R2D2 5 Port USB Power Supply Unit. This Is the Droid Your Looking For.

I have all these nice USB  lamps and other thing's I have been making and I needed a power supply for these so they don't use up all of USB's on my PC. So I had this old R2D2 toy from like 1993  that has been collecting dust & cigarette tar for the last 18 years so i figured why not make him into a cool USB power HUB.
The USB HUB I am using don't transfer data but the power side works just fine, For those of you who want the whole shebang find a good working USB HUB that will fit in him.

Safety is always FIRST!!! 
This Instructable  requires the use of a very sharp knife,dremel rotary tool and a drill.
Be sure to wear gloves and Eye Protection!!!!
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 PARTS

1. 6 inch StarWars R2D2 toy.
2. Spare USB cable.
3. Female USB receptacle.
4. 4 Port USB hub. (mine was broken only power)
5. Red LED  for this project, you may add as many as you like I went with only 1.

TOOLS
 
1. Good solid utility knife with a shape Blade.
2. 1/8 & 3/16 Flathead Screwdriver's #1 Phillips Screwdriver.
3. Soldering Iron, flux & solder.
4. Hot glue Gun.
5. needle nose pliers.
6. wire cutters and strippers.

First place I started was on the 3rd leg, This will take some time to split the entire toy as it is glued very well, I spent around 2 hour's getting it apart.

 1. with your sturdy Knife slowly start to score the glue line try very hard to stay on the line you don't want a nice long slash in your toy. Once you have scored good enough to sink your blade in carefully work it around until the case starts to split then pry apart with 1/8 flat head screwdriver.

Be very careful the case can rip!  Put all your parts in a safe place  as not lose any, You cant go out and buy or order replacement parts, there is always ebay this toy is a 1993  Lucus arts ltd. R2D2. After I totaly tore this toy down I realized that I didn't need to take the 3rd leg apart, However if you want to use it once your done it will have to be modified  depending on which USB hub you are using.
there are many styles to choose from.


2. Use your 3/16 Flat head screwdriver to gently pry off the legs at the shoulder of the beast.  ( Think about it )

3. Just as we did with the 3rd leg use your knife to carefully to score the sides of R2 until you can get your  1/8 & 3/16 Flat head screwdrivers in to gently pry apart.

4. Now we will remove the slider for the 3rd leg, I did not need to use this again for this project however if you plan on reusing the 3rd leg U will need this.

5. R2's head will slide out of it track nothing to do but take it off. 

6. This is the back of the R2's front half inside are 2 small compartments for accessories that came with him, Remove the 4 phillips screw's to remove compartments.

7.  Last are the  rotor's for the arms the will just pop off in your hand they are not glued.

R2 should now be disassembled.

 

This is a breakdown of all R2's parts.

1. We need to remove the guide for R2's 3rd leg  front half only.  It is molded and need's to be cut out I used wire cutters & needle nose pliers and the mighty dremel to complete this task.

1. we need to prep the inside of the body to accept the USB HUB.  This is the back side if you will of R2, For this USB HUB I found that  I should leave guide but remove the 2 post's that are in this half of the guide as it made a handy spot for the HUB to fit into nice and secure.  

2. Now that the post's have been removed the USB HUB will fit properly.

3.  Bust out your safety glasses and dremel it's go time!  As best as you can cut out a nice slot for the USB HUB to poke it face out the back side of R2.  Go slow and easy the plastic will melt really easy  so GO SLOW I can't stress that enough.
 
4. Clean off the burs inside & out.

5. Install the USB HUB add a few drops of hot glue to insure it stays in place.
 The HUB is installed on to the next step. 

I removed the Blue LED that was on the USB HUB and simply replaced it with a larger red LED not exactly sure of the size but it fit's perfectly in R2's lower sensor eye.

1. replace LED with red LED.

2. Drill a hole in R2's lower sensor eye.

3. This slot had to be cut in with the USB HUB I am using, This will keep R2's head from turning so make sure that you know where his dome is looking before you cut this slot in. You don't want his dome on backwards....

4.  Now we will install the red LED in the hole we drilled  on R2's lower sensor eye, Add some hot glue to lock it down.

1.  Install the door's on the your left R2's right, the door's on this side are not suitable for a USB port. then replace the compartment and screw down.

2.  Now with this compartment we need to dremel a hole out to fit the female USB port. Again GO SLOW!

3.  Install the USB port and hot glue to hold in place.

4. Install the compartment and screw down.

1. Cut off the USB connector off the HUB cut it close to connector so you have as much wire as you need.

2. We need to drill a hole in the bottom rear for the USB cable.

3.  Insert USB cable threw hole.

4.  Use a zip tie to keep the USB cable from being pulled out of the device. 

5. Inside the USB cable there are 4 wires most often red black green and white, we will only be using the red & black for this project as I am only using this for a power device not data. So snip the green & white away.

6. Time to solder the wires, there are 3 sets of red and black wires tie all the red together flux and solder, Do the same with the black wires.  All the wiring is complete at this point.

1. Install the arm rotor's.

2. slide front cover on the back half with the dome on.

3. snap the arms back on 

4. Plug Him in and give R2D2 a test run by energizing your LED Instructables!

On a further note I did not glue the body back together in case I decide to upgrade to data as well down the road, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it.