http://www.robotbuilders.net/r2/
Last Updated - 30/5/02
Latest update available at www.robotbuilders.net/r2
Contents
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Introduction. 3
What
Is This Club About 4
Does
This Group Also Build Other Droids ?. 4
How
the Club Works. 4
Legalities
- Copyright Generalization.
6
What
will It Cost Me. 6
Where
Do I Get a Kit 6
Where Do I Get Parts. 6
Where
Can I Find The Original Parts Used For R2.
7
Couldn't
Someone Buy a Don Post R2-D2 and Make Copies of Parts. 7
Can
I Pay Someone to Build a R2-D2 For Me. 7
How
Do I Start 8
What Skills Do I need. 8
Planning. 9
Building R2. 9
What
Materials Do I Use. 10
What Tools Do I Need. 10
SAFTEY WARNINGS. 10
Which Is The Best Way To Go - Static Vs R/C.. 10
Which Is The Best Way To Go – 2
legs or 3 legs.
10
Which Is The Best Way To Go – Retractable Middle Leg. 10
Is There a Step by Step Guide. 10
Where
Can I find Reference Material 12
What Are The Standard R2 Parts Names. 12
What Is The Correct R2. 13
Where is a Glossry of Terms Used By The Club. 13
Domes.
14
Dome size vs body size. 14
Where Can I Get a Dome. 14
Dome Sources. 14
How Do I Make a Dome Template. 15
Dome Engraved Panels vs Cutout and Underframed - how why
?.
15
Dome Construction Tips. 15
Dremmel Guide for Domes. 15
How do I Polish/Finish The Dome - Plastic – Resin – Fibreglass Domes. 15
How do I Polish/Finish The Dome -
Aluminium Domes. 17
Dome Adhesives – Members Hints and Tips. 18
Body.
19
Skins.
19
Etching Skins. 20
Where Is The Template For Skins and How Do I Get
a Full Size Version. 20
How Do I make The Parts. 20
HPs. 20
Coin Slots. 20
Main Eye Lenses. 21
Skirt 21
Legs. 21
Hydraulic Hoses. 21
What Arms/Utilities etc. 21
Painting and Preperation. 23
What Colour Blue. 23
What Color White. 23
Aluminium Preperation - Hints and Tips from Members.
23
Painting – Hints and Tips from Members. 25
Electrical – Motors - What Motors Do I use. 26
Dome Rotation. 26
Rocklers and other bearing stuff …... 26
Leg Motors. 26
Electrical – Batteries. 27
What Are The Direct Mains Power Options. 27
What Batteries Do I Need. 27
How Do I Connect Batteries. 27
Electronics. 28
Lights.
28
PSI 28
Spinning colured Gel wheels ?. 28
Electronics - Voice. 29
Remote Control 29
Computerising. 31
What materials glues etc recommended. 33
Plastics. 33
Mechanical Resources. 33
Where can i find other R2 related info. 33
What sort of R2 Toys Models Are There and How
Accurate.
33
OTHER MEMBERS. 33
Which members live where. 33
How do I get email address of members. 33
Who has one near me I can see. 33
OTHER
LINKS. 34
YAHOO STUFF. 35
How to join. 35
How do I upload a file. 35
How do I attach a picture. 35
How do I download an attachment 35
Why don't we have threaded messages. 35
What are Polls and how, why, who, would set one
up. 35
How does chat work - particularly time zones. 35
How Do I Unsubscribe ?. 35
APPENDIX... 36
Who is Don Bies. 36
Using a Dremmel – Tips. 36
How to vac form.. 36
Building a polydigital grasper 36
How Aluminum Domes Are Spun. 37
CREATING A R2 Voice Box using a CD Player 37
Painting : Polyethylene. 37
Congratulations on finding the
best source of information on building a full sized R2 unit!!!
Building an R2 unit is not as easy as it may seem and as a group all
striving towards the same goal, we hope you find a place here among
friends!
The R2Builders Club is growing daily with new ideas, members, and resources
of information and parts
This FAQ
is a compilation of a lot of the information, hints, tips and advice
the club has accumulated over the previous years..
Return
The R2 Builders Club is a web based
forum on the Yahoo Group website (see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/r2builders/)
see later in FAQ on using Yahoo Groups
The group welcomes discussion about
building peoples experiences building their own personal astromech droid.
With other member's help, you will learn tips on how to create your
own R2 D2 from parts and items you can purchase almost from around the
world. Unlike other prop-replica forums, The members of the R2Builders
Club strive together to provide each other with proven methods of construction,
the most accurate blueprints available anywhere, and a helpful forum
to discuss issues that does it's very best in helping each individual
with solutions to solving complex problems that may arise.
The only requirement there is to join the club is to have an
interest in building a droid.
All people from all walks of life are welcome, Couples are welcome
in the group and it’s always nice to see ladies interested in building
druids, we don’t segregate the guys from the ladies.
As for cost. There is no membership fees or dues. The only costs
are what you spend on building your droid.
Remember that there are no stupid
questions. We were new at this at some time. If you can't find the answer
after looking for it just ask. There are many helpful and talented builders
here from many walks of life. (Male, female, old, young, etc.)
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I know
this is an r2 builders club but I kinda want to build another r
series droid, like an r4 or maybe one from the novels. any idea where
I can find that info?
Although it is an R2 builders group many members are working
on other R-series droids. Some have built R4s; others are currently
working on R3's. One member did a run of R5 heads, which may get done
again by a different member.
So, YES this is the place for info on all R-series druids
There is also some other spin off clubs and other builders clubs
that specialize in non R-series starwars droids such as:
The C3P0 Builders Club: description/URL
For Mouse Droid description/URL
For Battledroids see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Battle-Droid/
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The club is as much
a social club as it is a technical forum, feel free o discuss any experiences
you have had building your droid.
If you wish to ask
something or discuss something that is not directly related to building
an R2 just place an OT: (Off Topic) designation in the title of your
post.
For example, if you
wish to discuss the color of C3P0 and you think someone in the group
may be able to help you may title it something like
OT: C3P0 colors?
Please note, that while the club is willing to discuss some topics
not directly related to R2 you should not drift to far from the subject.
Also we do not under any circumstances discuss anything which
may be considered “profiteering”. We do not sell parts for profit or
sell complete R2s, as this would breach copyright rules. We also do
not discuss Videos VCDs or DVDs, which have been pirated or downloaded
off the net.
We also do not allow SPAM or sales pitches or advertising for
any other products.
Also note the group individuals do not make a habit of answering
questions via private email, as usually if the question is worth asking
it is worth posting to the group. However should a member decide that
the information is not worth posting to the group they may then elect
to continue a private conversation with the person with the question.
Remember
we do NOT sell Complete Kits
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To create replicas of ANYBODY'S intellectual property (including
but not limited to Lucasfilm's) is NOT a violation of any copyright
law on the books today. To display
PICTURES of a REPLICA of somebody's intellectual property and label
it as such with no deception intended is NOT a violation of any
copyright law on the books today. To
create a replica of somebody's intellectual property and then try to
SELL it for a profit (even as little as one cent) IS a violation
of copyright law. To create a replica of somebody's intellectual
property and then try to REPRESENT it as the ORIGINAL (even if it's
not for profit) IS a violation of copyright law.
What are the legalities
about showing your R2 unit in public or hospital visits etc. as far
as LucasFilms is concerned? Are there some rules to follow?
This is not entirely clear. If you are doing it for free, there is probably
not too much to worry about.
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This question has SO many variables. The main one is you and
what kind of handyman you are.
You can spend anything from $100
to $3,000 depending on materials, finishes and electronics
If you make the parts yourself, the cost can be in the low/mid
hundreds, taking a year or two. If you buy most parts, the cost can
be in the thousands and take about a year. If you add motors and R/C,
add on several months and a couple hundred.
You have to factor in how handy you are, how much time you want
to put into this and what you want your R2 to do.
It also depends
if you have a good set of tools to work with, the actual costs of materials
can be quite inexpensive, however if are required to buy tools you do
not have to work it, then that becomes an added cost.
And it will depends on what material
you want your parts made of, plastic aluminum wood
The finish result will be up to you, even a very cheaply built R2 can
be very accurate.
A good
recommendation is to leave the electronics/motors and R/C equipment
purchases till last. This way if your budget changes or your building
designs change you will not be spending money of equipment that you
may not need at the end. These are also the more expensive parts of
any droid.
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You will not find a "R2-D2 in a Box" type kit from this club.
This group is based on communicating with each other on how we built
our own droids. You will find a number of members offer individual parts
but not an entire kit.
Try posting what you’re looking for, one or two individual parts at
a time. Those people that supply those parts will be able to contact
you.
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Keep in mind that this group is
about helping each other build there own driods and not about part making.
However,
having said that there are some parts being made by various members
in the club who are working together on supplying the group with very
detailed and accurate parts at
the cost for which it costs them to make them, these members are not
selling these for profit, simply offering a manufacturing service to
fellow members.
The club itself doesn't offer parts, kits or
completed R2-D2s, but will gladly point you to trusted members that
do sell these items. Check out the Parts section. At the official R2
Builders site http://www.robotbuilders.net/r2/select
construction then Compleat R2
Also do be aware, there are some
unscrupulous people out there who could be lapelled profiteers and either
charge too much or have below standard parts.
This group
does not condone profiteering, so please be careful with who you deal
with. The best thing to do would be to check with the club for references
for anyone claiming to sell R2 parts.
Disclaimer: The R2 Builders
Club is not responsible for items sold by members and does not officially
endorse parts, kits or whole R2s sold by members. Any problems with
items sold by members (shirts, R2 parts, coffee mugs) should be addressed
to the seller directly.
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Unlike many other Starwars
props, almost all of the original R2s were completely scratch built
by Norank an engineering firm in the UK.
The only known “found” parts
are the Holoprojectors and the Feet cables
The holoprojectors are overhead
passenger cabin lights from old Vickers Viscount xxx passenger jets.
The braided cables are bronze
hydraulic cables found in older aircraft. Though they can still be purchased
new see Cables later in the FAQ.
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NO, this would be a direct breach of copyright.
Constructing your own R2 or assembling one from parts is one thing,
but copying of parts without permission is stealing. There are many
people in the club that offer parts and kits that can create a complete
R2 for a fraction of the cost of the licensed replica. See the Parts
section to view items sold by trusted dealers.
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With over 1000 members, it couldn't hurt to
ask. But it would be very unlikely, understand that most of them are
currently in the process of building their own R2 units in their free
time. Also as there can be no money made by someone making droids for
other people, it would be unlikely that they would have the time to
do this.
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The first and most important step
of building R2 is RESEARCH and this cannot be stressed enough.
We suggest getting yourself a folder, box, or whatever you choose to
keep all of your research in one place. For easy reference, the best
thing to use is a three-ring binder with several packs of polypropylene
sheet protectors. You can print helpful documentation, posts and pictures
to include in this binder, as it is a stress free and clean way to keep
all of your information at hand. Sheets can also be easily replaced
as you move along in your project.
Just print and save every piece of information you can find.
Some people spend years researching and deciding the best way to approach
their droid.
The best way to start is to check
out the information in the group's Files area, at
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/r2builders/files>
... there's tons of info there to keep you busy.
Use the blueprints that are available
as a guide and just cut loose - no hard and fast rules on colors, and
above all - HAVE FUN
Good luck, ask many questions,
read ALL the posts..
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This really depends on you and
what you wish to achieve. Most of us are learning new skills all the
time simply by trying to build the parts we need.
Best way to learn is to do.
Any cheapie electronics repairs
courses in your area?
Any fibreglassing courses?
There are many tutorials on the
Internet on how to do just about anything.
Just give it a go
Note that many of the members are
already building a second droid based on the learning experiences they
had with their first effort.
At a bare minimum you would need
to be comfortable using tools, glues, and paints.
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The time and cost of building a
R2 unit really depends on a number of things. What kind of Tools you
have. What kind of materials you want to build it out of. How accurate
you want it to
be and what sort of skills you have.
The first step is to decide exactly
how ambitious you really want to be. And what you believe your skills
will allow you to accomplish. Make a list of what you want your droid
to do or be and then determine if you can do it, and can afford it
For example
Do you want a static droid or a
remote control droid?
Do you want the dome to turn? Lights?
Voice?
Do you want remote camera? Extending
middle leg? Retractable arms?
What materials are you comfortable
using? Plastics, wood, aluminum?
When you’ve determined what you
want to achieve you can then start on the process of gathering parts,
materials and the knowledge to start the project.
Some people build their droid to be just a static display but other
build theirs to drive around. Static ones do not require motors or R/C
equipment therefore will be cheaper to build they also do not have to
be as sturdy and can be made out of cheaper materials.
Remote control (R/C) equipment
and electronics for speed controllers and lights and other special effects
that you might want to put i