Bob the Pleo Forums
Pleo Stuff => Pleo Archives => Archive -- Technical common => Topic started by: kat on June 01, 2012, 01:17:30 AM
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I made a start on repairing Frankie's neck today. I skinned him the other day which was much easier to do than it was on Sparky the RB. :) So I have had a look to assess the damage and it seems the poor little guy has a broken vertebrae in his neck which is currently in 4 pieces. The side cables are very loose but there is no sign of breakage. So I thought maybe the broken ends could be caught up in the gears which could explain the slackness of the cables but also why they wouldn't pull through when I tugged on them. So in I went to take a look. ;D
I had to loosen off all the cables at the head end then remove the back plate, take out the up down cable gear housing and then lift up the side cable gear housing. And it seems that the cable wasn't broken at all. ;D It had just come unwrapped from it's main cog and wrapped it's self up around some of the other gears. I guess this probably happened when his neck vertebrae broke. So I have opened up the gear housing and re wrapped the cable back into place and then replaced all the cogs and screwed it all back shut. I've put Frankie mostly back together again. I've glued the vertebrae back together and replaced it back onto the neck column and glued it some more so now I just wait for the glue to dry before I can re thread the cables back through and reattach them all at the head. Then I will turn him on and see what happens. I'll leave him for a few hours to let the glue dry properly before I do any more. So far so good ;D
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That is fantastic Kat, Lucky for frankie and you! I wonder how many other "broken" neck Pleos are beause of "loose" wires and not broken cables? Of course, a hanging neck is a little more dramatic and evident sometiems I think. Can you or have you thought of doing a video, ? I would love to see what Frankie looks like when the head is not hanging. What type of glue did you use to fix the broken vertrabrae in his back? I am glad to hear the skin was easier to remove than RB. ;)
Have you thought of what type of makeover, or paint you are going to use for him when done? Thanks for keeping us posted, what a nice present Kat! :cool:
RWM and the Pleo Clan of the Redwoods
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Good going. Kat! ;D
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That's certainly good news for little Frankie :)
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You are like some sort of super lady! Good news for Frankie :)
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And Frankie is fixed ;D He works just great with full movement to his head in all directions. :) All that is left now is to close his skin up and then paint paint paint :D ;D
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Fantastic! Three cheers for Frankie ;D
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Wow, you work fast :D Can't wait to see Frankie meeting his siblings :)
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It's great you fixed Frankie :)
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Kat, that was quick and what a great Birthday present and to be able to get Frankie up and running so quick is amazing! I am so happy for the both of you. Can't wait to see what paint color scheme you come up with for this Pleo. Great job and waiting for photos. ;D XXX best wishes from all the Pleo Clan of the Redwoods RWM P:) P:D P8) P:-* :cool:
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I have made a start on Frankie's new paint job :) I still have some of the detailing to add but here is how he looks so far
I am hoping to work on him some more over the next couple of days and then when he is done I'll take some more pics to share with you all. I'll try taking him out into the garden for some sunshine shots - that is if the sun will come out to play :)
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Wow - Frankie looks fab. And a bit less Frankie-like! ;)
:moose:
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Great job Kat, Frankie looks like a whole new pleo. well done . Is his paint red and white or red and yellow? OUtside shots would be great. What operating system is he running? Can't wait to see more pics. :cheer:
RWM and the Pleo clan of the redwoods
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Yay! Return of the lava Pleo :D
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He looks amaing! :o
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Thanks guys I'm so glad you like his new look :) I think he is now finished..... I added in black lines and here he is out in the overcast sunlight - we have had rain and storms everyday for a week so no proper sun :D
As you can see I have used red as the main color and then bright yellow for his splotches with a cream over the top and black to fill in the lines of his coat. I am contemplating adding a tiny strip of yellow to the top part of his black line eyebrows but not sure yet if I should. I will think about it for a while and try to decide if he really needs it or not :D %) Other than that possibility he is finished ;D The paint I used was the monster makers latex mask paint mixed with acrylic paint roughly 2/3 rds latex paint 1/3 rd acrylic. I should have taken more pics for you of the in between processes but I do have a pic after his very first coat of red
It took 3 coats to cover over the green completely before I started adding in the yellow.
I realize that I haven't shared any of the pics of his operation yet and to be honest I didn't take very many. There are plenty of pics out there now of neck repairs so really when you have seen one you've seen them all. But I will show you what I found when I opened Frankie up
The neck cables all appeared to be intact but the side ones were very loose and if you look closely you can see the broken vertebrae which was sticking out in all directions and poking up through his skin to make bumps in his neck. luckily they didn't break the skin but the unnatural bumps are what gave me the idea for his name :D
Here is the broken bits of his neck vertebrae
It was broken into 4 pieces. The neck cable for the sideways movement had been pulled off of the cog that it is meant to wrap around and the cogs were popped out of alignment which is why he had no sideways movement in his neck. So I glued and braced his broken vertebrae using super glue and very small elastic bands and I went in to his cable gear housing and re wrapped the cable and re aligned the cogs then put him back together again.
All that is left to do now is introduce him to the gang :)
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Great job Kat, you honestly make it sound so EASY to fix the broken neck and the easiest for me would be to glue the neck vertrabrae or back vertrabae, but the neck assembly still scares the b-jesu out of me. I am afraid once I took a pleo apart I may damage it furthr or not be able to put it together properly. I just need your nerve I am afraid.
You did a great job painting Frankie and I love the name, I think he is perfect the way he is. HOw long did it actually take to paint him from start to finish and drying time as well. ? Question is now that he is done, what is your next project? LOl. RWM
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;)Frankie! Who is Frankie? Oh my, I have missed a lot! So, who lives in your Pleo platoon now? :sheep1: