#4881724
Thanks so much guys for the compliments! I can't tell you how much fun this has been. By breaking up each component into a separate project, it's really kept the the build fresh and fun. Every day I'm doing something different. :)

Lots more coming over the next few days.

Bill
xoff00 liked this
#4881851
14. NECK & HEAD PADDING

Keeping things interesting, I wanted to finish the back side, get it out of the way, try the pack on, etc. :)

As many have done before me, I picked up a six-foot piece of pipe insulation from Home Depot (the kind split down one side). After cutting an 8-1/2" length, I zapped it with my heat gun to close up the outer layer of cells just a bit. A hair dryer would work just as well. This had the effect of giving the piece a sheen, and it darkened its color just a bit.

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To secure the insulation on the Alice frame, I simply placed the piece on the top of the Alice frame, open seam downward, and secured it with four 11" cable ties from Home Depot. I don't believe any glue or other securing mechanism is necessary.

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There is also a piece of foam at the top of the motherboard, to protect the board (or my head) from bumps. But rather than try to hunt down a piece of foam and worry about color or material, I decided to use another piece of the pipe insulation.

After cutting a 12" or so length of the insulation, I proceeded to heat it evenly with my heat gun (again, a hair dryer will work), pressed it flat with a board, flipped it over, heated it again, pressed it flat, and so on, for several minutes. Eventually the piece started to flatten out, and I had a workable piece of foam.

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I then cut an usable 2" strip, about 10" long. I fitted it to my motherboard and cut around the "tab" at the top, using my x-acto knife (which slices through this stuff quite easily).

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After that, I stuck it to the motherboard, using the spray adhesive I had purchased for applying labels.

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All done! Super easy!

Next post, it is time to move on to the gun mount box. Massive build coming!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$1.24 - Polyethylene pipe insulation (6' length) (Home Depot)
$2.44 - 11" cable ties (10-pack) (Home Depot)

$191.20 - previous total
$3.68 - this stuff

TOTAL: $194.88
Last edited by Astyanax on October 7th, 2016, 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
twmedford23 liked this
#4881931
15. GUN MOUNT

The gun mount box is particularly difficult, even though it is simpler in design than the gearbox/crank generator. The challenge here is that since the proton gun is going to be hanging from this box, it needs to be mounted exceptionally SECURELY, because it alone will be supporting the weight of the proton gun. We don't want components falling off every time there's a little tug on the wand!

So, to make this more stable, I opted to bolt a piece of MDF to the motherboard, in order to serve as an extra wall for the gun box. That way, the V-hook could be mounted to this piece of MDF. More on that later.

First off, I had to build my box. This went very similarly to the gearbox assembly in a previous post, so I won't go into fine details here. But I took lots of measurements of my available space as I went along, and tweaked the measurements of the box(es) just a tiny bit to allow it to all fit just right.

I made the box out of no-parking sign plastic (bought a new one):

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I used leftover square dowels to give me those interior corners, so that they could be rounded.

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I then built the smaller box that serves as the "spacer" or "bridge" between the gun mount and gearbox/crank generator. Since this box is sandwiched between two larger boxes, I oriented the square dowels a little differently, again to aid in rounding corners.

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After this, I sanded both boxes smooth, gave them their rounded corners (same as with the gearbox/crank generator), and superglued them together.

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Again following a similar process as before, I applied craft foam for the details.

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It was now time to prepare the pack to receive the new box. I cut a piece of the foam off the gearbox to allow for the spacer box:

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As I began to realize I hadn't built my central cosmetic plating perfectly to fit all the boxes, I realized that Paranorman had already anticipated this problem. Following the instructions in his plans, I cut a notched corner out of the rightmost plate, using x-acto knife and dremel to smooth it out.

A quick blast of black spray paint and the pack was ready to receive the new box.

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Next, I prepared my extra wall ("sidewall") out of 1/4" MDF left over from cutting the motherboard. Notice how the idea here is that it slides between the square dowels:

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I then coated the box with two coats of white glue, and then painted the box my usual flat/satin combination.

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Time to pick up hardware! Below you will see that I used:

- 3/4" corner braces
- #8-32 x 3/4" flat head machine screws & nuts
- #10-32 x 5/16" T-nuts
- #10 x 1/2" round head screws

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After taking careful measurements and deciding how I wanted to mount everything, I bolted two corner braces onto the sidewall using the #8-32 x 3/4" machine screws and nuts. I used an extra nut on each to lock them down.

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In order to be ready to mount a V-hook, I first needed to prepare for its base plate. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get behind the sidewall after everything else is mounted, I decided to use T-nuts to make this all happen. So, measuring carefully to allow the T-nuts to be positioned between the top two foam strips on the outside of the gun mount box, I drilled the holes and hammered in the T-nuts from the back side. This will give me something to screw into later.

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To prepare the pack, I drilled two holes in the motherboard (after test-fitting everything) where the corner braces of the sidewall will go.

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I then bolted the sidewall onto the motherboard, using more #8-32 x 3/4" screws and nuts.

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I also dug out a couple small washers I had lying around to help on the outside of the motherboard. The side wall does hang over the side just a little bit, but I will paint that black later.

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Next, I used epoxy on the sidewall and on the spacer box to attach the gun mount box assembly to the pack.

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Once the epoxy cured, I screwed in two of the #10 x 1/2" round head screws (after drilling small pilot holes) through the foam strip and plastic wall into the MDF sidewall. Although these are considered "cosmetic screws", they actually secure the entire gun box to the sidewall, which in turn is secured to the motherboard.

Later, when I attach the base plate of the V-hook, additional bolts into the T-nuts will secure the box to the sidewall even more, for even greater stability.

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(Notice the two tiny holes in the pic above? That's where I messed up with my first pilot holes. But they'll be covered up in the next step.)

Finally, I masked off and blasted the back of the box with a little black paint to help it blend in with the pack better.

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All done!

Next post, I will put together an actual v-hook gun mount made of wood!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$5.38 - 19" x 15" Handicapped Parking sign (Home Depot)
$1.97 - 3/4" corner braces (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #8-32 x 3/4" flat head machine screws & nuts (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #10-32 x 5/16" T-nuts (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #10 x 1/2" round head pointed screws (Home Depot)

$194.88 - previous total
$10.29 - this stuff

TOTAL: $205.17
Last edited by Astyanax on October 7th, 2016, 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4882085
16. V-HOOK

NOTE: It's around about this time that I pretty much abandoned Norm's plans, and started building almost exclusively off Stefan's blueprints. Paranorman's stuff was amazing, and really got me started, but I kinda feel I'm ready to fly now, and now that I have a lot of the techniques down, the measurements have become more important. Thanks Norm, you showed me it was possible! I'll come back when it's time to build a thrower! And yes, I know there are some errors in Stefan's blueprints, but I'm learning those through research as I go.

The V-hook is the preferred method of mounting the proton gun to the pack. Its shape lends itself to more easily removing and replacing the gun. Unfortunately, it's a custom piece and not easily sourced. At least, not for a reasonable amount of money. :)

I researched at the alternatives: Dixie cup holders, flush mount picture hangers, sectional furniture clips, and none of them are satisfactory. It seems just too difficult to re-hook the proton gun back on the pack when you're done using it. These other solutions also look a little weird on the pack. Nope, the only proper solution is to go with a V-hook, or at least something close. Thankfully, there is a homemade way of producing one. My favorite was pioneered by enchanted unicorn, so I will follow that layout.

First, the wood. I was going to use 1/8" basswood, but at that thickness, it's too flimsy. Instead I found this "Baltic birch plywood" at Michaels, $2.29 for a 4" x 12" piece that is 3mm (1/8") thick.

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Using Stefan's plans as a guide, I cut the male trapezoid-shaped piece, with the smaller section comprised of a double layer. I glued them together with white glue.

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For the female piece, I took a similar approach, making a rectangle to hold the sides that will encase the male piece. Again, a double layer for the smaller side pieces, and it's all white-glued together:

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Note: It was necessary for me to test fit the male piece a couple times prior to cutting and gluing the rectangle for the female piece. You want it to close up perfectly.

At this point I planned out my mounting hardware:

- #8 x 1" flat head pointed screws
- #10-32 x 1" flat head screws & nuts

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The V-hook is mounted to a square base plate, so I made one out of leftover 1/4" MDF. Deciding that the base plate needs to be bolted into the T-nuts of the sidewall, and determining that there should be a layer of plastic between the two foam strips on the gun mount, I went through the following steps:

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- Marked the base plate for the hole location, with lots of test fitting and measuring.
- Glued on a small strip of sign plastic (2 layers to make it about 1/16") with epoxy.
- Drilled the holes and painted black.

After painting the heads of the #10-32 x 1" bolts black, it was a simple matter to screw the base plate into the existing T-nuts in the gun box sidewall.

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Next, I picked up some metallic silver spray paint from Home Depot:

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On the V-hook parts, I pre-drilled my mounting holes and counter-sank them (it's hard wood). Then I painted them, to kind of give them the look of metal. There's still a little wood grain, but they still look pretty good.

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After the paint had dried, I epoxied the male V-hook part to the base plate in the right position, again using Stefan's plans for guidance. The epoxy held it in place so that I could screw it into the base plate, using the #10 x 1" pointed screws. This not only secured the V-hook very tightly to the gun box (all the way into the sidewall), but also ensured that the layers of wood in the V-hook are held together tightly.

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All done! This hook is not going anywhere. It is secured with glue and bolts to the gun box sidewall, which is similarly secured to the motherboard. Strong enough to support a proton gun!

The female V-hook piece I have set aside for attaching to the gun later, when I get to that point.

Next post, I'll maintain my focus on this area of the pack and complete the rounded corner plate. I also have some reshaping of my motherboard to do here. :)

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$2.29 - Revell Baltic Birch plywood, 3mm x 12" x 4" (Michaels)
$3.76 - Rustoleum metallic silver spray paint (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #8 x 1" flat head pointed screws (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #10-32 x 1" flat head screws & nuts (Home Depot)

$205.17 - previous total
$8.01 - this stuff

TOTAL: $213.18
Last edited by Astyanax on October 28th, 2016, 10:34 pm, edited 5 times in total.
#4882222
17. CORNER PLATE

The last bit of "cosmetic plating" in this build is the upper right corner of the pack, between the gun mount box and the crank generator. On my motherboard, I failed to round the corner enough, so I will sand it to a larger radius and glue on a corner piece.

After much searching for viable wood options (I don't have a router), I ended up back at the dollar store, where I found this plastic cupcake storage container:

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Turns out the lid on this thing has a seam that runs around the entire lid, at just about the right height for my corner piece to be just under 3/4" thick. I took the piece through the following steps:

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1. I cut an oversize corner from the container lid. I'll get four chances!

2. I cut along the seam at the right height, and marked (from test fitting) where the cut lines will be.

3. I cut along the cut lines.

4. I test fitted on the proton pack. I also marked an outline on the motherboard where I will need to round the corner further.

So far, so good. To attach this to the pack, I realized I'll need more than just these edges. So I took a piece of leftover 1" square dowel, and cut an 11/16" length, using epoxy to glue it to the inside of the corner. Then I painted it black.

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Next, time to sand that corner. I used 80-grit sandpaper with a sanding block to first sand a 45-degree angle, and then smoothed it further. I finished with 220-grit and 400-grit afterward.

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Then, I used epoxy to glue the corner to the motherboard. I realized that the edges weren't lining up correctly on the motherboard (the plastic of the lid wants to "flare out" a bit), so I used a little epoxy to try to make it stay in place. There were gaps also, so I used a thin bead of superglue (I always use the gel-like blue cap Gorilla Glue) as a "caulking" along the edges.

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Regular caulk would have been far too bulky, so this little bit helped.

Once I marked off everything and repainted the corner (and the sanded motherboard corner), it now looks like it belongs. :)

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Yep, there's a little peeled paint there up in the corner. Sanding my imperfections made the paint want to peel off the plastic, so I just painted over it and will call it "weathering." :) Besides, it'll mostly be overed by other stuff anyway. I'm happy.

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Next post, I will tackle a decent looking HGA, for only two dollars and the leftover materials I've already used in this build!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$1.00 - Plastic cupcake storage box (dollar store)

$213.18 - previous total

TOTAL: $214.18
Last edited by Astyanax on October 7th, 2016, 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4882265
18. HGA

The Hydrogen Gas Actuator is the final piece in the upper right quadrant of the proton pack. It's a tube that projects sideways off the crank generator, and has some pretty cool side-facing details. I was able to build this piece mostly from scraps left over from earlier in the build, plus two bucks' worth of new hardware.

First, the diameter of the HGA is 2-3/8", which is the same outside diameter of the piece of ABS pipe I used when I made the synchronous generator/spacer. So grabbed the pipe and took it through the following steps:

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1. Cut the ABS pipe to a length of 2-1/2".
2. Traced the diameter onto a piece of sign plastic, and cut it out oversized.
3. Glued the plastic onto the pipe.
4. Sanded the flat plastic down till it was flush with the pipe, drilled a hole for the "Legris" elbow screw, and marked a hole for the brass elbow.

Next, I carefully marked the center and figured out where the top screw holes will be.

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Then, I picked up four 6mm x 16mm socket cap screws from Home Depot.

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After this, I used hot glue to give the top a "weld" effect (similar to what I did for the N-filter), this time making sure to keep the hot glue from layering onto the top surface. I sprayed it black using the usual formula, and drilled the screw holes. I then inserted the cap screws, securing them with epoxy on the inside.

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For the center label, I needed a thin, raised metallic disc. Rather then use plastic, I took a hint from one of the forum posts, and picked up a 3/16" x 1-1/4" fender washer from Home Depot:

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The diameter of this washer matches my label perfectly.

I cut the label out from the metallic sheet with sharp scissors, VERY SLOWLY. So slowly, in fact, that it took a good 2-3 minutes to cut it out fully. It came out great, but this label sheet has two, just in case. :)

I also punched out the center circle with a brand new hole punch (the traditional kind in the school supplies section).

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Then, I glued the washer onto the HGA with a small amount of epoxy, and stuck the label on very carefully in the correct orientation.

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Next, I attached the plastic "Legris" elbow I had made using the screw and nut, as explained previously.

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For the brass elbow, I knew I needed something more substantial to anchor it to the HGA than just that thin rim of brass. So I took a piece of leftover 1/2" dowel (from making the crank knob), cut it to the right length, and epoxied that into the brass fitting.

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After this, it was a simple matter of using epoxy to glue the fitting to the HGA, using the little hole as a guide for centering. I had to hold it in place by hand until the 5-minute epoxy cured.

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To prep the pack for receiving the HGA, I marked and cut the excess bits of foam strips on the side of the crank generator, per some of the guidance from Sean Bishop's plans.

I also used a little black brush paint on the exposed white foam, just to make sure that no white shows when I glue on the HGA.

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Finally, I glued the HGA onto the crank generator, again using epoxy. The HGA is mounted with a slight upward angle in order to allow sufficient clearance for tubing over the gun mount box, as shown on some of the screen-used packs.

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All done! I couldn't be happier. This is my new favorite piece on the pack, and it was fun to make.

Okay, that upper-left quadrant of the pack is staring me in the face. Time to take on the monstrous EDA box and attenuator!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$1.00 - 6mm x 16mm socket cap screw (2-pack) (Home Depot)
$1.00 - 6mm x 16mm socket cap screw (2-pack) (Home Depot)
$0.14 - 3/16" x 1-1/4" fender washer (Home Depot)

$214.18 - previous total
$2.14 - this stuff

TOTAL: $216.32
Last edited by Astyanax on October 7th, 2016, 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ecto-1 fan liked this
#4882436
19. EDA (BODY)

The Electrostatic Dissipation Assembly (EDA) and attenuator take up the majority of the upper-left quadrant of the proton pack. This big boxy shape serves as a base for the booster, booster frame, and various details. I am making both EDA and attenuator together, but it made more sense to break this part into three steps: The EDA, the attenuator, and the assembly and finishing.

This build is slightly more expensive than others, mainly because of all the no-parking sign plastic I went through in order to give it sufficient stability. Regardless, this is a pretty short post, because most of the techniques are outlined in previous posts. No need to repeat every detail!

After taking some measurements of the remaining space on my pack, consulting many photos, and reviewing Paranorman's/Stefan's/Bishop's guides, I came up with this sketch. I don't expect it to be of much use to anyone else, but it helps show my thought processes in how I laid out all that plastic:

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First, I built three separate boxes out of no-parking sign plastic:

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1. Top box is 5-31/32" x 3" x 4" high.
2. Middle box is 4-25/32" x 3" x 4-31/32" high.
3. Bottom box is 3-19/32" x 3" x 2-7/32" high.

Next, I glued all three boxes together with epoxy to form the EDA box:

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A couple thoughts at this point:

1. Why three separate boxes? Sure, I could have tried to build the box as one large piece, but doing it in pieces was not only less complicated, but it also adds a significant amount of reinforcement and stability to the whole thing. This will become more important when the booster is mounted to the box.

2. Notice that the smallest box on the bottom seems a bit too short? Yep, it's too short by half an inch. This was necessary because of some of the limitations in using Paranorman's motherboard with Stefan's center cover. If I were to start over, I'd probably have tried to make Stefan's motherboard, but I don't think it will cause any problems here.

3. Notice how wide those seams between the boxes are? This is caused by the fact that my three boxes are not 100% perfectly square. When I glued them together, I made sure that the front and right side of the EDA box was perfectly flat; I pushed all three boxes, face down, against a right angle wall as the epoxy cured. This caused some angling away of a few of the surfaces that weren't square to each other.

To correct for this, I filled all of the seams with Bondo spot putty. I was going to do this anyway, because the EDA is supposed to look like one full piece. I just didn't expect a full 1/16" gap in some areas. The putty worked for the most part.

(By the way, I prefer this putty over others in this case, because it sands so much more easily. But it is also more prone to cracking, so I had to be very careful. Once painted, it's not so brittle.)

I only needed to clean up two seams, as the rest are covered by the pack or attenuator.

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After the Bondo spot putty application and some light sanding, my EDA box was complete.

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Next post, I'll build the attenuator. The post after that, I will assemble it all, finish and detail it, and mount it on the pack.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$5.38 - 19" x 15" Handicapped Parking sign (Home Depot)
$5.38 - 19" x 15" Handicapped Parking sign (Home Depot)

$216.32 - previous total
$10.76 - this stuff

TOTAL: $227.08
Last edited by Astyanax on October 7th, 2016, 10:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
#4882513
20. ATTENUATOR (BODY)

The attenuator attaches to the lower section of the EDA box. It is joined in a way that should make it all look like one piece. I came close enough!

In the steps below, you can see my build process. The most difficult aspect is that the curve that is provided for the PPD is recessed a bit, so there have to be some "inside walls".

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1. I cut the base plate according to Stefan's guidelines and my own EDA box dimensions. The rounded notch was traced using a piece of 1" inside diameter PVC pipe, which will later serve as the PPD. It was cut with curved lexan scissors and sanded.
2. I glued on the back plate.
3. I measured, cut, and glued the left wall.
4. I measured, cut, and glued the smaller right wall.
5. The middle wall provides that "inside wall" for the PPD. It is a copy of the left wall.
6. The remaining part of the "inside wall" is a small piece between the middle and right walls.
7. I measured, cut and glued the front wall.
8. Finally, after some sanding, the angled top wall was completed. The curved notch was shaped using the 1" ID PVC pipe with some sandpaper wrapped around it.

Then, I carefully sanded the whole thing, cleaning up seams and overlaps, and rounding the corners slightly.

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To make the two "discs" for the front, I used the same process as I had for the vacuum pump, only with a smaller piece of PVC pipe. 3/4" inside diameter PVC has an outside diameter of 1-1/16", which is close enough to the 1-1/8" dictated by Stefan.

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I then traced the end of the pipe on leftover sign plastic, superglued it on, sanded it clean, and then sliced it off at under 1/4" to make the discs.

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Finally, I carefully marked where the discs are positioned, and glued them onto the attenuator. It's hard to tell from the picture, but I also marked and drilled with a tiny drill bit the two holes for the brass connectors that will go in the right side.

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Next post, I will assemble, paint, and detail the EDA/attenuator component.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$1.24 - 2' x 3/4" PVC pipe length (Home Depot)

$227.08 - previous total

TOTAL: $228.32
#4882564
Wow, thank you so much, I really appreciate that. Kinda makes it worth going through all the documentation work. :) I really hope some people get some benefit from this, even if it means just helping folks understand where all the parts or labels go. :)

Next post coming in minutes!

Bill
#4882566
21. EDA/ATTENUATOR ASSEMBLY, FINISHING & DETAIL

Time to finish this beast.

First, I glued the attenuator onto the EDA box using superglue.

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As before with the EDA box pieces, there are some unusual seams and slight misalignment. I corrected the misalignment with some heavy sanding (80-220-400 as usual), and attempted to fill all the seams with another round of Bondo spot putty.

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This worked for the most part, but there are still some minor seam lines in a few places that I wasn't able to fully fill. But after painting, I think it looked great. :)

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The EDA has a couple of screws on its left side. As is shown in some online pics, I opted for some 5mm socket cap screws and #10 washers:

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The two spots I had marked previously with tiny drill holes I now enlarged to 3/16". I was able to screw in the cap screws carefully, and they went in nice and tight, no glue necessary!

I also applied the large metallic label that goes on the top of the EDA.

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The two brass "Legris" straight connectors I made previously go on the right side of the attentuator. I enlarged those holes to 3/16" also, and I was able to pop the fittings right in. They held tight, again no glue necessary!

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Finally, I glued the entire assembly onto the pack, using E6000 for the most part, with hot glue in the corners to anchor it while the E6000 cured.

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Starting to look like a real proton pack now!

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Next post, I'll make the PPD.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$0.65 - M5-0.8 x 16mm socket cap screws (2-pack) (Home Depot)
$0.98 - #10 washers (Home Depot)

$228.32 - previous total
$1.63 - this stuff

TOTAL: $229.95
Last edited by Astyanax on October 18th, 2016, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
twmedford23 liked this
#4882732
22. PPD

The Primary Power Distributor is a smallish tube with an angled top, which lives in the notch of the attenuator. Lucky for me, I still have plenty of the 1" inside diameter PVC lying around, so making it was nearly free!

I won't explain yet again the details of putting caps on PVC pipes, but that's pretty much what I did, after cutting it to Stefan's specs:

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After smoothing the piece, I drilled a 5/16" hole all the way through.

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I picked up these assorted 12" dowels from Wal-Mart for under two bucks. These will come in handy throughout the rest of this project.

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I cut a 5/16" dowel to about 3-1/2", and glued it into the PVC pipe, making the bottom flush. This will give it a little bit of nice detail underneath, and help hold the tubing boot at the top.

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Then, I painted the piece black, using the usual formula.

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After that, I cut out the medium-sized "Danger" label from the non-metallic sheet, and affixed it to the PPD with spray adhesive.

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And finally, I glued the PPD to the attenuator with epoxy.

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It's rotated a few degrees too far counter-clockwise, but I don't mind. :)

Done with an easy part. Next post, I will make and mount the booster.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$1.67 - Assorted dowels (Wal-Mart)

$229.95 - previous total

TOTAL: $231.62
Last edited by Astyanax on October 18th, 2016, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
#4882940
23. Booster

The booster tube is that large vertical tube on the EDA box. I was able to build this very cheaply, using only leftover parts from previous components plus a soda bottle!

First, I measured my needed dimensions on the pack and cut a length of 2" inside diameter ABS pipe (left over from the synchronous generator and HGA). This pipe has an outside diameter of about 2-3/8", which is perfect for this part.

Using a leftover piece of sign plastic (from when I cut the sides for the attenuator) I was able to determine the exact angle of the attenuator slope to EDA wall (in my case 131 degrees), and cut the sloped end of the booster tube to match. I gave it a light sand to take off the sheen so that paint will stick better:

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I then painted the large tube using the usual combination.

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For the booster plug (the smaller inner tube), I used a 4-inch piece of leftover 1" inside diameter PVC pipe, capped on one side with sign plastic as I've done in previous posts above:

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Now, the dilemma: how to mount the smaller tube into the flat end of the larger tube so that it's centered (kind of floating between walls), extends past the large tube about a quarter inch, and ends only a few inches deep? The plans call for two inches' or so worth of open depth, and I shouldn't be able to see the bottom.

I noticed some users built custom rings or blocks out of wood, but I'm not that handy with wood. Instead, I opted to use a custom "funnel" approach, starting with this:

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This Arrowhead seltzer water comes in six-packs, so a single bottle costs about fifty cents or so. I chose this style of bottle because of its long, sloping neck, which is quite necessary (most plastic soda bottles these days have much more stubby necks).

After cutting the bottle in half, I inserted the smaller PVC tube into the back of the neck and marked where it touches. I then inserted the mouth of the bottle into the larger ABS tube until the neck touched those walls, and marked that as well. I was left with a piece that has these two marks:

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I then cut the bottle at those two marks and lightly sanded it, resulting in this funnel shape:

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Next, I superglued the small end of the funnel over the small PVC tube at its back end.

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And then I painted this funnel assembly black.

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To mount this into the booster tube, I laid a bead of superglue inside the large tube about two inches deep (eyeballing it), and inserted the funnel assembly until the top of the plug was about 1/4" above the rim of the booster tube. I held it centered for a few seconds until the superglue engaged. The plug is done!

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I then mounted this on the EDA box of the pack, using a thin bead of epoxy on the EDA wall, and a VERY thin layer of epoxy on the rim of the sloped end of the tube.

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Booster, check. With each part completed, I'm starting to get more excited!

Next post, it's time to take on the power cell. I will be putting some cheap lights in it. :)

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$0.50 - Arrowhead seltzer bottle (grocery store)

$231.62 - previous total

TOTAL: $232.12
Last edited by Astyanax on October 18th, 2016, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
#4883149
24. POWER CELL (with lights)

The power cell is a simple box that lives on the left side of the EDA box, and contains a cycling blue light strip. I wanted to put some cheap lights into the box in this step. :)

First, my sketches and dimensions, after measuring what space I had left on the motherboard.

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I made the box itself out of leftover sign plastic, cutting the slot in the front for the lights, and leaving the back open.

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After assembly, I sanded the box and applied the craft foam strips, similar to how the gearbox/crank generator was made. I then painted it with two coats of white glue, and painted it black.

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For the blue light cover strip, I found some mini notepads at the dollar store with nice clear plastic covers. They come in a three-pack, and the blue was perfect for this application.

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I superglued a rectangle of the blue plastic on the inside of the box.

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For the lights, I purchased a blue set of 30 mini LEDs on Amazon.

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These are exactly like the red ones I used on the cyclotron, in that even though there are different blink patterns available, they all blink at the same time. I'm okay with this, considering the price, and I found a blink pattern I was happy with. They are quite bright!

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To mount the lights in the box, I first had to align them. So I took a piece of sign plastic, cut it to almost the same size as the front panel of the box, marked some measurements, and drilled 12 holes vertically in the center. I also sliced a straight line right up to each hole, so that the LEDs could be inserted.

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I then twisted the LEDs into pairs (12 pairs, 24 lights total), and covered the remaining 6 with black electrical tape. Each LED pair I inserted into a hole (using the slice to help move it to the hole).

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On the front side, I secured each pair with hot glue. I was careful to hold the LED pairs in just the right spot and orientation as the glue cooled.

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I then took some leftover square dowel, cut four pieces a half-inch long, and superglued them to the front of the light panel. These serve as "standoffs", so the lights are a little bit back from the front blue plastic.

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After this, I mounted the lights inside the box, using epoxy on the standoffs in the corners.

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Time to mount on the pack. Even though ideally I should have threaded the light string through a hole in the motherboard prior to mounting them in the box, I needed space to work. So I drilled my hole, and cut a slice with a handsaw so that the cord could be passed through.

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After passing the cord through, I used some gaffer's tape I had lying around to cover the slice. Thankfully, the tape matches the pack's black paint almost perfectly, and the tape will give it that kind of "used" look. I'm definitely happy with this solution.

I also glued the entire power cell box to the pack at this time with epoxy.

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Next, I mounted the control box on the back of the pack, right above where I had mounted the red cyclotron control box. This ensures access to the batteries. I secured it with E6000, and with hot glue in the corners to hold the box in place while the E6000 cured. I also covered the cord with more gaffer's tape.

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The power cell looks like it belongs, and I couldn't be happier with how the lights turned out! The pictures don't really do it justice, but having blue lights with a blue plastic "lens" in front, I get a very deep blue color, but also intense brightness.

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So that's it! Next post, I'll make and attach the injectors.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$6.80 - 30 battery-operated blue micro LED string lights (Amazon)
$1.00 - 3-pack mini notepads (dollar store)

$232.12 - previous total
$7.80 - this stuff

TOTAL: $239.92
Last edited by Astyanax on October 18th, 2016, 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
#4883737
25. INJECTORS

The two injector tubes protrude downward from the bottom of the power cell. Although they seem like just a couple of PVC pipes, I found that making them look good was a bit trickier than expected.

First off, the diameter of the injector tubes is supposed to be 1-1/2". There is no readily-available size of PVC pipe that matches this outer diameter. A 1" inside diameter pipe is 1-5/16" on the outside (enough to look strangely small), and a 1-1/2" I.D. pipe is significantly bigger.

After a bit of thinking and hunting at Home Depot, I found this 1-1/2" (outer diameter) drain "tailpiece" made out of polypropylene, with 12" tailpieces selling for $2.50 each. I needed two, because my injector tubes had to be just over 6" each.

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After cutting the tailpieces to about 6-1/2" long (held up to my pack to be sure), I also cut a piece of 1/8" Baltic birch plywood (left over from the V-hook) to a size of 3-5/8" x 1-5/8", and I cut two pieces of 1" I.D. PVC to 1".

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A word about the "weld" effect on these tubes. The purpose of these 1" PVC pieces is to aid me in getting a nice weld look on the ends of the tubes. Unlike the HGA and N-filter, it seems from some reference pics that this is more of an "inner" weld, creating almost a beveled effect on the tubes. The 1" PVC slides inside the tailpieces almost perfectly, so these helped me achieve that bevel, as I'll explain below.

But first, I capped the two PVC pieces with leftover sign plastic, using the superglue-and-sanding technique outlined previously. I also drilled a 1/4" hole in the center of each cap, and cut two 1-1/2" lengths of 1/4" dowel (from the assorted dowels package).

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I inserted the dowels into each part so that about 1/2" was sticking out the end. I secured these on the inside with epoxy, making sure they were perfectly vertical. These will give me a surface for the "boots" to hold later when I add tubing.

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The PVC slides into the tailpieces, but there's still about a 1/32" gap all around. I filled that gap by wrapping a couple layers of electrical tape around the lower sections of the PVC pipes. I then glued them into the tailpieces using epoxy, making sure to leave the PVC protruding about 1/8" from the end. This gives me a "stairstep" shape on which to build my beveled weld.

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For the weld effect, once again I used hot glue. I'm not a big fan of the sculpted look that uses repeated circles. Just an irregular fill is good enough for me.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but my hot glue filled the gap nicely, hiding the upper and lower corners. It will become more visible when these parts are painted.

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I then glued the tubes together using a very thin bead of epoxy.

To enable the tubes to really grip their mounting surface, I cut a couple 1/2" lengths of leftover 1" square dowel, lightly sanded the corners, and jammed them into the bases of the two tailpieces. I secured them with epoxy.

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Then, using Stefan's plans for guidance, I epoxied the tube assembly to the piece of plywood. Ready for painting!

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Next, I painted this entire assembly black, using the usual formula. The welds look great!

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After the paint had fully dried, I glued this assembly to the pack, using epoxy in the center of the plywood piece, with some dabs of hot glue in the corners to hold it all in place while the epoxy cured.

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The final component that is found on many packs is an angled bracket that holds the tubes to the motherboard. This adds stability and durability. I hunted through the Home Depot and Lowe's inventories looking for something reasonably priced that would fit just right, but came up empty. So instead I decided to make one.

Leftover sign plastic is not as secure as metal, but it should be enough for my needs here. After cutting a piece to about 5" long by 3/4" wide, I bent it after heating it with a heat gun (a hair dryer works as well), until I had a nice 90-degree bend.

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1. I test fit the bracket to the pack, and trimmed it to size.
2. I rounded the corners, and drilled pilot holes for my screws.
3. The piece was painted black.
4. The piece was "weathered". I use this term loosely, because I still have a lot to learn in this area. Basically my process was to spray silver metallic paint into a disposable cup, and use a piece of foam as a sponge to dab onto the bracket. When I overdid it, I repeated this with the black. And then silver. And then black. Until it sort of looked okay. :)

I then mounted the bracket onto the pack:
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1. The bracket was glued to the pack and tubes using epoxy. Some of the epoxy leaked out from under the edge.
2. I screwed the bracket into the tubes and center cover using leftover #6 x 3/8" screws from my Clippard valve builds (coming very soon--I work on multiple components at a time).
3. I "weathered" the screws by brush painting some black on them, and sort of wiping it off.

To handle the bits of epoxy that seeped out from under the bracket, I masked off nearby parts and hit the area with a quick blast of flat black. That did the trick.

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(The downward angle of the injector tubes is correctly parallel to the rest of the pack. This camera angle makes it look off.)

Not too bad, I can live with this. Especially since it will be mostly obscured by the ribbon cable.

This "bracket" did lend some stability and security to those tubes, so it was the right call. They otherwise felt pretty flimsy with only the power cell to hold them. But I really need to step up my weathering game before this build is done. :)

Next post, I'm taking a break from big parts, and will make the discs and vacuum tube on the synchronous generator. After that, scratch-built Clippard valves!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$2.50 - 1-1/2 in. x 12 in. Polypropylene Flanged Strainer Tailpiece (Home Depot)
$2.50 - 1-1/2 in. x 12 in. Polypropylene Flanged Strainer Tailpiece (Home Depot)

$239.92 - previous total
$244.92 - this stuff

TOTAL: $244.92
#4883913
26. DISCS & VACUUM TUBE

On the synchronous generator can be found two stepped discs, as well as a pipe that serves as the other end of the vacuum tube.

I shopped and researched a great deal trying to find matching lids or discs or whatever, and found it too difficult to adequately match the needed sizes. So I decided to make my own with leftover materials!

But first, I wanted to show my process for making a disc, as I have no major power tools (except for a too-small miter saw).

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1. I drew the desired circle on my material using a compass.

2. Using a miter saw (any saw works), I cut straight lines as close to the circle line as I could get. First, the four 90-degree sides, then the four corners, and then the resulting eight corners from that. The end product is a 16-sided polygon that surrounds the circle.

3. I sanded the corners off with a sanding block, rounding as I went. It's not as time consuming as it seems. I used my usual 80-220-400 grit progression.

For the larger half-inch thick disc, sanding by hand WAS extraordinarily time consuming. I don't have a power sander, so I used a sanding drum attachment on my drill, and zip-tied the drill's trigger in an "on" state. That way, I could stand the drill up on my workbench, and hold the wood up to the rotating drum. Boom, instant mini drum sander!

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After prepping my parts, this is what I made, all with leftover material from previous steps!

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1. 3-1/2" diameter x 1/8" thick disc, from leftover Baltic birch plywood (from V-hook build).
2. 3-1/4" diameter x 1/2" thick disc, from 2 glued layers of 1/4" MDF (from motherboard).
3. 2-3/8" length of 1" inside diameter PVC (1-5/16" outside diameter).
4. 1/2" length of 2" inside diameter ABS pipe (2-3/8" outside diameter) (from booster build).
5. 2-1/4" diameter x 1/8" thick disc, from leftover Baltic birch plywood (from V-hook build).
6. Scissor-cut oversize disc of leftover sign plastic, for capping the bottom of the vacuum tube.

Before assembling anything, I gave the edges of the wood discs a thin coat of white glue. This helps seal the edges and enable paint to adhere better. I gave the glued edges a light sanding afterward.

For the larger stepped disc, I superglued the MDF disc onto the larger plywood disc.

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For the vacuum tube base, I superglued the smaller plywood piece onto the ring of ABS pipe, and capped the PVC tube with sign plastic, using my previously-mentioned glue-and-sand process.

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To mount the vacuum tube on the disc, I first found and marked on the disc the center and edges where the pipe will go, so that it would be properly centered. I then superglued them together.

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Once the darn humidity levels went down, I finally painted these guys using my usual black spray formula.

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Finally, I mounted them on the pack using epoxy and some hot glue in spots in order to hold the pieces on the pack while the epoxy cured.

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Done and done. Next post, I'll show how I scratch made some convincing Clippard valves for three and a half bucks each!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

-- NO MONEY SPENT --

TOTAL: $244.92
#4883921
Wow, thanks DarkSpectre for the nice comments. When this thread is done, I'm going to have to contact the admins anyway, because I can no longer edit the first post, and I was working on an ongoing table of contents so that people could zero in on any particular component.

So if enough of you guys think this should be pinned, I can ask for that as well. :)

Very kind words, it keeps me going. Thank you! :)

Bill
#4883925
My pleasure, sir. Builds like this with can be useful tools for those who want a pack but feel they don;t have the skills. I didn't know anything about builds when i started summer of 05 but you can surprise yourself.

One thing i did stumble onto is that Wilton makes 10 inch cake pans that have the correct shape and rounded edges. They cost more but they look the part. I used a 9 inch pan with my wife's pack and a 10 for the RGB pack I built
#4884067
27. CLIPPARD VALVES

The "Clippard" valves can be found on the large stepped disc on the synchronous generator, and on the proton gun. Although they can be found online these days, I found them to be too cost prohibitive for my build, especially since it was pretty straightforward building some convincing copies.

I've seen people online use White-out bottles and 5-hour Energy bottles, but none of them seemed close enough to the real thing.

Note: I will be documenting below the steps I employed to build a single Clippard valve. Everything has to be doubled/duplicated for the second one!:)

To start, I printed Stefan's plans to actual size, and cut out the base shape. As I measured, I realized the base shape can be easily approximated by cutting the corners off a perfect square. So I cut two squares of leftover sign plastic to match.

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Next, I picked up a ridiculously overpriced piece of 1/4" thick balsa wood at Michaels:

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A 3/8" thick piece would have been a little more accurate, but this works for me.

The idea here is to build a "sandwich" of sign plastic around the balsa, giving the whole base more stability and paintability. So I cut the corners off the plastic pieces, and cut a balsa piece to similar dimensions as well.

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I then glued the "sandwich" together using superglue. It's important to avoid epoxy, white glue, or silicone-based adhesives here, because they don't sand very well.

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Next, I sanded the base piece to shape using 220-grit sandpaper and a sanding block, rounding everything according to the plans, taking care to do it slowly. I cleaned it up with 400-grit.

After this, I coated the top (and especially sides) with two coats of white glue. This seals the balsa and helps it keep from chipping or splitting.

Also, I located and drilled two small pilot holes for the screws. It is important to do this carefully, and only after the white glue application, because the balsa wants to chip off.

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The base is complete. For the body, I simply capped 1" inside diameter PVC pipe, with sign plastic as my "caps" (as I've shown previously). It is all sanded smooth and all edges but the bottom have been rounded quite a bit.

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Notice that this is done in two pieces. I did this in order to make the body more realistic. The rounded edges coming into contact makes for a very pronounced seam, much more convincing than simply masking off during painting. It's a little more work, but REALLY adds to the look of the finished product.

For the lids, I picked up two travel-size bottles of Scope mouthwash at my local dollar store:

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I not only used the lids, but it turned out to be very important to save the threaded tips of the bottles as well. I cut them off with a hacksaw, lightly sanded them, and turned them upside-down. It was also necessary to sand out the insides just enough so that a 1/2" dowel would fit inside.

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For the base screws, I picked up a pack of these #6 x 3/8" sheet metal screws. They are cosmetic only, as anything longer or larger will risk busting the balsa.

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EDIT: I ended up not using these screws, but went with longer 3/4" screws instead. They are no longer cosmetic, but instrumental in securing the valve to the wood disc underneath.

After that, I painted everything: base and lower body with black spray, upper body and lid with silver spray, and threaded piece with brass model paint.

I also cut a piece of 1/2" dowel (left over from the crank knob) to the exact inside height of the mouthwash cap.

My pieces were ready for assembly:

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My first assembly step was to apply the metallic label on the PVC body. It's quite difficult to add it later. It was also necessary for me to cut about 1/8" off the end of the label in order to get it to fit properly, as it was too long for my PVC pipe.

Note: The two Clippard labels are different. The one marked "R701" goes on the gun, and the one marked "R331" goes on the proton pack.

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I then glued on the upper body and base using a small dab of epoxy. I was especially careful to make sure the lower body is correctly oriented on the base, so that the label is facing the right direction.

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Then, I glued the dowel inside the threaded piece, with the dowel length sticking up past the non-threaded end of the bottle tip.

I flipped this whole thing upside down and glued it into the cap, ensuring that the threads will show.

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Note: Most pack builds seem to show brass threads for the gun's Clippard valve only. The one on the pack looks fully screwed in. As a result, I only used the threaded tip for one of the valves.

After gluing this onto the top of the valve body, and adding the mounting screws, my Clippard is done!

EDIT: Because I ended up using longer screws, they went in last.

Rinse and repeat (this time without the threaded tip), and my second one for the pack is ready.

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And finally, I glued my R331 Clippard onto the pack, using my usual epoxy and hot glue combination, saving the R701 valve for later.

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UPDATE: After a helpful post below from Alan Hawkins, I decided to secure the Clippard using the screws. So I took out the 3/8" long #6 screws, and replaced them with 3/4" versions instead. It was necessary to remove the valve carefully, clean up the surface, drill pilot holes into the stepped disc, and epoxy the valve back in. Then, I was able to put the longer screws in. Much more secure!

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And that's it. Next post, it's time to tackle that ion arm.

Thanks for reading!

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$4.19 - 1/4" thick x 3" x 36" balsa wood (Michaels)
$1.00 - Travel-size bottle of Scope mouthwash (dollar store)
$1.00 - Travel-size bottle of Scope mouthwash (dollar store)
$0.98 - #6 x 3/4" round head sheet metal screws (16-pack) (Home Depot)

$244.92 - previous total
$7.17 - this stuff

TOTAL: $252.09
Last edited by Astyanax on October 23rd, 2016, 3:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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