Power Couplers Installed

 

I just received and installed a new set of Aluminum Power Couplers from Russell Brown at RB Replicas. Beautiful work from Russ, as usual!

Turns out these aren't quite an exact fit for my COM-8A Frame, But with help from James in Texas, I was able to install these with a pair of adapter brackets shown here.

I'm told the next run of A-Frames has been changed to fit Russell's Couplers.

Blue Harvest V2 plus Special Edition!

Part No. BH-001-V2

Part No. BH-002-V1

Here they are, Just in time for the New Year... my RPF Blue Harvest T-shirts!

Here we have reproductions of both the Classic 1982 Blue Harvest T-Shirt, as well as the 1996 Retro Blue Harvest Special Edition T-Shirt.

I'm considering doing a run of these Replica Prop T-Shirts... If you are interested please drop me an e-mail and let me know which design you'd like, along with your size and quantity desired.  Prices are TBD. My email address is: dse1138@sonic.net

Shirts should be available in standard sizes: S, M, L, XL & XXL.  Also please note your ship to location (Zip or Country Code is fine). 

This run is PRELIMINARY and in the INTEREST ONLY phase. There is no merchandise available, and I am not accepting any payments at this time.

I'll be posting an "Official" announcement on therpf.com as this run progresses.

Thanks!
Dave

___________________________________________________________________________

A little history on Blue Harvest Memorabilia:

Blue Harvest T-Shirt

These were worn by the cast and crew of what was then titled Revenge of the Jedi. The crew pretended to be filming a horror movie, Blue Harvest, to reduce the amount of unwanted fan attention. Horror Beyond Imagination was the imaginary slogan for the film.

Retro Blue Harvest Special Edition T-shirt.

This is a recent cast and crew shirt from the team putting together the Star Wars Special Edition movies. It's a nod to the classic Blue Harvest and the logos of the two are identical. Although this shirt says "More Horror Beyond Imagination, Again" and "The Really Big Special Edition". 

Progress Report 12/21

Worked on R2 a bit more this week.  I completed and installed a new set of custom CNC machined Aluminum Booster Covers.

Periscope Lighting

Periscope Lighting - LED PCB's

Started working on the Periscope Lighting System today.  I'm using rotopod's (Doug D's) periscope lighting boards:

• Top LED Board (for the 7 LED pin holes above the main lens)
• Bottom LED Board (for the 6 red rectangular LED block)
• Right Lens LED Board
• Left Lens LED Board
• Main Lens LED Board

More to come...

Budget Skins

I plan to install Aluminum Skins, but I picked up a set of Budget Skins from r2builder Chani.

Budget Skins are sheets of .040" (1mm) styrene with Chani's skins cut file scored onto them. These skins are for builders that don't mind taking some time working with their parts, but at the same time, eliminating the need for another template. Every cut line is scored into the styrene, so with a utility knife, an optional straight-edge, and a little time, you can have a complete set of skins that won't set you back. Please see the photo above. That's what you will receive. Included are Front Outer, Front Inner, Back Outer and Back Inner skins scored onto four sheets of 24"x36" sheets. Another advantage of using these skins is that, because they are already scored into the plastic, it's easier to freehand your final cuts because your knife won't want to slip out of the pre-scored groove very easily. Also, if you're careful, it's possible with most panels to just bend the score lines slightly and pop them out.

They work with any club-spec frame.

New Audio Amplifier

After trying out several low power, low cost amps, I've decided to use the Sure Electronics

2x25W, TPA3123 Class-D Audio Amplifier Board.

The Sure Electronics Class-D dual channel amplifier board employs a Tripath-style Texas Instruments TPA3123D2 chip. Each channel is rated at 25W, delivered with state-of-the-art sound quality:

Pre-assembled, pre-tested
Superb sound quality
Perfect Class-D architecture
Two channels—each up to 25W
Up to 92% efficiency
Does not require a heat sink for most applications
Line level analog audio input

All for around $25!

(Sure Electronics p/n AA-AB018)

OT: Look What I Did!

Note: As one observant collector pointed out... "HARVEST" should be in Outline Font:

Rev. 2 coming soon...

OK... Not R2 related, but Star Wars related nonetheless...

Here's my most recent "project"... a re-production of the now (in) famous Star Wars Pre-Production Crew Tee.

You know the one...

And yes, I am considering doing a run of these "Prop Replica" T-Shirts.

MP3 Trigger v2

The experiment continues...

This time I'm taking a look at Robertsonics MP3 Trigger.  This is a low-cost, low power embedded MP3 Player. The board has 18 external trigger pins that will directly trigger pre-selected MP3 tracks, and a full-duplex serial control port that provides full transport control, remote triggering for up to 256 tracks, and fast real-time volume control. The board plays the MP3 files directly from a FAT16 microSD flash card and supports 192Kbps stereo playback. There is also an on-board navigation switch for local access and playback of all MP3 tracks on the flash card.

The board uses a Cypress PSoC CY8C29466-24SXI microcontroller and a VLSI VS1053 audio codec.

Interactive Voice Control, Part 2

Interactive Voice Control

Basic Functions: Audio Section

I now have the Audio Section up and running... I'm using Rob's IVC board as described below and driving a Mono Amplifier based on the TDA2030 8 Watt IC Amplifier.  This is an excellent amplifier - it runs off of 12VDC, has a 94 dBA signal/noise ratio and a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response, all in a small, low cost package.  This I've connected to a Pioneer TS-A878 3.5" 2-way Speaker.

 The audio section consists of a set of screw terminals for the audio input and output. The inputs feed a simple 1:1 modem isolation transformer after passing through a 10K trimmer pot/voltage divider circuit. This allows for some adjustment of impedance to ensure compatibility with whatever audio amplifier is connected to the output side.  The Hasbro speaker sounds are designed to drive an 8 ohm speaker and are not suitable for direct connection to an external amplifier without some sort of level and impedance matching circuit.

Interactive Voice Control

Interactive Voice Control

Basic Functions: Power Supply

I've started work on Rob Meyer's Interactive Voice Control board... I've got the Power Supply section running, which replaces the four D-Cell batteries, the four AA-Cell batteries and the power switch on the Hasbro Droid.

The IVC board's power supply section is designed as to replicate the original battery system, allowing the new system to operate on 12V Astromech power.

Here I'm running a 12V, 6A Benchtop Power Supply, which powers Dan Stuettgen's Power Distribution Board.  That in turn supplies 12V to Rob's Interactive Voice Control board, which distributes the various voltages to the Hasbro system.

-Dave

11.11.11

\m/ \m/

Battery Boxes

Just received my set of PVC Battery Boxes from Matt McCormick.

Nice work, Matt!

These are sturdy, clean, almost ready to paint Battery Boxes constructed of PVC pipe and expanded cell PVC board (aka Sintra). They are built to club specs with one small exception: the overall width of the boxes is about 2.87” (instead of 3”).

R2 in progress, part 7

R2 as of 11.08.2011.

Note the new PVC Battery Boxes.  Niiice.

Dome Drive Assembly

This week I "upgraded" my Dome Drive Assembly - I installed the Engraved Dome Drive Wheel from C5 Orlando 2010, offered by Guy Averett.

As far as the Dome drive Assembly, I took a slightly different approach:

I inverted the Drive Brackets so I could use the longer shaft version Pittman motor.  With the short shaft version, I wasn't able to mount the drive wheel low enough to install the Dome Plate.  With this setup, there's no need to cut down the longer shaft Pittman Motor, and the drive wheel now sits low enough to allow the Dome Riser Plate to be installed.

Drive mounting brackets are custom CNC machined, based on JAG's Dome Drive Assembly drawings.

Center Foot Fixed!

New Custom Built, CNC Machined Center Foot.  Per the "Official Blueprints", the Center Ankle pivot hole is located 0.625" below, perpendicular to, the top of the foot.  This allows for 18° of tilt.

New Primary Sound System

Arduino Uno + Wave Shield

Arduino Uno (Atmega328)
Adafruit Wave Shield
Kingston 2GB MicroSD card w/ SD/MMC Adapter

QKits

FA604: 8 watt mono Audio Amp (not shown)

One (1) Pioneer TS-A878 3.5" 2-Way Speaker (not shown)

Fully programmable, using the Arduiono Uno, the Wave Shield plays up to 22KHz, 16-bit, mono (yes... mono) PCM (.wav) files.  It's a low cost, small package, has an onboard DAC, filter and op-amp for high quality output. Audio files are read off of an SD/MMC card.  Volume can be controlled with the optional on board thumb-wheel potentiometer.

The amplifier is a mono IC amplifier, using a TDA2030 IC with 8 Watts output.  This amp runs off of 12VDC, has a 94 dBA signal/noise ratio and a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response, all in a small, low cost package.

This is my Droid's Primary Sound System with the Secondary System being the audio portion of the Hasbro Interactive R2 conversion.

QKits 

FA604: 8 watt mono Audio Amp (not shown)

What's wrong with this picture?

R2 in progress...

I just like this pic.  ;o)

the Restraining Bolt Collection

r2builders club restraining bolts - front view

r2builders club restraining bolts - rear view

Various Club Restraining Bolts:

Club Restraining Bolt ver. 1

Club Restraining Bolt ver. 1.5? (RB Replicas?)

Club Restraining Bolt ver. 2

ARRI Type Restraining Bolt

These Restraining Bolts use strong rare earth magnets and steel plates. The magnet is glued in the bottom of the restraining Bolt. The plate gets placed on the back side of the door panel. To glue the magents in, I use crazy glue, epoxy or JB weld. Gorrilla Glue brand crazy glue is available at Walmart. 

Booster Covers/Mounting Hole Issues

I've been having a bit of trouble fitting my booster covers to the legs... turns out a couple of mounting holes were not lining up.

Here are some comparative measurements of my Outer Legs vs. Booster Covers mounting hole patterns.  All measurements are approximate:

1) The top two mounting holes on the Legs are 2.480" apart while the corresponding screw holes on the Boosters are wider, at 2.559" apart.

2) The distance between the top and bottom holes is 10.748" on the Legs vs. 10.807" for the Boosters.

3)  The bottom two Leg holes line up correctly with the Boosters... no change needed.

4) The mounting holes on the legs could be larger to accommodate pan-head machine screws (Increase hole diameter to .322" min.).

I'll have to machine a new set of custom booster covers to fit my existing set of Legs. 

Drilling Legs for Motor Wires

I'm using a custom CNC milled "pass-thru" bolt with my Outer Ankles and Feet.

My Version:

CNC Milled Ankle Bolt

Ankle with Foot (Top View)

Note the ankle pivot bearings visible through the center pass-thru hole.

Ankle and Foot, Wired

Another version of the Ankle Bolt as seen at this year's DroidCon:

New Banner!

I just joined the Bay Area r2builders group (r2sf) this week, so I thought I needed a banner too.

Stolen from Inspired by Chris James.

Thanks again, Chris!  ;o)

R2 in progress, part 6

09.23.2011

Well... R2's legs are finally coming together.  There was an issue with one of the Outer Ankles where the Flathead Screws used to attach the Ankle Details were not sitting flush with the inside surface of the Ankle, and as a result, the Leg was hitting the screw head, preventing it from seating properly in the Ankle.  The solution?  Increase (or deepen) the countersink bore to allow the screw to fit flush.  Voilà!  Now the Ankles fit beautifully!

R2 in progress, part 5

R2, as of 09.21.2011

Note the shiny new Large Data Port from Al Eisenmann.  Nice!

Also... replaced my Resin Holoprojectors with Aluminum HP's.  Muuuch better.

Blog is back up!

Okay... sorted out my Blog issues... (Thanks, Chris!)

Updates coming soon!

-Dave

Aluminum Center Ankle, Complete

Mmmm... Shiny...

R2-D1

Screen Accurate Aluminum Restraining Bolts

FS: Screen Accurate Aluminum Restraining Bolts
darenmurrer

Seller: Darren Murrer
email: daren@theearth.net

More R2-D1 Pics

Side View... Aluminum Radar Eye, Front (Teeces) Logics w/ Resin Surrounds, PSI and Resin Holoprojectors.

Rear View... Dome Power Switches.

Rear (Teeces) Logic Board with Resin Surround.

Resin Holoprojector.

R2-D1 Dome complete

300mm Aluminum Dome

PSI Blocks

PSI LED Flashers
Logic Surrounds (Resin)

Teeces Logics, Front and Rear

Holoprojectors By AZ (Resin)

Aluminum Radar Eye
Radar Eye Lens, Black

Paint Samples

Paint samples, Pre-mixed from House of Kolor paints in spray cans from Black Gold, Inc..

1 (One) 12 oz. Aerosol Spray Can Paint - Base Coat SKU # R2D2.

1 (One) 12 oz. Aerosol Spray Can Paint - Top Coat Kandy Oriental Blue SKU # K04S.

Aluminum Periscope Housing, Daniel's

Aluminum Periscope Housing, produced and sold by Daniel.

Acquired just the housing with lens from Jerry Greene (JAG435).

R2 In Progress, Part 3

R2 In Progress... 7/20/2011.

David Shaw Aluminium Radar Eyes

 

Aluminium Radar Eyes

Hypersonic

seller:David Shaw

location: Australia

email: astromech@uav.com.au

http://www.astrospares.com

Accurately CNC machined radar eyes! Come predrilled with mounting holes and bolts. The rear is machined out to save weight. Fit both the R&J dome and 300mm dome (and most others).