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Treadwell WED-15-77 build : JamesF
#1
Like R5, this droid has been a favourite for me for its unique design, had planned to build one years ago, which would of been mostly wood built, and now that I’m able to use a large 3D printer (access in work) I decided that now was a good time to start.

Dug out all the info I had saved over the years……and then checked out the ‘Blueprints section’. What I didn’t do (my bad) was to check out ALL the other build blogs on here as this was where I found MORE ‘blueprints’ that had been created.

Using the first set, I drew up in AutoCAD Inventor (a 3D design program I use daily for my job) the main eye housing and included some location mounting points inside. I missed including a recess in the lower part as my design is a recessed front version. I then split the housing in half, length wise, to save on filament (no supports required) and printed the first set last weekend.
[Image: b81230978562a7730dc07d03adf042c7.jpg]

The front lens plates were downloaded from here, thanks.

I edited the file to include said lens bottom recess.

Next up was the main head plate. Again I missed a few details out, by mistake, and also I was thinking structurally wise. I saw that there are open areas on it in screen grabs from the deleted scene clip.
So my version is a mix of the blueprints in the folder and of those who have shared there own in this Blog section (thanks all and all credit to you).

Was nice to see that some details I included, I found on others designs (great minds ).

The eye head units needed the supports, my first version was a bit end of day rushing, so version 2, had two location points, to match the internal two, and I was much happier this would ensure strength.

And here it is assembled……
[Image: 665b1b81358268b5db45feef7860b655.jpg]

The metal tube was a found piece of scrap lol, I’ll draw up a 3D version later.

Next up was location pins.
I had thought of metal but decided that I’d go with printable ones. These have a flat on them, for two reasons, 1: easy to print. 2: they are less likely to bind on fitting.
I included a pull tab to aid removal, pre-finished, they can be cut off if needed at the finish.
[Image: 8a605f641972295e4568c2bb6db26633.jpg]
Eye assembly one has now been glued together and the joins look great.

A friend has a resin printer so I’ll see if he can print the lenses.

I made a start on the upper neck collar/ring section, but have held off on printing just yet as need to check the diameters compared to the already produced blueprints.

This is moving a lot quicker than I was expecting lol, the track section I expect will slow progress down a bit as I intend to make most out of wood (not the actual tracks lol), just the body frame.

Big thanks to those who have posted their work and created their own blueprints etc, I hope to be able to add my small contribution to help future builders.

I’ll post up more progress next week.


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#2
Looks great so far! I'll be interested to see how you handle the neck. Are you planning to make it telescope? I've some ideas about that in my build thread, but I haven't developed them further since then due to distractions.

I really should stop constantly putting more droids ahead of my Treadwell.

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#3
Thumbs Up 
Thanks Dyne.

Yours & Paul's are my guides for my build, so am hoping to add to the collective info and stl files, once happy they all work.

This version won't be telescopic, mainly due to the build material [internal strength/structure], though thinking about it, a lead screw off say a 3D printer, with a motor, might not be to difficult to incorporate into the build...... lol, now you've got ME thinking.
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#4
Busy week and a lot done….
[Image: 9d11190760af970d7ee418640439af32.jpg]

So the CAD assembled items just to look at lol.

[Image: 127736d32418d9009635d5820d226f50.jpg]

I redid the main bracket to include the opening in the base, in the next picture I added some fake lower items for the eye arms, I also added a groove to give the impression that the two vertical side pieces were separate items.

[Image: bc95455878321024c796c19f1758d0c0.jpg]

I also added the top inset pieces on the upper sides. These you can see on freeze framings from the deleted scene. I also added a hole behind the base slot (picture no2), as in the screen grabs it looks like there’s a bolt hanging down, so added the hole as to not forget later.

This next picture I took before above new base was printed.
[Image: aea3d2056c2b6a2a3e66f3c40ec70b23.jpg]

I had an idea on how to make the head move, but didn’t want to have the servo exposed, so I did some printing for a servo mount and then surgically implanted it into the side of the eye.

I don’t have the pictures on my phone still, but the development idea led to the next iteration of the eye build…..plus printing of the support arm and servo horn adapter.
[Image: 37a9a27d4bc1872002ce677db50c520b.jpg]

I’ve a short video of manually moving this with a servo fitted in place, not had chance to apply power to test strength of standard servo, but may need to go with a more heavy duty one.

Finally this week I’ve been drawing up the main mast in 3D to act as covers for the internal frame. I’ve sectioned it up to be printable in its sections.
[Image: f41b9d900aed05f72ad12fd2bcb578a4.jpg]

So far this is the full assembly.


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#5
Ok so as mentioned, links to my YouTube shorts for fitting a servo test.

Fitting a servo
https://youtube.com/shorts/waFfu1dPZJw?feature=share

And this is the manual movement testing

Servo pivot arm test (manual)
https://youtube.com/shorts/Etz7jnI_KYA?feature=share


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My R5D4 Astromech Droid
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#6
Set the works printer to print most of the mast sections over the weekend. I say most as the filament looked a bit low, thankfully it has a runout sensor, so hopefully there was enough.

Previous to this, I had drawn up and printed off a cap for the mast, as well as a template to notch out the inner support tube, more later on this. I’m hoping this helps with rigidity.


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#7
Well the filament did run out lol, thankfully it hadn’t printed to much in layer height. I decided to not start printing again, but to sort out the motor movement first.

I had been thinking about the head movement, and needed to design up how to attach a motor for this to work. After some ideas, one of which involves a thrust bearing (test idea), its on its way via eBay.

I needed a holder for the motor, that fitted inside the mast/PVC tube, and I wanted to test ideas out with the mast top unit I had already printed off.

So the results are good
I’ve not glued anything together yet, not until I’m happy with it all.

I’ll post up pictures soon.
Was hoping to have something more substantial to take to an event on Sunday, but hopefully l should have more done for the droid builders Christmas meet in December.


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#8
So this week I have been redesigning the neck (head plate to mast) adaptor, to allow for head movement (rotation) from side to side.

I found some thrust bearings on eBay and also ordered some 3mm Aluminium plate. The new neck adaptor, comes in two parts. One to hold the bearings in place and the other to fit inside the tube. This needed to be extended (miscalculated) and the print fitted perfectly & so did the motor. So much so that I may not now need the bearing, but will see as they will take the weight off the motor shaft.

A new cap was printed for the top neck, this fits in the neck plate connection hole.

With this Sunday’s event coming I wanted to finish up the eyes. So i drew up the lens from Dyne’s excellent plans and using clear’ish PP filament I printed out a lens. And with standard PLA a slightly modified holder, less depth. Think I’ll still get the lenses done in clear resin though, but for now, this will do.
[Image: c560560b998fcd7e888b7d06337dcd49.jpg]
[Image: 6fee54c33435c9e12c515c3840dfd891.jpg]

……well, everything is now on pause after my work accident on Friday. I won’t be going to Weston on Sunday now was really looking forward to going. I don’t like letting people down, but i need to rest fully.

Full accident report, see Blog post (FYI, am all good, no broken bones)

On a plus note, I managed to grab a bargin. EBay: a found part, is a grabber, one of WED’s utility arms.
[Image: 86bf9f786775e89056c6ab8b86507a03.jpg]

Bargain at £9 inc P&P. Found some others ranging up to £45!!!


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#9
(11-26-2022, 11:44 AM)Jaffa007 Wrote: With this Sunday’s event coming I wanted to finish up the eyes. So i drew up the lens from Dyne’s excellent plans and using clear’ish PP filament I printed out a lens. And with standard PLA a slightly modified holder, less depth. Think I’ll still get the lenses done in clear resin though, but for now, this will do.

Thank you, I'm glad they were useful. I could've been more helpful and posted a lens STL at some point; I dont recall now why I didn't. Maybe I was thinking that printing it wouldn't be very useful (that was before I tried casting or resin printing it myself).


Quote:……well, everything is now on pause after my work accident on Friday. (snip)
Full accident report, see Blog post (FYI, am all good, no broken bones)

Yikes, glad you are ok. I definitely made spatula-related blood sacrifices to my LD-F1 and BB-5M builds, but nothing quite that deep.



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#10
(11-26-2022, 11:44 AM)Jaffa007 Wrote: On a plus note, I managed to grab a bargin. EBay: a found part, is a grabber, one of WED’s utility arms.
[Image: 86bf9f786775e89056c6ab8b86507a03.jpg]

Bargain at £9 inc P&P. Found some others ranging up to £45!!!

That looks cool!  Are the dimensions already known?  It'd be cool to have a 3D model of it.
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