K-9 man's best friend

So my dorm dosen't really allow pet's excpt for fish, but I'm not a fan of fish living or cooked. So now it comes down to how can I have a pet but not get fined or kicked out of my dorm?  I found the answer thanks to a cult classic Sci-fi show.... Dr. Who, like the good Dr. I'd build my own K-9 thus having a pet that doesn't violate the housing contract I signed, He also saved me a fortune by not having to buy dog food and his vet aka (Geek squad) bill's aren't that bad. Now this is a pretty long project and it can get pretty costly depending on how far you want to go with this build. I'd like to take this time to thank all the people at http://tardisbuilders.com/ and http://whoprops.proboards.com/index.cgi for all there knowledge and help. You can find a copy of k-9 plans at http://www.lespaceplie.com/drwho/k9.pdf 

Some of the items used:
1/4" Mdf
white spray paint
flat grey spray paint
skate wheels
tip of a Nerf dart
sand paper
dremel 
hot glue
solder and iron

This is what will be used to power my K-9.
Dimension Engineering Sabretooth Dual 25A ESC
Dual 120w Scooter motors (Got two electric scooter off ebay and used all the parts to power K9, batteries, wheels, drive system and motors.)

Also to be added will be:
RF Transmitter to power all the extras
Powered antenna.
LED's for the top panel, and head and flasher circuit.
8" photo frame with sound playback.
Two 3" car speakers
Motor drive for tail and ears.

Step 1 The Start

 I spent a couple of weeks searching the web for plans and drawing out my own based on downloaded pictures. The on-line plans are not very good and to be honest there seems to be a variety of different specs. I decided to take all the different measurements and average them to get something that resembling the correct dimensions.

I built the body and head out of  1/4 " MDF, mainly because it is light and very easy to work with. The whole complete build will not weigh that much so the 1/4" should be strong enough. I glued it all together with hot glue, very fast and very strong. I had decided that the top section of the body will be removable with all the electronics and drive motors fitted to the lower platform. This way working on the K9 will be very easy and I will not have to compromise the strength of the top section by cutting out pannels as doors. The very top panel in the body will also be removeable and fitted with all the switches and fuses. I also added an 8" cut out on the side you'll see why later.

It was hard to get the measurements for the inserts,on the sides,front and rear. so I played around until they kinda resembled the reference picture I was using. All the inserts were glued in place so that it would add to the top body strength. Accessing all the internals will be easy because the very top and lower sections will be removeable.

Comments

[ahrshin]

Thanks for all the comments,view and hopefully votes, I truly appreciate it. Again Thank you all and Keep an eye out for my next instructable, K9 was getting lonely so I had to start making him a new friend.

[teslasrule]

It is pretty awsome ! Like the actual ones!

[Nitrostreak]

There was a brief moment in which I thought that I would consider making this, but immediately afterward my brain scolded me quite harshly, informing me that my integrity as a Who fan was at stake, and that I must go through with a complete build if I wish to maintain my honor.

[tinker234]

could yo give me a copy of the plans my computer wont let me in the link

[koolkat6657]

***UPDATED***
I WILL make one of these!

[koolkat6657]

this is cool! i might try to make one myself.

[Mupton101]

Neat robot dog., but what does this have to do with spoiling your pet?

[SHIFT!]

Really great job on the "Shooty Metal Dog"! I'm curious though, how did you make the button dashboard on the back-were they MDF as well?

[eross-1]

Lol this is fantastic!

[DISTRKSHUN]

nice work. my dog would be terrified of this thing. but it's neat.

[jgeske]

AH! I'm watching Doctor Who right now!! Awesome! Looks great!

[avatar_i]

Dude!
How completely cool!
I hvae been watching- and still am! How hot is Karen Gillan, and who doesn't love Alex Kingston?!- Dr. Who, for 40 years! I AM a "Whovian"!!
Your K-9 is GREAT!

[JSUTHERLAND8]

Press board is quite heavy. Try door skin plywood. It is smoother and cleaner too.

[where is waldo]

love it! I'm a huge Dr. who fan and i always wanted to make a K-9 replica. PS: voice recognition would be cool

[jcarter-2]

LOVE IT i've seen the show sarah jane

[cchoi1]

incredible! Can it say 'AFFIRMATIVE'?

[doctor who 200]

love k9 my faveret doctor who carector

[NOODLE!]

that is amazing! ive been watching tom baker dr who my entire life and ive wanted to make a K-9 for AGES!

[itobor2525]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing; I may add a 'K-9' to my menagierie in the future. By the way, if no one has suggested it, auto body primer usually comes in flat gray and even white. As they are used in prefinished painting, they're both able to be sanded very smooth. Check you neighborhood auto parts store.

[spiderfurby]

Dude very nice job - i made one myself but could not fit the servo motors in due to the fact that i had a computer laptop in side. Which would responded with voice commands. My son would say "good morning k9" an d k9 would reply "hello master" so on. I was going to set up two large printer stepper motors and have it control by voice. but the project got bigger i had to build the tardis as well. but yours is magnificent.

[bubbaclaw]

He turned out great!
K9 was one of my favorite things about the Tom Baker years.

[dietz1]

Someone please make a 3D model of this and post it to Thingiverse!

[dulciquilt]

I hope you used high temp hot glue. The low temp will melt if left in a hot room or in front of a window where sun can hit it. You might want to grab a staple gun and reinforce the seams. I have had projects fall apart after being left in front of a window.

[harry potter rules]

dude you r a legend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EVERYONE VOTE FOR THIS IBLE FOR THE SPACE CONTEST.

I am sooooooooooo following u

Just amazing

could u use cardboard for the frame

[realmassage]

I am looking forward to making this project! Of course I will need my husband for the technical stuff (he's my personal computer/tech geek!). I would like to see the dimensions though, as that would really help in building my own. Looking forward to making my own K-9 unit!!!!! Thank you for the 'ible.

[DELETED_Magebear]

(removed by author or community request)

[realmassage]

I know the episode! Because I am an AVID Dr Who fan, I have tried watching ALL the episodes I can. I have Netflix, so most of them are available to me. Here is the episode with a bit of the description:

Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy
1977 NR 93 minutes
At the edge of the solar system, a mysterious virus infects the crew of an exploration ship. When Doctor Who (Tom Baker) arrives to investigate, the parasite turns him into the "Nucleus of the Swarm," a host for massive new proliferation. Racing against time, he miniaturizes clones of himself and Leela (Louise Jameson), and the two enter his body to confront the virus. Who's robot companion, K-9, makes his debut in this episode.

That should be what you need to look it up and watch it. Unfortunately not available on Streaming, but you can still get the disc. As an aside, many of the episodes were lost in the beginning, as they got taped over - the people borrowing them didn't realize there were no copies of them, and tape was really expensive back then, so they recorded over a lot of stuff . . . . very sad!

[hburkhardt]

Actually, the Doctor built K-9 Mk. II and Mk. III. Mk. I stayed with Leela and Andred on Gallifrey, Mk. II stayed with Romana in E-space, Mk. III ended up with Sarah Jane Smith.

Only Mk. I was built by the director at the research institute. :)

[realmassage]

In a later episode, K-9 gave his life to save the Doctor, and he rebuilt him (Mk IV) for Sarah Jane so she would not be deprived of a valuable friend.

[king_grimloc]

The episode you are thinking of is "The Invisible Enemy" from Season 15.

[VidDroog]

K-9 is also a regular character on the Dr Who "spin-off", "The Sarah Jane Adventures"; and seem to recall that he even has/had his own animated series...

great instructable idea

[ahrshin]

Oops, well I'm relatively new to Dr.who and haven't really seen the older Who's sorry for the inaccuracies :( I did look on wiki a moment ago and it says K9 first appearance was on the episode The Invisible Enemy. Maybe that's the episode you saw as a kid. :) thanks for the comment and info

[Treknology]

At the end of "The Invisible Enemy", K9 is given to the Doctor. At the end of "The Time Invasion", K9 and Leela both elect to remain on Galifrey, and the lone Doctor on board the Tardis reveals a cardboard box labelled K9 Mk II.

The prop continued to it's final appearance in "The Time Warrior" where K9 and Romana (II) remained in E-Space.

K9 Mk III turned up out of the blue at Sarah-Jane's residence claiming to be a gift from the Doctor in the pilot for "K9 and Friends" which did not proceed. That is why it is in Sarah-Jane's possession in the new episode "School Reunion" where it is destroyed and replaced with the Mk IV rebuild which appears in "The Sarah-Jane Adventures".

Yours is essentially the Mk III version because of the handle added at the top near the control panel, however you have omitted the handle which goes on the lower front of the body. Otherwise, an extremely well done version amongst the myriad copies that encircle the globe.

I've not seen it, but I understand that the animated version bears as little resemblance to the original as a Big Mac has to a Hamburger.

[cloudifornia]

Very cool. Better than the wifes' chatty furbie. You get my vote for this challenge. I still can't figure out what this not-dog is doing in the pet challenge?

[ahrshin]

Its a pet for those who can't have pets

[cloudifornia]

Sorry. It's not a pet. It's a machine.

[Nano_Burger]

I think you should change the title to, "K-9, a Timelord's best Friend."

[scaramanga3]

same!

[zack247]

nice.

very good work with the rusty paint job too, i could never do that :P

[lambsb]

Affirmative! I've thought about doing this myself b/c I am a fan of both Dr Who (Tom Baker with K-9 was my favorite) and robotics projects.