He knows how to use them

JAG Legs and Outer Ankles finally arrived today. Been waiting on these suckers for 5 months. Also got a tap and die set this week that will be needed on a few things.

Also about to delve into soldering PCB boards. Theres a great and fairly cheap solution to the Logic Displays that requires assembly. But it looks fairly straight forward, and with a little practice I'm hoping I only screw up a little.

Haven't been doing much in terms of building the last few weeks. Need to get going now that Celebration 6 has been announced.

Ah Nuts!

Battery Box Nuts - another interior piece no one will see. These are made because its impossible to fit a real nut into the space needed.

June is shaping up to be a big part month. Still sanding away on the dome.....

Onward Ho!

Actual build progress! Large Data Port, Rockler, Dome Base Plate & Pittman motor all mounted now.

The couple of problems I ran into:

1) Had to drill the holes out a tad bit on the base plate for recommended screws to pass through easily. Veered from JAG's tutorial a little by putting one screw through the rockler and base plate at a time. Trying to line all 6 up at once is next to impossible. This made it much easier. I still need to drill 2 holes in the base plate out a touch wider because they just barely don't quite lineup.

2) Mounting the Pittman motor onto a COM8B frame - Once I received the correct bracket it was much easier! I had to grind just a smidgen off the frame where the pivot point of the bracket touched it, otherwise it would freeze in place. Also for anyone with this frame - the spring attaches to the closest bolt for the Rockler. That one needs to be a little longer too, I used a 1.25 inch bolt.

3) I didn't have any hardware for the Large Data Port, so I had to go get some at the local Ace Hardware. I used M4-12 allen bolts @ 70 pitch. They still needed a small washer due to the length of the hole being slightly more shallow than the bolt is long. I actually took the Large Data Port and the piece of frame it connects to into the store so I could be sure to get the correct hardware in one trip. The kid helping me finally asked, "What is this for?". When you say a R2-D2 you get, "oh cool" as a response, followed by "They sure don't make it easy." You're telling me kid.

What a hoser, eh.

6 Feet of Braided Hose from Mike Velcheck.

Close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades

Shoulder Horseshoes and Shims were just left on my doorstep. Quality piece, feel nice and sturdy but lightweight. In other news, hope to have Center Vents assembled soon.

Show some restraint!

Ankle Cylinder sets arrived today along with the Restraining Bolt, which currently joins my magnet collection on the fridge until R2 is ready. In the meantime, I won't have to worry about catching my refrigerator while its running.

*Batteries Not Included

Battery boxes that don't actually hold batteries. These will end up hiding the NPC motors on each foot.

Spent part of the weekend getting very frustrated at my Rockler bearing. Trying to countersink the holes to mount it to the frame just was not working. Its such a large countersink that it takes forever to drill it out, and none of them were coming out level. I even leveled out the surface I was setting the bearing on, made sure the bubble in the end of my drill stayed level, and they kept coming out crooked. So I got some new round head screws and am going to see if its really necessary to countersink the holes. If its not, I'll end up getting a new bearing. Luckily they are an off the shelf part and not too terribly expensive (thank you retailmenot.com for 20% off).

*Edit:

Tested fittings of the rockler with the round head screws and it looks like it will work fine. There was still plenty of clearance with the bottom dome ring sitting on the frame, and it will actually ride a little above the frame in the end. New rockler being ordered!

Still sanding the inner dome, slowly but surely. I have about 75% of it done with 220 grit sandpaper.

Also working on assembling the Center Vents. I sanded one of the flat panels with 1000 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and get some of the slag off. I wasn't happy with it afterwards, so I got some steel wool on the way home tonight. Hopefully that will improve the look to the shine I want.