- June 4th, 2015, 2:31 pm#4834622
Well, it's high time I got round to building my first pack. This build is highly unlikely to offer anything you haven't seen before, but that's not the point, is it? I'm sure I will have many questions as I go along, so all advice and criticism is welcomed.
My overall plan is to build the pack in stages. This first stage will use a Matty want with Spongeface's kit to interface with the GB Fans pack lights. At some point in the future I will upgrade to a metal thrower with pop mech, sound kit, e-cig vent, and all the other bells and whistles.
I didn't want to rush in to things and ruin it, so I've waited over a year from when I joined this fine website, trying to learn from the masters. I've been slowly collecting parts, and while I still have a few orders to turn up, I finally have enough to do something with!
A couple of days ago, a very large box turned up with Nick-a-tron's name on it. I tore in to it like a child on Christmas morning who had found his dad's party stash, then been given a puppy and told "we're going to Disneyland".
Naurally, after taking that picture, you just have to try assembling what you can...
... and yes, I know the ion arm is the wrong way round. I was too excited to notice, OK?
The shell, and resin componants are from Nick-a-tron, with other parts (so far) from Ejgunth87, Spongeface, Master Taran, Nosllit, the good old GB Fans shop, and a few random local shops. I'm still waiting for a few parts to come in from GB Fans, nstevic01, and Hijacker.
I must confess that I asked Nick to mount the shell to the motherboard for me. I've never rivited anything in my life, and I just knew I would cock that up somehow. Being the gentleman he is, he obliged, and I forwarded him the brackets I got from Eric.
So anyway, This afternoon, I decided to make a start. I have heard some horror stories about shells cracking when you drill in to them, so I decided to practice on the inside of one of the cyclotron rings. I used a hand drill and tried turning it backwards... all went well. So I tried forwards... all went even better.
The very first hole... an important milestone!
So far, so good. So let's experiment with how to enlarge that hole. First I simply used a bigger bit, and did all four of them.
But there's only so far you can go with notmal drill bits. I tried a spade bit...
... But it didn't do much, so I switched to a circle cutter.
About half an hour of hand drilling later, I had this:
I decided to take a risk for the next hole and try a power drill on a low speed...
It worked perfectly and took less than a minute. Bye bye hand drill, you will not be missed! Before I knew it I had 4 holes in my pack.
Next step was to clean them up, so I broke out my trusty Drem- I mean "cheap JML multi tool", and got to work.
- A short interlude to talk about safety: The ammount of dust produced was insane. I kept stopping ever minute of so to hoover it up just so I could see what I was doing. Tomorrow I am going to pop to the hardware shop and get a better face mask, as the cheap fabric one I was using is clearly not up to the job.
Ta-da! Four cyclotron hole cut and sanded!
Feeling on a role, I decided to move on to the power cell. A string of holes drilled round the edge...
Then a cutting disc to link the holes...
- Another short interlude to talk about safety: 1) I'm glad I was wearing safety glasses, and 2) maybe it's about time I invested in a proper Dremel?
After going to town with some small sanding / grinding bits, I now have a power cell window.
********
At this point the daylight was starting to fade, and there was dust everywhere in our living room, dispite my best efforts to hoover it up as I went along. So I've left it there for now. (I don't want to rush things anyway). I've re-boxed the shell and given the place a thorough clean up before the missus gets home from work. And now I think I'm going to jump in the shower and scrub this dust off me. But naturally, I just had to share what I've done so far. The first steps towards owning something I've craved since childhood have finnaly been taken. I believe the word I'm looking for is "squeee!"
My overall plan is to build the pack in stages. This first stage will use a Matty want with Spongeface's kit to interface with the GB Fans pack lights. At some point in the future I will upgrade to a metal thrower with pop mech, sound kit, e-cig vent, and all the other bells and whistles.
I didn't want to rush in to things and ruin it, so I've waited over a year from when I joined this fine website, trying to learn from the masters. I've been slowly collecting parts, and while I still have a few orders to turn up, I finally have enough to do something with!
A couple of days ago, a very large box turned up with Nick-a-tron's name on it. I tore in to it like a child on Christmas morning who had found his dad's party stash, then been given a puppy and told "we're going to Disneyland".
Naurally, after taking that picture, you just have to try assembling what you can...
... and yes, I know the ion arm is the wrong way round. I was too excited to notice, OK?
The shell, and resin componants are from Nick-a-tron, with other parts (so far) from Ejgunth87, Spongeface, Master Taran, Nosllit, the good old GB Fans shop, and a few random local shops. I'm still waiting for a few parts to come in from GB Fans, nstevic01, and Hijacker.
I must confess that I asked Nick to mount the shell to the motherboard for me. I've never rivited anything in my life, and I just knew I would cock that up somehow. Being the gentleman he is, he obliged, and I forwarded him the brackets I got from Eric.
So anyway, This afternoon, I decided to make a start. I have heard some horror stories about shells cracking when you drill in to them, so I decided to practice on the inside of one of the cyclotron rings. I used a hand drill and tried turning it backwards... all went well. So I tried forwards... all went even better.
The very first hole... an important milestone!
So far, so good. So let's experiment with how to enlarge that hole. First I simply used a bigger bit, and did all four of them.
But there's only so far you can go with notmal drill bits. I tried a spade bit...
... But it didn't do much, so I switched to a circle cutter.
About half an hour of hand drilling later, I had this:
I decided to take a risk for the next hole and try a power drill on a low speed...
It worked perfectly and took less than a minute. Bye bye hand drill, you will not be missed! Before I knew it I had 4 holes in my pack.
Next step was to clean them up, so I broke out my trusty Drem- I mean "cheap JML multi tool", and got to work.
- A short interlude to talk about safety: The ammount of dust produced was insane. I kept stopping ever minute of so to hoover it up just so I could see what I was doing. Tomorrow I am going to pop to the hardware shop and get a better face mask, as the cheap fabric one I was using is clearly not up to the job.
Ta-da! Four cyclotron hole cut and sanded!
Feeling on a role, I decided to move on to the power cell. A string of holes drilled round the edge...
Then a cutting disc to link the holes...
- Another short interlude to talk about safety: 1) I'm glad I was wearing safety glasses, and 2) maybe it's about time I invested in a proper Dremel?
After going to town with some small sanding / grinding bits, I now have a power cell window.
********
At this point the daylight was starting to fade, and there was dust everywhere in our living room, dispite my best efforts to hoover it up as I went along. So I've left it there for now. (I don't want to rush things anyway). I've re-boxed the shell and given the place a thorough clean up before the missus gets home from work. And now I think I'm going to jump in the shower and scrub this dust off me. But naturally, I just had to share what I've done so far. The first steps towards owning something I've craved since childhood have finnaly been taken. I believe the word I'm looking for is "squeee!"
"You can't make an omelette without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot, and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others."
An Idiot Builds a Pack
An Idiot Builds a Pack