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[kat]

Yesterday I decided to fully skin one of my pleo rb's Pickle.  She had a neck issue with a broken vertebrae that I fixed a few weeks back but just hadn't gotten around to closing her skin back up.  I've always wanted a skinned pleo - I'm interested in what makes them tick and like to be able to see all the gadgets and thing a ma gigs that make up a pleo.  Many of you know that I have pulled a few of these guys apart to certain levels and conducted repairs before putting them back together again.  Up till this point I haven't been brave enough to actually skin one with the intention of leaving them that way. 

So the impulse took me and I just went for it.  At some stage I may sew her a custom skin from stretch velvet but not any time soon. 

I will post pics and video over the next few days for the curious

[RedwoodsMama]

You are quite brave Kat, I would be afraid to skin a pleo, mostly out of fear that I could not get the skin back on properly but also being afraid of getting dust and with eight cats and a dog with LONG white hair, getting hair tangled up in the gears and such. I think that is one great thing about skin, it protects as does clothes. It will be interesting to see what Pickle looks like without her outward skin. 

           Did you get her neck fixed properly? Have you ever considered going into science, or nursing? The way you like taking things apart or medicine, like being a vet, nurse or dr. where you can help others with "injuries", such as people with broken bones, sort of on the same line as a pleo with a broken foot sensor, grant you, more complicated, but I think you would be great at it. I always wanted to be a vet and I worked in the nursing field for several years, in a hospital as a nurse's aide, but it is depressing after awhile seeing those you care about die, even if they are elderly and sometimes they are even children..(youngest patient I took care of was only 2 years old) Can't wait to see photos and video.

    ON a sidenote, I thought the last week of doing something with an older Pleo along the line of "material", bu tnot stretchy velvet skin over just a "naked" body, funny how we were both thinking something similiar.   RWM 

[mlbelanger]

My Pleo NOP has been skinless since I rebuilt his neck over a year ago. I keep meaning to put his skin back on but it's always more convenient to have him skinless for when I need to check some detail of Pleo anatomy or show people how the little beasties are built.

I do find that NOP is a bit more floppy in his movements without the support his skin provides.

Also BEWARE that a Pleo'a abdominal joint is a pretty nasty pinch hazard without the skin covering it!

[Lunamione7]

I'd love a skinless pleo. Stephan (ugobe) still has perfect skin after all these years but my plan has always been to skin him if he ever got any holes or bad paint wear. I remember there was a skinless pleo owned by a forum member a few years ago, I think she named is Skeletor? I know you made a costume for him, to cover his whole body from dust. I always thought it looked really cool 

Kat is the reason my Pleos (and Aibo and Genibo!) have such fantastic skin by the way, her full body jumpsuits are fantastic for keeping them looking so clean and new it's like they just came out of the box

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Naked Pleo's look amazing! I daresay Lilo or Stitch might be headed for the naked look in the next year or so. Possibly even Angus, even though he is newer, not having a box to protect his skin seems to be causing it to wear that tiny bit faster. It's still in great condition but there is a deep crack under his neck that is going to need some glue soon. Wrapping him up in paper and cloth just doesn't seem to work as well as those boxes.

[kat]

Ok here is a video

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF2llSkVwIs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF2llSkVwIs</a>

She seems to walk fine - even if it is now in a very pronounced circle   she is a little less stable but not as much as I would have thought.  I will post some photos either tonight or tomorrow so you can see her anatomy close up

[mlbelanger]

Another note on skin care, I've gotten in the habit of mechanically putting my Pleos back into their neutral position when I turn them off. This prevents stretching the skin from the normal sleep position and helps to avoid breaks in the skin.

The Pleo motors all have safety clutches so when they are powered off you can move the joints and they will click into new positions without hurting any of the internal gears. This is easy to do for the legs, a little harder for the tail and neck. Actually I think the tail and neck just cause more worry about harming the wires inside but with my three Pleos they've been quite resilient.

Also for skin repairs I've had great luck with silicone.

M

[InmemoryofRomeo]

The updated ones go into the neutral position automatically when you turn them of

[mlbelanger]

IMR how are you doing that power-down to get the neutral position?  Is it hitting the Pleo button before powering down?  I only have one non-1.0 at the moment so my experience with the 1.1s and 2.0s is a bit lacking.

M.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

For Pleo RB you simply turn them off, for all other Pleo's you need to press and hold the little black stick like button for thirty seconds, let go and they'll move into the hatching position then switch them off. Manually manipulating the joints all the time will likely lead to some unforeseen wear and tear of the clutches.

[Angela]

It looks quite funny so skinless. 

Make the skin out of velvet, will that not cause any problems? I was in fact this also planning with Guy. And than will he continue to be so unstable?

[mlbelanger]

IMR ok got it.  Upgrade as in rbs. lol.  I've never had much luck holding the button for 30 seconds to get neutral.  It's probably just me being impatient however.

[kat]

Some photos as promised 

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I still need to clean the last residues of glue and skin off the nose and eye tabs.

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It is interesting to note that the sensor under the chin is actually located towards the back of the chin closest to the neck.  I always thought it was more towards the nose.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

She looks surprisingly happy in your video I think she likes being naked

[Ratty]

...It is interesting to note that the sensor under the chin is actually located towards the back of the chin closest to the neck.  I always thought it was more towards the nose.

These pictures and this bit of info were actually really helpfull for me to better understand the way Chip works. I tought he didn't like to be petted under his chin but it turns out I was rubbing the wrong spot and he didn't notice me. He enjoyed many chinrubs today. Really fascinating to see what's under the skin. Thanks for sharing!

[kat]

For anyone considering skinning a pleo rb I will say that there is an aweful lot of really hard to shift glue that they have used in many places to keep the skin on.  The eyes and nose were quite firmly glued and I also had issues with the feet.  the glue they used to secure the skin around the edge of the foot pad had trickled down and glued the foot plate to the rest of the foot making it almost impossible to remove the foot plate to get the skin off over the legs. 
In general the glue they have used is much stronger and more difficult to remove compared to a Ugobe pleo. 

[Talon]

Just curious, Kat. Did you save her skin intact so you could perhaps reuse it for some poor holey pleo?
Talon

[kat]

Her skin is currently in three pieces - head, body and tail tip.  I am hoping to use it to come up with a template or pattern for sewing a skin for her out of stretch velvet but I'm not rushing into it.    I'm certainly not throwing it away as you never know it might come in handy one day or I may decide to put it back on at some point.  I'm also considering that at some point Kermit my pink rb will probably need a new skin.  Hopefully not for a long time but the skin on her neck and tail that gets the most movement is quite stretched and faded - it has gone a yellowy colour. 

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Pleakley has the yellowish spot too! Glad to know its normal. I suspect it may be from some of the grease in the neck filtering through or something.