Accurizing the De Ago R2-D2 kit

3Dsf

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RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
The topic of De Agostini's R2-D2 subscription model kit has come up a couple times here. And it's a partworks I subscribed to and have been working on.

Unfortunately, like the De Ago Millennium Falcon, the R2 kit has a ton of visual inaccuracies. I've been working to fix many of them. I started to log this stuff down for my own planning purposes, and then thought it might be useful to someone else to post it in the form of a web page. So here it is.

Problems and Fixes: the De Ago R2

As I've noted elsewhere, it's sort of surprising to me that there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in modding this kit, so far as I've seen. But if anyone else out there has been working on improving it, please let me know. I'd love to see your work!

batts.jpg



logic-lights.jpg


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I too am a bit surprised by how few here and at other forums of this type, have treads for it, most seem to shun this build. Not sure if it was too small, not accurate enough, DeAdo's history or what, but I love the kit and all the possibilities it offers. I do hope there will be third party parts for sale, till
then I have begun modding my R2, here is the little bit I've started doing.


R2-D2 01.jpg
R2-D2 Mods02.jpg
R2-D2 Mods03.jpg
R2-D2 Mods04.jpg
R2-D2 Mods07.jpg
 
Wow! Thanks for that video, Teslabe! Your automation and electronic upgrades are always impressive.

I thought, yeah, okay so he's got the arms flipping out. That's nice. Then, wait - you got the ends to rotate - very cool indeed. :)
 
By the way - I've made 3D printable replacements for the awful De Ago manipulator arms. What are the dimensions of your stepper motors?

Screenshot 2019-07-29 at 21.40.23.png
 
By the way - I've made 3D printable replacements for the awful De Ago manipulator arms. What are the dimensions of your stepper motors?

View attachment 1043031

First, Thank you very much for the kind remarks and for starting this thread.....(y) Second, those look fantastic.......(y)(y)(y) I used 4mm
2 phase stepper motors, for those of you that don't know, steppers love to spin much slower than dc brushed or brush-less motors, but do need
more electronics to spin them, but I think that trade off is worth it. You know, if you made all the claws separate pieces in the file they could be made to move, just saying......;)
 
4mm is crazy small. Impressive that they work that well, though it's a shame the stepping can't be a tiny bit smoother!

The claws are easily separated, but the problem is more the brittleness of the acrylic plastic used in 3D resin-based printing. As it is, they're easily snapped. I'm thinking of making them a bit thicker than scale, but hollow, so that 0.5mm brass rod can be run through the tips, just because they're so easily damaged. I might have to make the Dejarik arm with a closed claw, even though the original prop couldn't do that, simply because it's stronger.
 
4mm is crazy small. Impressive that they work that well, though it's a shame the stepping can't be a tiny bit smoother!

They are spinning smoothly, what you are seeing in the video is a combination of the motor's step rate, video's frame rate, florescent light flicker (60Hz) and compression artafacting, causing the perfect storm. Take a look at this video starting at about 6:26. these motors also look as if they are not spinning smoothy, but they are, it's just the way they look when recorded on video, I should have sped them up a bit to better sync with the video frame rate or shot the video under tungsten light..

 
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Ah, right. Similar issue with the Falcon fans. It’d be cool to see the claws rotating back and forth, maybe. :)

I’m curious to know how you intend to use the second De Ago CPU/Orange Pi. It’s been flashed to use the custom De Ago code to control their motors. Have you hacked the board to be more generalizable? Can you use two simultaneously in the same droid?
 
Ah, right. Similar issue with the Falcon fans. It’d be cool to see the claws rotating back and forth, maybe. :)

I’m curious to know how you intend to use the second De Ago CPU/Orange Pi. It’s been flashed to use the custom De Ago code to control their motors. Have you hacked the board to be more generalizable? Can you use two simultaneously in the same droid?

To answer the first part of your question, I use an a4988 Stepstick with an Arduino Pro-mini and depending on if I need two independent motor drivers, I'll stack ether one or two a4988 boards and add the dip switches for selecting the step mode, "five selectable step modes: full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16", and manually select the direction, but the Arduino will control it in this setup, so going back and forth is no problem.
As for your second question, I haven't had a chance to look at the Orange Pi yet trying to get my Comlocks done.....:D
 

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Thanks for the info! I was looking into the A4988 boards earlier... I'm probably going to be using a BBC micro:bit or Circuit Playground Express toy computer to control Neopixel-type lights.

And on a related subject, here's the latest fun project. Any guesses as to what this is for?

Screenshot 2019-08-03 at 20.25.38.png
 
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