#4821113
Hello everyone.

Like many others in this community I have been a fan of Ghostbusters since I first saw it as a kid in the late great 80's. And I have been lurking in these forums for many years admiring the fine work that you guys have shown off in the creation of packs and other GB props. And so this year I decided to do a couple of things, 1 make a proton pack and 2 learn to weld aluminium.

So, I have been working on both of these items for the past couple of months in my spare time, and I have come far enough with the build now not to be a complete embarrassment, and also to a point where there is no backing out.

Now I'm not sure how interested the community here will be on my pack building adventure, but I thought I would share my journey in the off chance that I can somehow help others, plus get feedback and pointers on any errors I have made.

So before this my background in welding had been a bit mild steel hobby welding (gate frames, occasional bracket, etc) with a stick welder (absolutely hopeless at) and then a cheap MIG (which I believe anyone could master, because its like a hot glue gun for metal).

Anyway I set out to build my pack out of 1/16th Aluminium based on Stefans plans that I am updating from reference pics as I go along.

I started on the Ion Arm build, marked, up cut it out all nice and neat. Then eagerly proceeded to destroy my effort with my MIG welder. After numerous tries, I concluded building anything out of thin aluminium with my MIG is well and truly beyond my skill set. So not to be deterred I found myself a tig welder, watched a ton of YouTube videos and set out again to start my build.

The picture below shows my first three Ion Arm attempts, attempt 1 best of the mig, attempt 2 tig (but I got the dimensions wrong), attempt three (right side) is my keeper.

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I then moved on to create the EDA and Booster box.
Key diffences from plans:
1. Raised the height of the EDA to compensate for the wider diameter booster tube.
2. Added a small curved fillet for where I will weld this on to the gearbox (Will be filled down to fit the gearbox when I get the gearbox totally sorted)

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Then adding in the Power Cell.

Key differences from plans:
1. Added in the fillet between the power cell and EDA. The curve ended up a little larger than I first wanted as it moved while I was welding it up. But I think that it is still in acceptable look tolerances.

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And with the start of the power cell fin design and EDA discs. Just sat on as I will epoxy these on with JB weld later.

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And I am currently working on the Gearbox assembly.

Key differences from Stefans plans:
1. 1/8" height diff between upper and lower box.
2. Rounding the sloping edges up to the tube. (More to be done on this next weekend)

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My plan is to add a few photos after each major advance on the job, so depending on my free time it may be a couple every week or so, or if I get a good run it may be more. I know that I still have a huge journey ahead but thought that I would share a few of the tips and tricks I've learnt so far.

1. Make sure you allow for the metal thickness when tracing out the plans. When you do each fold this will add the thickness of the metal. Sounds like a given, but amazing how often I have caught myself on this, when trying to work out to add or not.
2. Aluminium clogs up files like nothing else. I haven't found a good way to completely clean these yet. My file brush doesn't get it all out.
3. Because of my lack of welding skills, I have become very good at sanding and filing. I have found that the white painters sand paper and emery paper works about the same on aluminium. You get a bit better millage out f the emery cloth though.
4. Artificial steel wool (painters department of the hardware store) buffs a finished surface or sanded seam up like new.
5. Patience and practice with the tig. I've lost count of how many times I have hit the job with the tig electrode meaning that you have to clean the electrode up each time.
6. Use a piece of stainless steel as a backing plate to absorb heat when welding. I found a small right angled draw handle that has proved ideal for this.
7. Get a gas lens kit for your tig torch, it makes things a fair bit easier and saves on Argon gas big time.
8. Aluminium gets incredibly hot when welded so be extra careful.

And if someone can tell me the trick to achieving a neat inside corner weld on thin aluminium I'm all ears. I wont shame myself and show you the inside of the gearbox on this issue.
jackdoud, Sephiroth, alphabeta001 and 2 others liked this
#4821256
Hi guys

Thank you for the kind comments above, its an additional source of motivation for this project. 8)

Unfortunately everyday tasks got in the way of any new pack work this weekend.

However i did sit together the pieces made so far and took a couple of photos to share.

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The power cell fins need to be trimmed in length and later epoxied on along with the eda discs. I've also noted the slight bow in the left side of the gearbox which i will try and straighten out before welding it to the booster box, otherwise i will customise the booster box edge to suit.

Hopefully next weekend will be less busy so that i can start work on the gun mount. :wink:
jackdoud liked this
#4821497
Wow im just spotting this now, lovely work galeap, yours is looking a good bit better than my effort! Really like the way you did that eda, im using stefans plans also, as the measurements are in metric which is much easier for me to use. I'm not up to speed though on some of the updates, are they listed anywhere?
#4821538
Hi OCP_Model-001

I just caught your thread, great to see another aluminium pack under way. In fact i'm eager to start the gun mount this weekend weather and time permitting.

What thicknes aluminium sheet are you using 1.6mm or 3mm? Its hard to tell in the photos.
I really like your inside corner welds nice and tight, I struggle with these, what's the trick?

As for imperial versus metric; Australia uses the metric system, but i noticed as i have progressed along I'm slowly becoming comfortable with the imperial system. Plus a cheap digital metric/digital vernier calipers helps heaps.

As for plan updates, I haven't been able to find a single source. Here is a thread that lists a few of the differences.
http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... f=2&t=9307

There is also this thread where a few of the community gurus are 3d modeling an updated set of plans:
http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=34913

But my general approach is to search the community forums on each structure before I start it to find out what the general concensus is about changes for the part. I also look over the reference photos heavily and Pchrisbosh1's totally awesome build here:
http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... =2&t=28742

Pete
#4821545
Pete, thanks for the reference stuff, will have a read up. Im using 3mm for the gear box and gun mount, thats all i have available at the moment but im considering using thinner stuff to keep the weight down on parts that are not intended to carry anything. As for corner welds, im not a welder sadly, im getting help from the boys who i work with who do it full time. But i do know that on on the two boxes i have made so far, the welder tacks the parts in place inside, then fuses the outside without a rod, simply melting the parts together, then i grind the weld away and buff out the scratches.

Hope that helps some ;)
#4821906
Time for a quick update. I have started working on the gun mount. So far this is what I have achieved.

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Dimensions slightly changed from Stefans plans to those nominated in the forum elsewhere by mburkit to accommodate an accurate v clip. I made the box out of 1.6mm sheet and the spacer bridge out of 3mm thick strip to make it easier to weld to the gearbox.

When I make the fins they will be epoxied on like I plan to do on the gearbox and power cell.
And I'm planning to weld the gun mount onto the gearbox.

I would like to run a small fillet weld along the inside corner of the gun mount and bridge that connects it to the gearbox, but I still haven't been able to weld a neat inside corner joint with the tig. I think that I may have a tig setting wrong for this type of joint.

Well that's all for now, hopefully I'll get a good run on the pack over the Christmas break.

Pete.
jackdoud liked this
#4822075
Hi Funk

I haven't weighed the pieces made to date but they are not that heavy. I'll weigh them up on the weekend. I am making most of the structures out of 1.6mm (1/16 inch) sheet so I'm hoping it doesn't become too heavy. I will make the mother board out of 3mm aluminium sheet so it will probably end up being the single heaviest component.

Thanks for the words of support.

Pete.
#4823793
Hi everyone.

Thought I would post an update on my build. I didn't get as much done over the Christmas break as I had hoped. The weather was ridiculously hot and humid making welding no fun at all.

Anyway, I managed to weld together all the major pieces of the top part of the pack. Not wIgor almost stuffing it up by putting in too much heat while joining the booster base to the gearbox. Caused the internal wall to sag, which ment cutting the weld back open straightening the wall out then rewelding. Taught me a big lesson to watch how much heat in putting in the job on larger welds, it doesn't take long to over heat 1.6mm aluminium sheet.

While not perfect I think that is coming along fine for my first build.

Photo time.

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I have used a cold weld epoxy type product to create the internal filets on the gun mount and upper curved corner piece.

Also I have weighed it and it came in at 1.2kg.

Next step is to add on all of the fins. Pete.
#4824839
Hi all. Quick question that i hope someone can quickly answer.

Can someone confirm the correct amount of overhang for the ribs on the front of the gearbox.

On Stefan's plans the top ribs overhang by 12.6mm (1/2inch) ( not counting the thickness of the rib itself), no real mention on the side ribs, except for nominating 11.1m offset of the right most top rib from the right side of the gearbox which apears to align with the right rib overhang.

Using the 12.6mm overhang on the left ribs creates a gap between the 2nd rib down and the flat plate above split loom tube that looks too small compared to the reference pictures on this site. So now I'm confused on which way to go.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Pete.
#4824947
Hi All.

I managed to sort myself out over the rib overhang question above. Found out that I missed seeing a dimension line on the bottom of the drawing. Plus through a bit of photo shopping I worked out that the overhang varies a bit from pack to pack and even rib to rib, so I eventually settled on 11.2mm (idealised out :cool: )

So I thought that I would share a couple of photos of the dry fit of the gearbox ribs. All the other ribs are now epoxied on.

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Hopefully I'll be able to glue these on next weekend so tgat i can make a start on the cyclotron section, or some of the tubes.

Pete.
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