View new posts | View your posts Filandrius' Particle Thrower - MAJOR UPDATE 03/14

---

Me and my big mouth. I am in the process of doing what Matt suggested (as if I could tolerate a known inaccuracy on my thrower ) I'm patching both the base plate holes and the holes in the barrel knob (both for 6-32 screws) I almost completely dismantled my thrower, and I'm using this opportunity to do a few modifications and/or maintenance (example putting some brass threaded inserts in my gun grips, and repainting the base plate, which was a little too chipped for my taste, especially if I put smaller screws) And since I'm putting an insert in my front grip I'll be replacing the barrel lock bolt with a 6-32. I hope I'm making sense; I didn't take any pictures, too scary. I'll let you know tomorrow night if everything worked.

you know the guy who built the original packs said they were metric thread....

Just be careful because I don't think this putty will be strong enough, in the amount used, to hold screws tight enough. Especially on the front handle since they hold your entire front handle together. (If I understand your description correctly)

About the bottom plate, one workaround is to epoxy a nut for each of the screws, on the inside of the box.
Now if you're really determined, there are special "pop nuts" made for thin metal. They work like pop rivets, but the inside of the rivet is already threaded. You just pop them in place and you're done. (Google Pop Rivets)

You might be able to find some, its worth a try.

Yeah I agree 100%. The stuff is done and dry, and I don't dare drilling into it, let alone tap it. It'll never hold. But, this thing with the threaded pop rivets? Best idea ever. I'll certainly look into that, good sir. Or I'll put it back how it was.

EDIT: How about well nuts? It's my understanding that they do the exact same thing as rivet nuts, except you don't need the tool. That would be pretty much perfect!

If you find the size needed, it could work. The pop ones are just a bit more permanent I think.

Yeah, I think they are. Wellnuts are rubber, and are made to be removable if need be. Plus the head is 1/16" thick, which isn't perfect in any way; don't want big 1/16" rubber washers between my gun box and the base plate; it would look silly. On another topic...



Well waddaya know. It worked. Here's to me the skeptic. Test without the gun track (with newly repainted base plate) to see if there's any weakness...



And the real test, with fully loaded gun track. Seems tough enough. I really thought that the epoxy would be flimsy and would break easily; like tapping resin. But no; the stuff is incredibly tough, maybe not as tough as aluminum, but close. Plus we got 6 screws evenly distributing the charge; should be fine. Tried to move around by holding the thrower by the V-hook and everything.



I also did the same thing on the holes on the inner tube; didn't touch the holes in the gun knob. That way if anything goes south I can redrill my holes and reuse the 10-32 screws. Anyway I don't think it'll happen; the inner tube almost stays in place without screws; the bolts are just glorified set screws. I also changed the 8-32 screw in the barrel lock for an accurate 6-32 screw.

Well that's that. Now I need to go rest; I'm sick as a dog and you guys have me working on this thing. You slave drivers! Stay tuned for the rest...

OK. After much more thought that was necessary, and because of an unhealthy fear that my thrower might fall apart at the worst possible moment (example if I manage to find the courage to get it out of the house to show it to some friends ) I decided to revise the screw placements. Sorry guys, no pictures; that update was a little nerve-racking and the end result is pretty much the same.

I started by installing some brass inserts in the grips. As it were the bolts were screwed in tapped resin, and we all know how that turns out. So 8-32 brass inserts for the rear grip, 6-32 for the front. At this point I could already tell that my front grip installation was going to be a lot less flimsy, and that my grip wouldn't explode on me anytime soon.

Then I tackled the nut rivets. I began with a couple of 8-32 in my rear handle; the threads that I had tapped were pretty much gone. Had to do it again thought (the first rivets I installed crapped out on me; these things are tricky to install) Then I installed some 6-32 rivets in my front handle and for my base plate, 8 in all, to replace the epoxy. So now I had 1/4" of threads instead of 1/16", in accurate sizes to boot. Can't ask for more.

I would like to thank Chris very, very much for this solution. Had no idea that these things existed, and they saved my life... And my thrower! And here's some friendly advice: if you want to save yourselves a world of trouble, please make sure that your aluminum parts are threaded for accurate screws! Replacing them is NOT easy.

Next up: the light kit!

Mike you're the most OCD guy ive known here...and I like it!! Oh and get well soon!!

I'll take that as a compliment.

And I'm actually feeling much better. Thanks!

So! After getting my light kit and trying to figure everything out, I tried installing it in my thrower. As a direct consequence of this (not because the light kit is crap, mind you; it's actually a real wonder) a whole lot of defects on my thrower came to light. So after fighting with it for several hours, I decided to dismantle it completely and restart from scratch. That way I would repair all the small details that were getting on my nerve (like the fact that my paint was chipping in big ugly chunks) and I could install the kit cleanly. And now I know how people feel when they start a build with everything in hand!

About the light kit: I made a lot of small modifications for the kit to actually work with my gun. I wanted to modify my thrower as little as possible (oh the irony) For example, I had to strip the wiring of the switch and LED of the gun ear so that it would fit under my gun grip. I also had to drill a hole in the base of the barrel for the wires to enter the gun box; that bit isn't exactly accurate, but it's subtle; plus, it works! I also decided to switch a few LEDs around and to customize the kit a little, since it's possible to do so. All in all, a great kit, very functional and TERRIBLY bright.

So now my thrower lies in parts on my work desk, and my gun box is primed (yes, primed; I know that I said I wouldn't use primer on my aluminum parts so that they would weather themselves, but too much weathering is like too little) I had to resize a few holes so that Exoray's parts would fit (that's one of the few flaws of his kit; his connectors can be a little big ) including the bar graph; that's one of the things that convinced me to prime and repaint the darn thing. I also plan on using a reflector in the vent (which I don't have) it's the only thing I need, aside from the Arcolectric caps (which are on the way) to properly install this thing and finish my build.

So that's it for now! I didn't really think that I would redo all this at this point, but I might as well go the extra mile, considering the time and effort I put on this thing.

I really want to see how the kit is installed so make sure to snap a picture.
I had to build a shelf inside my gun to hold the light board where I wanted it.
This shelf is supported between the side screw between the discs, and the large knob on the right.
Still gives me enough space for almost eight 9V batteries if I needed it.

I'm sad that you had to take it apart, it was looking so good!

But I'm sure you'll be able to make it even better on the second go! Keep us updated!

I'm going to start taking pictures again soon guys, don't worry. For now they wouldn't be very interesting (stripping and priming is straightforward and a little boring ) but things are going to move very fast after that. Especially since I just got my Arcolectric caps and I'm waiting for my replacement rub-down transfers and Bobamatt labels any day now.

Chris: my two batteries packs are going to be in the pack, so I don't need a whole lot of space in the box. That's a good thing, because things can get a little cramped with Exoray's kit. Plus I'm going to use a reflector for the vent, so I need the space.

The Stiff: Don't worry man, I'm doing this to improve it. I cut some corners (unwilingly) and now that I have everything in hand, I finally could apply the final modifications to my gun BEFORE painting it (this is a major priority for a metal thrower) I'm primarly fixing two mistakes: 1 - always wait until you have everything in hand before starting painting and building, and 2 - prime your metal parts. Before you ask: no, I don't think that these laws apply to a pack build.

Oh, good save! I was SOOOO ready to call you out!

Yeah, I knew I had to add something... There's no way in hell I could've waited for everything to get here before I got started. And I was mostly speaking about priming metal parts. The parts on the pack doesn't even come close in the bumping/chipping that over-weathered my gun; so no primer if I want them to weather themselves (like, at all )

So here's a little teaser of things to come:



My repainted gun box. Krylon BBQ on top of Krylon plain grey primer. It'll chip, but it'll need a little effort. My last paint job was more weathered than the hero throwers in storage, and I haven't finished it yet. This'll be a little tougher.



What can I tell about these? Look at these beauties. Been looking for those for months.

I just realized that, for the first time since the start of this build, I have everything to finish my gun, in hand. That's a weird feeling. OK Mike, pace yourself, and go to bed. This thing isn't due tomorrow.

More soon!

Where the hell did younfind those?

Pure blind luck. Don't worry guys, I didn't find a source. This is a one-shot deal. These are the only one I have, and I have to be real cautious with them, because they're irreplaceable (literally)

You are correct Fernando they are opaque orange instead of transparent, but the white and transparent orange versions have been the easiest to find for the community, but the transparent orange do the job until someone finds the opaque versions.

Those light caps look mighty pretty Mike

Thanks for the input guys. Very useful info. Personally, I think that the transparent ones look better.

They do, don't they?

Looks at picture of light caps... Shakes fist at Filandrius!!

Now do you have the sockets to go with them? Also, if you swap them for replicas, you won't have to be so careful (lolz)

Just sayin ^_^

I'll keep it in mind.

By the way boys and girl, only the two orange caps are real. Probably should've mentionned this before, but the white cap is one of Austin's. I (very carefully) drilled a 1/4" hole in it and added the aluminum tube myself. That being said, I really wish that Austin would start making those again, because these are spot on. (Are you reading this man? Don't wan't to put pressure on you, but... )

The assembly of my 2.0 thrower begins! Here goes:



The completed front handle, freshly repainted, with light kit and light cap.



The backside of the handle, with a little "guts" showing.



Some of the "guts" in question. Like I said earlier, I had to strip some of the wires in Exoray's kit so that they would fit under my grip. The resulting bundle of wires comes out the side of the barrel lock. I twisted them and wrapped them in electric tape, and from there it'll enter the box from the front, under the base plate.



The underside of the ears. Some more electric tape to hide part of the wires. At first I was supposed to wrap the whole ear in tape, but it was very, very ugly (I actually did it before I repainted my handle)



The top of the ears. The tape doesn't show at all. You can also see the black rod I'm using to hold the grip in place.



And my repainted gun track/base plate. Exactly the same as before, except unweathered. I also left the backside of the gun track unpainted this time, to replicate the look of the hero throwers.

That's it for now! Stay tuned!

Assembly of 2.0 thrower continues.



While I wait for my decals to arrive, I'm mostly assembling stuff that won't interfere in their installation. On this side the gun knobs actually help for the location of the labels, so on the gun they go!



On this side there isn't any label, so everything's free game. But, I don't mount anything that could interfere in the light kit installation; no switches, Arcolectric caps, or reflector in the vent until the last minute. Also, no top gun knob, its precense might make the red arrow tougher to apply.



Speaking of gun knob, I revised the hole that I made in mine so that it would be more accurate. It actually goes all the way through now. Looks better, too.

That's it for now!

2.0 thrower assembly, part 3!

Not much of an update, but I messed around my thrower all day, and I couldn't stop myself from installing a few things. I'm starting to think that I will have trouble waiting for the remaining parts for this thing.



Installed some more stuff that won't interfere with the application of the decals. The rear handle, the green lever, the Clippard valve... I also installed/dry-fitted the hat light cap in the hole on top of the box. I was really afraid of this part (mainly of damaging the cap) but even with an aluminum box, there's really no risk. I pushed it in really hard and removed it to readjust it, and nothing. And it holds really well without any glue. Success!



Having fun with placeholders. The Austin white cap will soon be replaced by a real one. Glee!

That's it for now. Have I mentionned how much I can't wait for these decals to get here?

I look at this and I'm just in awe.

That's a bit of an exaggeration, no? Anyway, thanks for the kind words.

Minor update: my Bobamatt labels got here safely (never thought I'd type those words someday ) As expected, Matt's labels are perfect. But, that means that the assembly can continue! Now if only I could get those darn dry transfers...



Here's 2 of 3 labels that goes on the gun. I didn't assemble the trigger box and instrument bar on the box so that these would be easy to apply. There's only the transfers missing, then on the gun it goes!



Speaking of which, there's the one and only label that goes on the gun box. What? I put it upside down? It's actually a detail of the screen-used throwers that I like very much. What is the logic of this? I don't know, but I like it.

That's it for now! Stay tuned!

What reference picture have you seen that that particular label is upside down on a hero pack? The only reference I could find, quickly scanning the reference section is a semi-hero pack from gb2.



Right side up.

Nevermind, I found it.

Yep, that's it.