Entry for November 05, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Well after some really deep thinking I have decided to cancel my plans to attend the Star Wars Celebration IV. You might expect I would be really sad about this, but I actually feel good about this desision, the reason being I won't be spending all that money when I should use it for more important things like MOVING OUT OF MY PARENTS HOUSE, LOL!!!!! I still wish I could go. The last two Celebrations were great. But it's just too much money this time. They'll be other conventions to go to. Maybe the next one will be closer to home. So now I'm back to where this blog started, except now I'm a liitle further along than before.

John

Entry for November 04, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

One-hundred nineteen dollars PER night in an L.A. Hotel!!!! And that's the cheapest! That's about $800.00 for the whole convention. And how about the train? If I go by coach it's almost $300; $1100 if I get a bedroom. All this money just to go to a 5 day convention. Adding all this money up is making me seriously reconsider going. If I go, I could end up spending between $2000 and $3000. That's enough money to make at least two droids (depending on materials and features). I REALLY want to go, but at these prices it's just not worth it...is it? Other R2 Builders are complaining about the prices too, saying how they wish it was in Indy like the last two times.

If I decide to cancel, and it's looking like I will, I will still keep working on getting R6-C9 built. Of course, without C4 to as a deadline I won't be in as much of a hurry....and that can be a good thing.

Anyway, yesterday I ordered some resin droid parts that will be too hard to make myself. I ordered a Radar Eye, a set of Front Logic Display bezels, a Rear Logic Display bezel, a Moveable Holo Eye, and a Fixed Holo Eye. The moveable holo eye is meant to be controled by a servo or two. The "fixed" holo eye is a non-moveable version. The Holo Eyes also required some additional parts (a lense and a metal retainer clip to hold the lense in). Should have all of this stuff by the end of next week.

John

Entry for November 01, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Hello there. Today I made that critical desision: what will R6-C9's color be? I made five crude drawings of R6 and painted them in different color schemes to see which one I liked the best. It was hard but I finaly picked one and now I present it. I know the drawing is crude, but fear not. Someday, somehow I will get a better drawing, or even an actual picture....someday.

So....what do you think?

John

Entry for October 30, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Today registration for Celebration IV began and natualy I signed up lickidy-split! Next I will book a Hotel and then decide how I will get to L.A.. While I like planes, I prefer them on the ground. Bus will be too expensive (and uncomfortable). I could drive but gas +time driving + room & board while driving + food = more money than it's worth unless I can carpool with other C4 bound fans. Then there's trains. I was told it would only take about 2-3 days to get to LA by train and would be cost effective. Still researching that but am leaning towards a train unless I can secure a carpool. Plus I need to finish R6's head still. So much to do, so little time.

John

Entry for October 27, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

HOORAAAAAY!!!! Star Wars dot com (hehe) just announced that registration for Celebration IV will begin October 30th. Cost for a four day pass will be $110, about the same as the last one. SO worth it. With a four day pass I will also get a coupon for Hotels in the LA area.

As far as R6 is concered, I was at Radio Shack on Wendsday and bought some PC Board power terminals which I intend to add to my PSI curcits. Other than that I'm still waiting for the time to work on actually building R6's head. Very anxious to do so.
Laterz.

John

Entry for September 22, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Hello. I'm still here. No new progress on R6-C9 because of working a lot. I'm hoping to get back to work on him soon so stay tooned.

John

Entry for August 29, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

I know it's been awhile, but there's just so much more going on in my life than Star Wars such as........................eating? Moving on.....

Today I got some of the blueprints a fellow droid builder made printed in 1:1 scale. Can you say "BIG!!!!" piece of paper? Cost me $30.00 but it looks amazing! Now my dad can see it easily (just joking dad ).

John

Entry for August 02, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Today me and my dad went to Lowes and bought the wood we'll need to make the head. Due to the hot weather in Indy right now, we won't start cutting until it gets cooler. I've also been thinking about building a cardboard mockup for planning purposes.

John

Entry for July 26, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Get the popcorn, it's home movie time. The two links below are 5 second clips of the front and rear Processor State Indicator circuits in action. The back ground is my desk. Enjoy.




John

Entry for July 26, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Drum role please....ladies and gentlemen! I give you (finaly) pictures of my progress on building the head of R6-C9!



Video to come very soon.

John

Entry for July 20, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy! Why am I so happy? Because earlier today I purchased a Canon A620 Digital Camera! Yahoooooo! I ordered it from newegg.com so I won't get it until next Monday or Tuesday. But when I do, I will finaly be able to show you all the work I've doing on the electronics for R6-C9. Not only will I be able to show you pictures, but I'll also be able to make short videos of the electronics in action. My Dad and me are currently making plans to start the construction of R6's head. Can't wait.

John

Entry for July 18, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Got the Fiber Optic cable today. After some testing, I have ruled out the 3mm unjacketed Fiber (that's a solid piece 3mm thick without a rubber sleeve on it). Looks the same as the Black Endglow 5/32" (that's 3mm) Solid Cable, but it's not very flexable so I think I would have a hard time using it. The LG-64 cable is more flexable than the unjacketed cable and because it contains 64 tiny fibers in a 3mm sleeve you get a pixelated effect when light shines through it. The Endglow cable is the most flexable and it looks nice. Now I just have to decide which of the last two I want to use. Someday I'll get a camera so you can all see the test results and such for yourself so you know what I'm talking about. I'm thinking about getting a plain digital camera that can double as a webcam and thus be able to record video. This would be a cheaper solution than buying a digital camcorder....I think. I won't start construction of the final parts untill I get a camera so don't worry about missing anything.

John

Entry for July 11, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Ordered samples of fiber optic cable today. Should have it by next week some time (I hope). I hope I get the visual results I want.

John

Entry for July 06, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Not much to report concerning R6-C9 due to the fact that because business is slow at my job I've been tight on funds. That said I do have a bit of an insight to share. I've been watching the original Star Wars trilogy, researching R2-D2's Logic Displays to see how they blinked. I was amazed at how little the lights do blink. All the logic displays the club uses are more random and faster blinking than what the original R2-D2 had going on. This supports my plans to use fiber optic cable for the logic displays instead of a whole mess of LEDs. John am happy .

John

Entry for June 28, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Today I finaly got a price for the signfoam: $400.00 for a 4x8 piece 2 inches thickl . Time for plan B: wood. The funny thing is an aluminum R2 dome would cost almost $500.00 precut so maybe I shouldn't complain, but alas I don't have that kind of money to throw at this right now. Wood will be much cheaper and just as easy to work with. Me with my dad will build a ribbed frame for R6's head and then wrap a thin sheet of plastic around it. Then I have to make all the additional parts such as the radar eye and the holo projector. Hopefully it willl look great when I'm done.

John

Entry for June 25, 2006 (Duh Day)

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Well today is a perfect example of a "DUH" moment. Starting yesterday I was testing an LED pattern for the rear logic display, but I couldn't get it to work. I tried everything from new batteries to asking for help from other builders. Today however, after exhausting all other ideas, I thought to "DUH" read the instructions and see if I missed anything. And lo and behold, I had the stupid LEDs reversed. Once I corrected that, the LEDs lit up like a Christmas tree. So I hearby make today national "DUH" awareness day (hehe).

In other news, I decided it would be easier to construct R6's head building a frame out of the signfoam and then wrapping some kind of plastic sheeting around it. My dad agrees it would make it easier considering the shape of the head.

John

Entry for June 21, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

I didn't get home 'till 2am this morning so I decided to wait until now to continue my train of thought from yesterday. So here now is part two....

....Because of all the trouble I've been having with the Logic Displays, I'm starting to consider a more voltage friendly solution: using fiber optics. This would be the more accurate thing to do. The original R2-D2 (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope or just Star Wars) and the official ILM R2-D2 (made for the prequels) uses fiber optics instead of a full mess of LEDs. They might be on to something. If I use fiber optics I'd only need one LED per color which means less power required which means an easier circuit design. Only drawback to fiber optics though is they'll take up more room inside the head than LEDs on a flat circuit board. This will take some more research and price figuring before I make a final decision.

John

Entry for June 20, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

The one problem with doing something you've never done before, such as building a robot prop, is the costly mistakes you make because you didn't know any better. Today I learned that all the LEDs I had bought off of ebay are the wrong types. First I bought 5mm ultrabrights but discovered they were too big. So I bought the correct size (3mm) but then discovered I should have gotten standard LEDs and not the ultrabrights. The ultrabrights were requiring a lot of power so I inquired about it on "The Club's" message board. They pointed out I was using ultrabrights when I should be using standard. Well how was I supposed to know there was a difference. So now I've spent $10.00 + shipping (shipping was about $10-$15 per bag of 100 LEDs) and now have 1000 LEDs I have almost no use for LOL! Someday I'll research before I buy....but that'll be years from now I fear. Anyway....nuts, have to go to work now. I'll finish this later tonight when I get off....I have to close tonight .

John

Entry for June 18, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

'sup guys During the past week I got all the other LEDs I need to start making the Front and Rear Logic Displays. After doing some research and asking questions on the R2-D2 Builder's Club Yahoo! Group message board, I'm nearly ready to begin soldering. One thing I have to finish first is drawing up schematics for how the LEDs will be arranged and connected to the QK169 PIC Flasher circuit I bought to control the flashing pattern. Because I'll be using a 12V 8amp AGM battery for the head I need to calculate exactly how much power each LED will require so I know how many I can connect in series before I max out the battery's voltage and have to create another series of LEDs to run in parallel. Apparently if you connect "things" to a battery in parallel instead of in series, all of the "things" get the full 12 volts at the same time. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that but if that's how it works then all the better.
I know, I know; pictures, pictures, give us some PICTURES!!! I would if I could, but I don't have a digital camera or anything like that. As soon as I can afford it, I'll get a digital camcorder so not only will you get pictures, but VIDEO as well. But money is tight right now so you'll have to imagine what I'm talking about, hehe.

I'll talk to ya all later.

John

Entry for June 11, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Greetings. Well all I've been able to do this past week concerning R6-C9 was ordering more LEDs for the Logic Displays. And that's it. Tune in next time, same Bat time, same Bat channel, hehe.

John

Entry for May 31, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Well it was soooo slow at work today that I was home by 6pm. So what did I do? I started on the second PSI circuit of course. I'm happy to say it is complete now and so R6 now has two working lights for his head. I think I'll take the rest of the week off from droid building. Soldering wears me out.

John

Entry for May 31, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Today I made the first of two PSI circuits for R6-C9. After having to correct a couple of incorrect wiring, I attached a 9V battery and TADA R6's front PSI is working. My first working homemade circuit. I'm so proud of myself. I decided to wire the ciruit together instead of eching a circuit board because I live in an apartment and eching requires chemicals and I thought it not a good idea to do such in an apartment. I'd be making the second PSI right now except I have to be at work in about 45 minutes and the first one took me about 1 and 1/2 hours to make. Tomorrow is doughtful because I have to be in to work early for a 100+ pizza order. So most likely I can get it made on Friday. And I promise one of these days I'll get pictures made.

John

Entry for May 30, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

R6 has a spark of life.
During the past two days I've finaly been testing those light ciruits I made back when I first began this blog. Out of the three (two Logic Display flashers and one PSI flasher) only one worked: one of the logic display flashers. I found the problem with the second Logic Display flasher: both IC chips were in backwards lol. The PSI circuit is a different matter.... I have no idea. It's a complex design so the problem could be anywhere. So I decided to toss it and try a simpler design. At first I discovered I misread the schematic and bought the wrong type of capacitors. But once I had that fixed the lights wouldn't flash, they just stayed on. But then I found the problem AGAIN with the capacitors, this time I had then wired wrong. Once I had that corrected the lights flashed. Yippee! It looks really cool and if I had a video camera I'd record it so all of you could see it. This circuit is just a test one on a testing board. Next step is to make two printed versions. Might be a week before I get that finished....or two. Will need to get a circuit etching kit....some blank boards....or maybe I'll just use wires....I'm hungry....hmm....zzzzzzz....

John

Entry for May 26, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!!! Star Wars Celebration IV!!!!!!! Oh I can't wait! As C-3PO said in RotJ, "Here we go again." [Takes a deep breath] I'm ok, hehe. Wow. I'm so happy the rumors were true. And this promises to be bigger, better, and crazier than ever. Times a wasting. I've got to get to work on R6-C9 if I'm to take him to C4. I talked to my Dad who is a woodworking wizard. He said it should be no problem to "spin" R6's head on his lathe. Spin it. Amazing. If you don't know what that is, spinning on a lathe is, well, spinning a block of wood/metel/etc. and using special cutting hand tools to carving into the block. This way you can make it perfectly round. He's done it before to make bowls, spinning tops, ink pens, and wooden chair legs. He also said we should us a type of foam board used in making signs. I can't wait. If we can get the head made in a short amount of time I might try making the body as well. Holy cow this is cool!
Hey. This is my first real update on building my droid. Neat.

John

Entry for February 09, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Still here. Money is real tight right now after recently having to buy a new car, so it will be awhile before I can afford to continue this insane project of mine. Keep checking back. You never know when I'll find something I can work on. May the Force be with you.

John

Entry for January 25, 2006

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

In a previous entry (the 2nd one I think), I stated I was going to use an 18" diameter PVC pipe for R6's body. Well, that is too exspensive. We're talking thousands of dollars because I can only buy in huge bulk. So instead I'll either get an 18" diameter SonoTube (a wooden tube used to shape cement) or I'll just make a wooden skeleton frame.

Electrial design for R6 is finaly taking shape. For the sound, I'll be using the ACS CFSound II+, a 12volt 7amp Gel-Cel battery, and the Droid Dome Controller w/IR & sound activation. R6-C9 will be soooo cool when I get him done. I only hope I can start the body construction sometime this year.

Later

A new year, no new news

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

Hello there Star Wars geeks.
It's another new year, 2006 A.D.. The ball dropped, couples "made out" in Times Square, and some of my co-workers greeted the day with hang-overs. Not me of course . All in all a run-of-the-mill new year.
Last night I was watching my C3 DVD (again), particically the Droid Yard 500 part and it got my brain buzzing with an idea: (drum role) design a third Astromech Droid for Droid Racing!!! Why? I'll explain. First, I can't use my R6-C9 because he'll be static. No motor. Second, my R2-D2, while he will have all the bells and whistles, will be designed for durability and functionality thus too heavey for effective racing. A racing droid will need to be durable, but also light and fast. Thus a third design meant only for racing. Details are still in the dreaming stage but I want my race droid to look like a souped up coupe complete with air-intakes, air-foils, and huge exaust pipes like a drag racer. The Astromech model to use I haven't decided on yet, but I'm either going to use the R3 or the R5. The R3 is just like a R2, but with a transparent dome. That might look cool for a racing droid. The R5 because...well...they aren't good for anything in the ST Universe so might as well race 'em and crash 'em, hehe.
Other than that, nothing new. Stay tuned for more updates on the construction of R6-C9; same Bat time, same Bat channel.