(08-30-2015) Battery boxes and other R2 foot related stuff

R2 is still being worked on, but I ran into a bit of a problem with the battery boxes.  I was threading in a KHF (knurled hose fitting) that holds the battery cables on the feet when it suddenly seized and wouldn't turn any more.  I tried both ways, but it wouldn't come out, and in the end I destroyed the KHF and mangled the threads in the aluminum battery box as well.  This was a massive disappointment - but it will be fixed.

I'm now trying to find a tap that will fit the threads and re-cut them, but for now I'm in a holding pattern until I can find what I need to continue working on those.  The best news is that there is a current run of KHF on the Astromech.net site - so even though I destroyed one I was be able to buy some new ones and get the feet finished.  Usually the wait time for a part you need can take a year or more, so this was really very lucky.

I also disassembled a foot drive for test fitting and checking the mounting points to the feet.  I hope to sometime this week get the feet drilled, foot drives reassembled and mounted together - then I should be able to have R2 standing on his legs for the first time.

I've also worked on running air lines in the shop and hope to get my sandblasting cabinet installed soon so I can strip and repaint a few things that I wish had turned out better.

(08-19-2015) More foot stuff

Did a little bit more work on the outer feet by drilling and mounting the battery cable holders and plates, as well as painting the side plates of the feet.

The half-moons and battery boxes still need to be painted, and the foot drives are almost ready to be mounted as well.  Getting very close to having R2 on his feet.

(08-16-2015) Outer feet...

Today I took the steel outer feet and cleaned the cosmoline off of them with acetone so they would accept paint.

The paint flowed out very well and they look great for the most part.  There are a few spots that I wish had turned out better, but once R2 is done I doubt anyone will notice other than me.

(08-15-2015) Done with the blues

All of the blue for R2 is now painted and ready to go - it's been a long haul with lots of time spent sanding, masking and painting the parts - but the blues are finally finished.

Now to decide what to do next - feet, battery boxes, skins - so much to do and it's hard to know where to start.

(08-11-2015) Utility arms, large data port and more...

The utility arms and large data port are now painted and I started masking painting the power couplers.  Still a ways to go on the blue parts - maybe one more evening of masking and painting will get it finished, and then again I may redo some parts again to get a better finish.

(07-30-2015) Gettin' the blues...

Tonight the side vents got stripped, sanded and repainted and while I was at it I painted the battery harnesses, octagon ports, pocket vents and the corners of the power couplers.

That leaves the centers of the power couplers, large data port, utility arms and the dome topper without paint.  I also may repaint the octagon ports, coin slots and the center vent surround - but I'll have to look at them close before I make up my mind.  Painting all of the blue parts is very close to being finished, finally.

(07-29-2015) Side vent painting - FAIL

I painted the side vents for R2 this evening, and while they look okay - the finish doesn't match the rest of what I've done on R2 so I'm going to strip the paint and do it again.  The inner plates have a glass-bead beat finish that just doesn't work for me.  I'll strip and sand them to make them match the rest of the panels next chance I get.  I'm trying to push and finish up painting most of blue parts that remain for R2 in the near future.

(07-26-2015) Center ankle finished

Today the center ankle is now finished.  It took forever to get the ankle cylinders mounted, but they're on and now it's time to start working on the feet. *whew*

(07-25-2015) Ankle cylinders finished

Finally, all of the upper legs are painted and ready for final assembly.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I finished painting all four of the ankle cylinders, even though in this picture there are two still waiting power coating.

(07-11-2015) Outer ankles painted

Edit:  Just noticed the ankle details are on backwards.  Don't put yours on like I did.  You'll notice as soon as you start fitting the ankle cylinders that something is wrong.

Tonight I was able to get the outer ankles painted and the ankle details installed.  The ankle bracelets and the leg struts aren't attached yet, just sitting there.  Also, the ankle cylinders and wedges aren't ready to be installed yet - but that will be coming soon.

Pro Tip: If you're going to powder coat your ankles - be sure to install the bushing AFTER you paint them.  The bushing has oil in it, and when you cook the paint on the ankle, then oil comes out of the bushing and make a big mess and shortens the life as well.  It's a lose-lose situation.

(07-11-2015) Booster covers finished, almost...

Today the painting of the booster covers is finished.    They're fully assembled, except for the leg strut (it's a silver cylindrical thing that goes in the middle of the booster covers (blue things on the legs).  I won't be able to fully mount those until the ankles are painted and mounted onto the legs.

I found the after painting and letting them cool, I was able to use an X-acto knife to clean up the masked edges for much nicer looking edges.  Not sure if I would do this on normal paint, but it looks great with powder coated paints.

(07-09-2015) Bushings and booster covers...

Today I tried out the press...  and it's AWESOME!  Five minutes and the bushings were pressed in and ready to go. 

I also sanded more on the booster cover, but I'm not happy with 2 areas that have some deeper scratches and so I will have to go back to a coarser sand paper and sand down those areas again.  It's getting close to being ready for paint, but not quite yet.

(07-07-2015) Pressing on...

Bought and (mostly) assembled a 10 ton press for pressing the bushing into the ankles, as well as for other uses in the shop.

I've also been sanding on the second booster cover and I'm now down with the hard sanding and getting the booster cover flattened out (60 and 100 grit), so now it's on to 220 and 400 sanding.

(07-03-2015) Fist booster cover is painted

After hours and hours of prep work - sanding with 100 until flat, then 220 and finally 400 to get a nice brushed metal appearance.  The paint isn't perfect, but I think it looks really good.  Now to do it all again for the other leg.

(07-02-2015) Prepping the booster covers

In the picture above you can see the booster covers in the center of R2's legs.  The one furthest away has about an hour of prep work done to it with some fine grit sand paper and some fine steel wool.  Even the one that looks clean and shiny still has lots of work that needs to be done before it's ready for paint.

Usually when you paint something you can "hide" problems with high-build primer, or a filler of some kind, but with these I plan to use a candy (clear) paint to allow the reflection of the metal to give depth to the paint - so the sanding and prepping of these booster covers is going to take quite a while.

(07-01-2015) Legs finished

Now both legs are painted.  The second leg didn't turn out quite as good as the first, but any problem areas will be covered up by other stuff and no one will ever notice.

I ordered a 10 ton press so that I can press in the bushings for the ankles, but it will be really handy in the shop for other things as well

I'm not sure what I'll do next - since I'm waiting on the press to arrive to continue working on the ankles and feet, I may try prepping and painting the booster covers next.

(06-29-2015) One leg done, one to go...

I finally was able to mask and powder coat one leg.  Above is a picture of it just before the cooking began.  The cooking was fairly uneventful, but the pine tar coming out of the boards and the smoke did have me worried.

And the final product looks like this...

And then I couldn't stand not seeing it all assembled with the parts that are ready to go

One more to go, then it's on to ankle and foot assembly and paint.

(06-24-2015) Power coating rack for the legs

Here is my solution for baking the legs for powder coating in my small oven.  It's just a small rack, made of pine boards, to suspend the leg while cooking.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the leg is elevated by about 4 inches at the base and around 3 inches at the top.

The temperature that most woods start to catch fire is 451 degrees Fahrenheit, and I only need to bake these legs at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes - so  I *think* it will work, but I am a bit worried about them creating smoke and causing problems with the cure of the paint.

(06-22-2015) Assembly and test fitting continue

Last night I mounted the dome bearing and test fit the dome to make sure everything was clearing and turning smoothly.  So far it seems good, but I want to disassemble and check everything again before saying it's finished.

Also, I fully disassembled the legs and cleaned one of them in preparation for powder paint in the near future.  I still haven't figured out how to paint both sides and put it in my oven without damaging the paint - once I figure that out I will paint them.

(06-20-2015) Painting and assembly begins

Last week the foot drives for R2 arrived and assembly of those began.  This was the last big piece that kept R2 from being totally assembled and on his feet.  This weekend I started working to paint any parts that I believe are ready to go and I'm trying to push to get him fully assembled and working.

Yesterday (06-20-2015), the dome plate was powder coated with flat black.  This is a plate that goes inside R2-D2's dome for mounting accessories (periscope, life form scanner, etc)

And today (06-21-2015), the horseshoes were powder coated and assembled with their greeblies.  I think they turned out fairly well - a bit of the orange peel that you usually get with powder paints, but otherwise very good.  The masking was the hard part, but it's very rewarding to see it starting to come together.

Legs, ankles and feet are scheduled to be next - if I have enough powder to paint them all.  I'm worried about getting the legs into the oven and baked without damaging the paint, so I will need to think this through before I proceed.