Introduction

After finishing my last project, I just had to do something new. I thought about what to do for months and had several good ideas, but finally I fell for Bender. I've always been a big Futurama fan and I was 100% certain I'd be able to do this, despite how much time and money I'd spend. I would never have been able to finish this project if I hadn't had help from my friends: Einhar Flå - for welding, Geir Gravem - who calculated the angles and proportions. So a big thanks to these guys.

Planning

How big was it going to be? And how to fit it all together? This needed to be thought through and I figured out that I could first build a full-size paper figure first, and then make all the mistakes I wanted without wasting time and sheet-metal.

Parts List

• 1 x Slim slot load DVD ROM/CD-burner
• 1 x VIA EPIA M 10000 Mini-ITX motherboard
• 1 x WLAN card with antenna
• 2 x 10 watt light-bulbs (12volt)
• 1 x 120 GB Hard Disk & 4 x external 250 GB disks using Firewire
• Metal ducts (for feet and hands)
• 3 x Metal kitchen bowls (for the top of the head and legs)
• 4-5 paper sheets
• 3 x 0,7 mm pieces of steel sheet-metal
• 1 x Digital voice recorder

After playing with different 3D programs I managed to print out this 3D-model. I used it as a blueprint where I filled in the measurements for size, and so on.

And so the work with the paper-figure began - calculating angles, finding the correct proportions, etc.

I now had a paper-figure, very crooked but usable. With this paper figure all we have to do is spread out each sheet of paper on the sheet-metal and use them as a template. When all templates and parts we need are finished, we can start building.

Building Bender

The eyes used 10 Watt Halogen bulbs running on 12 Volts, wired to the PSU. Since these are only 10 Watts and wired serially, they don't get very warm and don't use much power.

Then the cutting began.

The sheet-metal was cut, rolled until completely round and then welded together.

At last Bender was taking shape, but more work remained.