Hinging the Panels

There are two main choices when selecting hinges for the droid, namely, Kevin Holmes' ultimate hinges or Carsten's Universal Hinge.  After much internal debate (i.e. me talking to myself), I opted for Carsten's more economical hinges.  I ordered extras just to be on the safe side.

Carsten's Universal Hinges before assembly

Carsten's Universal Hinges after assembly

The hinges come with a pre-drilled hole on the part that attaches to the panel.  This is to allow for a countersunk screw to be attached.  The hinge is designed for the part that attaches to the inside of the inner dome to be glued.  I didn't like the idea of simply gluing the hinge to the dome so I drilled a hole to allow a countersunk screw to attach the hinge to the inner dome.  For good measure I also glued (E6000) the hinge in place.  

Captive 4-40 studs are popular choices for countersinking and attaching items to the dome.  These studs aren't readily available in Ireland so I used M3 screws instead.  Finding a M3 countersink drill bit in Ireland was also an issue so I resorted to simply using a drill bit large enough to create a crater sufficiently wide and deep to allow the M3 screw head to sit flush with the dome.  This method is less precise than using a countersink drill bit but it works.

It took a few days to finish hinging all the dome panels - did 2 or 3 a day.  By the end, I was happy to see the back of it.  

For the most part I managed to align the hinges and panels correctly to allow the panel to swing open without catching.  On the two or three where I failed miserably, I used a small file on the panel to give me enough clearance.

One issue I found with Carsten's Universal Hinges was the looseness of the nuts.  Any drilling, movement etc and the nuts would work their way loose.  Another builder mentioned this on the forum as well.  I need to buy loctite to keep the nuts in place.  I'm holding off doing that until I have the servo's attached and I can determine what degree of stiffness the servos will work with.