Winter 2011 CHOC Hospital Visit

Today was R2's quarterly visit to Childrens Hospital Orange County. Last year he wore his New Year's Eve party hat, this year he was a little more subdued.



We visited somewhere between 30 and 40 young patients in their rooms. I always bring goodies to hand out (stickers, action figures, coloring books, etc.). This time one of the employees at the Discovery Science Center was kind enough to have some patches and pins made up for today's visit.



As usual, I can't post pictures of the patients, but the staff certainly enjoyed the visit as much as the kids.




It's always nice to spread some cheer, especially during the holidays.

Marked Mike's Dome Ring for Drilling

Today I had just a few minutes to work on Mike's dome electronics for his second droid.

I laid out the base plates for the various electronics mounting assemblies, and traced their footprints.



Similar to my dome on my second droid, here is the layout for Mike's second droid's dome. I plan to use six C batteries rather than the D cells I use, as I was able to find the proper battery holders at Orvac Electronics in Fullerton, CA. This will help make the dome a bit lighter, yet still provide plenty of run-time on the dome electronics.




I still need to do a little more PVC cutting. I need to build the vertical supports for the PSI holders, and I need to use the Dremel drum sander to work around some of the weld points on the dome ring. I'm also going to recut the DC/DC converter base plate to be a little longer, to help accommodate its dome ring mounting screws.

Cut Dome Electronics Housings for Mike's Droid

Today I worked on the PVC housings that will host the dome electronics on Mike's droid #2.

Most of the time was spent measuring, marking and cutting the assembly for the front logics. I recycled an old piece of PVC for the base plate, and then marked where to cut the piece that will hold the logic boards.



Time to bring the Dremel out of retirement and get some cutting done.



I cut a few vertical strips that are used to mount the assembly at the proper angle. Everything is loose-fit for now, but I plan to start gluing it up soon.



I also cut a couple of base plates for the front and rear PSIs. I still need to cut the vertical supports for each.

Drilled and Tapped Mike's Front Logic Surrounds

Today I returned to working on Mike's dome for his droid #2. This time, it was preparing the front logic surrounds for mounting.

These need to be drilled and tapped for a #6-32 screw. I taped down the bezels to the surrounds for use as a template to locate the four mounting holes.



I set the drill press stop to the proper depth, for the #36 (0.1065") drill bit I'm using.



Time to drill!



A short while later I had the four holes drilled for each surround.



Next up, tapping each hole with a #6-32 tap bit. I'm not very good at tapping, but it worked out fine.



A quick test-fit with the bezels on the surrounds, to make sure the alignment looks okay.



So far, so good.



And finally, a test on the front logic circuit itself. Again, things look good.




Hopefully I can start making progress on the housings for the various dome lights shortly.

Finished Wiring Up Rear PSI for Mike

Today I went by Mike's to finish wiring up the rear PSI for his second dome, and to pick up some dome parts (and the second dome itself), so I can continue work. I also wanted to check out his progress on the life form scanner on his first dome.

I got to work on getting the green LEDs soldered together. These are a pair of NTE part #30038 LEDs with a 100 ohm resistor.



Green works.



The yellow LEDs are of uncertain vintage. Mike had some in a bag, so we just guessed at typical specs (25 milliamps, 5 Vf, 2 in series). Mike suggested using a 100 ohm resistor with a pair of these yellow LEDs, so that's what I went with. One way or another, it works.



In the meantime, Mike was busy at work hooking up the car antenna that will serve as the mast for his droid's life form scanner. This involved dome hacking and other fun construction tasks. It's coming along nicely!





I'll try to get some more work done on the dome electronics for Mike's dome #2 soon.

Office Christmas Party

Today R2 was invited to an old building I used to work in, to provide some holiday cheer during the office Christmas party and lunch.

One nice thing that I miss about this building, especially on rainy days, is the underground tunnel that leads from the parking structure to the offices. This way, R2 can travel incognito.



It didn't take long before people started getting lined up for pictures with R2 by the tree. Of course, he brought his Santa hat.




Even without mistletoe, R2 attracts the ladies.



In the meantime, there was lunch to be had.



Everyone enjoyed R2's company, it was a nice 2-hour visit.

Electronic Arts Visit

Today R2 visited the Electronic Arts offices in Playa Vista, CA, to help celebrate the launch of their game, Star Wars The Old Republic, an MMO game.



R2 joined several members of the 501st and Rebel Legion, many of whom were wearing costumes that are chronicled in the games. We lined up in the lobby area, where excited employees took pictures with the characters.






What's a game company without a game room?





There was a tasty looking cake to celebrate the game's launch.




We also stopped by the employee store, where R2 was given copies of The Old Republic, and Portal 2.




It was a nice visit, everyone seemed to enjoy it and had a good time.



The full photoset is here.

Finished Soldering Front PSI for Mike's Droid #2

Today I went to Orvac Electronics in Fullerton, CA to pick up some LEDs. Once I got home I was able to finish soldering up the front PSI for Mike's second droid.

This is pretty much exactly the same work I described on October 10, 2010.



Time to try it out!

Red works.



And blue works.



I must be getting good at this. (That statement pretty much guarantees the rear PSI won't go well.)

Started Soldering Mike's PSIs

"Started Soldering Mike's PSIs," now there's an odd title for a blog posting. What could that possibly mean?

It means the world has gone topsy-turvy. Rather than Mike Senna helping me build my droid, I am lending a hand to put the finishing touches on his droid #2. Mike never did finish the electronics for the dome on his second droid, so while he's busy with WALL•E and another project, I'm helping with the electronics for his second dome.

Mike mentioned that he has Scott Gray's JEDI system for the front and rear logics, but he does not have any PSI circuits. I ordered a couple of my favorite blinking light kits from allelectronics.com, and got to work on them this afternoon.




Part-by-part, I started soldering them up.




I had to stop at about the half-way point, as I plan to swap out the LEDs, capacitors, and two of the four resistors on each board. This will allow for brighter LEDs. I want to wait until I have the LEDs in hand before continuing, but that shouldn't be long.