Oh wait... that's right! I already built a droid! Cancel droid #2. (Not really.)
Poor droid #1 has been neglected for quite a while, but this evening he finally had a night out.
Tonight Ken Stubbert and I provided the droid entertainment for Return of the Jedi: Musical Edition, put on by the Arts and Learning Conservatory. (Jerry Chevalier had done droid duty the previous night.) These are the same folks that produced the previous two entries of the trilogy, to the second of which I brought R2 out in December 2009.
Several other members of the Rebel Legion and 501st were also on hand.
Before the show, it was pictures, pictures pictures, as always.
"Keep pulling, it's gotta come off sooner or later."
Shortly before the show, and during intermission, we raised funds with more photo ops.
One of these guys is Ken Stubbert.
After the show, the cast lined up in chairs to sign autographs.
Gotta love Ackbar. All together now: "It's a trap!"
Two Leias, the one from the show, and Caitlin, who is married to the playwright.
It was nice to get an event in for the first time in a while.
The first order of business was to drill a 1/8" hole at the base of the shaft adapter. The hole needs to go through the thickest part of the motor shaft. The shaft adapter that Vince Sanchez provided already had a 1/16" hole drilled, so I simply had to hit that target with a 1/8" drill bit.
Looks about right to me.
Next, I rolled a 1/8" diameter, 3/4" long steel pin in some JB Weld and inserted it into the hole.
A few taps with the hammer, and it's in. I cleaned up the excess ooze.
Next, it was time to start attaching the dome drive wheel. The wheel fits onto the shaft adapter fairly snugly, but I wrapped a couple of layers of masking tape around the shaft adapter to ensure a tight fit.
I did one last test-fitting on the frame, to make sure that the wheel was at the proper height on the shaft adapter. The wheel does indeed clear the top of the frame, and hits the Rockler bearing just right.
Time to drill. The goal is to drill a 1/8" hole through the top half of the wheel, completely through the shaft adapter, and partially through the hub on the bottom side of the wheel. That's as far as my drill bit can reach!
I should have turned the wheel a bit more so that the drill bit would have shown through the "windows" in the hub, but this is fine.
I jammed some 1/8" steel rod into the hole. It looks like I may have to cut it down just a little...
The rod does indeed go through the shaft adapter, and into the hub on the other side. This is good, it will lock the wheel onto the shaft adapter.
I marked the spot at which to cut the rod. I'm actually cutting the rod just a hair short, so that it will fit completely inside the wheel; yet not so short that I can't pull it back out with needle nose pliers in the future, if need be.
Well, if I have to hack through steel, this is the kind I like.
I inserted the rod back into the wheel, and the fit looks good.
Of course, I couldn't go this far without trying it out on the frame with the Rockler bearing. I attached a 12 volt battery and gave it a spin.
So, the dome drive is almost complete. I will probably use the Dremel drum sander to flatten out the perimeter of the wheel, where it makes contact with the Rockler bearing, to give it a larger surface area of contact. I also need to attach the tension spring, and replace the connectors on the wires.
Tonight I did a little work on the dome drive shaft adapter that screws onto the motor shaft, and provides the axle for the scooter wheel.
This 3/4" diameter steel shaft adapter was provided by Vince Sanchez, and fits the motor shaft very nicely. It's just a little tall, but better too tall than too short. I marked where it needed to be trimmed.
The human band saw rides again.
That's better.
Now to permanently attach the shaft adapter to the shaft. After cleaning the motor shaft and threads of the shaft adapter with acetone, I applied JB Weld to the motor shaft.
And on goes the shaft adapter.
Soon I will drill and pin a 1/8" steel dowel pin through the bottom of the shaft and adapter, pinning them together for added strength. Then I can work on attaching the wheel.
Well, the fit of the dome drive bar looked good on the frame by itself, but once I added the motor, motor mount screws, etc., it turned out that one of the ribs I added to help support the back door slightly interfered with the fit.
I turned everything upside down so I could better inspect what needed to be cleared.
Rather than saw down the bar some more, I used the Dremel drum sander to remove just a little material from the back of this rib.
That's better.
Next, I returned to the dome drive bar. Earlier, I had pronounced it done. That pretty much guaranteed that I had a little more work to do.
It would have been done had I decided to do things like I did with droid #1. On droid #1, I attached the 3/4" diameter shaft adapter above the dome drive bar. On droid #2, I decided that I want the shaft adapter to fit more snugly onto the motor shaft, so I needed to clear out enough space for the shaft adapter to fit in the center of the three mounting holes. I decided to hack away with a 1/2" drill bit to clear more material.
I may not be able to start a fire with a couple of sticks and some leaves, but I'll bet I could start one with a drill press, steel, and some wood underneath.
Some areas required a file to remove excess material.
Time for a test fit. The left side of the shaft adapter clears...
... as does the right.
I may need to shorten the shaft adapter a little bit. After that, I'll JB Weld the shaft adapter to the motor, and then drill and pin it to the shaft.
Today I did a little work on the frame to accommodate the dome drive.
I placed the Rockler bearing onto the frame, set the wheel against it that is used to rotate the bearing. I then traced the overlap of the hole onto the frame. Material needs to be removed from this area. (Incidentally, I prefer this type of wheel over a metal wheel with an O-ring, because this wheel can wear for years and still have plenty of material left, whereas an O-ring can wear out much more quickly.)
With the Rockler bearing removed, I traced a larger arc to give some room for slop and error, and used the Dremel with the drum sander attachment to sand this portion of the frame into dust.
I held the dome drive in place underneath the top plate of the frame, and traced the outline of the inner edge of the frame on top of the dome drive bar.
I removed the motor from the dome drive bar, realigned the bar to the frame, and clamped the bar in place on the bottom of the frame. I used a pen to mark where to drill the 1/4" hole for the bolt that will be used to secure the dome drive to the frame. Here's the view looking up from the bottom.
With the frame upside down, I drilled the 1/4" hole. Because it's not possible to use the drill press on the frame, to drill a straight hole I used a thick block of wood with a 1/4" hole drilled into it to help keep the drill bit straight as I drilled.
Done!
I think there is only one more minor modification to the frame that remains. I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but hopefully soon.
