Launchpad Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 So this is the most detailed pick of one I could find, from what I understand, this is only a model and does not function (Move).I know according to Wookipidia they are exactly 6' tall so my work is the one in this pic scaled at 2.71 from a poster size I had made. The following is the begginning of the drawing process. Afterwards these were drawn in coreldraw and autocad 2006 for machining of the main leg parts. So I finally got my sets of armor complete where I like them and could troop anytime. As a mechanical engineer, when I chose this I knew I would be in a field I would have to learn on my own, electrical engineering yuk, but not too horrible. The following oic started last oct when our movers still had our stuff so I scaled a life size one to past the time. I then proceeded to gather parts in town and on the net to meet the requirements for a self autonomized Droideka. Yes mobile. No rolling uo into a ball just yet. Maye once I'm over the mound of trouble with walking Vs Balance with three legs. The main legs are prototyped out of foam, bondo, and magic sculpt. The main body is layered fiberglass cloth and matting in layer totalling a 0.25 in thickness. The 18" diameter plastic sphere was layered in sections, then areas were removed so the structure would still be stable' MModing and scaling the lower soins guts are proving to be very difficult but not impossible. This was where I stopped last week. Since then I have started putting together the gears for shoulder movement in the legs which does consist of all directions. Everyone was making R2, so I wanted to build a functional droideka, not RC, but with a TechFX micro controller and Pololu motor controllers. Further update as this starts to come together more. Let me knoiw what you think. I haven't posted in awhile as right after the move I began this secret project. Muhahahah. lol Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 This weeks update. Ok troops, you asked for constant updates to this thread, so here is this weeks progress. I thank all of you for your understanding on what a huge project this is and it adds to my motivation to constantly work on it. I thank my family for putting up with me taking on such a task. Well, I’m having problems with two of the outputs on the controller, so back to the manufacturer for repair. Thank god I’m far enough along as I can do without it for awhile and just work on pieces parts. The controller, motor fuses, power switch, and battery charge plug are going in the back for ease of access for troubleshooting. Shaping for accurate size was first done with foam board, then pressed wood for molds. Very easy to work with. View of access hole through spine base for electronics. These next few are the fitting of the mold for the spine to sit in the base for visual accuracy. Next is the process of actually starting on the details for the spine. I haven’t finished it yet as there are a few hundred individual pieces in order for it to look correct. Should have it completed next weekend. As this was a three day weekend, I had enough time to complete the ball and spine base for molds. . I did some other work on the inside of the ball for the battery and other electronics to mount too, but didn’t take pics of that as I didn’t think that all the guts like the battery holder would be that interesting. If your wondering what’s inside the ball, there are 2 17.5” diameter angle steel rings for the main leg joints to bolt on with support plates welded across for the spine to bolt to through the base. I just haven’t drilled the holes yet. I’m waiting on a completed mold of the spine before designing the skeleton inside it to support the top and electronics to go through. That’s it for now. More to follow as thing this takes more shape. If your wondering why the legs aren’t on yet, they have very complicated guts in the main joints, and they are the most expensive. I have the bearings and some of the gears. Still hunting for a special worm gear and another for the motors. Talk to you all soon. Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Dirty Trooper Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Wooww just awesome !! Outstanding work ! This is not a easy project to do i think ! Can't wait to see the whole thing m8 ! Grtz RAY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCKo Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 that´s amazing, bro! i always envy the people building that huge lifesizes from scretch... i wish i had your skills or maybe even the patience to do such projects! keep us posted, that is more than interesting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Short TRooper Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 :blink: That just fantastic work! I would like to build stuff but I just don't have the money to do it.....But it is still cool to see people to make it..... ShortTrooper (Diana) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Man you got sculpting skills and electronics!!! You r the right man for the job................. I HATE YOU!! :lol: :lol: Keep us posted and take your time of your work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootch Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Wow man that is one heck of a project! Will it fetch beers too??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6170 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Wow man, amazing stuff. And here I thought that hot gluing lasers to sharks heads was impressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hey, guys, thanks for the enthusiasm! It's not all that hard, just lots of patience, measuring, cutting, re-measuring, adding more because I sanded too much, measuring again, and again and again.... Just taking my time as money permits. The most expensive part is going to be the main joints on the legs, gears are very expensive, and designing it so I don't have gears laying around I can't use is one of the hard parts. I will do my best to keep up with the thread. Hoping that this motivates everyone who sees it too. The empire is soooooo coool!!! Girls like bad, dirty boys the most anyway!!! LOL Later Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Wauw what a amazing job, can´t wait to see the finished droid. I would like to be that good with sculpting. It would be so scary to meet a real moving droideka it would create so much fear and respect. Keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 Well, sorry so long for the update for those that are following this thread. I’ve spent every waking hour on these pieces for the spine. Over 120 individual parts and 4 mains for the stem. Not to mention the mistake I made on the thickness and misinterpretation of the side view of the spine. After another trooper (Thanks Brian) submitted me some pics, I had to revamp the spine base and the main shape of the spine itself. If you look close at the spine base pics before, you’ll notice I had to extend the front angle shape by 1.5 inches to allow for the change in thickness of the main spine. So the spine is almost ready for molding. The main leg pins are installed after engineering the exact set up of the rear leg. Notice the hole cut in the rear ring in order to have a pivot point in the same location as the two front legs. The rear one is inset about 0.875” towards the center, thus creating the difference. Also started on the deflector shield pivots and linkage to attach to the spine base. They look like big horse pills. Lol Made of 1.5” PVC pipe and a wet dry vac ball cut in four pieces for the ends. The small “pills” will be made of 0.625” aluminum pipe, with the linkage as 0.1875” flat steel for strength. So here are the pics of where I’m at as of now. The main CPU is back from the manufacturer, I fried two of the chips on the board with the trial and error hook up, but have purchased 2 extra chips just in case. Now I know what not to do, or better yet how I can’t use the board. Haha Will post again soon. Don’t know if I’ll be going past the spine until I’ve completed the legs. Can’t have a droid with no legs just because it’s the most difficult part. More to come. Thanks for the support guys and gals. II'm patiently waiting to post the youtube link to show you this thing walking, but rememer it won't be the same until I have the top complete to offset the weight for balance. I can't wait. Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6170 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Years from now then the machines have made us there slave and we are thinking about sending one lone solider to look up the dude that started it all we may have to send them to this thread!! LOL Dude amazing work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 Well this update is going to include some of the issues I’ve had to deal with since my last post. Manufacturing of the main hinges came to a halt when I ran out of welding wire. I ordered some and while waiting for it to be delivered I did more sculpting on the hoarse pills, mounts and deflector shields (My wife calls them the hips lol). The hinge is 4 pieces of steel that I custom welded and fit for the correct look so far. (No better pics for detail as of yet. The small pills are made from 0.625 aluminum tubing with a nut and bolt magic sculpted into the insides for easier removal of the deflector shields for transport. The deflectors are made from 3 layers of wood glued together then sanded to the apparent shape from the pics. These proved to suck up about 6 hours each to just get them where they are at now. I’ve also been reshaping the main leg joint mold, as I wasn’t happy with the last one, and I’m having to engineer taking it apart into the design while keeping the look as accurate as possible. I will post more pics as I progress more on this. It is the hardest to design, trouble shooting for fully functional legs hurts my head lol. I kept working on the front of the spine base mount. This is a side pic with more ball shapes. These were made from the tops of steel fence posts. The scaled diameter was perfect. I did take them to work and used our rotory engraver to add some of the detail before mounting them. Oh yea when the wire for the welder arrived it was the wrond one, man I was ******. So I had to return it and am again waiting for more wire as of this post. I’ve got more to post just haven’t taken more pics yet so for those interested I’ll leave you with a few pics of me with Aaron at all-con And this incredibly hot girl that would have made your jaw drop during the show Sat night at the con. Enjoy I will post last weekends progress ASAP Later troops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nico Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Good to see you are making progress! Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 This was last weeks labor of love. It’s not 100% yet, but the mechanics of the hinges are enough to hold the deflector in the pic. Yes, it does hinge at both points, manually adjustable for now, may add servos later for fun. Still some fine tuning to take care of but you get the idea. Not pictured are the main leg hinge pins are welded and injstalled. Still perfecting the final details for the steel skeleton parts of the legs and how to mount the screen accurate pieces to them. That area should be posted next after the wallet gets more money for steel plating. Got the welding wire, now ran out of steel Post again ASAP Thanks all Mathew PS don't ask what the holes were for in the base sphere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootch Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 That is one awesome piece of craftsmanship bro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyone Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Dang, this is awesome dude!! you must be single to get involved with a project like that. My wife would without a doubt have my bags packed on the driveway if I told her I was making something of that magnitude Keep up the great work bro, can't wait to see more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 WOW!!!! . Looks like the real deal. You skill are a A+. Looks freaking cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 Hey all. Sorry so long for an update, between the wife getting deployed in a few weeks, an early vacation before she goes, the kids, a major add on to the house, I’ve not had a whole lot of time. So here are a few of where I stand as of last week. The first thigh is now attached to the hip joint, as well as some of the mechanical gearing for left to right motion for the one. A second thigh is already cut and ready to be welded and I have the steel for the third thigh but not cut out yet. Oohhh Yea, and the first shin and foot are rough cut and starting to take shape!!!! Remember this is only the skeleton for structural support, cosmetics will come after function.. I can’t wait to show you all this thing moving! One of our members in Australia was working the “Where Science meets Imagination” Show there and he had access to the droid in the first pic!!!! He sent me over 90 detailed and up close pics of every part of the droid!!! Soooo, I’ve had to rework a few of the other pieces… so for those of us that anal and look for detail, the pics I post next week, you should notice a big difference in a number of the parts. That’s all for now and thanks for everyone’s comments!!!! Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewback Jockey Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Boy do I feel lazy.... Nice can't wait to see it finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Launchpad Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Sorry so long all for the update. The wife is deployed now and I have had the kids all summer. This is my first attempt at posting with my new Imac. Its very cool but way different than a pc, so I’m getting used to finding stuff. Here are the pics of half of the leg drives installed waiting on bolts to go through the base in the ball. Please note that all hips and legs are finished. I have started on the feet and will be attaching them next, before I can engineer the second half of the drives for the legs I need the feet complete. Next there are the shield generators with mounts reworked. Look at the old ones compared to these and you’ll see how much I had to do. Next is a pic showing all three skeletal legs. Thats it for now. Believe me, thats a ton since my last post. A few more burns from the torch and welder, but nothing serious. After the feet are complete I’ll be working on the molds for the legs while waiting for funds for the actuators for the legs. Thanks for the awesome comments all. This may take forever, but it will get done. Will try to post again soon. Mathew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nico Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Exciting news! Keep up the good work, im really looking forward to watching the progress on this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Now that is some impressive work ! Brother you got the skills! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCKo Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 that droid kicks ***... great work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakengine Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Wow. Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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