R2D2 trashcan

This instructable is a step- by- step to make an average everyday trash-can into a R2D2 trash-can! You will need:
~A trash can (round)
~cardboard (about 2mm thickness or less and some more sheets that are about an inch or so thick)
~X-acto knife
~ Computer paper
~Printer
~Microsoft word
~Computer
~Templates found below in pics
~ Duct tape and scotch tape
~C clamps
~Glue (I recommend Beacon's 3 in 1 advanced Craft Glue)
~ Time (about 6-8 hours total depending on speed, quality, etc)
OPTIONAL:
~Musical card ( preferrably playing starwars theme or being a recordable one for artoo noises)
~RC car
~other

Step 1: The beginning

First, find a suitable trash-can. Preferably round and either a simple cylinder or with a slant towards the base. ( Simple cylinder works best but slanted is more acurate) for mine, it was a 9.5 inches tall and 7.75 inches diameter

Now what I did on word was come up with the basic design of R2's controls. While it is fairly basic, the majority of the detail is there. (I apologize to those that want exact details) I colored it in on word and printed it off. This mkaes up the details on the front of the body.  I simply taped and glued that onto the body of the trashcan. now. here's where it gets dicey. If your trashcan is a perfect cylinder, it will fit quite nicely arround. If its not, then you will neeed to cut the paper to fit once its been attached, this will leave small gaps where the trashcan is exposed.

Step 2: A bit further along

Well, now that the front is done, you probably want to do the back. Use the same method as before, just with the different document. In a perfect world, the two documents would line up perfectly, eliminating the need for filler. BUT alas, the world is cruel, and it may very well be that you need to cut triangles to fill in the space. There is another template for radiator like details on the sides that go behind the legs. Attach all pieces of paper as before.

Step 3: The LEGS

Now, with the outer covering done, your trashcan should make as a passable r2.  But there are some things missing... like his legs. For these, I simply drew out the basic leg pattern, and cut it out of heavy inch thick cardboard. (note when cutting cardboard that has large empty spaces, it is necessary to make sure you are cutting straight up and down and not at an angle. This will leave you with a nice flat edge.  

MAKE SURE TO TRACE ALL CARDBOARD ONTO WHITE PAPER AT THIS POINT, IT WILL BE A PAIN TO TRACE ONCE EVERYTHING IS ATTACHED. 

I cut out four duplicates of the same pattern. I made two pairs, with two glued together to form one leg.

Step 4: Coverings for legs

Now that the legs are completed, you will probably notice the fact that the edges have holes from where the gaps are in the cardboard ( refer to pic) What I did for these, is I took the width of the leg, and made 2mm thick cardboard strips to cover it. Taking glue and water, I wet each strip down, then bent it to the contours of the cardboard, giving it the look of a solid, molded piece. while the cardboard was in place, I glued it down and waited for it to dry. 

Now, if you were fortunate enough to trace the leg design, and the cardboard strips onto white paper before, simply cut those out and paste them onto the cardboard frame. When finished, this should give the apperance of a solid white leg, and should not resemble cardboard. (If you skipped the tracing, simply lay the leg out on white paper and trace it now, but the edging will be a bit difficult

Step 5: Attaching the legs

Now, I ran into some problems when attacking this step. As my trashcan is not a perfect cylinder, the legs, if laid flush against the can, will lean inwards.  For me, this wasn't a huge problem, but does decrease stability. what would be ideal is to screw to legs into place. (This would require a chunk of wood in the upper portion of the leg which, if you want can be done.)  However, I decided to just glue 'em on. I glued each on individually and used C-clamps to hold the legs in place while it dried.

Step 6: THE THIRD LEG!!!!!

But r2 has a third leg! Does he not?? FOr this, I simply traced the same foot I had from the toher legs, and cut out four copies from the thick cardboard. after gluing these on, I covered it with paper and cardboard like before to give it a finished look. I attatched this leg by creating a 3d rectangle from the cardboard, and cutting it at an appropriate angle, covering with paper and gluing to body.

Step 7: DOME

Now, you should have only the head left to do. This is... interesting. Im sure there are probably MANY ways to do this, but I choose to make it out of cardboard. I did this by using the template found here:

 http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/boba-fett-helmet-blueprints-templates-10497/

I simply cut off sections to make it the right size. I then covered it with paper and attached details that I designed on Word. I used a doodad that was lying arround and painted it to make the "eye" on his dome, then glued it on. To attach the dome to the can, I took and glued a piece of cardboard to the inside of the can to act as a proper surface, and duct-taped another piece of folded cardboard to that. I then connected the loose end of cardboard to the  inside of the dome and presto. You should be done at this point.

Step 8: Extras!!

There are some exciting things you may want to try with this project! I for one, took a musical card and inserted into the dome so that it plays the star wars theme every time its opened! I would love to take a small RC car and place it in the Third leg in order to make it mobile. (Taking out the trash just got a lot more fun) More details can be added to the legs, dome, etc. Make it yours, make it proud, take the galaxies favorite droid and make it yours! 

Comments

[vishalapr]

How did you add the word files, could you please tell me as I would like to add some files to my ibles.
And cool ible by the way

[Robert595]

Thanks! And when creating a step, hit the "upload images/files" button. Then select files that you want to upload. Good luck!

[vishalapr]

but when I do that my files get added as blank images and not as files listed below, but as you keep going to the ending of the images then the files are shown as white images, so could you tell me how to add files so that they are visible at the ending of the photo instructable so that it is easy for anyone to download them
Thanks a lot

[Robert595]

Not sure what to tell you... I tried it again and it worked fine for me... did you try publishing the files? Maybe they just appear as blank images in the editing window?

[vishalapr]

Nope they appeared as blank images even after I published it! But don't worry I found out a way!
But now I have a new problem, if I try to embed more than 1 video it doesn't want to embed the second one! Do you by any chance know how to embed 2 videos

[Robert595]

I have not yet tried to add video to a project... Ill have to try it and get back to you!

[vishalapr]

Ya thanks but I solved the problem!
Thanks for helping..!

[crazycorncake]

holy fudge this is awesome

[Robert595]

Thanks! If you gie it a try, post pics please!

[ChrysN]

Nice!