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......

Treadwell WED-15 droid build : Part 14

3D Printing:

March

I needed another way to operate the claw. The bowden tube idea using a metal guitar string, wasn’t working well enough 😢, but it still needed a servo to operate it.

I dug around in my servo box and remembered that I had this nano servo I bought back in 2020 for the ‘life form scanner’ project idea.

The claw’s motion only requires a light operation and the servo has just enough power to move it.

I redraw the end parts to accommodate fitting the servo inside it.

Exported the stl files to be able to print on the Tevo at home (works was already in use printing overnight parts). An hour print time for each half.

Only a few more adjustments to this design, one, making the tube the claw fits into, longer, another, to increase one side to make it thicker. Maybe another internal adjustment for the servo horn to have a bit more space.

The second version needed one more addition 😂 …..as I forgot to put in the slot for the servos tab. And before this got printed, I added holes for a brass threaded insert to secure the two half’s.

The carbon fibre tube got destroyed on trying to remove it, so I’ll be using a spare aluminium tube I had left over from the life form scanner project. Am thinking, the tube could be glued to one half of the unit and then screwed onto the other half, or it could be pinned in place.

Woodwork:

The base bottom board was screwed into place, again, counter sinking them.

I then used P40 (fibre glass resin) to fill in the gaps front and rear.

I needed to get some photos for celebration.

So I assembled most of WED together for this shot.

The base isn’t glued together yet, I’ll wait till I have the wheels and motors sorted out.

Electronics:

I ordered 10meters of servo lead so that I could make up my on lengths. I also found and ordered my new favourite tool lol.

I honestly don't know how I've managed over all these years 😂.

The nano servo plug needed to be removed so that it's contacts could be threaded through into the aluminium tube. I connected it up with a length of new servo lead, which I fed up through the upper arm and then into the mast.

I used some braided tubing to group together the other two new servo leads, one for the neck and one for the head/eye servo.

This was as far as I got with time restraints, and the other main project needed for Celebration, so WED-15 will just be a work in progress on display.

Life-form scanner - R4-D4 - part 20

June 2022

Back in June, whilst I had R5’s bad motivator setup out of R5’s dome, I thought I’d refresh my memory of where I was with R4’s Life-form scanner.

After recently salvaging parts from a broken 3D printer, the parts gave me a better idea of how to operate the lift system.

So this version will be belt driven.

I needed to design some new parts so that the original setup could still be used.

A new lower bearing holder was drawn up and 3D printed. This clips over the lower bracket and has a locking screw to secure.

The main lift unit had a bracket added to clamp the belt onto.

The upper unit had to have a new servo holder designed up as it needed to be turned 90°’s. This has a location tab and a securing screw.

July 25th

Test printing done and then some more redesigning. The bracket needed some work done after all, so it had the lower bearing included in its update. This bearing holder also needed to protrude more to allow clearance. This also means it replaces the ‘clip over’ version.

Next up was the main lift bracket.

This was also modified to protrude more, for the belt to be aligned and to allow clearance and full travel up to the top.

October:

With the progress made with the Bad Motivator setup, these will be included on here.

Life-form scanner - R4-D4 - part 19

Back in.....May 7th 2021.....

Dug out the laptop and got playing with the Pololu servo controller program...... then had a refresh look at the instructions lol :D

Got the pie panel to open and close, great!

.....but the continuous rotation servo for the lift is going to take a bit of figuring out.

The connector sleeve for the LFS rod to servo, broke. So knowing a bit more about shell thickness for 3D printing [thanks YouTube lol] I made the wall's thicker, and also increased the bore diameter. The rod is now a much better fit and isn't as hard to push into the connector.

July 1st 2021

Hoping to get this all working on Sunday at the MOT Day, as Paul is a whiz with Pololu programing.

Remote/wristband 'communication devices'

A while back I posted up that I had designed a clip mount remote control fob holder for R5’s ‘Bad Motivator’.

The idea being that it could be glued/Velcro’d to the transmitters rear, allowing hand’s free’ish control of the remote.

Well with all the new 3D models I’ve been drawing up, one of them was a version of a communication wristband from Solo.

The purpose of this was purely as a costume prop, but I soon realised that it could actually be of use as a remote control wristband holder.

So I started changing design dimensions to suit the stripped down remotes internals and the first 3D printed version came out great!

(I just need to design a front cover/panel for the buttons)

This version, above, has had a few more alterations, like a retaining lip and also a location for a Brass insert to be fitted to secure the front panel.

Next was to modify this second design version to suit the other remotes. This version I also drew up the cover/panel at the same time as the wristband.

And here it is......version 1....

The two holes on raised pads are for screws to secure the front panel on, via brass inserts.

I did some more alterations to accommodate the four button remote control I have. This version required the cover/panel to be more raised as this remote has raised, tactile switches, compared to the low profile, metal contacts of the above version circuit board. To combine the fitting of the cover/panel, the main wrist holder, now has a 'lip' for the panel to slid under. This helps secure the front better and requires only 1 screw.

The above picture shows them pre retaining lip and retaining screws.

The four button remote has been the hardest to get right. I've gone through more test prints on this version than any of the others.

I've also increased the 'shell' thickness to hopefully increase the strength of the wrist strap slots.

The 3D printing with increased shell thickness and a new curved strap slot, have made them stronger.

I’ve posted up a short video on my YouTube channel. Click the picture below to view link:

I’ve ordered some Velcro (as I couldn’t find my stash), this will be for the straps.

R4-D4 dome - Life-form scanner - part 18

Re-wire switches:

The two switches that I had, just inside the opening of the dome, needed to be relocated to just clean up everything. These switches controlled the 'fake' electronics panel LED's as well as the Holoprojector light LED.

Am thinking that the Holo LED will be controlled in the future via a remote, to increase it's brightness when needed.

.....next up....

Painting of parts:

I had applied filler primer and once dried, sanded lightly the components for the LFS system.

I wasn't 100% sure what colour would be best for the internal components of R4's dome, but as I had already sprayed the lid panel matt black. I decided that the main inside panel would work better this colour than say white.

The lower servo lift was also sprayed up black.

The servo cover & LFS screen, both got silver paint. The internal panels and top, got a dusting of silver to help highlight the details.

The screws I had inserted to keep paint out of the threads, I decided to keep, as they blended in better than the clean versions.

I then applied a clear coat and then some black to add to the weathered effect. The orange primer also appears to show through in some places. This isn't as bad as I first thought lol, as it actually looks like sand in the crevices etc..... result!

I then installed it all in the dome.

The bracket can be seen installed. Up next is finishing off the electrical install and then the Pololu controller and electrical hook up.

R4-D4 dome - Life-form scanner lower bracket support - part 17

 I didn’t want to glue the two rods in place as this may of effected the sliding of the servo bracket by misalignment. But I needed something to support the lower bracket and help keep it all inline.

So I did some measuring and drew up a another bracket that will bolt to the lower bracket and then screw to one of the wood neck ring supports. The carbon fibre tubes are loose fitted and allow for slight movement so as not to jam the guide.

Must be getting better at this :D as it's right first time! lol.

Had to order to new bolts the right length for clamping parts together.

Next up was spray painting the other parts.

Life-form scanner - R4-D4 servo cover - part 16

Designed up a cover for the servo.

First version had more details on it than would of been actually seen & one dimension was miss calculated, so these were changed for version 2 (picture below).

The covers ends were removed as these also restricted the fitting. The upper servo opening is larger for clearance for the main LFS rod connector.

The cover is centrally located by the support rod, which is the second smaller diameter cylindrical upright.

Once clipped over the servo, it completely hides it.

R4-D4 dome - Life-form scanner final design - part 15

 Sooooo...... :D yes, I think this is THE final incarnation of this 'little' project lol.

I suppose this version was inevitable as this project has progressed, but the intention was to just have an independent set-up. So why have multipile components, with possible alignment issues etc. This design now incorporates the Pie hole panel and the life form scanner as a one piece unit.

The colours show the (modified &) combined components.

• ORANGE = modified Pie Hole Panel unit.
• BLUE = upper servo lift bracket
• RED = upper LFS bracket
• YELLOW = LFS bracket cover
• GREEN = additional greebles.

The PHP unit had to have surgery to allow the lower bracket/guide to travel all the up to get the most travel for the LFS. The inside panels also had work done as there was no need for details on some of them due to the face that when the lower bracket is raised, it would block them from view.

The RED upper bracket, was a hacked previous version, but needed something to top it off visually, so the cover was added. This is also one of my old greebles that I copied and modified to suit.

This all still works with a upper 360 deg servo and a length of cord.

I need to increase the length of the carbon fiber rods and shorten the a aluminium main LFS rod.....may switch it over to also being carbon, just to be prepared for possibly being grabbed.....which with it being so thin walled, would easily bend/break!

With the finishing touches done to the design, it was time to print!

I've created this short video, link to my YouTube channel.

As you can see, the assembly was installed inside my R4 dome. This is still a test fitting, as the pieces need to be painted and also the electronics/electrical also need to be finalised, but am really happy with how this is turning out.

And viewed through the open lid

Still some minor things to do, like design a cover for the servo which will be visable, also the support rod, this is a 'spring' at the moment, may need to be a bit more substantial. Also looking at repositioning the mini switches that are inside the dome to be mounted on the top face of the inner panel. These only control the LED's.

#3dprinting #3dcad ##tevotarantulapro #3ddesign #r4d4 #astromech #ukr2d2buildersclub #droidbuildersuk

Life-form scanner - carbon fibre tube part 14

So did the redesigns, and printed them off and all worked great.

But, after installing everything, there were a few teething problems with the lowering of the base servo as it was still getting jammed on the rods. I think this is due to the centre of gravity. So back to the design board again.

Not shown in the above picture is a support rod with a ‘sprung’ guide for the main LFS rod.

The upper servo holder had the two rod holder positions moved out so that the strings pull was more central to the rods.

This new lower base servo holder had additional guides added to the upper section, the servos position was moved closer to the two rods and the hole for the string was centralised between the two rods.

Test printed the two new parts and assembled all together.....yes it works with no sticking! Brass threaded inserts added.

I then test fitted the assembly inside the dome and placed the dome on R5. This was to check clearance and how much the rods will need to be shortened.

The support rod & spring can be seen here supporting the main rod. The carbon fibre tube needs shortening and also the receiver housing (yellow) may also need repositioning.

R4-D4 dome - Life-form scanner - carbon fibre tube part 13

Have been working these last few weeks on redesign’s for the lift setup and also on another project....

After a chat with a few builder friends about the aluminium wall thickness problem, Mark suggested trying carbon fibre rod as an alternative to the aluminium tube, for the lift/guide on the LFS unit. Ordered some 6mm O/D tube and it arrived from eBay within a few days. On receiving it I found it wasn’t as cylindrical as I was expecting, so I had to update the hole/guide sizes, not once but a few times. Printed off a few test pieces to check compatible sizes and then more test prints.

I had to go with a slightly larger bore on the guides rather than the original tighter fitting option, due to the carbon rods O/D.

Was still experiencing issues with the sliding. Possible alignment with the rod attaching to the lower servo bracket perhaps??  It was ok lifting, but got stiff near the top, which then prevents it from lowering under it's own weight....

This just wasn’t working...... So, I had to came up with a new design. This one now uses two sliding rods for the lower servo bracket to be guided on. I’ve also flipped this bracket over so that it’s guides support better on the rods from the underside. This all now works smoothly again lol.

With this new design, meant that the fixing bracket to the dome needed redesigning as well.

I also needed a new lower stop bracket, that linked the two tubes together but would be able to flex under the tubes being stretched if miss-alignment was an issue. I was really excited that it actually works.

Next up are a few more smaller changes and a new additional support for the main LFS tube.

Life-form scanner electronics part 12

January 24th 2021

Found a ‘box’ on Thingiverse for the Pololu control board. So that got printed, and it’s  a perfect fit!

Next up was something I’ve sort of been looking forward to.... the Pololu 6 servo controller. Downloaded the program and plugged in the controller board along with two servos I had to hand. You also need power for the servos. The instructions online are good, but ..... I personally find watching/listening to step by step guides, is better at understanding a process. And I had a short sequence running in no time at all. This is going to be fun setting up the life-form scanner setup.

February 2nd 2021

360° servos have also now arrived & have been tested.

Also the ‘Y’ servo lead’s came to.

Now to get on with the fine tuning.

R4-D4 dome - inside panel extra

Needed something to attach the electronics & electrical to inside the dome. As the lid comes off I thought I could combine a panel with an inner wall that can be seen when the panel opens.

So I mocked up a cardboard version first and using superglue on the bends to keep its shape. From this I could measure up and produce this in CAD.

First print was almost perfect lol, but I’d missed a few minor cut out details and a few others I could improve on.

So after these changes, I set the printer running again. This took another 5hrs.

Test fitting inside the dome.

R4-D4 dome - fitting Life-form scanner part 11

 Installed the LFS into the dome. Two counter bored holes were drilled to allow the two countersunk head bolts to sit down inside the edge, allowing the lid to be closed flush. These have nylock nuts on the inside.

The aluminium tube thin walls are easily bent, ever so slightly from being man handled and installed..... think these may have to be replaced with either solid bar or steel, if I can find the size. Also remembering the first tube I bought had a thicker wall, but was a lot more cost wise. I would of liked to (of) kept the tube as LED wires could be run up inside.

Of course I had to do a manual test of everything. The lift worked, but not as smoothly as previously (slightly bent tube), but the principle still works. The lid panel was already opened lol :D I then powered up the servo tester to 'sweep' the LFS.

Next is to look at the Pololu controller and figure out the best way to activate everything. Am thinking I might not need the micro switches.......???

A Life-form scanner for R4-D4 - Part 10

 So this evening I've been updating:

• the upper servo bracket
• the lower servo bracket
• the lower micro switch 'stop'

The upper servo bracket
Now has the cut-out designed in. As this cut into the recessed areas, I decided to do away with them and add the letters ‘L F S’, for a bit of fun :D. I also added some more material to add additional strength, including blanking off the guide tube hole.

I had also forgotten that I needed to include micro-switch holders......after finding them in a box lol. After no luck trying to find ipt files of the micro switches online, I ended up measuring and drawing them up, roughly.

The lower servo bracket
I had to add a lip to the guide sleeve to make contact with the micro-switch when it reaches the top.

The bottom micro switch/stop'
Also needed a micro-switch holder for the bottom. The tube stop seemed a good place to put it. These didn't take to long to modify.

.....The real amount of time, was building the assembly seen in the pictures and aligning them to move the way they should lol to ensure that it all works.

Tomorrow I’ll print off these latest versions and then get to install it all in R4’s dome.

#LFS #3Dprinting #astromech #r4d4

A Life-form scanner for R4-D4 - Part 9

 Yesterday I drew up a support bracket that the Life-form scanner [LFS] unit would attach to.

I printed of a test version to check it would all fit. Well it did in the CAD assembly and it did in the dome.

The only thing that has been bugging me is the amount the LFS protrudes out of the dome. I wanted it to go higher.

So after looking at where I could save and therefore increase the height, I removed the coiled wire and lower greeblie from the mast. This meant I could increase protrusion by 40mm out of the dome. This meant the support bracket had to be made shorter, no problem, 20mins on CAD/Astroprint to reduce and produce a gcode file for the Tevo to get printing. Sound impressive, but it’s not lol :D

The two aluminium tubes needed to be carefully cut shorter to allow the full assembly to actually fit inside the dome. The tubes wall thickness meant holding it in the vice was tricky, but not impossible. The upper ‘collar’ I’d removed earlier, I placed on the end of the second tube to act as a stop. I’ll either cut this shorter or draw up and print another part.

To gain some extra ‘height’ I cut away some of the upper servo holder that guided the main tube. This allowed the lower servos connection to the tube a bit more clearance [see pic below]

This will be redesigned in on the next update.

The two parts connect well. I’ll be putting brass threaded inserts into the support bracket to secure them together. The bracket has two holes to secure it to the wood frame.