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!

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.

Treadwell WED-15 droid build : Part 13B - The Claw [actuation]

Just a small post, this refers to the Claw activation. It’s been a while, as have been working on a major side project and forgot to mention this (I think).

So the micro/nano servo I had bought a few years ago for R4’s ‘life form scanner’ was dug out of retirement 😂 and just like Obi-Won, found itself a new purpose.

These two images show the outside profile. The split line is down the vertical middle, two half's printed flat face down. The slot in the side is to view the servo [as why not lol] and the hole in the opposite side is the location for the M3 screw that fits into the Brass knurled insert, in the other half, to hold pieces together.

The 3D printed end piece I decided needed to be modified, away from being screen accurate, in order to be able to mount the servo inside of it.

👉👉👉YouTube link to it in action.

A Life-form scanner for R5-D4 - Part 4

After the test fitting of the servo, I was able to better define what was/wasn’t needed and what changed I needed to make. Some of these were just for aesthetics, others to better suit the servo and positioning of it.

These included:

• Adding a small slot to one of the front grooves to allow the servo location tab to slot into. Just to add a bit to secure it.
• Moving the position of the servo further forward towards the centre of the scanner.
• Simplifying and standardising the design a bit more.

Next up was to design up a coupler for the servo to connect with the aluminium tube that arrived today.

This will use the servo screw to secure it and then the coupler will be a push fit onto the tube.

After printing and test fitting, I had to concede that this servo was actually TO small :D never mind....... onto plan B.

As I know that the servo attachment fitted onto the aluminium tube, I redesigned the outer surfaces and combined them into one file.

I've already got a lift system idea, and have some electrical/electronics to get together. So planning and building work continues.

And the printing has begun...

Hour and a half into the print gets you this far lol, 0.1 layer height.

A Life-form scanner for R5-D4 - Part 3

Mini update for this ..... well it’s not a mini servo, it’s a nano servo!

I obviously new it’s dimensions, that’s why I bought it, but was still amazed at its actual size when I opened up the package.

I had already printed off a new life-form scanner screen, which will need modifying and I can then make alterations for the final 3D print.

Here’s a comparison picture: