Restoration of a R2-D2 rc toy from 1977. I will restore and repair this droid to the shape it was long time ago in a galaxy far far away. The toy has some cosmetic issues, teh dome has lost it's shine and plastic has yeellowed, but also some technical issues. It's only making the sounds, not moving and the controller is not working perfectly.

I started by fixing the controller. It was an easy fix since the contacts just needed to be cleaned. After I got the controller working the toy itself was still only making sounds and not moving. This was resolved by oiling the motors and turnign them. In time all sorts of dirt and dust and rust collect in the motors and those prevent it from turning. The motors are not strng so even a little dirt can cause issues.

I fixed the yellowing plastic with process called retrobrigting that uses a chemical proicess to remove the yellowing. Here's my tutorial about it:    • How to remove yellowing from old plas...   and my tutrial on makign the retrobrighting box:    • Making the Ultimate Retrobrighting Box  

To fix the dome I needed to metal plate the plastic with real metal. The reason for this is that there are no good mirror chrome paints. There are however systems that look like a paint gun and you spray on liquids that make real metal deposit on the surface. Those systems are very expensive and I wanted to learn how to electroplate metal. I used a conductive paint to coat the plastic, then I copper plated a thicker surface that can take a bit of sanding and sanded and polished the surface. Finally I plated the copper with palladium. Here's the video of the power source:    • Making Simple Variable Bench Power Su...  

Finally I printed out some new stickers and cleaned rusty parts with vinegar in my ultrasonic cleaner. If you want to make your own, here's how I made mine:    • Making My Own Ultrasonic Cleaner  

Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video!

The bellow links to amazon are affiliate links. I get a small fee of anything you buy after clicking them, but you pay no more than without clicking. This is a great way to support my channel.
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SOME TOOLS FROM THIS PROJECT:
Screw driver set: https://amzn.to/3WB3YjP
Copper paint: https://amzn.to/44XJBSt
3D Printer: https://shareasale.com/u.cfm?d=108542...
Soldering Iron:https://amzn.to/3qH2ogq
Mini sander: https://amzn.to/3nSDbn7
Electric screw driver: https://amzn.to/3HmRAgn
Prying tools: https://amzn.to/3HkFSmt
Isopropyl alcohol: https://amzn.to/42vUdX0
Hydrogen peroxide: https://amzn.to/3O5qOyF
99.9% isopropyl alcohol (IPA): https://amzn.to/34Po8dX


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#restoration
#repair
#starwars
#asmr
#tech