FOOT ASSEMBLY AND BUILD
Construction of R2's Center and Outer
Feet. I'm using Jerry Green's steel feet for strength. Even
though steel weighs more than aluminum, I figured it will help out with
the Center-of-Gravity of R2. Plus, your not going to bend these
very easily if you run into something!
CENTER FOOT CONSTRUCTION/UPGRADES
10/05/07 : Parts of Center Ankle upgrade. Shows new center 1" thick block, Guy's mounting block and
now the JAG Center Foot "Shell".... Will still machine out the center of Center Ankle Mounting
Block to reduce weight in the future when I get the time.
Now on to mounting the new Center Ankle Block...
10/06/07 : Machined 1.0" thick 6061-T6 aluminum block fastened to Center Ankle Mounting
Block. This will transfer all the Center Foot weight directly to the Mounting Block, taking most
of the stress off the JAG Center Ankle. Block is held on by 2 each 1/4-20 UNC machine screws.
10/08/07 : Drilling out the holes that will be used for the Center Foot Shell Stops.
Center pivot has been installed.
10/08/07 : Shot showing new Center Ankle block and AL Foot Shell stops. Still need to
cleanup/shape Center Foot Block and paint...
06/12/07 : Broken JAG center aluminum ankle. Caused by weld failure. There was very little
welding done on the INSIDE of the part of the ankle that projects into the foot.
01/19/07 : Bottom view of JAG's steel Center Foot. I decided to remove the
bottom "molding" to allow addition of a "ground effect" strips along the inside edges. Also will
allow more room for the dual 3" swivel casters.
01/19/07 : I carefully cut into each corner of the bottom plate with a Dremel disk, then ground
down the welds inside the foot shell and lifted out the bottom plate.
01/19/07 : Bottom view of the center foot shell with bottom plate removed.
03/16/07 : Since they are made of steel, I used Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal primer part number
7769 paint as I have had good results with it in the past on steel parts, like my CJ-7 Jeep.
03/16/07 : Next, after 30 minutes I applied 2 coats of Rust-Oleum Satin White number 7791.
03/16/07 : Made up a Mounting Plate for the two each 3 inch Center Foot Casters.
I had to hog out a lot of material in the center to allow access to the Half Moon mounting screws.
Mounting Plate made up of 2 ~1/2" pieces of plywood. They were glued and screwed together.
Then cut at an angle to follow the interior foot contour.
03/16/07 : Drilled and counter-sunk 2 holes on each side to screw through the side of the foot
to mount the wood caster plate.
03/16/07 : Under side view of the foot shell.
03/16/07 : Here is the Caster Mounting Plate attached to the Center Foot shell. I used 4 ea.
#10 flat head stainless steel screws about 1.50" long screwed in from the side (2 each per side)
of the Foot Shell prior to mounting the Half Moons.
Once the Caster Plate is secured, I then use the center access hole to fasten the outer Half Moons in
place using hardware that came with the foot kit.
Casters were purchased at a local Harbor Freight store. They have a hard wheel with about
a 0.25" outer soft rubber "tire". Tires are 3" diameter x 7/8" wide
03/16/07 :Here shows the Center Foot assembly mounted to the JAG's aluminum center
ankle. Still have to paint the Half Moons and make the bottom "ground" effect strips. I put the
darn Foot Strips on backwards (dooh!) and need to remove and re-glue...
First Created: March 19th, 2007
Last updated: October 18th, 2007
Time: 0745 EST