I "inherited" a beautiful set of aluminum light rods. They had been manufactured by master B9 builder Norm Sockwell. I have since sold them and will be constructing my own from scratch. Stay tuned to this website for progress reports on my light rod construction project.

In the meantime, this page still contains valuable information contributed by Craig Reinbrecht about altering this style of  light rod to conform better to the light rod design seen in the original robot costume.

Here is a photograph of five of the original set of seven.

These light rods have a beautifully machined taper at the end of the "socket" before it connects to the shaft. The light rods on the original robot, however, were less sophisticated in design. Instead, the socket ends are stepped, as you can see in the photograph below.

This should be fairly easy to create using three different hollow rods of varying diameters. A construction diagram and an accompanying essay are to be found at: construction/detail analysis/Light Rod Analysis by Craig Reinbrecht, at the B9 Robot Builders Club website. Here, for instance, is Craig Reinbrecht's blueprints:

(blueprint courtesty of the B9 Robot Builders Club website)

Craig also had a set of the same light rods that I have and relathed them to give them the stepped look. Here are photographs of his progress. The first photograph is a "before and after" shot of the light rods. The lower light rod has simply been turned on a lathe to create the stepping.

(photograph courtesy of Craig Reinbrecht)
 

Here is a shot of the completed set of light rods with flasher bulbs installed. Note that the shafts have been replaced with brass tubing. This was due to an accident, but Craig actually found that the brass tubing was stronger than the original aluminum.

(photograph courtesy of Craig Reinbrecht)

Finally, here are Craig's refashioned light rods after they have been painted.

(photograph courtesy of Craig Reinbrecht)

I have always felt that it is a shame to paint the metal parts of the robot's brain. The naked metal surfaces look great. I have to admit, though, that they also look great painted, as the photograph above attests.