Building an R2D2 from scratch

This is the progress so far, Everything, including the aluminum feet were cut on the x-carve.

1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" Baltic Birch Plywood
1/8" Aluminum Plate
1/8" MDF Hardboard

X-Carve is a 1000X1000 with a Dewalt DWP611

http://stevemr2d2build.blogspot.com/

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Omg awesomeness.

Now that’s pretty good. Will it eventually be controllable?

Amazing

Oh hell, that would freak out the nieghbors! :smiling_imp:

Yes, He will be fully controllable from an RC transmitter in conjunction with a iPhone application. The iPhone application will control all the panels on the Dome, the LED displays, the holo projectors, etc. He will have a built in 25X2 watt amplifier and speakers for sound. Two scooter Motors for movement, and one motor to spin the dome. Checkout the blog for some of the details on the electronics.

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@SteveMorgan

Dude, that’s truly epic! I nominate that for a $500 Tip Jar project! I don’t suppose the files will be made available… :wink:

Chris

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@SteveMorgan Great work so far Steve! Looks pretty complex. I like the mix of 3D printing, LEDs, CNC routing, etc. Keep up the great work!

Please keep us updated as the project progresses. Love this indeed.

Wow, amazing stuff there!

Please make two… :slight_smile:




My good friend Scott Kelley suggested that I share an update
on the buildout of R2, in particular the Drive Motors for the feet. They are
constructed from 1/8" Aluminum plate, bolted together with hollow spacers.
It uses a pair of Razor Scooter Motors and wheels. The design is based on the
ATLR2’s design, which they were nice enough to share with me. I was able to
import their DXF files into VCarve Pro and produce the Gcode in a matter of
minutes.

I did several test cuts on 1/8" hardboard first to
verify that everything would fit together. Only after everything look right, did I try
cutting the Aluminum.

Cutting Aluminum has many challenges, Speed of the Cut,
Speed of the Bit, Type of Bit, Slop in the Machine, etc. I found that if I cut
too slow, it would melt the Aluminum to the bit and basically destroy the bit.
Cutting Medium speed seemed to do the trick, along with lubrication!!! I ended
up using a off the shelf 1/8” straight router bit from Lowes.

Cut Parameters: (End Mill 0.125 inch)

Pass Depth: .005”

Stepover: .05”

Feed Rate 450mm/min

Plunge Rate: 300mm/min

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Yes, I do plan on sharing the files that belong to me, the ones that I actually created. The actual plans for R2 are available on the R2 Builders Site astromech.net. You will need to join as a builder to see the actual blueprints.

Steve Morgan was nice enough to let our makers space, Geek Space Gwinnett bring R2 to Dragon Con Sunday and he was a big hit. People were most impressed with the point that everything was done on a home CNC, the X-Carve.

Wow, that must have taken forever to cut at those rates.

Just the Aluminum took forever, about an hour for each panel, 8 hours total, so pretty much an entire day to cut all 8 panels. I was focused on quality of the cut, rather than the speed of the cut, as I am not doing production work. The wood parts go much quicker. I am still trying to sort out issues with oblong holes. Before the upgrade, I did not have that issue, so I am not sure what has changed, but suspect my V-Carve Settings.

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When I saw the title, I was prepared to see something totally cheesy. Instead I saw something totally awesome. Keep up the good work dude!!

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how did you navigate astromech.net, that is not an easy site to find what’s needed. Have a link to the files and directions you used from there?

Just back from maker faire and ran into this guy :smile:

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This is amazing! A big undertaking for sure. For the rest of us (At least myself lol), I’ll be happy if I can create something like this. https://pinshape.com/items/6961-3d-printed-r2d2-salt-and-pepper-shaker