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Step 7Building the Bodies
The sheet metal pieces were deburred and detabbed using hand files and a drywall spreader knife of all things. The drywall tool made quick work of scraping off the burrs on the aluminum sheet parts.
Then the bodies were riveted together using the .125" diameter pop-rivets. While pop-riveting one of the bodies, I managed to smash a slightly oversized part of my stomach in the handles of the riveter. I still have a bruise and a lump there over a week later. Be careful when using tools!
All of the accenting bits & pieces were secured using duct tape, pop-rivets, or screws. Most pieces came from an old computer I tore apart. Some came from old CNC controllers and the changing color LED power switch was from a newer computer case.
I used .375" diameter split plastic wire loom material around the arm and neck openings to protect us from the sheet metal edges. They were cut to size and duct taped at each end. This worked great and the plastic stayed in place. This was also used around the bottom of the robot girls body since it was much shorter and would be rubbing on the cardboard skirt and her clothing/stomach.
The backs were originally going to have piano hinges to open and close but that would have made the costumes almost impossible to get in and out of (unless we were contortionists). I used some magnetic cabinet closers on the girl costume which would hold the back on pretty good. Too much moving around though resulted in the back crashing to the garage floor. Too much risk of personal injury or damage to flooring in houses, businesses, etc... I drilled some additional holes in the backs and we used bailing wire to wire tie ourselves into the costumes. This proved to be a very secure method of holding the backs on but is difficult to do and get out of.
The robot girl costume is wired up and has a functional switch to turn the lights on and off as shown in the video below. I didn't have enough time to wire up the robot man. That will be done before we use the costumes again.
Then the bodies were riveted together using the .125" diameter pop-rivets. While pop-riveting one of the bodies, I managed to smash a slightly oversized part of my stomach in the handles of the riveter. I still have a bruise and a lump there over a week later. Be careful when using tools!
All of the accenting bits & pieces were secured using duct tape, pop-rivets, or screws. Most pieces came from an old computer I tore apart. Some came from old CNC controllers and the changing color LED power switch was from a newer computer case.
I used .375" diameter split plastic wire loom material around the arm and neck openings to protect us from the sheet metal edges. They were cut to size and duct taped at each end. This worked great and the plastic stayed in place. This was also used around the bottom of the robot girls body since it was much shorter and would be rubbing on the cardboard skirt and her clothing/stomach.
The backs were originally going to have piano hinges to open and close but that would have made the costumes almost impossible to get in and out of (unless we were contortionists). I used some magnetic cabinet closers on the girl costume which would hold the back on pretty good. Too much moving around though resulted in the back crashing to the garage floor. Too much risk of personal injury or damage to flooring in houses, businesses, etc... I drilled some additional holes in the backs and we used bailing wire to wire tie ourselves into the costumes. This proved to be a very secure method of holding the backs on but is difficult to do and get out of.
The robot girl costume is wired up and has a functional switch to turn the lights on and off as shown in the video below. I didn't have enough time to wire up the robot man. That will be done before we use the costumes again.
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