Introduction: Star Wars X-34 Landspeeder Bed

About: I am a hobbyist maker of electronics and furnishing, part geek / nerd and part family guy.

My 6 year old son was moving from his first "baby"-room to his first own children's room this summer. As he had still his first bed we needed a new and larger one. I asked him what kind of bed he wanted and he answered "a spaceship". When I heard "spaceship" I immediatly though of Star Wars as I was raised with the old triology. So there were several possibilities: Star Destroyer, Millennium Falcon, Landspeeder, Corellian Corvette, TIE-Fighter... When I looked at the designs I thought that the best "bed-shaped" one was the Landspeeder. So I build one at weekends and after work over several months. It was finished (including an Arduino based light and soundsystem) end of August 2018. And here it is...

Step 1: Planning

The first step was to look for inspiration and pictures of the original design. In the pictures you will find the official Sorosuub X-34 Landspeeder schematics I found on the Star Wars Wiki page: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/%22Landspeeder%22_T...

After analysing these I drew my own schematic, after measuring a bought 200 x 90 cm slatted frame, which was the chosen slatted frame for the mattress. We also chose the mattress at this point, because the height of the mattress influenced the height of the sides of the landspeeder

Step 2: Buying Material

several cut MDF boards 16 & 19mm thickness (19 mm was the thickest MDF they had at my store, if available take 38mm for wings, tail fin, rear & front plate), measurements below for reference

2x 201 x 26 x 1,9 cm (sides)
1x 93 x 46,5 x 1,9 cm (front base)
1x 90 x 26 x 1,9 cm (front side)
1x 90 x 24,5 x 1,9 cm (back side)
1x 90 x 48,5 x 1,6 cm (front cover)
4x 90 x 20 x 1,9 cm (bottom)
2x 70 x 155 x 1,9 cm (top rear + wings)
4x 52 x 37 x 1,9 cm (lower wings)
2x 18 x 18 x 1,9 cm (frontplate)
2x 37 x 30 x 1,9 cm (tail fin)
2x 205 x 13 x 1,9 cm (stand sides)
2x 60 x 13 x 1,9 cm (stand front & back)
4x 22 x 13 x 1,9 cm (side stand (to further stabilize) <- not necessary

7x 200x4x4cm quarter shaped wood strip

14x 200 x 5 x 1,9 cm PVC flat section (round)

1x corrugated sheet metal angled strip

2x hinges (for front cover)

1x bending ply wood 0,5 cm thickness for front

3x 50 cm DN110 PVC pipe + 3x DN110 PVC pipe collar (for exhaust ports)

1x twin wall sheet (polycarbonat) 200 x 100 x 1 cm (for day cover)

1x 3mm plexiglas sheet (for windshield)

6x M6 hanger bolts (to attach engine turbines)
6x metal brackets (to attach windshield & turbine fans)

screws

paint (color of choice)

Electronics:
1x Arduino Nano
1x JQ6500 sound module
1x HC SR 501 PIR sensor
1x linear slide potentiometer
1x light sensor module
2x 2W 8 ohm speaker (I had old ones from a defect TV)
1x 10 segment LED bar graph
1x 5m 150 LED 5V WS2812 addressable LED strip
1x 5V 10 amp power supply
3x momentary push buttons
1x 3W high power LED (star shaped) red (I used a RGB high power LED, but only connected the red one)
1x collimator lens for high power LED (to focus beam)

wires, solder, solder station, resistors, prototyping board

3D printer / or printing service of choice to print STL files / PLA filament

Tools

Step 3: Building Frame

Building the frame is relatively easy

connect the sides with the back and front with several screws & wood glue (at a right angle of course), make sure that you drill holes / counterbore before drilling in the screws to assure that the MDF does not splinter (this is true for all screws...)

connect the 4 bottom boards in uniform distance at the bottom glueing & screwing them to the sides at the bottom

Using a pendulum saw, saw the front base in a half circle fitting the width of the bed and connect it to the front with wood glue and screws

sand all surfaces

connect the bending ply wood to the front bottom half circle using nails & wood glue

in equal intervals (5mm) saw gaps into the quarter wood strip to be able to bend them to the shape of the front half circle. Sand all surfaces of the wood strips. Make sure that you overlap the wood strip to the main frame to add stability to the bending ply wood and the attached half circle bottom. Attach (using screws from the inside) the quarter wood strips to the top and bottom of the frame.

glue the rear top and wing boards together to get a 38mm thick board

cut the rear top and wing boards into form using a pendulum saw

using a circular saw at an angle, cut an angle into the lower wing to allow them to be attached to the frame without any gap

using wood filler fill all gaps at the attached wood strips and the wings/top rear

sand all

attach PVC profiles to the bending ply wood and sides with installation glue.

Step 4: Building Details

Attach the cut and sanded rear top & wings to the back of the frame.

Attach cut and sanded tail fin to the rear top.

fill all gaps using wood filler.

sand, sand, sand

using the hanger bolts attach the PVC pipe to the wings and tail fin, fill gaps with wood filler, sand.

3D print (3x) the Engine In STL to attach to the front of the PVC pipes with installation glue.

paint

cut front cover MDF to half circle fitting to the front container. Cut a grip hole with a center bit. sand, paint

attach to front frame with two hinges, attach a stopper at the appropriate height at the inner front of the container to assure that the front cover is even with the frame when closed.

spray paint the PVC profiles (assure that the rest of the bed is covered)

bend corrugated metal profile to fit to quarter wood strips

attach painted and detailed pipe collars to the back of the frame (below the top rear) as exhaust port

Step 5: Building Day Cover / Engine Hood

cut the twin wall sheet to just fit inside the mainframe

cover sharp edges with duct tape

paint

3D print hood parts (radar & engine), paint

glue them to the painted sheet

cut plexiglas sheet to appropriate size, carefully bend using a hotair gun, attach with metal brackets

Step 6: Engines & Electronics

3D print (3x) fan & spinner cone, paint (Spinner & Cone were part of the 3d printable jet engine https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1327093 )

attach in PVC pipe using metal bracket & installation glue

print console & casing for PIR sensor

I cannot exactly show you the electronic diagram for the sound & light system, as I did not document it.