Primer primer and more primer...one coat a day pretty much since it's cold out.
Got more cool info, but I'll post it later :)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Quick update
Haven't posted in a week and a half, since it's all pics of this:
Primer primer and more primer...one coat a day pretty much since it's cold out.
Got more cool info, but I'll post it later :)
Primer primer and more primer...one coat a day pretty much since it's cold out.
Got more cool info, but I'll post it later :)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Painted battery boxes and MORE
Big updates here!
Start off with some shots of the painted battery boxes:
And then the BIG NEWS!
I got the motor holder templates in from Dan Baker finally. FedEx lost them for a couple of weeks. I picked up 2 square feet of .080 sheet aluminum at a local supply shop. I took the templates to FedEx Office (Formerly known as Kinko's) to get the application tape put on. That's the top part that you use to keep the templates lined up when you peel them off the paper.
I took it all to my youngest brother's house. He's a cabinetmaker and has a bandsaw. I couldn't see buying one just to cut this out.
It took about an hour to rough cut them with a jigsaw, fine cut them with the bandsaw and smooth the edges with a file.
On my way home I stopped and picked up a metal brake from Harbor Freight. It's really not great, but it gets the job done.
Used my drill press to drill all the holes. I also took a trip to Lowe's where I spent two and a half hours picking out the hardware. By the way, the screws that thread into the motor are 10-32. I used a 2 3/4" holesaw for the big motor hole. It's possible a 2 5/8" holesaw might have done the job, but I didn't want to waste 12$ on one that was too small.
The hardware list is as follows:
8x 1/4-20 3 1/2" bolts, nuts, washers and lock washers
2x 5/16-20 3 1/2" bolts, nuts, washers and lock washers
6x 10-32 1 1/2" bolts
For spacers, you'll have to be on your own. I used the nylon spacers in 1" sizes since I couldn't find aluminum ones like I had seen.
Here's finished pics:
In the first pic you can see that the wheel isn't exactly lined up with the motor. I've got to come up with something a little different to get it spaced right. Suffice to say it's been a busy week.
There's been other stuff, like another coat of primer on the legs, and then cutting the detail line around the legs, painting other stuff, etc. That's not as flashy though, so no pics
Start off with some shots of the painted battery boxes:
And then the BIG NEWS!
I got the motor holder templates in from Dan Baker finally. FedEx lost them for a couple of weeks. I picked up 2 square feet of .080 sheet aluminum at a local supply shop. I took the templates to FedEx Office (Formerly known as Kinko's) to get the application tape put on. That's the top part that you use to keep the templates lined up when you peel them off the paper.
I took it all to my youngest brother's house. He's a cabinetmaker and has a bandsaw. I couldn't see buying one just to cut this out.
It took about an hour to rough cut them with a jigsaw, fine cut them with the bandsaw and smooth the edges with a file.
On my way home I stopped and picked up a metal brake from Harbor Freight. It's really not great, but it gets the job done.
Used my drill press to drill all the holes. I also took a trip to Lowe's where I spent two and a half hours picking out the hardware. By the way, the screws that thread into the motor are 10-32. I used a 2 3/4" holesaw for the big motor hole. It's possible a 2 5/8" holesaw might have done the job, but I didn't want to waste 12$ on one that was too small.
The hardware list is as follows:
8x 1/4-20 3 1/2" bolts, nuts, washers and lock washers
2x 5/16-20 3 1/2" bolts, nuts, washers and lock washers
6x 10-32 1 1/2" bolts
For spacers, you'll have to be on your own. I used the nylon spacers in 1" sizes since I couldn't find aluminum ones like I had seen.
Here's finished pics:
In the first pic you can see that the wheel isn't exactly lined up with the motor. I've got to come up with something a little different to get it spaced right. Suffice to say it's been a busy week.
There's been other stuff, like another coat of primer on the legs, and then cutting the detail line around the legs, painting other stuff, etc. That's not as flashy though, so no pics
Monday, February 2, 2009
Updates...Battery boxes and sound stuff!
Spent some more time out of town, and didn't have much to write about for a little while, but I've been working on stuff in-between, and had some news to show.
First, I built my A&A battery boxes. All the parts are stock except the curved tops and bottoms. I spent a couple of months puzzling that out, and had all but decided to use 2 layers of 2 liter soda bottle plastic, since it was something I had readily available, until I thought of the sintra "for sale" signs. I picked up a couple of large ones at the Depot, taped one of the A&A pieces on 2 sides and cut the other sides with a hobby knife. Here's what's left after:
Did a nice neat slow job and they came out very nicely.
As Alex mentioned in his tutorial at Picture #63, my sides weren't quite square, so I had some very small gaps to fill with slivers of the sign.
My only addition to his work would be, instead of this Pic #68, cut a piece that fits all the way across instead of the little bits shown. I used longer pieces than he did, but they didn't reach the ends. I had some spots that were too thin, and I went all the way through when I sanded the CA glue off. Those you can see in the pictures that follow were marked with red arrows so I'd know where to add more CA glue. Luckily the worst spots I'm able to hide using the foot shells. Here's the pics:
The gaps are all filled in these pics, but you can't tell. Primer will highlight any voids I'm sure...
I did some fill work on the legs using wood putty that I had from my BFG build. It was pretty dry, but I think it worked. I haven't sanded it yet, but it'll be a lot easier than if I had used more CA glue. I'll be using wood putty on the footshells too I think, once the outer ones are shot primered and i can see where all 3 need work. Here's a shot of the legs with the putty:
Also got Artoo's voice mostly done. I ordered the PICAXE16 and it's project board, as well as the VMusic2. Everything is in, and all but the RC part is connected. Only thing I'm missing is the programming cable for the chip. I misread and thought I'd be able to use a mini-USB cable, like I use on my RAZR. The programming cable cost more than the chip and the board combined. The serial cable was far less, but since I might want to change something via my laptop, which was made this century, I needed USB :) Here's pics of my ugly soldering job. I know, the wires should have gone through the top, but I followed the tutorial like a good boy :)
The pic above include the 10K resistors you have to add to the PICAXE board to make it work.
Also, I'll be using the 5V USB power connection provided by my RIGRunner, as you can see by the cable that's attached. Both the PICAXE and the VMusic are 5V, so that's awfully convenient. Even moreso is that standard USB cables have 4 wires, black, white, green and red. The black and red ones do exactly what you'd expect them to do, so life is easy.
One last bit of goodness before I go...my resin skirt from MarcoXeno came in, and boy, it's a real work of art. I'll only need to do minimal sanding on the bottom inside edges of a couple of the pieces. I'll also (at Marco's recommendation) be screwing the pieces to the frame and not joining them together into one piece. I've also had to remove the bottom plate fro mthe frame, but I think that was mainly added if you were using the A&A skirt flatpack. I tried to assemble my A&A flatpack, but it was NOT working out for me at all. I probably did it wrong, but nothing lined up right.
Marco's skirt:
First, I built my A&A battery boxes. All the parts are stock except the curved tops and bottoms. I spent a couple of months puzzling that out, and had all but decided to use 2 layers of 2 liter soda bottle plastic, since it was something I had readily available, until I thought of the sintra "for sale" signs. I picked up a couple of large ones at the Depot, taped one of the A&A pieces on 2 sides and cut the other sides with a hobby knife. Here's what's left after:
Did a nice neat slow job and they came out very nicely.
As Alex mentioned in his tutorial at Picture #63, my sides weren't quite square, so I had some very small gaps to fill with slivers of the sign.
My only addition to his work would be, instead of this Pic #68, cut a piece that fits all the way across instead of the little bits shown. I used longer pieces than he did, but they didn't reach the ends. I had some spots that were too thin, and I went all the way through when I sanded the CA glue off. Those you can see in the pictures that follow were marked with red arrows so I'd know where to add more CA glue. Luckily the worst spots I'm able to hide using the foot shells. Here's the pics:
The gaps are all filled in these pics, but you can't tell. Primer will highlight any voids I'm sure...
I did some fill work on the legs using wood putty that I had from my BFG build. It was pretty dry, but I think it worked. I haven't sanded it yet, but it'll be a lot easier than if I had used more CA glue. I'll be using wood putty on the footshells too I think, once the outer ones are shot primered and i can see where all 3 need work. Here's a shot of the legs with the putty:
Also got Artoo's voice mostly done. I ordered the PICAXE16 and it's project board, as well as the VMusic2. Everything is in, and all but the RC part is connected. Only thing I'm missing is the programming cable for the chip. I misread and thought I'd be able to use a mini-USB cable, like I use on my RAZR. The programming cable cost more than the chip and the board combined. The serial cable was far less, but since I might want to change something via my laptop, which was made this century, I needed USB :) Here's pics of my ugly soldering job. I know, the wires should have gone through the top, but I followed the tutorial like a good boy :)
The pic above include the 10K resistors you have to add to the PICAXE board to make it work.
Also, I'll be using the 5V USB power connection provided by my RIGRunner, as you can see by the cable that's attached. Both the PICAXE and the VMusic are 5V, so that's awfully convenient. Even moreso is that standard USB cables have 4 wires, black, white, green and red. The black and red ones do exactly what you'd expect them to do, so life is easy.
One last bit of goodness before I go...my resin skirt from MarcoXeno came in, and boy, it's a real work of art. I'll only need to do minimal sanding on the bottom inside edges of a couple of the pieces. I'll also (at Marco's recommendation) be screwing the pieces to the frame and not joining them together into one piece. I've also had to remove the bottom plate fro mthe frame, but I think that was mainly added if you were using the A&A skirt flatpack. I tried to assemble my A&A flatpack, but it was NOT working out for me at all. I probably did it wrong, but nothing lined up right.
Marco's skirt:
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