Pics and Parts

Ok I promised more pictures, and here they are.

Parts and Parts.
Resin Outter Feet.



Box of resin parts from a member on the list. I think I have ordered some of these from Keith. Will probably have a few spare parts.


Oh here is the rear logic display parts. This is the before picture... I did mention that I pretty much destroyed this stuff. So much for learning to solder.


Ok so on to actually doing something!
I made the decision that some progress somewhere was absolutely necessary. I spent all night working on marking up the dome. This morning I picked up my dremel and just started goin at those top pie panels.

Using the top screw as a pivot point made the circles really easy. The straight lines were really hard in comparison. The discoloration is from the primer getting sanded off. If you recall the aspects dome started out clear.
This needs a bit more sanding, but I am satisfied with my efforts.

little bits

Not much to show for in the past day or 2.

My outter feet came in. Ill post a pic tomorrow.

Some parts for the rear logic display came in, and I spent some time destroying them while trying to learn how to solder.

Bought some more super glue, and some paint. If it warms up this weekend, I'll try to do some paint tests.

Getting lots of parts, and not making too much progress with any of them. I'll need to prioritize and then stick with a component until I destroy it, or finish it.

Legs

Dry fit the legs together to see what hardware I would need to pickup to get these assembled.



The A&A kits are really nice, but the laser cutter doesn't leave them all neat and clean. Between the frame and the legs, I probably spent the better part of 3 hours washing these parts to get them cleaned up. Tip from Andy is to toss them into the dishwasher, but dont use heat to dry them.

lots of pictures

gonna just slam a bunch of pictures up here.. ill try to comment on each one..

I mentioned earlier that I was unhappy about my line work on my dome, and had re-primered. This is some new line work, and I'm still fairly disappointed with my efforts. Getting this right is not easy at all!


I have started to question my dome ring. I was pretty excited about it a week ago, but now that I have my frame (pictures lower in this post) I find that it is just a bit larger than it needs to be. I will be coming up with a way to cut down the diameter later this week.


Styrene parts. From the skins kit that I got from Andy, I was surprised to finally figure out what the "extras" included. I managed to get a few of the parts assembled, and am using sandwich bags to keep the pieces of each part separated.





And here is the A&A frame. Just threw the aspects dome and ring on top to try it out.




Frame by itself.


I mounted the satelite motors while I was building the frame. From other tutorials this seemed to be the best practice.

sick most of the week

family came down with some bug so I have been taking it easy this week.

Lots of parts came in. I will post again later with pictures.

A&A frame arrived
A&A leg kit arrived
A&A skins + extras arrived
Resin front and rear logic display surrounds
Radar eye lens

I worked alot on the frame. It is assembled but there were a few problems. I am waiting on a few replacement parts before that is completed.

I left the leg kit in the box, I needed to understand how the frame went together with the satelite motors.

I have been playing with the skin extras. It looks like about 11 or 12 parts can be completed using the styrene kit. These parts include:

3 coin returns
2 side vents
2 pocket vents
1 front upper vent internals
1 front lower vent internals
2 octagonal ports
and a few others..

Notes on dome: I hated my markup of the dome so I washed it off and reprimered it. I have since put in on the floor under the table. I may start working on it again soon.

finding my pace

Today was a little better, although I find it hard to understand why I am not making more progress.

I worked on marking up my dome a bit. I will probably be washing this off and starting over... maybe use a pencil.





I also worked on my dome ring. I am pretty happy with how this is coming together. These are the crochet hoops. I glued 2 of the inner rings stacked. They are 18.25" in diameter. I then shortend the length on another hoop and made it 18" which is the diameter of the Aspects dome. I then cut a piece of plywood to use as a support, and also as a way to attach the ring to the bearing. Here are a few shots.





I need sand down the outer ring at the top to hide the diameter change. I also plan to cover the ring with a few strips of lexan. It may make the ring a bit wider than it needs to be, but I plan to sand on it quite a bit before I get to that part.

The height is correct, and you can see the bearing underneath it on the second picture. I probably wont glue this completely together until I get my body. I want to make sure its going to fit properly.

Tommorow I will be working on marking up the dome some more I think. Still trying to decide if I am going to etch the dome or just do the most basic cutouts.

not much accomplished...

today was a bust.. i hopped to make some progress this long weekend. When I woke up, I found out that my daughter was sick with a low grade fever, and that my mother was coming over. This was not a great start but I decided to try and get something done before it got to late in the morning. I headed to the hardware store, to picked up the items I thought I would need to get started on the dome.

Many interruptions later, I was still scratching my head about how to proceed. I tried to mark up some plywood that I planned to cut a circle to support my dome ring, but I guess my head wasn't quite into it. The circle didn't come out so good, but I was still wanting to do something so I grabbed my jigsaw and was starting to cut the plywood towards the circle I had created... and the battery died. I went searching for another battery, and it was dead also.

At this point I was interrupted again, and didn't get back till around 7pm... I took my dome outside and sprayed on a coat of primer. I hope to try and just mark up the dome tommorow. The dome ring has me stumped at the moment.

I keep looking at Norby's dome ring and wondering how he pulled that off.

I should probably just throw all this stuff in a box, and wait for my body and legs to show up. The dome ring will make more sense when I see how it will need to be attached to the bearing.

I need to pickup a new drill, sander, and jigsaw.

just a bit frustrated at my lack of progress considering the mess I am making...

rings

ok this isn't what i expected. Should be easy to work with, but how well will it hold up.



ah well.. printed out some info.. got out the duct tape and started to see what I could put together..

Going to try to do what Norby did, so its off to the hardware store in the morning to pickup some plywood or lexan.. cut a circle and fit it inside to help support the ring.. then cover it with styrene.

Was having a problem with the flash so this picture is a bit darker. It is 3 rings fitted together.. only using duct tape.. I will glue all the pieces together when I think I have all the parts sized and cut.

More parts!!

got home and found 2 more boxes at my door.

my rockler bearing:


And my vex robotics kit... which I couldn't help but break open and build the square bot . a design that is provided for the vex beginner.

didn't get to testdrive the bot, because it apparently needs 14AA batteries... I'll pick those up tommorow.

Did some research on Dome templates and stuff.. trying to remember some of my geometry, trig, and calculus.

and then there were parts...

Got home from work today and found a few boxes waiting for me.

My Satelite Motors:

and my Aspects Dome:


I immediately got to sanding off the embossed lettering at the top of the dome.



The motors will probably get to sit around for a bit but thats ok.

and now im headed over to the r2builders to look for info on the aspects dome.. I need to find a panel template, get some answers about the top screw and if/how that should be sanded or cut off... and also to get some painting tips.

If I find some good information I may get back in there and keep working on that dome.

ordered Apsects dome and other stuff

found a post from norby about how he did his dome ring for an aspects dome. I will order an Alu dome when they become available. For now a clear dome will be fine to start.

Been doing plenty of reading and research. Two areas that currently concern me are the feet and dome rotation. I found several websites that have different ways to handle the A&A gearset that I will be using. I am hoping that most of my questions will clear up when the kit arrives.

As for feet... I have found a ton of different ways to do them. I keep looking back at the setup that Alex is using, and wonder how he fits all of that into the battery boxes.

ordered satelite motors

doing the research on an individual part and then making the purchase...
I bought 3 satelite motors today, and im sure they will sit in thier box for a while, but its another part I can scratch off the list.

Got a tracking number for something I ordered.. The persons real name is on the post so I really have no clue what is about to arrive. It weighs 15lb's and should be here on the 9th.

Vex ordered.. R2LA DVD's

Paid a few extra dollars for a Vex starter Kit, I couldn't find a Radio Shack in GA that still had one available. After looking at Thomas' R2D2 Vex setup, it lookled like a great way to get some of the electronics worked out.

Talked with Michael McMaster and plan to purchase all the DVD's that he has available.

As soon as stuff starts to arrive.. there will be pictures.