checkout Part 1 of this build here (click on the link)

Flag Banners: DIY Build (not yet completed)

April 2024:

I had an idea to utilise a load of PVC tubing i had in the garage. By turning them into flag banners. I went with the pivoted top that would move in the winds direction, hopefully preventing it from being blown over.

So I drew up and 3D printed the top piece first to check for size.

When I got home, I tested it out, i then drilled through the banner arm, and secured it to the pivot top with pop rivets.

As an example I knocked up this to see what it would look like.

Thinking I might need a bottom arm to hold the banner down.

I did drew up some rings and 3D printed them for the flag pole for the banner to be attached to, but I think the arm is a better option.

Spoke with the group about printing double sided & looked online, not very cheap though. Then I found a shop on Amazon, considerably cheaper!

Messaged Mike if he could modify a higher resolution image, he said leave it with him…..

I found that the PVC tube was a bit too flexible, but I found some smaller diameter tube which fitted perfectly inside, which helped with rigidity.

I drew up an angled bracket to help support the top arm.

October 2024: not yet completed.