Leg set for sale.

I’ve got a full set of assembled, finished and primed wooden legs for sale.  I was commissioned by a builder to make a pair and I made an extra set for myself.  But it doesn’t look like I’ll use them on a second droid like I planned.  So I’m going to offer them here for cheap. These are assembled in the Senna/Franco style, although I made a number of mods to the design.  I used high end cabinet grade plywood.  There’s a space inside for motor wires.  You’ll also notice from the pictures that I’ve added a flange to the back of the center leg where it rests into the center foot shell.  This will keep the foot stable and secure and spread the load.  These may need some minor sanding and a bit of finishing and they are ready for paint.  There are four T-nuts mounted inside to bolt the leg to your frame which will probably need to be drilled to match.  I’ve run a set of these on my R2 for a couple of years and lots of events with zero problems.  Lots of details about their construction here:  http://buildr2d2.blogspot.com/2009/12/legs-finished.html and in the older posts. 

I’ll take $575 for them plus shipping.  Consider that a full set of aluminum legs with angles is around $1200. 

Boba Fett Progress

With the guidance of some friends, I've been working on getting my vacuum former working and pulling some armor pieces for Boba Fett.  Made a bunch of progress today:

These are the side pieces for the knee armor.  I think I got the plastic too hot and the webs formed.  But they'll clean up and these are usable.  I'm picking it up fast.  

Next I pulled the kidney plate.  This came out better.  The only part that I need is the outer curve.  The rest will trim away.  

These are the knee plates.  The webs will be cut away so these came out great.  I've trimmed all of these and now I just need to construct a form for the back plate and I'll have the full armor set.  I was apprehensive about the vacuum rig, but this worked out ok.  I'm glad.  Maybe after Boba Fett it will be time for a stormtrooper.  

Battery Boxes for Sale

I'm doing another run of Battery Boxes for R2 Builders.  (Lots of requests have come in since the announcement for Celebration VI).  


Construction: The side walls, top and bottom are made of expanded cell PVC sheet (1/4” and 1/8"). The end pieces are made of PVC pipe, sliced in half. All joints are glued heavily with PVC cement. They are sturdy enough to stand on. 

I have not put any holes in the front for the cables or the sides for mounting to the feet. If you are putting motors inside of them, the PVC is easy to work with. You'll have to check to see which motors are compatible with the 1/4" sidewalls and the reduced width of 2.9". I haven't installed NPC motors in these, but some of the previous buyers probably have at this point. I can check. 

Specs: These boxes are to club specifications with one exception. The width of the boxes is about .1" shy of the 3.00" blueprints. PVC pipe with an exact 3" outside diameter is difficult, if not impossible to find. 

Finishing: The boxes have been finish sanded down to 320 grit. All the joints are smooth and clean. They are almost ready for primer. They may need a bit of touch up sanding here or there. 

Price: $70 a pair, plus $20 shipping in the U.S. (Lower 48).  I can ship elsewhere and internationally, but email me with your postal code for a shipping estimate.  

You can paypal it to mccormick@csus.edu.  I'll be finishing the run and shipping them out in the beginning of July.  

Maker Faire 2011

We went to the Maker Faire in San Francisco last weekend.  Once again Chris James did a lot of work to organize our presentations of R2D2 there.  We also had Mike Senna, Victor Franco, and Mike McMaster from southern CA come up and join us with a Wall-E booth.  It was a great event.  A few pictures.  Grant Imahara from Mythbusters stopped by our booth along with Don Bies (another droid wrangler and builder from Lucasfilm).

We gave Chris James the well deserved "R2 Builder Lifetime Achievement Award."  Over the years, Chris has done an enormous amount to foster the builder community, he's innovated R2 design and components, and he's helped so many of us learn.  Thanks again Chris!!

Max spent hours helping out in the bubble booth creating enormous bubbles for the crowds.

After much pleading, I convinced the owners to let me drag the 30,000 pound Colossus sculpture around by myself fulfilling my "Conan on the Wheel of Pain" fantasies.

Wonder Con 2011

Just came back from two days at Wonder Con.  Lots of great events, booths, dealers, costumes and people.  When I was bringing R2 back into the house tonight I noticed several rather luscious lipstick kisses on his dome. I'm not quite sure what to think about that.

 

Wonder Con

The Bay Area R2 Builders are headed to Wonder Con in San Francisco at the Moscone Center tomorrow.  We've got a panel discussion on Sunday at 12:30 in room 220.  Please come by and see us.  We'll also be roaming the convention.  The San Francisco Chronicle wrote up a story about us and the convention here:

R2-D2 Makers an attraction at Wonder Con in S.F.

I'll post pictures soon.