i did that once, using my WIG welding machine. the problem is; bringing in that much heat to get a good weld, can warp the construction or make big holes if you don´t watch on what you do.
with my new MIG welding machine this work is going much better. and the produced heat while welding is lower in the end. so no warping of the parts.
so i will order new skirt sheets at my local metal shop...let´s go!!
for those who don´t want to play that ali game, there is of course the way of a steel build.
i prefer this version too on my builds.
but it always depends on what you want to do with your droid. a static build or a moving build, or a 2-3-2 version with movable legs.
each version has different forces working on their structure, that can destruct the welded legs.
i am in a constant flow of testing my systems to get the best results.
and i want to improve the way to an easier and quicker build of a droid. so the decision to add some zinc plated steel thread rivets was a logical way to do that. zinc against the corrosion, no welded in nuts. looks better and is easier to build.
here a pic of that:
as mentioned above, i found the time to work on another ali leg set in the lightweight version.
here they are in version mk5:
pic will follow
and version mk6 is alredy lasercut for me too!
there are some minor mods on it. i enlarged the open area for the booster rocket opening for a better handling and moving of the booster system.
and as on the older mk5 version, i added some rivet threads for a perfect fixing of the ankles.
today i picked up a set of sheets for new legs i want to build. First pic; ali parts (without the inner shoulder ring elements)
Second pic; steel sheets with inner shoulder ring elements:
the sheets are 1,5 mm for ali and 1 mm for steel.
maybe i will find some time to weld them tomorrow...? at least one set...
as the threads name explains, i will try to weld a set of battery boxes in 1 mm aluminium. before that i have taken 1,5 mm sheets. that was ok to weld, so i decided to try it with these thinner sheets.
I showed you my acrylic dome in one of the last Posts.
Just to inform you; a Change in diameter is almost impossible. If you take a measurements in height, you have to cut it around 8 cm from the bottom. This wouldn't look good.
Some years ago i planned to build my own construction to blow a dome in the right size.
Here is what i made so far:
Pic will follow
I think i should take up that Idea to realize the right sized domes.
...for my R2 parts.
I got this thread rivet tool.
the rounding machine was worth its money!!
i found it on a well known german metal working machines page for vintage cars for a very high price, but after some research on the net for a three times lower price ....exactly the same one!
the new machine made some problems in the beginning, due to a construction error, but i could fix that.
now it´s working very good.
here a pic of the first r2 ali skin sheets that i made with them:
my next aquisition was this rounding machines for metal sheets. Here wrapped in plastic while Unboxing it:
now i can round the body sheets of r2 perfectly!
I just ordered an acrylic transparent dome for one of my Astromech units. It will come next week.
Now i have to make myself some thoughts about the inner and now visible parts of this droid.
I have a neighbour often having damaged ic boards from various machines.
This and other parts might work together with cables and unknown other parts to get this typically Star Wars look.
but first of all i have to figure out how to change the diameter from 500 to 463 mm. impossible you might say ????
this set of outer ali feet are for a friend of mine.
they are almost finished now. welding and grinding is done. the upper one is mediablasted with glasspearls.
both will be finished with a slight layer of bondo to cover all minimal scratches or other imperfections.
then they get a layer of light grey primer!
these outer ali ankles were cnc´ed from a solid aluminium block.
really a piece of art. too good to be mounted to an astromech..(and way too hevy!!)
...the new ali support rings for the shoulder hubs.
but before that i prepared them to fit like a glove. four notches have to be grinded to get a perfect access to the four bolts of the leg attachment in the shoulder.
and here the parts welded:
As a functional addition to my Steel and Ali legs, i made a drawing for some ring elements, that can be welded, screwed or glued into the inside of the outer leg sheet.
My buddy at the CNC Shop realized my drawings by converting them into a program for his CNC machine.
And here they are:
...with ball bearings and hollow screws...work in progress
And here the welding is done:
started in the beginning of december last year, this project was something i wanted to do since years...now i found the time to realize it.
i wanted to do them in CS:L, even if a lot of builders want them in CS:R now (for what reason however...).
call me old school, but i don´t like these "changes" in design, only because it´s "canon".
my lasercutter buddy got the files from me and he made the sheets out of 1 mm aluminium. here is the result; a first batch of four skin sheets (inner and outer):
a buddy of mine needed some parts from me and so did i. so we changed our parts; a set of outer steel feet for a set of cnc´ed outer ali ankles.
some really massive parts...but cool!
knights of the old republic (to solve this riddle)...
from this era i found a blaster on thingiverse. the design was looking good and i decided to print it.
here are the first parts...
some are crap, some are good.
i just came back from the metal shop with a bunch of skin sheets in aluminium...
they aren´t yet rounded. i have to figure out how to round the sheets the smoothest way without damaging the fine material like this:
these skins were from a friend of mine. he had them on stock, sent them to me and he got some parts he needed from me.
the new sheets are looking pretty good:
the source for the bad printed kotor blaster parts was found; wrong adjustments and a too thin raft layer.
both prints failed after having them restarted, they fell down while printing...not good.
so many hours of printing, wasting of material and waiting for nothing...
i am pretty upset!
one very long cylindric part for the kotor blaster dropped down from the printer bed...
not good. after 37% of printing time i can do this again. not good.
the other part from the blaster is still in progress. unfortunately my son rearranged his room, so he switched off the printer to put him to another place. result; he didn´t resume the print.
