Talk of Iron Men and Crystal Skulls

Wow. Look below and you'll see the last post was from July 2007.

Where did the time go? While going through items for the semi-annual Nosbig Garage Sale, I came across my Astromech Project Guide and feebly remembered the ol' blog languishing in cyberspace. Work and family are first in line, then everything else. Hardly an excuse but there it is.

The good news is that Nosbig Automation is gearing up for production again. NA has recently obtained a great drill press for an early Father's Day present and the first test project was a nicely built lightsaber prop. Photos will be posted soon.

Don't hold your breath but posting may become a regular occurance here at Nosbig Automation...!

Now: one of the other reasons this opened back up was because of the great couple of movies to come out this summer: the very choice Iron Man and the fun Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Finally! A reason to go to the theaters again!

Iron Man is the best comic book movie to come out since Superman circa 1978. A solid script, great acting, humor, a bit of romance, and computer graphics that don't jump out and scream, "WE'RE SO COOL THAT WE CAN PROGRAM ANYTHING FOR THE SCREEN!" I actually got caught up in this guy's incredible hot rod armor and his crusade to rid the world of bad people. I was hooked.

And who could have thought that Indy would be back after his Last Crusade? Yeah, there are plenty of nay-sayers out there that don't like this flick but for my $9.50 you just don't get much more FUN. I saw the movie twice: once on opening day (I'm a fan but not a midnight-showing fan) and once the week after. I enjoyed it much more when watching it with my eight-year-old son, Ekalb. In his words: "We have GOT to get this movie when it comes out on DVD!" Whip-crackin' gold, that's what this movie is. Don't take it so seriously, fanboys! It's just a fun movie!

Of Krayt Dragons and Banthas and Such

I tore apart my tablesaw last week to find out why the entire thing was electrified: cracked and brittle insulation on all of the wires leading to the coils of the motor. Rewiring the coil was not easy (and in fact I reversed the direction of the motor at one point) but I finally got the machine back together and working. Booyah!

I've spent the last week managing the latest entertainment spectacular at the venue I work at when I'm not out fighing crime: Walking With Dinosaurs. If you're within a day's drive of this tour, you owe it to yourself to see this show. This is the closest anyone will ever come to witnessing life-sized, walking dinosaurs. Incredible.


















I'm hoping to finally get going on the droid. I have some after-hours odd jobs lined up to help pay for the dome.

Speeder Bikes Don't Suck That Much

Yikes...I can't believe I've taken this long to post again.

Good news is that my garage is now extremely clean and open. I took some time to fix the air hockey table (still for sale), clean out my material shelves, and my workbench is entirely clear.

Also, speeder bikes don't suck so much now. I found a fantastic gentleman who has been retired since 1988 and has repaired over 350 Honda bikes in that time. He immediately figured out what was wrong with my 90 (valves were off .002 and the damn float in the carberator was upside down meaning no gas in the carb meaning the bike wouldn't start.) and had me running in less than an hour. I've since had a lot of fun scooting around with the bike although the timing is off just a bit.

I visited my local Harbor Freight and picked up a ceiling-mounted extension cord that rolls back up and some electrical leads. Fun stuff.

What does all this have to do with the R2 project? Nothing except for the fact that I can't work in an unkempt workspace and I'm very close to having one that shines.

Other stalling point: my tablesaw (a 30+ year old Montgomery Ward's unit, of all things) suddenly became electrified. I took it apart and found the wiring was totally shot throughout the unit with insulation cracking all along the length of the cord resulting in many short circuits. I re-wired it all (it all went back together amazingly enough) but I'm sure the motor is shot. Will have to check Grainger's in the morning.

Summer Labor Schedule

I always think that I'll have more time in the summer because of the longer daylight but what that really means is that inevitably more tasks begin to crowd in to take advantage of that extra sunshine.

Spent some time this week studying plans, cleaning work areas, and going over some other building blogs, especially Rotciv Ocnarf's Build Journal. It is most excellent and I really enjoy reading his perspective as a hobbyist new to power tools. Refreshing.

In planning the build, I have come up with a potential schedule:

• Frame
• Skirt
• Skins
• Legs
• Feet
• Dome
• Electronics

I have read in several accounts the need to begin with the dome as everything else sizes off of that. Because I'm still figuring out how to get our CFO to approve funding for the dome, I have to start elsewhere. I'm hoping that once a majority of the droid is complete, she might see reason. I may have to buy her flowers and rub her feet as well. ;)

I thought about a plastic dome (and there are several excellent examples of fully completed plastic domes out there) but came to the conclusion that I really have to have that spun aluminum. There is a Rocky & Bullwinkle pinball game along with a restored Star Wars arcade game (complete with ESB kit) that I may have to part with in order to finance. Any takers?

I hope to have everything cleared away and ready to go soon. I have all of next week off so I'm hoping to at least purchase some plywood to begin on the frame.

Speeder Bikes Suck

In preparing my workshop for the R2 project, I'm attempting to get other past projects out of it. Case in point being a very cool 1965 Honda 90 motorcycle. Two summers ago, I found this bike in my father-in-law's garage and set off on a restoration crusade to make it shine again. After three months, the thing was brilliantly clean...only it wouldn't run.

I've tried reseating the valves, rebuilding the carburetor, cleaning out the gas tank...and nothing. Tonight was my last ditch effort and the damn thing does NOT want to turn over. The only thing that I can think of is that magical patch of grease holding the thing together was wiped away, never to return. I found another bike last year off of craigslist (same year and model) and it runs like a top. I'm afraid this bike is destined for the same fate as the stupid air hockey table.

One R2 related note: I've discovered that all of my drawings for the droid are in metrics. So either I move to Europe or get some conversion charts. Yeesh.

R&D Department Open

Trying to get a project like this started while balancing a day job, family, and home chores can be a little difficult. I meant to have everything prepared for starting this up on Friday but we instead spent several hours at the Toyota dealership and ended up walking out with a 2007 RAV4 to replace our aging 1998 Honda CR-V.

We also used up numerous hours trying to nurse a kitten back to health for our seven-year-old son, Ekalb. The poor thing ended up with an upper respiratory infection. Today was used up with sterilizing the house so our other two adult cats wouldn't get infected along with spending quality time with Ekalb. Ironically enough, he asked me when I was going to get started on the droid.

So tonight (when the rest of the crew have gone off to bed), I put together the plans and began to clean out the work areas. Here is my Astromech Project Book, gleaned together from countless sources around the 'Net.















You can see in the next image the tabs to keep the book organized along with a great image from Make Vol. 2.















I decided to pick up a used copy of The Robot Builder's Bonanza through Amazon.com. I had heard good things about the book and thought any tips on electronics might be extremely useful. Surprisingly enough, Ewok labor is rudimentary at best and there aren't many crack electronic engineers in the ol' break room. The price was certainly right...I think I paid less than eight bucks and the tome has hardly been opened. Great steal.















Finally, you can see what I had thought about doing two years ago.

This sonotube is the right diameter and height for the body/frame but I'm afraid that the oils used in this would prevent any sort of adhesive from bonding. It may be an option, though. My thoughts now are to use a plywood frame based off of the plans available through the R2 Builders Group web site.

Yikes, I really have to clean up the mess. Yes, that is an air hockey table in the middle of my workshop. Coincedentally, the air hockey table is available to the highest bidder.

I also added some great web sites that I have found extremely insightful. There is such a wide range of talent and approaches to droid-building. Enjoy.

The Plant Is Open

Bo shuda!

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many posts documenting my journey to finally build my very own R2 unit.

I discovered the crazy, kooky world of R2 builders when I attended Celebration III in 2005 and was amazed at what this great group of people were able to produce in their respective garages. When I got home, I logged on to Astromech.net and the Yahoo! R2 Builders Group. I immediately assembled a working book and downloaded the plans.

I'm looking forward to finally beginning the build process. It's amazing how the R2 Builders Group has exponentially grown along with the myriad of great blog and web sites documenting the build process. Incredible.

This is going to take time, sweat, cash and a little luck (even though in my experience there's no such thing). Glad you're all here for the ride.