Hey all, so just a quick message – its now that time of year and work itself has been busy enough, no break for me unfortunately but I hope to be back making a few more kits around the beginning of January (for those interested). This will give our mail services here in the UK time to clear the waves of post and parcels over Christmas, which as I’m sure we’d all agree, avoiding delays in delivery is wise but my main message was one of cheer and good will to all those that see this, Merry Christmas to you and your families and all the the very best for 2025!

Chris

Hey all, I wanted to take a minute to show some appreciation to those who have supported my efforts creating a better version of my 3PO LED Light Kit. Without Droidbuilders and the 3PO Builders community as well as a handful of volunteers to test the kits providing valuable feedback I wouldn’t have the kit to where it is today. So, thank you! If you happen to have a kit and are enjoying it or have any comments/suggestions please drop me a line via the contact page!

In other news, in coming months I have a few 3PO lids to relinquish as I’m running out of space to work on new ones for my own costume and displays. These all originate from Jesse M’s 3d files, if you are interested in 3d printing you need to seek these out on the 3PO Builders community page or on Thingiverse where he uploads the files. The files are great, Jesse also does a stirling job updating them for accuracy when he has time and his work has opened up the world of building protocol droids to many. With his permission I am able to sell on my finished items to those that may not have access to a 3d printer or perhaps just the time to complete their own. Please note, I do not offer a service for printing any of these files. I will only be slimming down my collection over time as I build from newer files or better fitment for my costume or display.

The helmets I’ll have available will be a mix of versions, varying materials (such as PLA+ or engineering resin) and finished to a degree that they are potentially suitable for wearing or just nice on display. They stem from my own trials in techniques/materials and I would best describe some as ‘slight seconds’. There’s not going to many available and I hope the price reflects the work that’s gone into them. They will also come complete with one of my LED Light kits and I may/may not sell some with CNC’d brasswork – this is all dependant on how my own upcoming gold 3PO version turns out!

Thanks for reading and all the best!

ChrisMakes

Hey all! So, I’m still alive and things are happening in the background. Unfortunately they are just going very slowly. Due to a few social engagements including droid events, work and the workshop DIY I haven’t much time of late to make many more 3PO eye kits but I’ve just updated the shop with some so get them whilst they’re available!

Rest assured I have enough parts for plenty more kits but the next big social is coming up on 16th August, DBUK (Droidbuilders UK!) and I’m in charge of meal planning for 45+ ppl so its taking quite a bit of my time to focus on that but I’ll be making a couple of kits there and will try to get a couple built before then too.

Anyway, just wanted to update those that may read this and let you know the state of play at present. Many thanks and keep building!

Well, its been a while! I’ve been quietly, very quietly, cracking on with a few unexpected DIY jobs around the new house which has unfortunately taken all of my focus of late but with that comes news of plans for a new workshop! Come the end of June I’ll finally have a new work area to begin scheming new idea’s and continuing work on my projects whilst getting the space itself up and running.

In the meantime, a few folks have contacted me regarding my 3PO LED Light kits and following some fantastic feedback from a number of people over on the 3PO Builders Community page I am pleased to be able to offer a new version!

This new version has a slight modification to the LED boards, specifically reducing the inner diameter of the eye tube hole, allowing me to decrease the distance between the RGB neo-pixels. The result, a slightly more screen accurate look where the LED’s will sit closer together. This probably would never have happened without the group providing valuable and constructive feedback so I’m really happy that people have spared time to review and think about improvements I could make to the kit.

I have uploaded a video of the kit here if you are interested in seeing how it works and what is included and a short gallery of images below. As soon as I have finished more kits I’ll make them available via my shop here.

Hola amigo’s! Its been a while but its been a busy few months having recently moved house! So, there are a few things on the cards in coming months, some of which I’ll write about here but actions speak louder than words so they say and there is such a vast amount to do; I’d really best get cracking.

Some of the stuff I’m looking forward to, some not. With a new house comes a new workspace, in fact once I’m done I’ll have a couple of decent workspaces to branch out with the electronics, 3d printing and bigger builds. The main task is making water tight my new garage/workshop, as well as insulating it so its warm enough to work in there. Once done its onto adding in some workspace table area’s and setting up some tooling along with a laser cutter….yep…frickin lasers! I can’t wait, what could possibly go wrong?!

Alongside this I was to make a new shed on the back of the main workspace to house printers and electronics, again insulate it and make it a comfortable area to work in. I’m still undecided on the make your own route or buy a pre fab but there’s time to decide whilst I’ll dig out a good size area for a base.

I’m sure lots of issues are going to flag up over time but nothing ventured nothing gained, its all part of the fun and something different.

A few of you may notice there is no stock at present of my 3PO led light kits. Unfortunately they have all sold out! I mean its great for me seeing how popular they are but it took some time to sell all and I’m now wondering if it it worth while doing another run of them, after all it is time consuming soldering all the kits up. Before I decide I’ll be posting up a poll on the 3PO Facebook group, if the the admins don’t mind, to determine the way forward because time is going to be a commodity for me with all the new house renovation to do. It doesn’t mean I’ve given up on making the kits altogether, just that I may have a pause on production for a few months. I still have plans to do some new and interesting things with the kits, again using an Arduino pro micro or possibly even an esp32 as a base. Stay tuned for more on this.

That’s all I have for now so thanks for your time. Feel free to drop me a message via the contact page if you have any questions. Adios!

So for sometime I’ve been fiddling around with logo’s, had lots of idea’s in my head and I still have a few I’d like to try out but for now here’s a simple logo which, I again have a few idea’s for. Such as creating into my own tea coaster because why not?!

Since I’ll be attending a few conventions I thought best to have something with my website on and a bit of paper with some of my scrawls on it doesn’t quite cut the mustard. I wouldn’t want to assume folk can read what passes for my handwriting so something simplified (I think) should suffice and save a lot of people asking “What does this say?”!

If you happen to see this on a table at your next comic con event next to a bunch of cool stuff, let me know what you think!

Hey! So, its been a while but I figured its about time I started getting things back on track and what better way than to put one foot in-front of another and just get started. Again.

When creating my favourite protocol droid I tried a number of different ways to create the footshells and I’m still experimenting! I started with printing a set in pla+. At the time I thought slicing the footshell midway around the ankle would be a good idea so I could fit poppers and add some elasticated strapping so the back effectively snapped to the front shell. All that happened is the back wants to move up and down along the plane which I sliced and its annoying. I still think I could make it work but there is not much room for poppers anyway so perhaps a non-starter. The shells do look nice however having benefitted from being vac metalised like the rest of the suit.

I was never quite happy with the quality of my pla+ shells, the prints had small gaps which required filling, sanding and they were incredibly rigid. From here I figured I would try something different, making a mould of sorts and then vac forming….this is still a work in progress as it took a while finding someone with the experience of vac forming. Who knows maybe one day I’ll buy or make my own vac former…..the idea is on hold pending an imminent house move.

Next up I came across a set of rubber feet supplied by another maker – I thought this would be a winner but on arrival and opening the box I quickly saw they wouldn’t work out. The quality was questionable having been cast from a fibreglass suit, they were most definitely not sized as described and would by no means survive going in a vacuum chamber as the rubber was of inconstant thickness in areas. Top tip for potential builders here; learn from my mistakes and avoid recasts….especially if you wish to wear a suit. Its highly unlikely any parts will fit and the amount of time you’ll need to make good the suit you may as well invest in 3d printing or outsourcing it (if you can) to someone which will not only give you a more customised scale suited to you but much easier parts to work with and achieve a better finish. This and files are out there for free which have been created in mind for someone to wear the parts or use as a static display….most recasts these days are made from a display piece only such as a Don Post statue – so you’d be on the back foot trying to engineer something to make it wearable!

Back to the drawing board, I had thought of abs or petg prints for the purpose of making a mould or ‘buck’ to vac form shells but then I thought about TPU….for anyone not familiar with this it’s a filament material which resembles rubber but you can get it in different grades known as ‘shore rating’ which relates to its flexibility/rigidity.

Having a friend with a large scale direct drive 3d printer and being happy to help really spurred along the progress at this point. Within a few weeks I had a set of feet turn up on my doorstep.

Similar to the rubber shells these too wouldn’t likely survive the vac chamber process but I’d been put onto Liquitex, an acrylic based material which is semi flexible and paintable!

Liquitex is a thick acrylic paste that you can dilute with water. This helps allow it to settle in all the recessed areas and between those pesky layer lines as anyone who has printed in TPU before will know they can be difficult to sand out. After a few layers and ample drying time (consistency depending) between each layer they were ready for sanding and then some paint. Another tip for folk here is test any lacquers first on rough parts, don’t ask me how I know but the pictures speak for themselves

The last couple of images above show the finished item against vac metalised parts and whilst they are clearly not as shiny and reflective they don’t appear to be out of place or detract from the over all aesthetic. I’m very happy with the outcome anyway and they’re really comfortable. End of the day, if you the maker are happy with the things you make then does it matter what anyone else thinks? I’m building this for myself and when fully suited only fellow makers may perhaps pick up on the colour difference and start to question why.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading, I hope you found some if it useful and get in touch if ever you have any questions or just want to chat about projects!

An event not to be missed for any Star Wars fan, Celebration! This was/is a BIG event for me, not only because of the chance to help out again with fellow droid builders stand, putting on a display to the public, meeting and greeting fellow Star Wars fans but I also have the honour of participating in the STEAM room on the 3rd floor. For anyone who heard of this before please check out https://www.grantimaharafoundation.org/ I had the most wonderful time. Taking part in the STEAM activities was an incredible experience I will never forget and hope to do again in future.

I also had the another great first experience at Celebration due to it being my first outing ‘as’ 3PO. A character I’ve enjoyed seeing on screen in all the Star Wars films over the years, portrayed brilliantly by Anthony Daniels. Some may jovially poke, it being the first droid I have officially completed but don’t get your hopes up just yet!

On average I suspect it was 45minutes to an hour to suit up and de-kit with two helpers on hand. Which if you are reading this, thank you James and Chris. I couldn’t have done it without you! It isn’t the most comfortable costume I’ve ever worn but I’m no strangers to Star Wars costumes (I also have a Biker Scout and RoTJ Fett) so I didn’t find it all that bad. The worst part for me wasn’t being bolted into the lid and unable to remove it myself but was actually the legs as I have made them just slightly too tall which pushed up the shorts. It made it very difficult to walk in. I had an extra complication that the shorts didn’t quite fit with enough room to spare in the thighs so it was like walking with splints, unable to bend and without forgiveness. A potential issue for 3PO builders using Jesse M’s files with the hope of wearing the costume. So, this is one area of attention I plan to focus on when I re-do them. At least I will have time to test fit before the next Celebration! 😉

From the Torso up I found most of the costume comfortable, not being one for crowds the helmet actual gave me some added comfort, feeling like it distanced me somewhat from so many people so it was a blessing in disguise. That said, on a hot day I am sure I won’t want to spend too long in it. The arms due to the solid brass parts were very heavy. On a good day I think this wouldn’t be an issue however I was under the weather for part of the event so struggled to stay suited up for long.

I really must start bringing out some videos as I have always intended. I am working up to it and will do reviews of parts, materials, pro’s and con’s etc.

Another night spent in the ‘workshop’ and this time making my own brass parts for 3PO. As I’d opted to upgrade the various arm pistons for brass but didn’t come with brackets I decided to use Jesse’s 3d files as a template. If you are part of the C-3PO builders group already on facebook you’ll no doubt know who I’m referring to but for those that don’t Jesse is the guy who painstakingly cadded up a very good version (and several iterations since I might add) of the 3PO suit and made it available for free, for all to download on the proviso no one starts trying to resell his files and/or rip people off – this of course is frowned upon and rightly so amongst the community because simply it doesn’t come under ‘community’.

Anyway, I printed out a few of these brackets, had them golded but they a) didnt look right and b) I didnt like the odds of them surviving a troop under the weight of the brass. Using them as a template I cut out new brackets from a sheet of brass I had spare for just such an occasion. Lucky that!

Brackets cut on the band saw, at least after I replaced the blade, I was ready to square of the edges and drill the mount holes. I marked where my limits to save re-cutting more blanks.

After cleaning each bracket up a little more with a file and sanding block I retested the fit onto the vac metalised arms and they’re ready for glue. I’ll add here a particularly useful bit of info and thats if you happen to fibreglass your own suit whether for display or wearing then add a few mm of fibreglass cloth to the inside of the bicep and follow up with a gel like layer around where the bracket would sit. This allows a third surface or face for adhesion, so you can be sure the brackets are held firmly in position.

Not bad for a first attempt I think. I was really pleased with the outcome anyway and it’s stuff like this that reminds me we are ‘builders’, we make stuff ourselves, we don’t just walk into a store and buy it off the shelf, we make, we build and honestly it’s all part of the fun.

A few people have contacted me about the brackets and said they’d like a set if possible and I’d love to help but I wouldn’t like to do a large number of these all by hand so after Star Wars Celebration I’ll be trying to organise a small CNC’d run to help people out and will then make them available here at cost. If you’re interested check back soon! Oh and see you at Celebration?!

The past few days I’ve been tinkering around with some of the greeblies (random adornments) that you see on 3PO. They are solid brass made by a talented friend of mine and rather than glue some of them to the suit I opted for bolting them on where possible and reduce the risk of bits falling off and getting lost. It also allows me to remove the majority of them if the suit ever becomes damaged or if they need polishing without scratching the suit.

Above is one of the examples and on the upper greeblie I polished it up a little to show the difference in finish. It doesn’t look much but when all the brass is polished it does add a certain dynamic to the costume.

After marking out where I needed to I drilled and tapped suitable for M3 bolts. This is just what I had a lot of spares of. I was careful to measure the distance of the plunge on the pillar drill first as not to drill all the way through the brass as that would have been a disaster! Even tapping these was awkward and there isn’t much after the chroming process that doesn’t make you nervous given any bit of adding finishing touches could also result in damaging the suit.

Thankfully, all went well. The first of many brass bits to go…