Entry for December 07, 2005

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Last week I got in the mail a DVD one of the R2-D2 Builders Club (henceforth will be known as the Club) members made highlighting the Club at CIII (C3, or Celebration III). It is amazing. There are all kinds of pictures and video of the droids at work entertaining the CIII attendies. A big bonus is video of the one and only "Jedi Master George Lucas" visiting the Club's display room. He was very impressed with the craftmenship and asked "where were you guys when I started this whole thing?" Rick McCallum, the producer for the Star Wars prequals, commented on how cheap the droids were and that they now know where to go for droids for the T.V. series. He might have been joking about that last part, but it would be cool if he was being serious.

John

Entry for November 16, 2005

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Yes I'm still alive, hehe. Just haven't been able to do much on R6 untill today. The PSI circuit is nearly complete in that all I have to connect to it is the LEDs and the power plug. I had to rewire a connection on the circuit unfortunitly, but no major problems with that. With no money and just starting a new job last weekend delivering pizzas, it's going to be awhile before I can afford to test the PSI & Logic Indicator circuits. Hopefully, they will work . This is my first time making circuit boards so I just don't know. Pictues of circuits and test results coming soon...or later.

John

Entry for November 06, 2005

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Nearly done with the PSI circuit. I had to exchange one of the capacitors today for a different one because I got an 100uF when I should have gotten a 0.1uF. So all I need now is a power terminal and to connect the LEDs. I hope this will work.

John

Entry for November 03, 2005

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Finished the 2nd Logic Display circuit today (I pray it works). Need one more part and then I can make the PSI (Processor State Indicator) circuit.

I bought the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith DVD last night and YEEHA I love it. The circle is now truly complete.

The photo attached to this post is of an R6 Astromech droid. This is what my own R6 will look like.

John

Entry for November 02, 2005

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

This past week I've been making some circuits for the front & rear Logic Displays on my droid. I have completed one already and will have the 2nd one finished by...oh look at the time...1:56am...I was gonna say tomorrow but it's already tomorrow LOL! So I'll have it done by tonight then, hehe. The next circuit I'll work on will be the Processor State Indicator (PSI). So far I think I'm building them correctly, but I won't know for sure until I can connect a battery to it. Pictures to come soon.

My first astromech droid will not be R2-D2 but an R6 which I have named R6-C9. The reason is so I can experiment with building materials and construction methods. R6 will be just a static droid, meaning he will not be able to move around. R6 will however have all the lights and automated head rotation/sounds for realaizim (spell check ). R2-D2 will be the one with ALL the tricks (RC, lights, sounds, utility arms, etc.).

For the main body I am currently planning to use an 17" - 18" diameter PVC pipe (the same material most drain pipes are made of).

John

Introduction to this Blog

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Welcome to my Star Wars Droid Building Blog. Here I will be keeping a journal of my journey towards my goal of having my very own R2-D2. This journey actually started in April of this year ('05) when I attended the Star Wars Celebration III convention in my home State of Indiana. A club named the "R2-D2 Builders Club" had a room setup with all of their home made droids on display. These guys come from all over the world such as Australia and Europe, although most of them are Americans .
Their display was amazing! They had completed R2's, in progress R2's, and everything in between. They even had ILM's official R2-D2 made for filming the prequel trilogy on display as well. Funny thing is the home made R2's looked better, could do more, and were cheaper than the "official" one, hehe. During the four days of the convention, a few of the club members held Droid Building workshops where they told us their building stories, gave construction tips, and answered questions from prospective members. In another room the R2-D2 Droid Builders held a droid race to entertain the public and see who's droid was the fastest. Very fun to watch...especially when droid decided not to do what the driver wanted, hehe.
At the end of it all, I decided to join the R2-D2 Builders Club so I too could build my own R2-D2.

The following blog post will track my effort to build my very own Star Wars droid.

John