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......

R4-D4 Funko Pop 3D model - FREE stl file

This Astromech version is based off my own R4, colour scheme.

R4-D4 Funko POP three legged version, stl now available on my Prusa account.

The model and a PDF CAD drawn Assembly drawing is included.

R4-D4 Funko Pop 3D model Frozen in Carbonite - FREE stl

This was drawn up back in 2021, but forgot I had him frozen in carbonite lol

As with the other's, this was design to fit on the standard Funko base.

FREE file link here

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.

Funko pop astromech on ice.......Carbonite!

 For those who can't paint or choose not to lol :D I thought I'd create these POP's as frozen in carbonite blocks. As I had just finished drawing up the R4 domed version, he was first into the carbon freezing chamber!

I found images of the Han Solo POP version and recreated as best as I could the side control panels.

I also made the bottom (when in vertical) flat and added location holes so it can be mounted on a stand.

I have now also add some screen accurate rollers for the bottom of the feet/foot shells. These can be seen in the last picture.

As the POP is hollow, I recessed the block, I may design up a back panel (if required).

And to add to this collection, I created R5 in carbonite as well.

And here you can see his feet rollers.

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.

Alternative 'RED' Booster colour's 2021

March

Something that I have thought about over the years, was being able to do a colour change for the Leg Booster covers. It has been talked about over the years, including 'covers'. I had thought about and tried, applying vinyl stickers, but this isn't a two minute job to apply and there's the very slight potential to damage chipped paint. I didn't fancy making another set out of wood again lol and had even thought about trying my hand at casting and moulding, something for the future.....

I decided on 3D printing them as these can then be swapped for R5's blue Booster covers. As my Boosters are 'unique' lol, although made to the plans, they're location pegs are custom, so I decided to draw up a set of booster's that would fit.

For the first cover, that I drew up in CAD, I split the file into three sections for easy fitting on my Tevo 3D printer. I then mirrored them in CAD for the other side, so only having to draw up once.

I added some some tabs to help with glueing the sections together, but this wasn’t acceptable for me.

So for added (guaranteed) strength, I hot welded the pieces together using a soldering iron.

(The boosters are hollow, saving print time and filament).

After some filing and sanding, I applied wood filler to joins and low spots. Here I've started applying, whilst waiting for the other half's to print.

I printed off four location pins, which will be fitted to each half section as can be seen in the picture below.

April

The second booster was printed in only four parts this time (rather than six), one piece ran out of filament just at the end, but not to worry as it still fits together okay.

Wood filler applied after welding the lower parts of the booster on. Still need to apply location pins before joining the two sides together.

Grey primer applied over the filler primer. Whilst this was drying I got on with sorting out the location pins for the second Booster cover.

Here's the second Booster cover, test fitted onto the leg. The location pins were again, welded onto the Booster cover, top and bottom. One of the lower pins needed a bit more modification to be able to locate and this was then also be welded to the cover.

Second coats of filler primer applied to the second Booster cover.

Next up was grey primer to the second Booster cover.

And whilst that was drying...... I was able to spray a coat of red onto the first Booster cover.

Really pleased with this!

Once fully dried, I painted on the silver detail first coat.

Next up will be a clear coat before weathering.

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.