Skin Bonding

I found out that I can't glue :o(
Brenda had to do all the gluing because I can't see the drip that runs down the frame. She's got the glue down pat. It's such a small amount that it's almost like
not even using any at all.
But here's the body after a good sand with 220 grit paper.
I don't know if Dave E. sands his droids, But I like how it smooths every spot out.
Next will be adding the outer layer of skins and more sanding.

Inner Skins

After building your frame, It's time to lay on that 1st layer of skins.
You tape the front and back skin to the frame and adjust it the best you can so
all the doors and pockets line up.
You may have some spots that just don't set edge to edge and it may be a off spot
in the frame. I tried my best to get everything perfect, But I do have some bad spots.
Once your satisfied with the fit, You glue the skin to the frame from the inside.
I learned that when you use Weldon Glue, Use it very lightly.
Just a rolling drip down each frame rail that touches the skin is enough.
If you use to much glue it will melt and warp the skin. I would practice on some
scraps before you glue the real thing.

Frame Mod

The pictures show where I have been adding supports to the side area of the frame
and top the back of the frame. Do you need this in a Dave E. Frame? No.
I'm adding these because I wanted the frame extra ridged to with stand the torque
from going from 2 legs to 3 legs.
I will add some more supports to the front of the frame once I get the skins mounted.
Adding the supports sure made the frame much stronger, But it will make it a little
harder to get the glue to the inner skin.

Extra support for Shoulders

If your not doing the 2-3-2 movement you won't need this area beefed up.
I'm adding extra to this area and I'm also going to add 2 more shoulder plates
to the inside of Dave's shoulder plate which will make this area 3/8 thick
for the outer leg bearings to mount.
I just figure the movement will add stress to this area and it needs to be strong.

I started fitting the bearing into the outer leg.
What I had to do was cut a new size sideplate that Dave E. uses in his build.
The plate had to be mount 3/8 further into the leg opening to make up the
difference that the bearing used.
The bearing has more than enough turning radius and has very little play.
I used Dave's blueprint to center the bearing and you can see the drilled
holes that Dave marks on the blueprints.
I have 2 drive system in mind and hopefully one of them will work.
I guess I should warn everyone not to try this until I get it all worked out.

Leg Bearings

I bought 2 of these 6 inch bearings from Rockler, I will use these for the outer legs on R5. Since the legs won't have to move a great distance to do the 2-3-2 and the bearing weight rating is more than enough for a styrene droid, I'm sure they will work.
I will have to trim the square at the points to fit in the droid.
The good part about this bearing is it's only 1/4 inch thick which will be easy
to modify the frame to accept the bearing.

2nd Bottom Plate

This is the 2nd bottom plate that gets glued to the bottom of the frame.
This makes the bottom 1/4 inch thick and much stronger.
I used 3 screws in the center to help me align the plates together.
The only thing is if I had to do this again, I think I would have just used a
1/4 inch thick plate instead of laminating the 2- 1/8 inch plates together.
I'm sure Dave does this to eliminate the need for additional styrene.