Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Building Up To Maker Faire: Part 6”.
Hi my name’s Sean Thorson. I make props and costumes for all sorts of different applications and this year to get ready for the Maker Faire, I’m building the giant bad guy robot from the original Robocop movies called ed 209. It’S going to be everything I can do to get it done just in time for the event, and here we go all right – welcome back we’ve got about one week left until I have to have the paint dry and get ready to load ed-209 on the truck A lot of people have been asking me about exactly how big this thing is, and the reason we’re outside today is because we pretty much reach the capacity of my shop started to mock up some pieces and, at this point, we’re looking at a pretty significant chunk. A robot at this point the frame is the latest development we’ve got it all welded up, then it actually separates into three four separate parts from the hip down to the toe. So this is where we stand at this point: it’s huge so for some details for the actual frame itself. What you’re looking at here there’s a piece of tube that runs all the way across from hip to hip, and then I’ve got a square socket here that attaches to a piece of square tubing.
This way we can just go ahead and pull it apart to load. It in and out of truck this square tubing is going to be built inside of the thigh, so I’ll be putting in bulkheads. That will actually be bonded to this piece of steel and then there’s another socket at this reverse knee joint, where the ankle goes. So this five section can come out and then everything from the ankle down to the toe bone is all going to be one complete assembly with all of the leg parts attached to it on the outside and then down at the bottom. We can pull the feet off separately, stack them up. It makes it a little bit easier to set the thing up load it in load it out and move it around. What you’re, seeing all the way at the bottom is actually a lead brick, because I want to make sure that the giant killer robot doesn’t blow over and a stiff breeze and crush a small child.
All of the small child crushing has to be done on purpose. On the inside of the shop here, we’ve still got a handful of the small parts that are coming together. First thing is gon na, be the actual gun barrels, because the giant killer robot is a lot less threatening without some sort of weapons. So this is my prototype.
That’S coming together for the main gun barrels, there’s gon na be three of them by the time it’s all said and done so I’m still gon na be pulling a silicon block. Mold. Much like I did in a previous episode and it’ll be cast in urethane resin. The prototype is actually just cobbled together out of a little bit of MDF and some regular PVC plumbing fittings.
Just like you find at any hardware store a couple of notches and grooves, and some extra work with cross saw and the next thing you know it actually looks like something you wouldn’t be able to find at your local hardware store. So the next small part that’s coming together is actually going to be the rocket launcher that sits on the outside of the right hand, gun pod. It’S going to be a lot of small parts, combinations of vacuum-form pieces cast pieces and just hardware store parts that I’m going to be able to put together and make look the part so for each of the tubes that the Rockets go in. I’M just using a 2-inch ABS pipe.
The ends are notched and rounded and slotted to match the on-screen character. Three of those are gon na get stacked together and then a series of Veck formed parts to hold them together. So what we’re looking at is the top.
The side and the bottom of the housing for the rocket launcher and then there’s a little grooved piece: that’s actually going to hold these guys all lined up together. So when this is finished, this will get fastened on to the side of the gun pod and then the vac form parts are going to be glued together to cover over it and that’ll be the finished part again. These are just forming bucks, so the end result is gon na, be shiny black plastic parts with a couple of small detail elements added on so one of the problems we run into if you’re looking at the fives here, you’ll notice that they’re kind of skinny in There largely not detailed because we’re missing these fat hydraulic rams that belong here, we’re running into a Goldilocks problem, three-inch pipes too small for inch pipes too big. So we need to get the just right thing, which nobody really makes. So we ended up coming up with. Is a piece of four inch pipe for the caps on either end and in the middle? It’S actually just a piece of sheet stock rolled and clamped and glued in place. There’S a nasty seam on the backside, but you won’t see it once it’s actually fitted in place and we’ve got the strut that sticks out the bottom to fake the piston. That comes out the next big piece that we’re dealing with and one of the current problems.
I’M running into is actually making the big black dome. That’S going to be on top of the main body in this case, what I’m doing is I’m basically, I’m essentially making a plug. This plug is gon na, be like an inside-out version of mold. So when I’m finished polishing this up, I’m gon na get it all nice and shiny and glossy and coated mold release, and then I’m gon na lay up fiberglass on the outside of it once the fiberglass is set up. I’M gon na lay a course weave cloth over it, saturate that with fiberglass resin and then paint it with a satin black.
So it’ll give me the same sort of fabric, looking dome that you see in the film, so everything else is going pretty. Well, I don’t really have any major concerns as far as some of the detail parts any of the other fiberglass pieces, the dome is even looking like it’s gon na shape up just fine, but with six days to go the thing. That’S losing me all of my sleep is actually the main body. The mold.
If you take a look here, I’ll call it about 90 % done so. I’Ve got these little patches here that are still a little bit sticky. I laid up the glass for those this morning and then once that sets this afternoon I’ll be able to get the last little piece where the hinges for the shoulder on either side. It looks weird first because you’re looking at the bottom of it and second, because I haven’t trimmed off any of the hair, where all the parting lines are for the mold I’m challenged with a piece like this.
It’S a very large part. It’S very complex lots of undercuts lots of weird little contours that aren’t going to be easy to pull out, so I’ve had to break it into many more pieces than I was expecting and every time you put a separate patch, it ends up being another bit of Lay up another bit of weight, another bit of pulling parting lines, setting up mold, release, gel coat, fiberglass, etc. So plan is, by the end of the day, I’ll have the mold completely laid up, and if it gets to the point where I can handle the last patches of fiberglass without sticking to them, the whole thing is going to be trimmed drilled. Four bolts pulled apart, cleaned, polished and hopefully gel coated.
Before I allow myself to sleep tonight, it’s that, can you see the rings, I’m pretty sure they’re, probably gon na show up this time. So again, there’s six days to go. Make sure you tune in next time to see the big unveiling at the Maker Faire and we’ll find out whether I’ve got a giant killer, robot standing there or just half a robot in a suicide note see you there .