United Space Astromech Assemblers’ first meeting

I’ve decided to start a local R2 Builders Club. The first meeting was sparsely attended. I can only assume that there was a hyperspace glitch that sent the other droid engineers to the wrong place.

However, I did have a good time! I showed off the R2 dome that I built last spring for the Imagination Fair and gave a very short presentation on R2’s dome. Below is a summary of my presentation on the astromech hemispherical dome head.

Dome Specifications

• The classic R2 hemispherical dome has a diameter of 18.16 inches.
• The classic R2hemispherical dome has a height of 10.51 inches when measured from top of the base ring.
• These measurements come from the Astromech.net community and can be found as part of the Official Club Blueprints: CS-R Blueprints. (“CS-R” stands for Club Spec-Revisited.)

Dome History 

Over the years, astromech engineers have come up with a variety of ways to create the hemispherical dome of the R2 series astromech unit. These have included …

• light fixtures
• squirrel guards
• Webber grills
• made-to-order domes
  • 300mm Aluminum Dome
  • ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) domes
    • laser cut
    • uncut with PDF templates
  • clear PETG plastic domes — perfect for an R3 astromech unit
• papier-mâché (my own solution)

Members of the Astromech.net community can read more about the history of dome solutions at Jason Smith’s Dome History.

Astromech Droids

I then gave a basic overview of the astromech droid units from Wookieepedia — including how to avoid the hemispherica doem problem by choosing a unit without a hemispehrical head.

• non-hemispherical heads
  • R4-series astromech droid
  • R5-series astromech droid
  • R6-series astromech droid
• hemispherical dome heads
  • R1-series astromech droid — this unit is over 6-feet tall
  • R2-series astromech droid — the classic 3-foot astromech unit
  • R3-series astromech droid — has a clear dome
  • R7-series astromech droid
  • R8-series astromech droid
  • R9-series astromech droid
  • BB unit

Dome Terminology

I finished my presentation by reviewing dome components and standard terminology used by the Astromech.net community.

The next USAA gathering will focus on options for dome rotation including Lazy-Susan bearings, remote controls, and programming.

I came home to find that my own styrene dome had arrived!