My Life-size 1:1 R2-D2 (2nd Attempt)

[azheat01]

I thought I would share this here and maybe inspire others. I'm also on Atromech.net as they are a tremendous resource. I wanted to try my hand at another 1:1 R2. I got my hands on a DroidBoy kit over a decade ago and that one turned out OK for a first attempt with no experience (picture below), but with the evolution of 3D printing, a little increased skill, and the amount of new resources available, I wanted to try and see if I could do better.

Here's my first attempt from I believe 2012, I added light and sound, but it was purely static..........

Now I'm going with Mr. Baddelley's R2-D2 files and they are amazing! I also upgraded to a new printer, a Bambu Labs A1, and it's awesome (despite the current recall which hasn't affected me).

I got to printing and now have the dome, dome rings, dome panels, dome greeblies, and main body done. I began assembly on the dome as I started printing the skirt, legs, and body panels. Really excited for this project, let's see how it turns out...........

 

[matty matt]

Nice start!

 

[azheat01]

Well, as with any project like this, it's been slow going; sanding, bondo, more sanding, primer, more sanding, more bondo, etc, etc. I'm printing up the final leg greebles now and then all I have left are the feet and battery boxes. I finished printing most of the main leg parts and sanded those; real pleased with how they came out. I just need to bondo the seams, sand that, and then I can get those primed and sanded for paint. It'll be nice to get past this printing and sanding phase.

On a side note, this Bambu Labs A1 is a beast, been running this thing non-stop for two weeks and I've only had 3 failed prints, mostly my fault for how I placed the objects on the bed. I also love using Bambu Studios, still trying to navigate it since I've been using Cura for years, but it's great.

Anyways, slow and steady...........

 

[Reel Fakes]

Looks like you're on your way to a very nice Artoo!

 

[azheat01]

Got a little sidetracked and lost some time on this project, but after a month, I've finally finished printing, sanding, bondoing, priming, and again sanding almost 400 pieces. I'm looking forward to putting some color on these pieces and assembling.

I did run into a frustrating snag these last two days. I've never used Dupli-color paints, but wanted to go with the Sonic Blue Pearl since I couldn't find anything else close enough to my liking. Three different cans from two stores and the paint kept bubbling on the nozzle causing some terrible splatter and orange peel. I tried everything; cleaning the nozzle with a wire brush and pins, soaking the nozzle in thinner, storing it inside, etc, etc, and nothing worked.

Eventually I just put a paper towel next to my spray booth and did one or two quick passes, then dabbed the nozzle on the paper towel and repeated; incredibly frustrating. I thought maybe I had a bad can, but all three did this. I had the same problem with my Montana Black paints which is why I stopped using them. Never had this issue with Krylon or Rustoleum. Needless to say when the blue is done, I won't be using Dupli-color again. I love their primer, but at $16-$17 for this small can......no thanks. I had to re-sand a half dozen of these pieces and start over.

I did manage to get all the dome pieces painted and clear coated, but what a hassle. I'll give those a few days to dry and then do a round of buffing.

Moving right along..........

 

[azheat01]

Today was a great milestone, I really wanted to finish the dome and get it out of the garage and into the house. Real pleased with how it looks, despite a few minor issues. Also wired the Teeces lights to activate with a remote. I took apart one of those LED light bars and wired it to the lights in the dome so I could quickly turn them on and off. I have two more; going to use one for the Data and Charging port LEDs and one for an audio module. This is a good solution until I decide how I want to power this R2 since it's going to be a static display for now.

Time to start on the body next..........

 

[13doctorwho]

It looks great!!

 

[azheat01]

It looks great!!

Thanks!

 

[Valor]

Nevermind. Apparently, one does.

 

[Vagabond Elf]

View attachment 1812572

Nevermind. Apparently, one does.

Oh, no, nothing simple about it. Lots of tears and effort and sanding.

So, so , so much sanding.

And mine isn't even 3d printed, mostly!

azheat01 , I can't remember if I commented on your thread at astromech, but this does look very, very good. So sad that you got multiple crap spray bombs in a row - but since that kind of fizzling thing can often mean an old can, if you bought them all from the same store it's possible they were all outdated. (When I was at Sherwin Williams we'd have to pull the spray cans now and again and bin the old ones. I don't remember the exact window but I think it's around 2 years, and after that the can isn't reliable enough to be worth selling. And since Sherwin sells very few cans of spray paint, but it's the kind of thing people comment on if you don't have any, we did tend to outdate a lot of cans.)

 

[azheat01]

Oh, no, nothing simple about it. Lots of tears and effort and sanding.

So, so , so much sanding.

And mine isn't even 3d printed, mostly!

azheat01 , I can't remember if I commented on your thread at astromech, but this does look very, very good. So sad that you got multiple crap spray bombs in a row - but since that kind of fizzling thing can often mean an old can, if you bought them all from the same store it's possible they were all outdated. (When I was at Sherwin Williams we'd have to pull the spray cans now and again and bin the old ones. I don't remember the exact window but I think it's around 2 years, and after that the can isn't reliable enough to be worth selling. And since Sherwin sells very few cans of spray paint, but it's the kind of thing people comment on if you don't have any, we did tend to outdate a lot of cans.)

Thanks for the info, that's what I'm thinking, just old cans. I bought another can two days ago to finish the struts and cylinder holders, and it's the worse can yet. Literally sprayed like a whales blow hole, paint everywhere, going to try and bring it back today.........

 

[azheat01]

In the home stretch now, finished painting the last pieces this weekend and can start assembling tomorrow. I also wired the data / charge port panel LEDs today and added another remote module on the same frequency as the dome. One remote will now activate the charge port / data panel LEDs and dome; just need to to add one more to the sound module. It's been a little over 2 months since I started this project, but I'm happy with how it's coming along.

 

[TerranCmdr]

That's looking incredible, and in a pretty short amount of time too in my opinion!

 

[13doctorwho]

It looks really good. The greatest compliment I can give is that it doesn't look printed. I do a lot of 3D printing (in 12k resins) and it's so hard to get even a good resin print perfect. EXCELLENT work.

 

[universaljoint]

This is very nice to see. What size is that print bed?

The one thing that I hate about 3d printing is the sanding... But it sure is satisfying to see that effort and a good paint job work out in the end!

 

[azheat01]

This is very nice to see. What size is that print bed?

The one thing that I hate about 3d printing is the sanding... But it sure is satisfying to see that effort and a good paint job work out in the end!

The print bed on the A1 is 256*256*256 mm. I agree, sanding is the worst, but to be honest, this Bambu labs has some great quality prints that didn't require a ton of heavy sanding. It's just with so many pieces on this project, I'm don't want to sand again anytime soon........

 

[azheat01]

It looks really good. The greatest compliment I can give is that it doesn't look printed. I do a lot of 3D printing (in 12k resins) and it's so hard to get even a good resin print perfect. EXCELLENT work.

Thank you! There are still some print lines, but I tried my hardest to get rid of them. Sad thing is I couldn't even see some of them until the color was on.

 

[azheat01]

A few steps closer.............

 

[azheat01]

I was able to get the legs attached and finished up the battery box cables and got those installed. I know there are a ton of different ways to do these, but what I did is print out the core shapes that Mr. Baddeley provided, covered those in some silicone tubing, and then slid on metal braided cable sleeves. I used a wood dowel to help expand the sleeve so it was easier to get over the tubing. I dusted all 4 cables in a copper spray paint, epoxied the knurl knobs on, then epoxied magnets into the knobs. This was relatively inexpensive to do, kept them light weight, easy to put on and take off, and they'll hold their shape. Real pleased with how they came out.

I'm working on the audio now. Using this sound module that I wired with an RF transmitter that matches the frequency of the dome and body lights, that way with one click of the remote, lights and sound will activate.............

 

[azheat01]

From a pile of almost 400 printed pieces.....

to this..........

He's about 99% done. I finished the Interface and Gripper Arms today and got those both installed. One day I'll add servos and motors and make this fully functional, but for now it's just a static display piece. I've never messed with servos and motors so maybe I'll start on something small and work back to R2.

All LEDs and sound are powered by AA batteries and run off one remote.

This is the 26th 1:1 life-sized Star Wars figure I've built, and by far the most demanding. But, I absolutely love how it came out! For me, the two greatest SW props to own are R2 and HIC (which is the other project I currently have in the garage right now). I think the most impressive thing about this build is that it came in under $1000, just took a lot of time and effort.

Here's a final video...........

Now off to next the project...........