Treadwell WED-15 droid build : Part 16 - Eye Lenses

 

The version 2 lenses came out okay. Gave them a little wet sanding with some aluminium grit sandpaper to make them look opaque, below image.

version 2 lens on left

Version 1 on the right, which had the print lines still visible.

Version 2 on the left, much better.

Servo Arm bracket:

This is more of a wedge than a bracket lol. It fits inside the opening and wedges the servo in place to stop it from moving. I didn't have one dimension so I went large and was then able to trim it to fit around the servo. It's a tight fit, but that was the point.

LED holders:

I drew up and printed off some LED holders for these large opaque 8mm's.

These are 5v ones and need to be wired up to a suitable supply.

May 11th:

First chance to do some work on WED. Got out the car body filler and filled in over the fibre glass join gap, front and back. Before it fully hardened, I trimmed the edges flat.

Additional work was to add supports for the centre span. This is to also add structural strength. The wood was cut and drilled/screwed into place, top and bottom.

Front panel:

To finish off the day, I measured and cut first piece of wood for the front angled surface. I chamfered the leading edge to sit flush with the front edge of the lower frame. To support these, I’ll either add wood or 3D print supports. See below for the 3D printed supports.

The single panel did require some added strength, so I cut out a second, slightly smaller in size, panel to be glued underneath. This required the use of some spare wood, G-clamps and my vice.

The two pieces clamped together.

Logic Housing:
The week started with drawing up the ‘Logic Housing’ grill panels that go either side of the central mast mount. I could just buy some perforated metal sheet, but where would be the fun in that. So I decided to design and 3D print the pieces.

I can’t remember where I saw it, or if I confused what I saw (in a picture) but I thought I had seen the perforation being square ‘holes’. So my first print was this:

Test fitting 1 idea done, so I redrew the panels as perforated circles.

Test assembly

I also reduced the panels thickness down to 2mm, something I will reverse for the next prints, as these new ones were OK, but felt like they wouldn’t stand up to much wear’n’tear. I could (carefully) stand on the 4mm thicker panels and they didn’t break.

Here’s the old square logic cover (left) with the new (right) circular panel cut out.

Once the rest of the panels were printed, I test fitted onto the shell. Liking the look, so will reprint at original 4mm thickness.

Panel supports:
I also drew up and printed off, lid supports.

I still need to design a way to secure the lid(s) in place, but am happy for now.

Finally: I placed one of R5’s batteries inside WED to check height and possible location.

I need to get on with the wheel drive system, but trying to find suitable wheels/size is not so easy. So I’ll keep on building until then.

Rear panel:

Marked up and cut out the rear sloped panel. Shaped the edges to fit the angles on the front lip.

The new Logic housing parts will hopefully of printed without filament jamming on the real.

Rear panel supports to be printed.