I admit it: I'm a total geek. I love electronics, programming, 3D printing, 3D art, and vintage Apple hardware. I'm always juggling half a dozen projects. I also enjoy documenting it all: my successes, my failures, my experiences... and everything geeky along the way.

3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part III - Skirt | Kevin Rye.net - Main

Kevin Rye

Geek Extraordinaire. Yeh, I said it.

3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part III - Skirt

The skirt should be pretty straight forward, and a lot easier compared to the dome or the body. It's just 4 parts.

R2-D2build_75

It took about 84 hours to complete.

R2-D2build_76

I glued it together and started to clean up the seams with 3M Acryl-Green putty.

R2-D2build_139

I sanded it to 320 grit and gave it a coat of primer just to see what the seams looked like.

R2-D2build_122

They needed a little more work, so I repeated the process and ended with a 400 grit sanding. To be honest, it does not need to be perfect. It sits under R2 and half if it is not even going to be visible.

R2-D2build_143

The center ankle support is supposed to be printed in this orientation with 50% infill. However, it'll take 36 hours to print and seems like a huge waste of PLA since this could very easily be made out of wood.

R2-D2build_100

It's exactly 1/2" thick so I could cut it out of two 1/4" thick pieces of MDF and glue them together. I took the part into SketchUp and created the two faces that I could laser cut.

Screen Shot 2023-08-10 at 6.30.41 PM

36 hours vs 13 minutes! This will do nicely, and it'll be way stronger than PLA.

R2-D2build_93

I did the same with the ankle support bars.

R2-D2build_101

However, these only need to be 1/4" thick. I cut the parts out of 1/8" maple hardwood for extra strength.

R2-D2build_120

Everything glued together nicely and it's super strong!

R2-D2build_123

It's looking good. All it needs is the final paint job and it's good to go. However, I think I am going to hold off for now and paint it along with the body when that is ready.

blogEntryToppr

See this project from start to finish:
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part I - Dome
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part II - Body
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part III - Skirt
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part IV - Body Assembly
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part V - Body and Dome Finishing
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VI - Body and Dome Greeblies
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VII - Final Dome Assembly
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VIII - Legs and Feet