Project Android

Messiah Khan · 12 Aug 2006 at 15:03

Pete_m said:
nice.. why spend so long cutting that out though?

You asking why it took so long or why do it in the first place? The reason it took so long is because the Aluminium is thick and takes quite a lot of work with the jigsaw to cut it. Also the drill battery was running down, so it kept jamming. Most of the time though was spent filing and sanding it down to a nice brushed finish. The reason why I have cut it out in the first place is two fold; First is to make it look better. The square motherbaord tray just didn't look right IMO, it didn't look mechanical enough. I know it probably won't be seen once im finished, but I want every part to be perfect, because it will annoy me if its not. The second reason for cutting it out was to give a slightly bigger clearance behind the motherboard for the cables in the spine. Unfortunately they stick out too far, making it very hard to fit the motherboardtray in place.

Messiah Khan · 12 Aug 2006 at 19:06

Very true Mark A, the modding in itself is quite theraputic in a way. I really enjoyed seeing the rough rectangular piece of alu become all nice and polished and much more tactile(Hmm, do I sound a bit weird now?

)

And yes you are correct about the paintwork.

Messiah Khan · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:45

Probably not, especially considering its going to be running off a 90W PSU.

Messiah Khan · 12 Aug 2006 at 23:23

Big up to the Aycliffe massive!

I don't know where I would get old hard type coloured contact lenses for relatively cheap though. I like your idea about slides though, im sure my dad will have a half used film somewhere. If that fails, then I can try printing onto some sort of accetate. Ive got plenty pictures of eyes to choose from, as I have a massive collection of textures that I use for 3D modelling.

Messiah Khan · 13 Aug 2006 at 10:40

The reason its a 90W one is because its a tiny one from an RM machine. Its much smaller than a standard ATX supply, and the fan vent side is on the bottom compared to the power plug side. This means I can have it vent air out the bottom, while having the power plug at the back. I know its going to be enough for my needs, as 90% of the machine im using is from the origional RM machine. All thats changing is that im adding 2 NICs and changing the harddrive.

Messiah Khan · 13 Aug 2006 at 16:29

Just a quick update on what im doing at the moment while I wait for some epoxy putty to dry;

As you can see from the following picture, even with the new motherboard tray design, I still have a problem with the clearance for cables in the spine;

So to fix this problem, I have made some spacers out of aluminium, with a bolt sticking out. This will allow me to attatch the motherboard tray using nuts, which will be a lot easier in the limited space. The bottom of the spacer is a thin bit of alu which ive cut and bent to make it act like a hook, hopefully ensuring it wont come out of the epoxy putty easily. On top of this is a small flat piece of alu which will sit on top of the putty and help the mobo tray sit flat.

Im currently in the middle of fitting these risers using epoxy putty;

Anyway, the first one should be set by now, so back to work.

Messiah Khan · 13 Aug 2006 at 16:58

I tried that with a usb cable without much luck tbh. Even with the extra sheathing removed there wasn't quite enough space. And im more pleased with this system as it feels more solid and better designed.

Messiah Khan · 13 Aug 2006 at 21:39

Cheers. Yeah, i'd rather do the extra work now to get it right, rather than finish and paint it then have the thing fall to pieces. Now that im slowly getting closer to the end, im giving myself time to go a bit more elaborate with certain things. Ive recently had an idea that im sure you will all like. Im not going to tell you until ive done it incase it doesn't work, but if it does it will look really cool.

Messiah Khan · 14 Aug 2006 at 16:34

Cheers Yewen.

The reason why I have used a 90W PSU is because I started out using a 350W ATX PSU. It fitted, but only just and was a bit awkward to fit. Then I picked up 2 free RM machines from work, and my problem was solved. The RM machines had a really small (About half the size of ATX) PSUs, that had the power socket and vent fan on adjacent sides. I know I could have got other, possibly more suitable PSUs, but it seemed a shame to waste what I had already.

Messiah Khan · 16 Aug 2006 at 22:51

ChoÞÞer said:
any up dates??

Now I do yeah!

The other day, I decided to do a full fit of all the parts so far to see how it all looks. But I had a bit of a scare.. I discovered a major design flaw.

The cables that go from the the spine sockets on the inside, were too big. It was impossible to fit the motherboard on the tray wit hte wires fitted. The main problem was the VGA cable, as it was so thick and stiff. In the end ive managed to fix the problem however, by stripping the connector right down as much as I can. Its still a very tight fit, but at least it does fit. Remains to be seen however if the cables still work, lol. Anyway, here are some pics of the full fit. Sorry about the image quality.

Messiah Khan · 16 Aug 2006 at 22:51

There you go for this time. Im really relieved I got that problem sorted though.

Messiah Khan · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:06

Tony Soprano said:
Looking good with everything plugged in, have you tested it by turning it on or do you still have to do some more things to get it working?

btw, it was a long two days

Nope, im tempting fate by not switching it on until its all finished and painted etc. Then she will be ALIVE!!

Pete_m said:
still looking good..

how far are you through the project so far?

About 70-75% i'd say. Ive finished most of the essential construction work now, ive just got a bit to do in the head and neck areas. Then its on to the sorting out the wiring and electrics and finally painting and polishing etc.

Messiah Khan · 17 Aug 2006 at 14:02

tbz_ck said:
Its really coming on. Nice work Khan m8.

i don't know whether its relevant now, but have you considered break out boxes or extension leads for the major connectors so that they can be plugged/unplugged from the outside without having to open her up?

It may help with wiring issues

They all are. Thats what the connectors down her spine are. The cables are simply to connect the spine sockets to the mobo.

Messiah Khan · 19 Aug 2006 at 16:16

Anyone for some more blurry pics? Here you go;

As you can see, im working on one of the eyes. I need another webcam to do the other one. Im making the bracket thing for them to fix to. The plan is to link them together, so that when i rotate one of them, the other one moves with it.

Messiah Khan · 19 Aug 2006 at 18:18

Mark A said:
Nice, are you going to have a servo inside that moves them automatically?.

Mark

Would like to do that, but I doubt there is enough space in the head now. I also have no idea how I would control the servo.

Messiah Khan · 19 Aug 2006 at 19:58

Ok she really is getting creepy now.

Messiah Khan · 19 Aug 2006 at 19:59

Messiah Khan · 20 Aug 2006 at 10:15

nealw said:
if you had lots of money spare didn't logitech bring out that webcam which moved and followed you around the room, maybe you could somehow mount that into the eye socket and run it off the software.

Found it. Logitech QuickCam Sphere. 80 quid inc VAT tho from OcUK. Prob a bit expensive for a casual mod.

Yeah, I had looked at them. But £160 just for the eyes is a bit excessive.

Messiah Khan · 21 Aug 2006 at 09:39

Well ive cut out a similar shape to the android in the Bjork video. I havent really thought too much about how im going to do it. My initial thoughs however, are to cover the inside with a sheet of aluminium, then use epoxy putty, cogs, and various bits of metal to make it look 'mechanical'. Then paint bits of it black, and keep other bits metal. I might include some bits of really dark perspex so you can see the harddrive and eyes etc, bit like a window mod.

Messiah Khan · 21 Aug 2006 at 19:05

Helium_Junkie said:
Thats a brilliant idea! :O

Edit: Regarding watercooling, as I remember you mentioned that early on with having the pump in place of the heart - Just a thought but how about having a clear reservoir (not necessarily heart shaped, hehe) in the heart position instead? I think that maybe a reservoir would look better than a pump, especially if you could see it through the front of the case.

Perhaps a standard box reservoir with a heart shaped viewhole in the mannequin chest.

We'll have to see about the watercooling. Im not sure it would even fit anymore tbh. Is it possible to get 80.1 or even 60.1 rads? If not, do you think it would be possible to run a low load waterloop without a rad? ie, just have the heat dissapate from the rest of the loop.

taz488 said:
i just want to see it finished!!!!! i cant wait any longer...please, put me out of my misery

Your going to have to wait a while longer im afraid. I still need a few more parts, and im not rushing any of it. As long as its done by christmas, i'll be happy.

Edit; Woot! Over 15,000 views.. cheers guys!