Trooper_trent's R2-D2 build

Today I replaced my "home Depot" knock off honeycomb PSI diffusers with some nice rubber ones from a guy on the R2 forums. Much better..

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I then took him outside for a bit to finish weathering the legs, feet, and skirt. He's fully dirty now.

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OK, after replacing my PSI covers with the honeycomb diffusers I got yesterday, I still was not happy with the front PSI. I absolutely LOVE how the new honeycomb stuff looks on the rear PSI, But there's a very distinct look I'm trying to get for the front PSI that makes it uniquely "A New Hope."

Here's the look I'm going for.
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In ANH he does not have a milky lens over the PSI. the lens is very transparent and there is less diffusing of the light. There is also a hard line between the red and blue colors because of the sliding gel/color wheel, whatever you call it. Also, the "honeycomb" pattern in the first picture above, looks more like a wire mesh to me than actual honeycomb.
Here's what he looked like before.

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And here he is after I did away with the honeycomb diffuser, put an actual red and blue gel in front of the LEDS, added some wire mesh, and then a less milky lense, followed by a completely clear lens. The gels work to give that hard separation of red/blue, as the red gel ONLY lets red light through, and the blue gel ONLY lets blue light through. This works in conjunction with the red and blue LEDs and acts as a light blocker to keep the wrong color light from showing through the wrong half when it isn't lit up...if that makes any sense.

Here it is turned off, which I think looks better than it did as well.
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Here it is lit up.
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I'm much happier with this look. It's still very hard to capture it on camera, but compared to the screenshots above, it looks MUCH closer than it did.
4th time's a charm I guess.
 
Just a small update. I was finally able to go to my brother's house and cut out the parts for the Upper center vent on his CNC machine.
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Very nice R2 you have there Trent. Curious about the PSI: Saw on your youtube channel the full kit. Not sure who designed it, but wondering why when it does the L/R "sweep", it only goes halfway. Would be nice if it fully swept from one color to another.
 
the PSI is comprised of two columns of red LEDs and two columns of Blue LEDs. The code that drives the arduino chip tells the PSI board to show the red for a couple of seconds, then the blue. It also has a transition there so that between going from red to blue, there's an instant where both are lit. When putting this behind a difuser, it gives the appearance of a slider. With a full difuser, the light is spread out across the entire lens so that it is either all red or all blue. The LEDs themselves can't change color, they just take turns being lit.
For A New Hope, there was a clear lens, not a milky difuser, and a red/blue light gel that physically slid back and forth. For much of the movie, it was either stuck half way or turned of. In trying to replicate that look, I built my front PSI with two gels to better separate the colors, giving that hard line of separation between them.
See here for a look at the rear PSI which is using a standard difuser, which lights the whole thing up (around the 45 second mard) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iQZyNmTTow
Currently, it still just blinks back and forth, but eventually, I'll rewrite the code to have it more closely mimic the behavior of the slider on ANH, like showing both red and blue together, both blinking on and off, etc.
 
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Loving your build, and closely following it, Trent. Can you share where you got the blue dye from? When I do mine, I don't want to paint it twice.
 
you can find it at any machine supply shop. I don't have one near me so I ordered it online. Nemic Industrial Supply

when you get ready to do it, I STRONGLY suggest you read the thread about it on the R2 Builders site. This stuff is NOT spray paint so you have to take a different approach when using it. It's dye, so you only need ONE very light coat. You'll also need to prep the surface so that it doesn't bead up. I actually wanted mine to bead up a little because I'm trying to replicate the ANH R2, which if you look at it close up, the paint job is splotchy and uneven. You'll also need to apply a couple of very thin coats of UV protectant clear coat, as the marking fluid will QUICKLY fade to a grey if out in the sun for a few hours without UV protection. I used Krylon Fusions UV protectant. 1 or two thin coats is all you need. any more than that, and you'll get a foggy haze over the metal. When you get there, hit me up and I'll tell you what I learned so you don't have to make the mistakes I did.
 
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small update:
I haven't been able to get much else done on him lately as I'm trying to let my wallet recover (which is going to be tough now that the EFX vader Legend helmets are close to shipping)
But I did receive my pittman motor which will control the dome rotation a few days ago and was able to install it.

The motor bracket is mounted to the interior support of the frame and has a swivel arm where the motor is mounted. The aluminum fly wheel with the rubber skid is then mounted to the motor axle and a tension spring connects the swivel arm to the front of the frame, essentially pulling the wheel tight against the inner ring of the Rockler bearing.

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On a side note, another good advantage of using the blue tooth speaker is R2 will play Pandora Radio for me while I'm working on him. It's simple, but it makes me really happy. :)
 
I am absolutley awe struck by this build, amazing, threads like this make me very aware of how limited my own knowledge & skills are, thanks for sharing & keep the updates coming.
 
Small update, my restraining bolt arrived today. I painted it black, then used a Q-tip and acetone to strip the paint off and weather it. The bolt is backed with a really strong rare earth magnet. I glued the backing plate inside the frame in the correct spot so the bolt just sticks on.

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I am absolutley awe struck by this build, amazing, threads like this make me very aware of how limited my own knowledge & skills are, thanks for sharing & keep the updates coming.

you know what? That is absolutely not true. I can glue and screw things together, and I can paint, and use a dremel. That's about the limit of my skill set.:lol:lol
I started with absolutely NO knowledge of building something this complicated, no knowledge of electronics, and virtually no idea how I was going to get this done. The only thing I have is the desire to make it, and patience. Lots and lots of patience; and that only comes from knowing in my mind that eventually I'll have an R2D2 in my house!
I joined the R2 builders club and just started dreaming and learning. everyone there is so helpful that it really hasn't been that big of a deal. The most intimidating part so far was soldering all the circuits and LEDs together for his dome lights, having never touched a soldering iron before in my life. But once I started (again, following very helpful step by step instructions) it was a breeze.
I think anyone who has the drive to do something, will find the time, the patience, and the means to do so. The thing is to not doubt yourself and just make the decision, budget, plan, and dive in! And I think you'll find that you absolutely will develop the knowledge and skill needed to do anything you want. If I can build one of these crazy things, anybody can do it.
 
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you know what? That is absolutely not true. I can glue and screw things together, and I can paint, and use a dremel. That's about the limit of my skill set.:lol:lol
I started with absolutely NO knowledge of building something this complicated, no knowledge of electronics, and virtually no idea how I was going to get this done. The only thing I have is the desire to make it, and patience. Lots and lots of patience; and that only comes from knowing in my mind that eventually I'll have an R2D2 in my house!
I joined the R2 builders club and just started dreaming and learning. everyone there is so helpful that it really hasn't been that big of a deal. The most intimidating part so far was soldering all the circuits and LEDs together for his dome lights, having never touched a soldering iron before in my life. But once I started (again, following very helpful step by step instructions) it was a breeze.
I think anyone who has the drive to do something, will find the time, the patience, and the means to do so. The thing is to not doubt yourself and just make the decision, budget, plan, and dive in! And I think you'll find that you absolutely will develop the knowledge and skill needed to do anything you want. If I can build one of these crazy things, anybody can do it.

What a great post. I actually really needed yo hear that, because my skill set is identical to yours, and I am just starting out. Great stuff, Trent.(y)
 
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