Screen accurate R5 eyes - found part by OpenR2

Over on the R2 Discord chat, OpenR2 member raised the question about R5’s eye sensor not being like the ‘club spec standard’ design but actually being conical.

As with lots of items used in the original trilogy, unusual looking things from everyday items were used in different ways. OpenR2 showed a high resolution image of R5’s eye and the shape/shadows showed it to be conical and not the stepped look us club members have been using all these years. As stated above, a lot of the droid greeblies & even Boba Fett's costume and jet pack, in fact came off  vinyl record decks, specifically a Transcriptor Hydraulic Reference Turntable .

He posted up the high res pictures and the turntable, similar to the one below.

Items also (possibly) used that match is the vinyl sweep brush which resembles R5’s antenna.

I have always found the search for these found items to be of great interest, so this was something that I had to follow up on. Online searches revealed the record deck's history and more [see Transcriptor link above].

So using the 3D CAD model I had already drawn up years ago, I started on modifying a version to match that of the image supplied by OpenR2.

Creating a 3D Knurl:

I also had to find out how to draw up a knurled effect. Previous jobs have only required the superimposed image of a knurl, but I needed the actual knurl for 3D printing. I found a quick tutorial on YouTube which helped put me in the right direction as to which creative option to use, 'coil'. Once one groove was created, I then copied in 'circular' to multiply around the diameter. Next was to create a new 'work plane', and offset it half the distance of the knurled with. I then mirrored the original 'circular' grouping and this created the opposite grooves to create the knurled effect.

The above image was version (attempt) 'd' or 'e' lol.
Eventually settled on version 'F'

Prusa account: Link openr2-r5-d4-original-eyes

Throwback to 2013:

Wow…..10 years ago I had finished machining up two of the three eye pieces that would have the spy holes lens units fitted.

Here’s the link: R5-D4’s Eyes - update

Back to 2023 and here are the new more realistic eye pieces.

And here they are being painted.

Next up was to cut out some opaque plastic that I had salvaged from a flat screen monitor. This was placed in the recess after the rear part of the original eye piece was fitted through from the front. Then I pushed in a cabochon into each one.

These were then re-fitted back into the dome, and secured in place. I then hot glued the original LED’s back behind them.

Really happy with the new look.

Check these out at #celebrationeurope2023 next week 😎👍🏽