View new posts | View your posts Namssorg's (First) Pack Build. Pictures on p. 4 & 5!

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Yeah.. that is in my garage I play in a Brewskee-ball league in town, and it was a good excuse to find an old one and fix it up. Practice lane! Also, it's kind of another obsession. You guys would understand

The shot of a Proton Pack sitting on a skeeball machine.. at my house.. made me laugh. My ten-year-old-self would either think I was awesome, or creepy.

Beer + Skeeball league.
Reason #205 why Austin, Texas is awesome.

As someone who use to work with a lot of aluminum and iron casting your texture is spot on, I'll have to remember that
bed liner brand for my next pack.

Thanks, Wiz. That's encouraging to hear! If I was going to put a texture on it- I wanted it to look like something real, not necessarily try to match the screen used packs. The DupliColor gave a texture that looked a lot like a powder coat- especially after a few layers of paint on top to smooth it out a little.

This thread makes me happy.

Guts!

I am about two steps behind your build

Lookin' good! We've got almost the same internals too. Aww. The Texas twins. We should name them.

I think you may even be two steps ahead, actually... Is that a thrower I see on the couch?

I pretty much finished the pack this weekend (photos soon?) Although haven't even started my thrower.
Probably will be more of an assembly than a 'build' for that part.

I was clearing off some SD cards tonight and found a few more process pictures I meant to post. So until I get the thrower started I may retroactively post a few shots from earlier in the process.

The usefulness of pool noodles!
I had a pool noodle left over from a paddle-board sling I built last summer, and I knew part of one of these things would end up in my pack. Sure enough..

The noodle happened to be the perfect size to hold my makeshift booster plug into the tube. The bottom half of the plug is actually
the spool from a weed-eater refill, with a slice of noodle where the cord normally goes. The noodle made for a really snug fit that held the plug in place while the E6000 set up. Now it's in there for good!




They also make great holders for your shop vac:

Yes it is, good eye. I built one and decided that I was not going to use it, and was holding out to purchase one. Now that I have this function to go to, I had to finish it.

Once its over, I will probably build another one, and this time it will be off of PC's files.

Here is the point where I said, "This proton pack is looking... HOLY CRAP THIS GUY HAS HIS OWN SKEEBALL GAME!?" Then you mention something about Brewskee Ball later on and I freakin' lost it. You my friend are AWESOME and I guess your proton pack is pretty awesome as well. Just kidding... it looks fantastic, keep up the good work!

Here is the "I have a proton pack." photo. When I took this one, I said, "...I am an adult." out loud.

I'm at a good stopping point for awhile on the pack. There will be a few GB1 upgrades that happen later on (Ribbon cable, etc.) but for now it's a mostly finished GB1/GB2 hybrid. So, picture time!

Until I find a good place to hang this thing on the wall, the skee-ball lane is gonna have to suffice


I temporarily have a DPDT switch where the gun loom should come out - just to switch on the R2devo pack lights and blast the startup + hum sound from Crix's board. It's enough to keep me smiling for awhile!






Finally, finally put on the v-hook. Very well made by Franchesky.








And now, while I go gather bits for the thrower, it will sit here and collect free and 'realistic' Texas garage dust.

Love everything about it

Namssorg quick question bud, Im about to install my lights and am wondering what you used for the reflectors behind the lenses. Where did the flashlights come from ,they are just the right size .help me out bud.

Skully,

I couldn't find the exact ones I used (the link was broken) but they were very similar to, maybe even the exact same, as these:
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S010154 This was the cheapest I could find them.

The important thing is that the diameter is around 41mm. Slightly larger wouldn't hurt, either.

Awesome man thanks .big help.I thought i was stuck buying 6 dollar flash lights just to tear up and throw away the rest ,I literally clicked the link and bought 4, Thanks again . Your pack looks awesome ,one more question did you remove the power switch from your battery pack you used? I ordered a similar one (9800mah) and am curious if it is the switch at the bottom of your pack

No, I left the battery switch on the battery, in the 'on' position. The switch on the bottom of the pack is temporary, I just rigged it up so the pack could do something cool until I finish the thrower. I might eventually mount it through the motherboard as a master power switch, but basically all it does now is switch on power to the pre-amp, and simultaneously fire the 'power-up' sound.

Well, here we go again.

Awesome build! You're so close to being finished now, you gotta be excited

Thanks Vince! I am getting pretty excited. I'm probably closer than I think.

The thrower build begins! The photo above is not actually an aluminum thrower, but one of Throwingchicken's super detailed resin kits. I have an aluminum one in the works too, but I'm so happy with TC's that I might re-think that. Every tiny detail- down to the knurling on the knobs- is nice and crisp.

So far I've given all of the kit parts a coat of nickel shimmer- and they're looking pretty metallic. The metal gun track is just in there for comparison.



And in the spirit of this entire build (I can't leave anything alone) I sanded TC's grips to more closely match the curved front and back on Venky's screen-used grip casts (the black ones) :



Pretty happy with how the fake weld turned out. I used Kwik Plastic this time.

Brown Grips are sex

Looking good! Did you use pvc or aluminum for the handles? And what sizes?

The handles are aluminum. I picked them up from Speedy Metals. Vince listed some lengths in TC's kit thread.

Rear handle:
1-1/4" OD x 1.010" ID tubing @ 9-7/16" length

Front handle:
1-1/4" OD x 1.120" ID tubing @ 4.55" length(since TC's gun ear assembly adds some length)

Sorry to be the Dum-Dum here but what do you mean for the front handle? 4.55 inches, How would I input that into speedy metals, it Is only allowing me to type it is 4.5. thanks!

I just ordered it a little longer (by accident), and then cut it down with a Dremel metal cutoff wheel.

Mini update. Started painting all the bits. Lost one.

MISSING: Top knob!
LAST SEEN: That photo a few posts back.
SUSPECTED PERPETRATOR:


LAST SEEN WITH:


*EDIT*

The knob has been found. Thanks for your support during this difficult time.
I'm happy with how they came out. For resin knobs, they look metal enough.
Krylon Nickel Shimmer + a light coat of chrome paint. Then a light radial brush with some #000 steel wool.

"Yes. Have some. Customer service."
Krylon just made me quite a happy customer.

I had a single can of BBQ Black that the sprayer button broke on- a seal or something burst, causing paint to spray and leak out everywhere while I was spraying a few parts. It made a huge mess, and ultimately made the rest of the (full) can totally useless.

One quick message to Krylon support, and this showed up at my house two days later:


A whole case of cans! Looks like I'm covered for the rest of this build...

A lot could be said about this; but I gotta hand it to them, that is pretty good customer service.

I've got most of the parts painted now- and have started some assembly.



One last thing- Finally found a place to use the old coke-can trick. I wasn't happy with the painted resin on the collar & didn't want to spend money on a machined one, so I glued on a thin piece of aluminum can and gave it a nice brush with some steel wool.

OK- It seems like my rear handle is too long. What do you guys think?


The handle is 9-7/16" total- and sticks out from the weld line by about 8-1/2"


I am using Throwingchicken's grips for this build. They are a little shorter than Venky's grips, but even with Venky's, it looks like my handle would still be way too long.

Just for fun and reference purposes, here are some comparisons between the two grips:

TC grip on top, Venky grip on bottom


Venky grip on left, TC grip on right


Side profile - here you can see where I added the 'venky curve' to TC's normally flat sided grips

Bottom line- the grips don't seem to be the problem- should I cut the handle down?