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.

Toys for Tots Charity Event

Today R2 joined several members of the 501st and Rebel Legion to help raise funds and toy donations for a local Cub Scout pack on behalf of Toys for Tots.

Folks lined up with toys for donation, and $5.00 to get a picture with the characters. The line snaked around the outdoor mall for three hours.




Odd thing, it snowed here in Southern California. (Well, kind of.)




We worked through the line as efficiently as we could.




We had poor Santa's line bested by at least 10-to-1.



If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.



It was a good day, a lot of donations will be going to families in need during this holiday season.

LosCon 2011

Today I joined several R2 builders for a panel at LosCon 38 at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles.



LosCon is a science fiction-oriented gathering, and they invited Southern California R2 builders to present a panel on R2 building, and to hang out in one of the display rooms during the weekend. I was only able to make it today, but other builders were there the past two days as well.

Our panelists included William Miyamoto, Randy Eubanks and Mike Senna. I served as moderator.




As you can see, we had droids and parts on display, to help illustrate what goes into droid building. William and Nikki Miyamoto had some of Nikki's "Million Dollar R2" parts on display as well.



Among many topics, Mike showed how he can transform his R2-D2 into Dee-Dee, the droid from the Pink 5 fan film series. This shows how you can effectively have a second droid at a fraction of the cost of building a complete duplicate. The transformation took mere minutes.



I presented a series of questions, and we took questions from the audience. After an hour, our time was up, and we packed up and headed back to our display room, where we answered more questions and were able to provide a better close up view to the attendees.



I think our visit was much appreciated, and we'll likely be back in the future.