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…

I started my droid building journey some time back, perhaps around 2007/2008 after seeing the UK R2 Builders at a nearby event. I was immediately enamoured by what ordinary folk could achieve so close to, if not better, than an original! I realised it would be a huge undertaking and not something I could do in a day, week or month but I figured if they could then perhaps why not me?! I love making and building things and I had the most enjoyable chat with a few of the builders!

Simon, whose aluminium R2 was so silent, the foot drives were utilising a belt method opposed to chain drive! Due to this it seemed to have more response to others. As I found out in later years this isn’t just down to the ‘drives’ its also how the ESC is programmed but its surprising to see the difference of a belt driven R2 in handling and noise, more so in a quiet room.

Next up I met Brad. He was a tech guru and had the most tricked out droid (BHD). It had all the bells and whistles no doubt about it and even had the most sought after mod of all, a 2-3-2 mech! Not something he used often but amazing to see any time any where. The engineering this guy put into his droid, parts and electronics. Incredible. We had a great little talk and he really showed what can be achieved by putting the time in and not cutting corners….something which he would repeat to me every so often over the years!

Finally I came across Colin. A true gent. If I’m honest I put it down to him for all his encouragement from start to finish that kept me building. He saw my enthusiasm and suggested if I put the time in then its a very rewarding hobby and it is just that. His droid did everything he wanted it to and he went on to build some more fantastic droids.

I’d originally signed up on yahoo groups but gave it 6-12 months of research on astromech.info and astromech.net (the main builders forums) before I started my first droid, a styrene (HIPs) build and years later I’m still building and starting my own aluminium droid (R2-RND!) affectionately referred to as my R2 Research and Development droid.

So skipping forward a few years…after my first build and many events I had the opportunity to purchase someone elses work in progress. A fellow builder called Max, who was an engineer and had slowly been using information he’d gathered to build his own droid from scratch….all but the dome he’d made himself. The frame (as pictured above) for example based on documented JAG designs (another builder in the US). Max had done a great job with so much but it was still far from finished and as I found out when rebuilding things…the frame wasn’t entirely up to spec but he gave me the first foot up onto the ladder and in return he was able to pursue his new hobby – American muscle cars! I remember being a little nervous for spending so much in one go on a hobby but then he did give me a ride in his Plymouth duster which was incredible!

So R2RND continues to be a project, years on and I continue to read up on things, learn new stuff and one day I will finish him but I’m in no rush. The important thing for me is to continue enjoying what I do. I don’t have to spend every day working on something until its done, I have multiple projects on the go all the time because I like to dip in and out of them. I guess its like people enjoy reading but don’t wish to read the same book or genre all the time, sometimes they like to find something different to occupy their mind.

So anyway, there is a little back story to R2RND. I’ll keep updates coming and I’m sure you’ll see a few other projects coming up in between too.

Ever since I moved into my own home I’ve wanted a proper workshop. Somewhere to hide away and play with projects, tinker around on cars, mess around with electronics and generally just build shi*……that most importantly wasn’t somewhere that was a) my kitchen or b) living room. It turns out that car projects can be a lot of fun but it isn’t great for space or room to work on multiple projects.

Again those that know me will know I used to love Mini’s. We’re talking proper mini’s! Old skool mini’s, none of this BMW stuff. I’ve had 3 over the years amongst other cars. My first car in fact was a Mini City E, fondly referred to as ‘Felix’ (due to his reg) but after 22 years of working on him and just 4 years spent actually driving him around I decided to call things a day and let a new owner have some fun. It was a hard decision but one that I’ve come to think was probably for the best? Big projects are great dont get me wrong, car projects especially but when you have to work for a living and are busy keeping other cars on the road sometimes you need a break away and put efforts into other things for your own sanity!

So where’s all this leading? Well, to a proper workshop space! Once Felix left the driveway for the last time there was a massive gap where he’d been but onwards and upwards! I soon set about planning removal of an old work surface and creating some much needed storage and a better workspace. First of all was sketching up a plan of sorts so on a bit of notepad paper I drew up a frame work to support a new table top surface.

After various designs and taking some measurements it was out with the old. Turns out there was some hefty angle iron propping up this work top so that’s been put to one side for now until I decide to turn it into something else!

For a short time the workspace was just a dumping ground but after the old surface was removed I purchased some 25mm x 25mm x 2.5mm mild steel box section to weld up a new frame.

Not forgetting an old heirloom I checked the framework was level as I went. I pre-drilled and countersunk the rails I’d cut on a bandsaw and given the potential load, I ensured it was mounted to the wall in plenty of places. The beauty of bolting it all to the wall first was it allowed me to weld the rails in situ. It wasn’t like I had a big enough flat surface already to do it! The back and front rails rest on the top of the two outer rails and then I cut a few additional rails to support underneath. Each of these in turn had an additional mount to weld to the back rail and the front rail just allowed me to weld the two together.

Welding and risk of fire set firmly aside I was able to then drop the new work surface in. 22mm moisture treated melamine to be precise. Despite being treated I still decided on using some gorilla wood glue to act as a sealer. This was done on all edges as well as both sides of the surface.

All in the new worktop probably cost me more than just a wooden framed one would have but I prefer working with these materials and wanted to improve my welding skills.

Overall I’m happy with the new work surface and its continued to be incredibly since installation. The build was actually inspired by the storage solution you’ve no doubt spotted with the rather industrial looking architect units. And they are UNITS! More on these in a future post!

Want to know more about the work surface, materials or construction? Drop me a line!