It's Me,BENDER! smartphone charger/mp3 player

[jonesy2k]

Well I've been lurking around here for a while, figured I would post something I've been working on for almost a year(off and on, when work allows).
I wanted a usb charger/bluetooth player for my smartphone and iPod, but nothing out there fit what I wanted, so I decided to make my own, only It looks like my favorite Futurama character, Bender. I'll post some photos I took while working on it when I get the time, but this one gives a general idea of what it'll look like. When I'm done he'll charge my phone and play music, possibly with light-up mouth movement. The eyes are already lighted.
I'd love some feedback/advice from anyone willing to give it. Thanks for looking!

 

[trooper]

feed back, send me one when your done, that's way cool!!

 

[jonesy2k]

I got the idea from this pic I found on yahoo. What would Bender look like in real life? I've seen other Bender builds, but decided to go in my own direction. I started with an aluminum wastecan and soapdish I found at Wal-Mart, connecting them with a long-bolt from Lowe's. The eye housing was made from plate aluminum and steel from Lowe's as well, held together with machine screws and pop-rivets. The mouth was cut out with a drill-press and Dremel cutting wheel.

 

[jonesy2k]

I found these fog lights at Autozone for dirt cheap, decided to use them for eye sockets.

For eyes I found some nightlights at Lowes that would fit inside the sockets with some adjustments.

I took out the lenses and bulbs from the fog lights, cut out the back and put two pop-rivets in each socket to make a pinion point for the night-lights to snap around. The night-lights had to be cut out of their plastic housings with a Dremel tool, the bulb snaps apart, and the internal projection lens removed. Then I resin-glued some LED lights into them and snapped them into the sockets.

Bam! One robot eye that can be moved up and down. At some point I may hook a servo to them to make them move on their own.

 

[jonesy2k]

To cover up seams and rivets in the eye housing I looked at what others here had done and went with Bondo. This is the first time I have ever used it, so it took some trial and error. All the sanding was done with a Dremel tool and fine-grain sand paper.



For the antenna I took a ceiling-fan pull-chain decorative 8-ball and drilled it out enough to fit over the end of the long-bolt that holds the soap dish to the wastebasket. To cover the hex-nuts I found a plastic suction-cup hook at Walmart and cut the hook end off. Both are attached with resin glue.

 

[jonesy2k]

Using my Dremel tool I cut out sockets for a usb charging port, a stereo plug, and a power cord.

 

[jonesy2k]

After applying a black primer coat I used radiant silver automotive paint to give Bender his shine.

 

[Wes R]

Looks really good so far.

 

[jonesy2k]

Once the paint was dry I, attached a usb extention cord and a stereo jack extention cord using resin glue and wall-mounting tabs from old venetian blinds kits

The stereo jack will attach to a Bluetooth speaker that will be mounted inside the head, allowing Bender to play music either wirelessly or through the jack while charging. The usb extention will plug into a usb /power outlet that will also be mounted into the head.

 

[jonesy2k]

I did a connection test to make sure all the plugs still work. SUCCESS! Here he is charging my iPod and playing the sound through the speakers.

 

[jonesy2k]

For the mouth I found a translucent plastic cutting board in the kitchen section at Walmart. It's just taped in right now. I plan to mount a strip of E.L.-Wire behind it at some point that will be sound activated and light-up in the shape of Bender's "lips".

The grill is done with marking tape. Its blue, which is the color of E.L.-Wire I will use, but I may change it to black later.


This is as far as I can go for now, until I order the E.L.-Wire for the mouth. Even if I never finish it, I'm satisfied with what I have at this point. He can charge my iPod and Blackberry, play them through his speakers either with the plug or Bluetooth, and the eyes light up. I have a Bender phrase app on my iPod, I think I'll put him out on Halloween and have him insult trick-or-treaters. BENDER IS GREAT!:cool

 

[Reel Fakes]

Love it! Nice job.