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