teoman wrote:Looks pretty cool.
BB-8 on the stage at Star Wars Celebration 2015:
http://youtu.be/ABzjUf3E_0c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Do you know how they have done the animatronics?
it looks to me as if they have an omnidirectional truck type of robot that is bottom heavy in the ball that just spinns the ball around itself. And a magnetic coupling to the head of the robot)
You may be better off finding a solid ball and chopping that in to two.
Or one of those ball shaped street lights.
Awesome project.
I was there! Blew my mind!
After getting back and doing a lot of looking, as well as tying in with the guys over at the R2-D2 Builders club, I've got a pretty good idea of how to make the internals work (from a structural aspect, anyway... the electronics, programming, remote control, etc... I'm definitely going to need some help on! hahaha)
A lot of the guys over at the builders club are using (planning on using) everything from Styrofoam balls to acrylic hemispheres and the street light shells you mentioned. While those would all work, they all present their own unique challenges and drawbacks. Most of the street light balls have been arriving broken, hemispheres are deformed, and Styrofoam... well... it's styrofoam. After looking at the shots of the working Celebration model and the static display they had there, it looks like it was built from a multi-piece shell.
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Otgi6 ... L8=s935-no[/img]
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CmVzC ... 80-h720-no[/img]
As you can see, there are panel lines, indentations, etc... Not to mention LED's, which would be difficult (or Impossible) to install in the one or two piece solutions. However, 3D printing the individual sections should be a slam dunk... almost. The general consensus is that the lower ball has a diameter of 500mm. In order for the individual pieces to fit the Rostock's print bed, mine will have a diameter of 472mm. Not bad, considering most other guys are using 18" or 20" acrylic spheres, lights, etc. I'll be right in between.
Anyway, The outer shell is made up of 8 triangular shaped pieces and 6 spherical pieces. I've designed those 14 pieces to be joined together by 12 brackets internally. The shell will be 1 inch thick and completely smooth on the inner surface when screwed together (minus the indents for all the Tee Nuts used to screw it together).
Here's what I have so far:
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WnUbj ... 20-h833-no[/img]
Here's just the internal brakcets:
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vdQFg ... 20-h833-no[/img]
And the outer Triangular pieces:
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JMXV- ... 20-h833-no[/img]
BenTheRighteous wrote:You might want to look into nylon filament. Many people, myself included, have had success with printing from trimmer line that can be bought cheaper than most traditional filament from Amazon.
I was definitely thinking Nylon would be a good way to go. Fairly strong, but flexible enough to absorb a little shock without breaking. I'll keep the trimming line in mind (for just the cost if nothing else). Assume for the moment, that filament cost isn't a factor. What would be the suggestion then?
geneb wrote:As for the coating...how about some of that spray on truck bed liner? I think you can get that stuff in rattle cans these days.
g.
Thought about the spray on bed coating. It would be durable, but I wonder how easy it would be to get in the right colors. More importantly, truck bed liner is usually a very rough texture, which wouldn't work very good on this build. Plastidip crossed my mind, but again... getting the right color might be difficult and it tends to peel off fairly easily once it's ripped or worn. Also, to get a thick enough coat might cost me a small fortune in rattle cans. What I really need is something that sprays on thick and smooth. If it sprays on clear, all the better. Worst case scenario, I just need something that would spray on clear and protect the finish on the parts. Maybe a clear epoxy of some sort? This isn't overly critical at the moment. just something I've been thinking about as potential issue down the road.