Introduction: G.I. Roe, the Steampunk Upcycled Robot Warrior
It all started with a small carburettor, sitting forlornly on a table at a car boot sale. But I was drawn to it, its plastic primer bulb looking just like the brain cover in many a classic sci-fi movie robot such as Robby from Forbidden Planet or the many similar 50s' tin toy robots. It also had a lonely bulbless friend so I bought that as well. And so, G.I. Roe began to form.
As with my other creations though, there never was a master plan. This isn't creation by design, this is Wobbler's Theory of Revolution as bits were added or taken away, driven by whether I felt it looked better with or without. As a result, this project is also a diary of the U-turns and process in roughly the right order. It wasn't even going to roll or be a G.I. initially.
As for the parts list, most of it came from my box of eclectic ephemera a.k.a. junk. There's a lot of 4mm stuff there because 4mm rod is ideal for axles for the Meccano wheels so I've pretty much standardised on using 4mm nuts and bolts in my upcycling efforts.
(All images are either mine or compliments CC Wikimedia. I'm sure you'll guess which are which.)
Supplies
2x Carburettors (one with a primer bulb)
2x Meccano Wheels for G.I. Roe (2.5" large)
2x Meccano Wheels for the Sonic Field Gun (1" small)
A 125mm Castor Wheel
4mm Copper Brake Pipe
10x Copper Crimp Terminals SC6-6
4mm Brass Threaded Rod (bought as lengths and then just cut down to size when needed)
4mm Nuts, Dome Nuts and Washers
A Metal Spoon with a straightish handle to be used for the trail on the Sonic QF 25Sounder Field Gun.
Some Cabochon Eyes.
A Spring Door Stop plus other bits and bobs as they appear.
Step 1: Cleaning Up the Carbs
Who ever would have thought that the first step was to look at your diet? In reality, this does involve weight loss but the weight lost is the layers of crud on the carbs. I decided to clean these up using my favourite zero-effort method of cleaning gunged up stuff and getting paint off things, assuming the things are metal, reverse electrolysis.
Firstly, the explanation:
The process, often referred to wrongly as reverse electrolysis, is cheap and easy to do plus it doesn't involve any nasty chemicals. There are plenty of videos and info on t'web, though if you just put in "Electrolysis" you'll find loads of stuff about hair removal. That's not what you're looking for, unless you want to clear hair off a steel skull. The electrolysis method you want is the one used for rust removal. And this is where the confusion often arises. People use reverse electrolysis to remove rust (it works brilliantly, by the way) but because the rusty thing attached to the -ve loses its rust and the steel attached to the +ve goes rusty they erroneously think the rust is being transferred. What is actually happening is that the electric current decomposes the water in to hydrogen at the -ve electrode and oxygen at the +ve electrode. As a result, the steel +ve electrode rusts in the sea of oxygen. Meanwhile, at the -ve electrode the hydrogen bubbling off shot-blasts loose anything on the surface but the hydrogen doesn't react with the base metal layer. But how do I know the rust isn't being transferred? The answer is two fold, one is that it works with non-iron items such as brass or diecast and cleans their surfaces and the steel +ve still rusts just the same. Secondly, it gets paint off brass, steel, tin or diecast items that aren't rusty as I also use this method to get paint off old diecast toy cars I'm renovating and the tin can still rusts exactly the same.
Then the method (see the drawing above):
1) Get a plastic bucket or old plastic paint tub and fill it with water to which you add 2/3 spoonfuls of washing soda.
2) Use an old tin can as a +ve electrode. The can is cut along the side and then opened into a plate using tin snips as shown in the diagram above. There's no need to be neat, it will get destroyed, as you can see in the after pic and it's going into the bin after this (as you can see). The triangle in the end is bent back to make a hook to easily attach the tin to the side of the bucket whilst also giving a bit outside of the water to attach the +ve lead to. NOTE: IT WILL HAVE SHARP EDGES SO BE CAREFUL WHEN CUTTING AND HANDLING AND PREFERABLY WEAR WORKSHOP GLOVES.
3) Suspend the items to be cleaned in the bucket with a bit of wire connecting them all (I use cheap non-plastic covered garden wire for this bit) and hang them from some thing going across the top such as a piece of scrap wood (or the old knife I used). You can hang multiple items in at one go, just wire them all together..
4) Use a low voltage (3-12v) DC power supply and connect the +ve to the tin can and the -ve to the item to be cleaned (water only needs 1.23v to for electrolysis to take place). The power supply doesn't need to be big or powerful, I use an old 6v phone charger, some people use a car battery charger, both work fine. Does does it matter which way round to connect it? Yes, the polarity is important. Get it wrong and your prized item you want to clean will go rustier instead. Fortunately though there is an easy way to remember it - the +ve terminal adds rust, the -ve terminal subtracts rust/paint/ gunge. Because I do this all the time, I have attached some miniature crocodile clips but you can just wrap the wire round if you want. If you do use crocodile clips, it's also a good idea to keep the crocodile clips out of the water, especially the one attached to the can, to stop them rusting.
5) Making sure the objects don't touch the can, switch the power supply on. Once the power supply is switched on you should see bubbles forming and rising to the surface, eventually forming a bubble frothy brown rusty scum, like a bad pint of traditional bitter (I won't mention the brand, but I'm sure you'll have your own idea of which one I mean). Just leave it overnight and check the next day if it needs to be left a little longer. Sometimes with paint it needs a quick wire brush before returning it for another blast.
Some people also get worried about the hydrogen bubbling off being an explosion risk. In reality, hydrogen is a really great escape artist so unless you live in a tiny hermetically sealed dome it's not a problem.
Another advantage is that what you have left in the bucket is just pretty much water with rust in it so it's fine to be disposed of in drains. You don't even need to get rid of it every time, I just leave it for the next time with a new can and the rust settles to the bottom.
Step 2: Creating the Main Body
I already knew that the carb with the primer bulb was going to be the head and the primer bulb would be at the top. The other carburettor was going to be the body but I had to work out how to connect them. In the end, through a stroke of genius (better known as luck) I realised that both had a plate at the bottom held on by a single bolt and that bolt, by another stroke of genius (?), happened to be a 4mm thread. So, I simple cut a bit of 4mm threaded brass and screwed one end into the head and the other end into the body, though I added a rubber washer/grommet between them to act both as a separator and also to give a bit of grip so the head could rotate but wasn't loose.
Step 3: Wheely? That's How the Wheels Came About?
G.I. Roe wasn't originally going to have wheels. He/she/it wasn't actually going to be a G.I. either, but wheel get to that later.
The wheels came about partially because there was a fixing hole through the lower carburettor and it was the magical 4mm size! Plus, I had some large 2.5" diameter Meccano wheels lying around just waiting to be used on this project (I seemed to be short on legs, although my whole family is somewhat deprived in that area so it was to be expected I suppose. If it wasn't for my short legs, I would be much taller than I am).
And so, I attached the side wheels. The problem then though was that it balanced like a drunk on a Segway with a dead battery. So I then realised it needed a wheel at the back or the front. I decided on the back because I'm more a Morgan man than a Reliant Robin fan and so I attached a castor wheel at the back for balance.
Step 4: Castor Wheels, Wheelbases and the Centre of Gravity.
Firstly, I realised I don't need the castor wheel to actually pivot, so I removed it from the base plate. I then shaped it as shown in the first diagram and attached this at the rear onto a suitable bolt that just happened to be in the right place.
And it still fell over.
The robot wasn't really meant to be a high roller and was more for display, but I didn't want it nose-diving in the slightest breeze. The problem was that I'd attached the castor directly to the carburettor so the body was pretty much upright and the castor wheel was too close to the body. As a result, it was effectively a short wheelbase issue, a teeter-totter design with all the stability of a unicyclist who couldn't unicycle. So, I then started to move the castor back in a series of calibration design tests (a.k.a. suck it and sees) by attaching the castor to a extension bracket made from some strip steel. I finally got it to the right position with the body slightly leaning back. Once it stopped falling over I knew I'd achieved my primary aim. The robot seemed happier about it as well.
I then also added on the mudguard, which was originally a kitchen utensil of some sort's handle. I wouldn't want G.I. Roe getting mud all over his/her/its back on maneuvers. The bent bit of threaded rod used to attach the mudguard and going into a hole drilled into the body served two functions, one to hold on the mudguard but secondly to stop the castor bracket's tendency to rotate by fixing the wheel plate in place.
The mudguard also became multifunctional, acting as a place to fix the towed sonic field gun which has a domed nut on the end of the trail/towing arm that fits into the matching hole in the mudguard.
Step 5: The Arms
I wanted G.I. Roe to have arms of some sort. After all, doesn't a soldier have the right to bare arms? Must get cold in winter if they have bare arms, but I suppose G.I. Roe soldiers are tougher than normal robots.
In other robots I've used pliers as arms and hands (see one of my other Robot Instructables) but I decided to use brake pipe and copper crimp connectors after I saw similar ideas online. The use of copper with brass nuts and bolts is a great classic Steampunk combination plus the shiny copper and brass also work well against the misty grey of the diecast carburettors.
The arms don't have elbows although they could have been added in easily, but I felt then the arms would have been too long. So, the arms are just a short length of brake pipe with a copper crimp connector at each end. The fingers were easy to make, I just cut off lengths of brake pipe and then bent them slightly in the middle. These were then inserted into the copper scrimp connectors and soldered in using a blow torch and some normal flux solder. Not exactly the neatest of soldering up-close but it actually looks OK in real life, especially if you don't look at it (something else I have in common with G.I. Roe). Perfection is overrated in my universe of art not science anyway. I then placed a grommet in the connector holes and cut a suitable length of 4mm threaded rod which was capped at each end with brass dome nuts. Originally I used the grommets as washers/spacers, as shown in some of the above early photos but I later fitted the grommets into the connector holes and that worked much better.The grommets performed two purposes, they separated the fingers out and they allowed the fingers to move but at the same time had enough grip to hold them in any position. You'll also notice that G.I. Roe only has two fingers and a thumb. The reason is simple, I originally made a full hand as you can tell from the photos above, but it just looked too anthropomorphic when placed on G.I. Roe. I felt the claw looked more appropriate. However, feel free to use as many fingers as you like if you make one as the two fingers do restrict somewhat G.I. Roe's ability to express displeasure and disdain to the enemy or a superior with a simple hand gesture.
Finally, attaching the arms was easy as, like the wheels, there was a suitable fixing hole already placed just right in the carburettor. I just used a length of threaded rod and dome headed nuts. I did however widen the stance of the wheels by using some excess bits cut off from the door spring as spacers.
A digression:
Regarding the crimp connectors, these come in a range of sizes, which is described by a simple code. If you do search for them you will come across something like SC6-8. The second number is easy, it's the size the bolt connecting hole is designed for in mm. So an SC6-8 is designed to fit onto an 8mm bolt. The first number is a bit less obvious, it's actually the area of a conductor that will fit in there in mm2. This makes sense for its proper use to take cable, but you need to know how to convert this to a diameter for rods. Fortunately, somebody else also had this problem as well so they created a table so you don't need to. I actually used SC6-6 which had a slightly larger 6mm hole than the SC6-4 4mm so I could fit the grommet in. And here is the size conversion on the first number after the SC in full colour black and white:
SC1.5-? = 1.8mm cable diameter
SC2.5-? = 2.4mm cable diameter
SC4-? = 3.1mm cable diameter
SC6-? = 3.8mm cable diameter
SC10-? = 4.5mm cable diameter
SC16-? = 5.4mm cable diameter
You can find a full data sheet detailing all the dimentions here, courtesy of Vasto:
Step 6: Giving G.I. Roe Some Character
As well as having a brain cap, the carburettor also had three adjustment screws with plastic sleeves in roughly the right places for eyes and a mouth, they just needed jazzing up a bit to look more eyelike and more mouthlike. Fortunately I had plenty of Cabochon eyes to pick from. Cabochon eyes are made from a glass front which is shaped like a plano-convex lens to which a picture of an eye is attached to the back. They are cheap, come in a range of variations (do a search for Cabochon eyes or go exotic with Cabochon dragon or alien eyes). I also found a reddish one turned sideways looks like a mouth. I just used superglue to hold them in place.
However, it still looked a bit odd without a nose. I know what you're thinking - how does a G.I. Roe smell without a nose? The answer: Terrible! (Apologies, but I was dragged up reading the Beano). The nose was created using a bit of M6 steel threaded rod with a length of copper tube covering it and an M6 brass dome headed nut front, fitting into hole drilled through the carburettor from front to back. I was really pleased with how this came out, looking a little like a missile nose, threatening to go where no nose has been before. Where it comes out at the rear of the head is currently just another dome headed nut but looking at it now I think it will look better if the back end has missile fins attached, but that's for a future update once I've worked out how.
The final addition was the antennae made from springs into which a small length of M4 rod with yet another dome headed nut attached. The nut serves two purposes, it makes the pointy ends of the sticking out springs safe but it also acts as a pendulum bob. As a result, the springs have an interesting wobble when G.I. Roe rolls ready to rumble into battle.
Step 7: And So, That's G.I. Joe Completed...
...or is it?
As with most of my projects, they aren't completed until the flat baby pings and maybe not even then.
And so, I realised that G.I. Joe was missing what all mobile infantry need, a suitable field weapon (the nose doesn't count). And so, the Sonic QF 25Sounder Field Gun was created!
Step 8: The Sonic QF 25Sounder Field Gun
Like G.I. Roe, this evolved depending on which bit of junk rose to the surface, some bits of which I'm not even sure what they were or where they came from in a previous life, an observation I could apply to myself. I have a vague idea of everything after age three, but everything before that is either hearsay or the result of a previous incarnation, probably as lobster or maybe a spider? Or maybe even a T-Rex? Who knows how many times I've been reincarnated, there doesn't seem to be a passport stamping system for that. Maybe I'll have to visit a hypnotherapist who specialises in Jurassic Regression Therapy? It would certainly explain my liking for eating raw triceratops steak, although they are getting increasingly more difficult to find nowadays, I presume due to global warning. However, back to the plot...
I decided G.I. Roe was the Jeep or Morris Quad so the Sonic QF 25Sounder Field Gun was to be towed, along the lines of a British QF 25pdr. It was made from standard brackets as well as a spring door stop which was used on the barrel to create the spiralling sonic destruction blast generator. And so, the Sonic QF 25Sounder was added.
The diagram shows you roughly how the gun was constructed but the close-up photos will give you all the details of showing how it all fitted together along with other enhancements. The towing hitch was actually a cut off spoon handle, bent into an appropriate shape with a dome headed nut fixed at the end to act as the tow hook. This is then fitted into a matching hole drilled in the rear mudguard of G.I.Roe for when G.I. Roe needs to pursue the enemy, or alternatively, run away like the clappers, my personally preferred form of enemy engagement despite the aforementioned short legs issue. The elevation adjustment wheel was something I found that I think probably originally came off a brass cart ornament and the gun handle was a t-shaped aluminium drawer knob.
The springs on the side have no function except they remind me of the British Ordnance BL 5.5 inch (140 mm) M3 medium gun dampers.
Yet another aside, this time on drilling stainless steel:
The spoon was made from stainless steel. As anyone who has tried to drill stainless steel will tell you, it can be a tad frustrating!! To drill stainless steel and not destroy your drill bit, you need to go against your instinct to press as hard as you can with as fast a drill speed as possible. All that then happens is the stainless steel heats up and becomes heat hardened and extremely difficult to drill. The answer to successfully drilling stainless steel is to use the drill on as slow a setting as possible (the slower, the better) and use a sharp bit whilst first putting a drop of oil on the place you are drilling to act as a coolant. If you feel it's heating up, stop and then begin again after a short break to let the heat disperse. Good luck!
Step 9: The Final G.I. Roe Combat Unit Out on Maneuvers
As you can tell from these in action photos, there's nothing Artificial about G.I. Roe's Intelligence, this is the real thing: smarter than the enemy, a rootin', tootin', headin' straight in to danger, all sonic filed guns firin', get the job done and come back victorious fighting machine! (There may be a slight exaggeration in the previous sentence).
Step 10: Future Plans
Having thought I was finished with this, I first decided I was going to add a limber or a caisson (ammunition cart), but I've since decided to add a searchlight trailer between G.I. Roe and the sonic gun. I have a plan to use a solar garden light's entrails to make it light up at night whilst charging up in the day. Watch this space for this exciting development!
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