'R0' dome build - 1.7 'Radar Eye'

26th April

Picked up a tub of P40 glass fibre bridging resin, to fill out the back of the radar eye. I added some more cardboard where it was needed and once happy, started to mix up small amounts and applied to first area.

I slotted some cardboard into the data slot just to keep it open.

Second lot of resin applied to right side area next...

And here's one in colour, so you can see the resin lol

Made me chuckle looking at the front & lid of the P40 tub, as the 'un-offical' image of an MG Meastro lol, and the instructions have not changed since 1985!!
.........once fully cured, I trimmed off the excess.

~~~

Taped down a sheet of course sandpaper and holding the radar eye as horizontal as possible, moved it from side to side, then vertically. I kept testing on the panel next to it for fit, no wobble an minimal gaps.

I then applied filler to the edges to sit flush with the dome.

'R0' dome build - 1.6 'Skin'

April 23rd 2016

So I made a start and drilled & screwed in place the top ring. I then marked a line on the dome skin and used panel pins to secure in place. I then started to work my way round the edges.

That's when I realised that the skin WASN'T going to fit, edge wise! My working out messed up somewhere?? Thought I was going to get the skin to fit.

~~

Decided to cut my losses with the skin not being correct and cut off the excess.

Next was to cut out a second piece for the other half of the dome.....

'R0' dome build - 1.5 'Radar Eye'

April 22nd 2016

I thought I'd see what all this 3D printing stuff is all about lol.

My Bosses Boss, recently bought herself a 3D printer and offered to print different stuff to test the machine. So I found an STL R2 radar eye and she was kind enough to print it off.

Material is PLA, which on reading up is not the best if you want a good surface finish.....on the radar eyes front face, lol. Never mind. Nine hours later and I have a radar eye printed.
Just needed to be filed and sanded, filered and re-sanded to get a good smooth surface finish on the front faces.

The 3D file was not 100% correct. These little details were corrected tho.

Next was to build up the rear to meet the domes surface. I used car body repair resin, once I had boxed in the sides etc. Added some cardboard to the side's and inner faces.

The cardboard gives a rough idea of the level needed to be filled so the Radar Eye sit's flush with the dome.

'R0' dome build - 1.4 'Neck Skin' fitting

Tuesday 20th April
Missed measured the outer skin width, so needed to trim it down by 3mm. As I don't have a dremel cutting wheel, it was out with the metal cutting saw blade (used for cutting metal, but the teeth are small enough not to tear the wood).

 Bout 25mins later, I'd finished.

Next, was positioning the neck strip so the join would be at the back. I measured up from the bottom edge 10mm and then evenly spaced out the panel pins. I put a few more into the end of the strips where they joined.

As you can see from the last picture, the strip end still doesn't want to curve to the frame just yet.

'R0' dome build - 1.3 'Skin & frame'

Saturday 16th April
Here's the cone shape so far, pics 1 & 2 below. This is how my R5's dome looked at this stage so the form is looking good.

I put the cone inside the dome base hole to hold while I got on with the electrical work.
Pic 3 below.

Cut out centre piece from base.

Using the disc cut out, I measured the distances on R5's body (rotation ring location bolts) and transferred them to the new base ring. I then drilled dia 8mm holes to start & check correct position. 

Started to pin the inner neck ring into place.

Cut a length of board for outer neck diameter. And strapped to form curved shape.

...............I tried to curve the dome skin more, but the wood started to tare. So I will need to make a second section of skin, to make it in two halves

Bad Motivator - electronics/electrical work UPDATE 2

So Saturday I set up the electrics so I could easily work on them outside of R5's body.

excuse the hanging regulator, [mid left] this was just a wired up to test

I tested the new regulator and the bad motivator board worked.

Then I connected up the slip ring into the circuit, all good still.

Next, I connected up the door actuator ......and it didn't work properly!

Then realised I was using the old one.....so swapped it for the new one and, YES, it works. No fluttering! So I now know the old actuator is broke, cause tho??? We'll see how long this new one lasts.

~~~

Sunday I fitted R5's dome onto his body and re-tested everything.

Test one, motivator and smoke system work perfectly.
Test two, again, all works.
Test three......smoke yes, actuator not so great!?!?!

It activated and moved a little, but then stopped, not completing it's full travel.
And it also felt warm, need to look into this further.....

'R0' dome build - 1.2 'Skin'

Monday 11th April

Measured & cut to length inner neck skin. This will be the visible silver recess piece of the neck. I used my old suitcase travel strap to help shape it.

Cut out the dome skin and strapped it as best I could around the frame. This should help when it comes to securing it. Only thing is that this cone has a tighter curve than R5's.....

I wasn't thinking ahead and should of left more on the end to allow for fitting.....see how it goes!

I'll leave this for a few days and come back to tighten the straps some more.

'R0' dome build - 1.1

Saturday 9th April

Bought large sheet of 3mm thick hardbound from B&Q. More on this below.
Drilled holes and screwed verticals into place to test.

test assebly

Cut out the centre disc of the top ring.

Not sure what I did wrong, but the top ring diameter ended up slightly smaller than it should. No big problem as I can pack it out with thin pieces of hardboard strips.


My idea was to cut some lower support crescents out to support the cone skin, and almost cut top off my thumb! (handsaw not jigsaw......phew) blade jumped, ouch, school boy error :-( but that put end to work for the evening :-(

~~~

Sunday 10th April

Using the lower section of the vertical template, I cut out four lower pieces. Drilled holes and screwed them into place. These will help support both the neck skin and the upper 'cone' skin.

I also cut out the crescent quarters of the base ring.

Rain stopped play before I cud mark out the inner & outer neck skins, tho I did stick cone skin down onto board.

More in next update.........

'R0' type dome for R5's body - 1.0

After seeing The Force Awakens, I knew that an 'R0' type dome was something I'd like to make. And I'd like to have it done by Celebration Europe this year!

31. March '16
A member of the Astromech.net forum, Lars-Ake Siggelin 'Sigge', over in Sweden, drew up [in collaboration] and built an 'R0-L0' dome for his R2 bodied droid.
Now, his version is 'R0-L0' and not 'R0-4L0' as his version has been classified as a Prototype! It is accurate as possible to the film/prop version and not so much to the toy, which has generic features.

So I downloaded his plans and made a start on building.......out of wood, again.

03, April '16
Using the plans I already had drawn up for R5's wood dome, I adjusted measurements to accept the 3mm thick wood hardboard skin. And then jigsaw'd out the 'base', pic below.

Pre-cut outs.

I then worked out the dimensions for the vertical struts that were needed to fix the wood skin too. Here are the first four verticals.....

Next was to mark and cut out the top location ring. This sit's on top of the struts, so the skin can be attached to it.
(I did the same when building R5, but without the full length struts)

R0 type Dome for R5..... R0-D4 (un-official)

Here's my build of an 'R0' designation dome for my R5-D4 droid.

Possible change, but until then I'll call him.......

R0-D4

(cross between the two)

I started building this dome in April 2016 after reading up on a post on Astromech.net by Lars-Ake Siggelin 'Sigge'.  link here. He and two others had created and built, in styrene, an R0 dome 'prototype'. Prototype classification as there are no official plans etc for the droid.

I wanted to try to build one myself, but as I wasn't sure things would work out, I didn't post on my Blog until I was happy things [namely the skin] were up and running.

Well, here's my attempt at an R0 dome, more Blog updates to follow