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By galeap
#4906477
Hi all,

After a bit of a break from completing my aluminium Proton Pack build I have started work on building a trap. And like last time I thought that I would share the progress of the build for comments and help as I progress it.

I'm basing the build largely off Sefan's plans, modifying them here and there to match new detail that has been captured in the high res photos now available of a few of the actual movie traps as well as that posted by other GBFans members.

So to start the photo show, I picked up some new aluminium stock for the build.
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From that I started by marked out the body sides, back, base and base spacer.
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To slot out the wheel holes I first drilled them and then filed them out.
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To finish off the slots to make sure they match between the base plate and spacer I temporarily screwed them together.
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Temporary check of wheel height. The diameter of these bearings are a little small, I think I will see if I can find some larger ones that are the same thickness.
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Next I started to assemble the main body together. To do this I used screws instead of welds to match what appeares to have been done on at least one of the actual movie traps. It was quite an effort to drill and countersink the holes in the right spot being so close to the bottom edge of the trap. The side plates will later on cover up most of the bottom screw heads.

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Had to be careful here as I was worried that the 4-40 tap would break and I only have one.
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The next photos show the body screwed together, sitting loosely on the base and spacer plate.
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I have also cut out the large and small side plates, but haven't taken any photo's of these yet. Plus spent a bit of time hunting on the internet for future parts, so far I have the teardrop Raytheon knob, vector plate (from the fan shop) and CAL-R resistor.

My plan is to screw the trap body to the spacer plate, with screw aligned with the wheel axle, so that they become covered once the half round axles are made and installed.

The other item that I have started thinking about is how the battery box attaches to the main trap body. Originally I assumed that this would be via a couple of small (say 4-40) screws into the rear wall. However I can't see evidence of this in any of the reference photos. How have other done this?

While exploring for the correct method to attach the battery box I notice what appears to be a couple of screws or rivets on the side of the battery box in real trap reference photos.
The first photo below is from the Prop Bay site hero trap and the second is from the GBfans reference section. I have drawn in an arrow on each to what I am talking about. On the second photo it is quite hard to see, however it is still there. I had a look but find any discussion on this in the forums, and am wondering if this is how the battery box is held on or part of the spring loaded release mech.

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I look forward to hearing from you all on how to attach the battery box and on mystery screws in the photos above.
Cheers
P.
#4906579
Awesome!
I am close to finishing mine, I saved a lot of work by finding a section of 4" square tubing.
Just had to cut off the top.
Also mill away as much as you can from those plates, or you'll need a two man lift sticker on it, lol!
#4906624
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the words of support Venkman's Swagger, helps keep me motivated.

Hi Chris, I just a quick look at your build thread and the final product looks good, hope that mine comes out similar. And yes I plan to mill out as much as I can from under the side plates, spacer etc to reduce the weight, otherwise its going to have to become a choice of wearing the pack or just taking the trap to events ;)

Hi Robandliv, I do large straight cuts on a table saw or compound mitre saw fitted with aluminium cutting blades, hacksaw out larger odd bits, then final finish up is with file and emery paper. It takes a bit of effort but its generally therapeutic, put the radio on and file, file file...
Not a lot of progress to report this weekend, got caught up with other things. However I did manage to make a cardboard template up for how I'm planning on doing the battery box. Hopefully next weekend I'll have some progress photos of this in ally.

Thanks all.

P.

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