Re-Secured Two More Back Door Panels, Finished Bending Turned Aluminum Panels for R5 Neck Ring

I returned to back door rehab activities today.

First, I removed the clips from last night's JB Welding session for the perimeter of the inner and outer skins. They seem to be well bonded now.



Next, I worked on reattaching two panels that worked themselves partially loose, but did not completely separate from the back door. I used a toothpick to apply JB Weld to the edges of the panels, taking care not to mess up various autographs on the panels.



About half of this panel detached, so I applied the Office Depot clips where needed.



The other panel was about 3/4" detached, so I again applied JB Weld to its edges, and used even more clips to hold it in place.



While that was set to dry overnight, I turned my attention to the neglected R5-D4 dome work. Earlier I had cut the engine turned aluminum rectangles that go on the neck ring. The aluminum segments themselves were fairly flat.



I used a pen to help shape the curve for each panel.



I iteratively bent and fit each of the 16 panels, until they all fit snugly on the surface of the neck ring.



Sixteen rectangles, (roughly) bent to the same shape.



Here's a loose fit of them on the dome.



I plan to attach them with 3M VHB tape, but first I will do a little dome touch-up, including some mist painting to repair areas that incurred chips as I muddled my way through the dome work. But before any of that, I'll keep working on that back door.

Re-JB Welded Back Door Inner and Outer Skins

Today I worked on reattaching the inner and outer skins in the areas that they separated when R2 had his little misadventure.

Following yesterday's removal of the old JB Weld from the edges of the panels and skins, I cleaned up any remaining residue and dust with acetone.



Next, I mixed up a batch of JB Weld.



I used a toothpick to apply it to the areas where the inner and outer skins separated, which was about 75% if the perimeter of the skins, and a little bit of the area below where the largest panel goes.



I used my Office Depot clips to hold the skins together while the JB Weld dries overnight.



The two panels toward the middle of the door are partially loose, so I'll work on reattaching them next, and then proceed with the panels that are completely displaced.

Removed Old JB Weld from Back Door Panels and Frame Piece

Today I worked on removing the old JB Weld from the edges of the back door panels, in preparation for reattaching them with a fresh mixture of JB Weld. I used the Dremel with the drum sander attachment for this job. I had to be careful, since many of the panels have autographs on them that I don't want to mess up.

A few before-and-after pictures.







Boy, what I mess I made with the JB Weld on the rear coin returns. If it's possible to butcher JB Weld, I did it here.



That's better.



And of course, the door frame itself requires a little cleaning along some of the panel edges. You can also see that some of the panels have lifted off slightly in some areas. I pulled on them to see if they would come off, but they put up a fight, so I'll apply JB Weld to the areas that detached, and hopefully I can reform the bond.




I made a light effort at cleaning up the dust and grime, but I'll come back and do a more thorough cleaning, and then work on reattaching the panels.

Back Door Pickup and Dome Work on Mike's Dome #2

Last night I called Mike to see if I could come over so we could work on straightening out my back door panel, to which he replied, "Dude, I already did it."

So instead of hoping we'd have enough time to work on the back door, I got to see the results of the labors of Mike and his elves. They do good work!



Some of the panels popped off and are just resting in place, but the shape of the door and the panels seem to be about what they used to be.


In the meantime, Mike is preparing his droid #2 for a special event that it will be involved with soon. Perhaps as a Jedi Knight?



Speaking of his droid #2, you may recall back in December 2011 I was working the dome electronics for Mike's dome #2, in case it was needed for the Verizon commercial. I ran out of time, and a few components, such as the PSI logic boards and the entire front logics, were merely taped into place with masking tape.



So we pulled those out and went to work on a more permanent arrangement. Mike cut some circles from 1/8" PVC to which the small logic boards will be attached.



I drilled mounting holes for the electronics boards, and then used PVC glue in three locations around the circumference of the PVC disc to attach it to the segment of PVC pipe used for light diffusion. The small amount of PVC glue will hold the discs in place, but they will be removable if necessary.




Meanwhile, Mike cut down some #6 screws to more permanently mount the front logics. Never miss an opportunity to photograph sparks!



With everything back in the dome, we fired it up. The lights all work, even when the dome is upside-down. And I know a thing or two about upside-down droids.




Back home, I tried the door on the droid, to make sure the holes for the screws lined up okay with the brackets that receive them on the frame. They seem to. And you can see which panels need to be JB Welded back in place. For now, it's a door with windows.




So as you can see, I still have my work cut out for me, but things are in a lot better shape than they were a couple of weeks ago. Thanks again to Mike for all the help with this.

More R5 Dome Work

While the back door for droid #1 is still at the repair shop, I spent a little time today working on the R5-D4 dome. Speaking of the back door, Mike and the repair elves sent a minor update. Looking better, but still a ways to go.



In the meantime, I started removing the rest of holographic paper on the neck ladder of the R5 dome. This was glued on.




Once the main paper was removed, I removed the residue, and the neck ladder spots are reasonably clean now for the engine turned aluminum rectangles I'll be placing in there.



Another issue I'd been dealing with was straightening out the holes that Kelvin Dremeled out last weekend. I tried resorting to manually gouging the holes with a drill bit, but that was neither effective nor fun.



So, back it was to Kelvin's place, to Dremel out more material.




Now the screws have enough clearance to hold the dome struts in vertically. (Astute observers will recognize that Black and Decker Workmate bench from when I borrowed it from Kelvin starting in 2005!)



With that out of the way, there was still one dome ornament to attach. I purchased a peephole from Lowe's, and it goes above the button snap on the dome.



It's about 12mm in diameter. I drilled successively larger pilot holes until I had drilled a hole big enough to accommodate the peephole.



And in it goes. It'll get glued down later.



Finally, while I was in a drilling mood, I drilled four holes in each rectangle of the neck ladder, so that I'll be able to poke the engine turned aluminum rectangles out from behind, should I ever need to remove them after they get taped down with 3M VHB tape.



Sixty-four holes later, and I'm done.

Sent Back Door to Repair Shop

This is one of my shorter updates, but a hopeful one.

Mike Senna, Matt Munson and I met up locally for dinner, and like the resourceful character I am, I brought my damaged back door for Mike to see. He kindly offered to take it home to work on it, so it's off to the droid repair shop where his elves will work their magic.



We'll probably get together on the weekend to see how the elves are doing. Mike noted that since there are no kinks in the door, merely curved bends, repair should be doable. Keeping my fingers crossed, and very grateful to Mike and his elves. I hope he treats them well.

On the Road to Recovery

Well, things are looking up following yesterday's, uh, mishap.

After straightening out a very slight bend in the top holoprojector dome panel, I used a Uni•ball Vision Elite pen whose ink is a very close match for the Krider Blue formula to color in the area where the paint chipped.



Due to the low angle of the sun, it's easy to see the divot where the paint is missing, but in person it isn't this obvious.



Next, I needed to deal with the back three dome screws on the Rockler bearing. These got bent when R2 assumed the inverted position. I tried straightening them out with pliers so I could unscrew the nuts and remove the washers. Two of them straightened out okay, the third snapped. No big deal, I'm replacing all three anyway.



Three shiny new 10-24 x 2" dome screws, re-fitted with the old washers and nuts, ready to prop up the dome.



Next, I reinstalled the top holoprojector into the dome. One of the clips had come undone as the droid rolled over the HP, so I placed it back into position and secured the holoprojector with all four clips.



I then applied two layers of 5 mil 3M Very High Bond Tape to the back of the holoprojector dome panel, after first removing the old tape.



I pressed the panel into place, and it seems to be holding fast.



Pretty much everything is fixed now, except for the back door. That's the big repair job coming up.