Extreme R2 Building

I really wasn't going to do a post about how i can't build, but I really have been cursed lately. I am trying to get something done before our trip to Israel on the 26th. I really want to get the inner skins cut so I can weld the inner and out skins together.

So far Monday we get a huge beef tenderloin, so I have to preform surgery on it and put it into the freezer. After clean up, it is too late and dark to be outside grinding away at metal. Oh well we have some good steaks to eat later. I am sure cooking them will eat up more building time in the future.

Next the Gods took exception to me trying to get the skins cut. It looked like rain, but I still went outside on our covered deck. Rain was coming down, but I was dry. I proceeded to lower the Dremel onto the cut line. It starts to cut and the power goes out. The wind starts to pick up and I get all the tools and R2 parts put away, in the dark, when it begins to hail. Lots of hail.
The wind picks up a little more, when we hear about a tornado warning in our area. Funny how you can't hear the tornado sirens with a Dremel cutting metal. No damage to our place, but I do feel a certain dedication to my R2 now that I have done some building in a tornado. The gauntlet has been thrown down by Darth Moose to run out in a lightning storm with R2's metal skins above one's head. I would do it, but the neighbors already think I am a little crazy.

Some picture updates

I still have to adjust the utility arms, but they are installed on the frame now.




Not really sure if I am going to sut the inner skins to make the octagonal ports flush with the outter skins or not. They look good the way the are now. I do have to make some adjustments to the vertical support rods to allow them to line up with the holes a little better.



Power coupler cutouts still need to be cut out, hopefully tonight.

Weekend Update

Well the weekend was filled with the R2 building I had hoped. The whole "real life" thing burned up time and I was not able to get to the store until late Sunday. I am lucky enough to have a Harbor Freight store near my place. The only issue with it is that it is up the interstate, so during the week it is near impossible to get to during rush hour, or hours as it is around here. So I must weight for the weekend to head up there.

To continue with my skins I am in need of so clamps with more pressure, and lots of them. This is where Harbor Freight comes in. I went to the store and looked through there clamp isle. i had gone online and found the 16 piece clamp set for $5.99. In the astromech chat I was told of a 10 piece for $4.99, but 6 more clapms for $1 isn't bad. I didn't find the clamp set I was looking for, but I did find another one.

How about 22 clamps for $3.99...




Only issue I see with these is that I don't think they are going to go back into their container...

I did clean up the rear door a little more and I marked the cutout for the power coupler. Tonight I will cut the power coupler area out and hopefully glue up the skins.

R2 build - Mother's Day Weekend Edition

With this being Mother's Day Weekend, not much was done. On Friday I finished cleanup of the last of the panels on the rear skins. Each night I JB Welded 1 of the 3 panels.

This week the plans are to maybe cut the holes for the power couplers. Once these are done I can start putting the skins together. The main thing to get done this week though are the front panels, then I will be done with all the doors.

I hope to at least get the rest of the doors and maybe the rear door done this week. Next week maybe busy and build will stop again, until June, after that with our trip to Israel.

Back to work: More Skin Panels

Just got into town after being on vacation. I started taking off more skin panels and prepping them for JB Welding. I need to go to the store and get some supplies, so I should be able to get them together tomorrow night.

Velcro Alternative

I was going around the R2 Blogs one day and while looking at Chris' I saw the reference about Velcro. In my travels at my previous job I had to find ways of mounting object to places, like the printer station that was basically a pole. This printer needed to be on the network, so I printer server was used. The problem was where to put the printer server. Well I found these little items called Superlock Fasteners at Radio Shack (#m's Dual Lock). I tried them out and they held. I was able to attach the printer server to the side of the printer.

Well I have always used these things when ever I thought about Velcro. If I bought something and it came with Velcro, it was replaced with the Superlocks.



Here is a link that explains a little bit about this product.

Another good link.