The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

Sean_Miller — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:17:18 GMT

If I were to do it again, I could probably make him in 4 weeks working straight 8 hour days. If I had a laser cutter and 3D printer, you could take a week off of that.

Doing it from scratch without a 3D printer or laser cutter, however, was a different story. At the time, my electronics skills were only enough for me to wire power sources such as installing a car stereo or messing with home residential wiring. PCBs were a bunch of blips and bloops to me.

So, I had a lot of research, a lot of design files to find or make, a lot of software to learn (Eagle, Blender, C#), and a lot of trips back to the drawing board. I also never used a wood router before, which is the most dangerous tool I've used even compared to my welder.

So, I'd say I had more like 1500 or more hours over 4 years with everything required to get my brain to make my hands move in the right direction.

We're definitely grander for it, though. By the end of the journey, we got a 3D printer, learned PCB fabrication, and learned Autodesk Fusion. We can whip up a project pretty quickly.

A young mechanical engineer at work told me that one of our builds on our YouTube channel was like the senior year engineering projects he saw in school. I drew it up after work for fun and we banged it out on the weekend.

I didn't think about the importance of being self-taught as a kid and young man. For the boy, that is the #1 principle I am bestowing to him; regardless, of what he wants to do in life.

See ya',

Sean

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

neilk — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:44:19 GMT

Awesome project & what a fabulous learning experience for your assistant[View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-fe518245-d144-4672-8a2b-70fc308d6322/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

Any idea how many hours you spent on it?

neil

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

14rhb — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 13:28:37 GMT

A great article - and there was me thinking R2D2 was too complicated to build at home - I will reconsider (and start collecting bits ! )

Rod

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

jw0752 — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 21:37:34 GMT

Hi Sean,

What a wonderful adventure you and your son have been on. This is the type of education that can not be purchased. Thank you for sharing the build and the inspiration with the rest of us.

John

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

three-phase — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 21:06:13 GMT

Awesome project, serious amount of man-hours to get it this far. Thanks for sharing.

Kind regards

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

DAB — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 19:28:52 GMT

Great build and a very fun project to involve your son with.

DAB

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

balearicdynamics — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 06:26:32 GMT

A great project!!!

Do you consider to share all the building details ?

Enrico

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

mcb1 — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 05:15:59 GMT

Excellent work.

Lot's of hours of work and enjoyment there.

Out of interest, how much does it all weigh?

Mark

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

dougw — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 04:57:35 GMT

Spectacular build and great blog.

I'm jealous....

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

tariq.ahmad — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 01:38:40 GMT

I swear I had that same Superman shirt growing up!

Two most played VHS from the time, Superman II and Star Wars because that was what we could tape before we lost HBO. lol

RE: The Making of R2D2 - The Force on Wheels

genebren — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 01:07:12 GMT

Love it! This is so cool. You did a very good job capturing the essence of R2D2. Great build!

Gene