Aluminum Parts – Page 2 – How To Build An R2-D2

July 18, 2015March 26, 2017

Scratch Radar Eye Part II.

For part two on scratch building a Radar Eye, you will need to find a way to cut out the circle for the Radar Eye. The first method I tried did not work, so I had to go to plan B. This involved cutting small circles around an etched circular line on the sheet metal. I drilled all the holes around the sheet metal and for the slot.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Drilling holes for circle — Drilling holes to cut circle.

Once this is complete, I used a Dremel to cut the gaps out so I was left with an empty circle, and I did the same thing for the slot. I was careful not to go to fast or I could cut parts I wanted to leave. A smaller sanding disc is recommended if one is available.

Cutting gaps — Using a dremel to cut gaps.

Cutting gaps in slot. — Cutting the gaps in the slot.

The following steps will smooth out the edges along the inside of the circle and the slot. Use a sanding wheel and go around the edges to make it look pretty. You may have to draw another circle around the eye to make sure you still keep the form.

Sanding Edges on Radar Eye Circle — Sanding edges with Dremel.

Sanding the Slot — Sanding the slot down.

Watch Part III for learning how to bond the seams together.

July 3, 2015March 8, 2016

Scratch Radar Eye Part I.

Scratch building this Radar Eye is not the easiest thing to construct. You will need the following to do this:

Sheet metal
tin snips
flat bending tools
Radar Eye pattern
exacto knife
clear tape
scissors

Scratch Radar Eye Tools — Tools used to build a scratch Radar Eye

To start with, cut the pattern out with scissors and tape it to the sheet metal making sure it is secure. Use an exacto knife to slowly trace around the radar eye circle and etch a line in the sheet metal. This does not have to be perfect since it will get cut out.

Pattern taped to metal — Patterns taped to sheet metal

Using your tin snips, slowly cut the metal on the pattern. You may want to secure the parts already cut with more tape since they will become loose as you work. Once all parts are cut from the sheet metal, use the exacto knife again to etch lines where the bends are supposed to be.

Cutting Radar Eye — Cutting out Main Radar Eye

This is the first step in construction of the Radar Eye. Part II will go over how to cut out the circle and the slot.

October 21, 2014March 11, 2016

Tabs, Slag, and Deburring, Oh My!

Removing the tabs required the use of my Dremel and slowly grinding them down until they were gone. To get rid of the slag, I used a file to scrape the it off until it was practically gone, and than a deburring tool was used to take off the remaining slag.