I Have the Power

As of yesterday, R6-C9 now has his primary power source. And boy is it heavy. This thing could crush soda cans if I dropped it on some.
I started charging it last night which took about 4 - 4.5 hours on the 4amp charge setting (recommended by the charger's manual). Only down side to my charger is it has a cooling fan and it is LOUD! Am considering getting a different one...maybe.
One thing I should have done was order two batteries. You want at least two so you have a spare to use when you have to recharge the first one. I will order a 2nd one soon.

Now I just need to setup a mounting method inside the body for the battery. Of course I need the work shop to do this.

John

More painting, added fuse block

Did a lot this past week. Last Thursday I did some more painting in perfect conditions, yet I am still getting that sponge effect on a few pieces. I think I know what's going on now. I noticed the affected pieces looked perfect before I brought them inside to my air conditioned apartment. But once I brought them in, within minutes the sponge effect appeared. I think the sudden change in temperature is what's causing it. So the solution might be to leave them outside for a while longer. Hopefully that's all it is.

I've also made some progress with the electrical side of the build. I ordered and received a fuse block that can hold up to 6 ATC type blade fuses (automobile fuses). It also has a ground bar on it (on the right side). Click here for the website I bought it from.


In addition I have also finally ordered a battery to power everything. I got a 12V 18Ah SLA battery. For the charger, I brought a 2 amp car battery charger that's Gel-Cell compatible.
From the same place I ordered the battery from, Jamco.com, I also ordered parts to make a battery level meter so I know how much of a charge the battery has in it.

The next step for the electrical system is to install power switches. There will be one main power switch, an emergency power switch (hidden somewhere where I can get to it quickly if R6 goes bonkers), and a power switch for every device connected to the fuse block. Now I just have to decide where to put the switches.

John

Too Humid

Today the humidity was over 65% so I'm taking the day off from painting until the humidity is under 50% so the paint dries properly. Will try again Thursday (day off).

Nothing else to report.

John

Still painting

Yesterday I finished applying the 2nd coat to the foot shells, gave the final coat to the detail parts, and gave the 1st coat to the skin panels.


Recently however, I have noticed a problem when the paint drys. A sponging effect appears in spots on the feet and detail parts. I inquired about it at the Club's forum and they said it sounds like it's too humid outside when I paint. They suggested waiting until the humidity is less than 50%. So now I have to sand the parts smooth and paint them again in the correct conditions. Painting stinks.

In other news, I recently bought different kinds of blue paint for those blue areas on R6. I've primed a spare piece of metal and will paint small parts of it with each blue variation to compare them. I'm looking for a dark blue but not too dark. Hopefully one of these will be the blue I'm looking for.

One more thing. This week I also ordered the nuts and bolts needed to attach the foot shells to the wooden legs. But it turns out I didn't make the mounting holes in the legs big enough for the correct sized bolts. I can fix this but I need a drill press to do it properly and the Shop Smith Mark V is currently awaiting transport to it's new home, which looks like my brothers house for the time being. Hopefully I can use it before C5.

John

....painting....again....

This part of droid building is becoming a broken record (if you don't know what a record is, ask your parents or grandparents).

Today I started the 2nd coat of paint for the feet. For the detail parts, I lightly sanded them with 400 grit sandpaper to prep them for their final coat of paint (their 4th). The sanding tip I got form my father. The sanding only took a few minutes and then I painted them.

For the skin parts, I gave them their 2nd coat of primer. Next time will be their 1st coat of paint.

Since last Thursday, I started J-B Welding the skin panels together that need it. Once completed, I will have to sand down the splotches of J-B Weld. I used those fancy office paper clips to hold the pieces together and used a Q-Tip to wipe away any excess J-B Weld that was oozing out of the seems.


Once I'm done with the smaller pieces and the feet, I'll start priming and painting the outer skin layers.

John

Painting Feet and Skins

Today I gave a 2nd coat of paint to the top half of the feet and a 3rd coat to the detail parts. I also decided to start priming the skins. Left photo is before and right photo is after primer. The reason the parts are arranged differently in each photo is because it started to rain after I had gotten everything setup. Luckily I got everything back under cover in time. I chose these pieces because they don't need to be glued to other pieces before I can paint them. Also you'll notice I put painter's tape on the back of each piece. This is so no primer or paint gets onto the back of them. I'll put on a 2nd coat of primer and then paint them like the feet. Two of the pieces in the photos are going to be blue after I'm done priming them (the center vent bezel and the charging control access door (see Episode V)). I'll paint the main skin pieces once I have room and the other panels once I get them glued. Hope fully Sunday will be a good day to continue.

John.

Painting Feet continued...

Painted the bottom half of the feet today and gave a 2nd coat of paint on the detail parts. Not much else to say.

Later,

John

Painting Feet

Weather was great today so I was able to start painting the feet. As before, each coat will have to be done in two stages, top and bottom. I started with the top half and the additional parts; Sunday I'll paint the bottom of the foot shells.

I don't believe I mentioned what paint I'm using. For the primer I'm using Rust-Oleum Clean Metal Primer and for the paint I'm using Rust-Oleum Satin White.

If I ever make another droid, I'm going to use a slightly darker shade of primer so can tell when I have painted completely over the primer. Also, the Satin White likes to spit a lot so you have to shake the can very often to avoid this. Another trick to help with the spitting is to sit the can in warm water. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm told it works.

Weather permitting, I'll post more progress on Sunday.

John

Paint and convention news

Finally got more priming done of the feet. They are now completely covered in primer.

If the weather is good this Thursday, I'll start using the actual paint.

For the Celebration V, it turns out George Lucas will be attending again. This makes only his third appearance at a Star Wars convention, the last one being Celebration III. Hopefully he can grace the droid builders room with his presence once again.

I know I said the last color scheme was locked in for R6, but I have decided to change it....again.

It's a darker blue and in different places than R2-D2. Every time I think "R6-C9" I think "blue." I only resisted before because I didn't want to chance him being mistaken for R2-D2. But with this design, I think it'll be ok.

One more thing. I might rebuild the head. After rechecking some things, I found I made the top a half-inch too big. Not that there's an official R6 design to base that off of, but the plans the club is using suggest that measurement. It's still something I'm only thinking about. If I decide to remake it, I'll wait until after the convention.

That's it for now.

John

Priming Feet

Today I started working towards getting the feet painted. The feet were made by a machine shop so there was still some grease and other crud on them. I used a general purpose degreaser to clean them. Once that was done, I used a metal primer paint and coated the inside of the feet and one side of the additional pieces. For the small pieces with screws, I wrapped small pieces of painter's tape to protect the screw threads. It'll take only two hours before I can move them, and then a total of 48 hours before I can apply primer to the remaining area of the pieces. Once everything has been completely covered, I can apply the real paint.



John