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By Fitzhume
#4925610
This weekend I worked on finished up the external part of the pack minus weathering. Weathering will be one of the last steps that I take with the pack. I also have to work on the bezel decal with the lenticular piece for the wand bar graph. I will post pictures of this at a later date.

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I do have rub-on decals but I chose to put the vinal sticker for now on the N-filter. The flash of the camera really showed the color difference from the pack to sticker. For those that did use a rub-on, what is the number in the lower right corner of the diagram? Is it the same that is on the wand on the left side?
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User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4925911
I've been working on my wand for the past week and I'm to a point to put all the wires in. I have the GB fans soundboard, lights, and wand kit. I had tested all of this before and everything was working. Now I'm having some trouble and need some guidance. I have noticed that the wand tip button and light never work now. I have tested this multiple times with all the setups from the documentation. I routed the wand button/light to the tip and it doesn't seem to work not when the power is off and vent light switch is on. I cannot get the light on this line or button to work at all.

I need some help if anyone is willing to try.
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4925912
If I turn the pot on the wand board all the way to the left, the orange hat light(wand tip) does light. This is the only want I can get it to light. I have to be missing something very simple.

My initial assumption is that the switch doesn't work anymore or the wiring to the switch is damaged.
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4925915
Well, I cut and pull the heat shrink off the one terminal and it is broken.

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Assuming that this is the only problem, I should be able to fix this as there is enough slack in the line for this. If not, I could splice in some extension wire to accommodate the length.
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926091
Small update on my pack project.

The pack is attached to the Alice frame and is heavy as hell. I need to do squats for a week before I can wear this out in public I think.

I attached a 1/2 inch pipe insulator to the top bar of the Alice pack and trimmed spots for the straps and center bar. I think wrapped this with a bigger pipe insulator and used zip ties to hold it in place. I clipped the ties and then used black duck tape to give it a finished look.

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Missing finished picture of taped pad.

Wand Work -

I finished up the decal and wand bezel. This was an interesting process. I chose to stick the lenticular piece directly to the window tint first and trimmed it a day later to let it dry. This worked out great instead of attempting to trim it first. I did try to trim it first but was unable to keep any dust/lint from getting inbetween the lenticular piece and the tint.

I then wet the decal and plexiglass and slid the decal onto the plexi.
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This was very simple to do if you keep both the decal and plexiglass wet. I was able to gently slide the decal in place. Blotted the water away and let it sit for a day.


On the left, I have the lenticular piece/window tint in the bezel and a trimmed decal/plexiglass on the right. You can see little scratches on the decal before I applied a coat of decal film.
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I was able to touch this up with a sharpie and then sealed it with the film.

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This the bezel after it was all put together. All pieces were snug enough that I didn't have to use any glue to hold it all together, but just to make sure that it did while I was installing it to the wand, I went ahead and used a small zip tie and applied glue to its end. Then wiping the tip in the corners to apply the glue.

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I routed all wires into their positions and back into the wand box. Quite tight in there since it's resin.

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There is some space at the top of the wand bezel but I'm not getting any light escaping the box. I may have to fill it in with paint of some kind as my bondo skills are laking.
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Here is a nice shot of the dry rubs that I was using on the wand.
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I had a little mistake with the decal under the top switch on the body of the wand. The scotch tape I was used wasn't really sticking well to the paint. It would slide if I wasn't careful while rubbing the decal. So the tap slipped which pulled the protective cover of the decal and the tape touched the decal. Pulled the corner off the switch decal.

Here is the bottom of the rail with decals in place.
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Here she is minus the red hose in the banjos yet minus weathering:
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This shot was to show that I do not have red lenses in but frosted ones but you can still see the red of the reflector cups:
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My focus next will be to work on soldering the gizmo up for my belt. I've had a blast so far with this build as I'm both happy that it's almost over but sad at the same time. I do hope to add a venting kit in the future as well so that is also on the work sheet.

For those that have used vinal stickers on their pack, have you had any issues with the curling off at all? If so, what would you suggest on how to prevent them from doing this?
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926194
Gizmo Update -

I have spent the past week working the Gizmo kit created by Spongeface. I'm really enjoying soldering these components. I guess the true soldering will start tomorrow when I get to the components that actually are carrying the electrical current to parts that matter. Here are some images of the progress so far.

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There is quite a bit of part in this kit. Spongeface does a great job with quality control with this kit. All the sections are broken up into bags so nothing gets mixed up.

I started off with the resisters and then moved to the resisters that have the white heat shrink tubing on them. These were fun to make as I needed to bend the leads and then create a kink/wave in them. I used the end of a rivot to make these bens and needle-nose plyers for the wave.
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This is a close up of the first set of resisters created this way:
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Then I added the other transistors and diods to the board:
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Probably the most difficult part was soldering in these leads while keeping them all level. These leads came in 4 packs of 40 all connected by a black strip. I broke these out into sections of 9 the best that I could. I would use the black strip to prop up the leads as level as possible as a flipped the board over using helping hands to solder them in place. Since the leads are offset a bit once in place, getting the black holder off them was a bit difficult in between each set. This is how it looks before I got the white chips in place on them.
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I placed the stickers on these white cut blocks and then attached them to the leads with some glue on the inside so no glue would seep to the edges.
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The next part are the black chips which I should have taken a break to complete but I was determined to get this part done. I was a little bit shaky on placing the rub-on decals on top of the black blocks. One is a little bit off but it gives it character, right? :)
I took 8 leads and soldered one at each end of each block. I also filled in the empty holes that did not have leads with solder to give somewhat an evened out ledge for the block to sit on. After which I used glue again on just the leads available for each block.

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Tomorrow I will refocus and work on the components that will run the gizmo itself.
Last edited by Fitzhume on October 25th, 2019, 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By Mechanized
#4926213
The pack is looking amazing, man! Truly inspiring. All the pictures are SUPER helpful too.

Been debating the gizmo kit for awhile now. My soldering skills and understanding are so-so. The only real build with electronics I’ve done has been a full light/sound lightsaber.

Having only read the instructions it seems somewhat complicated/difficult. How’s it been in your experience so far? Is it a bit more straight forward when you have all the parts in hand?
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926219
Mechanized wrote: October 26th, 2019, 7:43 am The pack is looking amazing, man! Truly inspiring. All the pictures are SUPER helpful too.

Been debating the gizmo kit for a while now. My soldering skills and understanding are so-so. The only real build with electronics I’ve done has been a full light/sound lightsaber.

Having only read the instructions it seems somewhat complicated/difficult. How’s it been in your experience so far? Is it a bit more straight forward when you have all the parts in hand?
Thanks for the props Mechanized. I had a blast working on this stuff. The Gizmo kit is a lot of fun. I used to mod Playstations back in college for friends but that was simple as it was just a couple jumper wires to a piggy-back chip. This is more involved but I wouldn't worry about it honestly and I haven't soldered something for quite a long time. The stuff on the bottom half of the board is just there to look pretty. The stuff above the ceramic pieces is actually working parts as they drive the lights in the tubes that will be there. I took the stuff at the bottom to re-teach myself how to solder properly on a through board solder point. I messed my solder iron tip a bit and I'm having trouble since I left it on for quite a while yesterday while working on this. I wasn't paying attention to it and forgot to clean it and re-tin it and now the tip is not doing well. I've been cleaning it quite a bit and I can only get a small spot on the tip to hold any solder as the rest of it just runs off. It's too oxidized. I need to head to the store tomorrow before any football is on to buy some solder supplies to rejuvenate this tip, maybe buy a new tip.

Besides sporting this pack and gizmo, I'm looking forward to helping and answering questions for those that are working on stuff in the future. Thanks again!!
By Mechanized
#4926221
Awesome. Thanks for that reply, man.

My first soldering iron tip did that heavy oxidation stuff too. Mainly from me not knowing how to properly maintain my tool. Live and learn, huh? Hahah.

I’ll probably have plenty more questions to come as Ben is almost finished with my kit. So I really appreciate your willing to help out. Cheers, man.
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926232
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Not been getting notifications for your update. You’ve done so much since my last visit. Great job.

Not sure if you have one but if you’re planning more solder work something like this is handy...

Tip Cleaner

... works much better than a wet sponge.

You should be able to fix your oxidized tip with some fine sandpaper and a tinning kit. But definitely turn off the wand when not using. If you get serious about soldering, upgrade to a high quality solder station. Weller is a good brand but there are others. Best money I ever spent but I do a lot of soldering.
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926249
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

bishopdonmiguel wrote: October 27th, 2019, 4:42 am Not been getting notifications for your update. You’ve done so much since my last visit. Great job.

Not sure if you have one but if you’re planning more solder work something like this is handy...

Tip Cleaner

... works much better than a wet sponge.

You should be able to fix your oxidized tip with some fine sandpaper and a tinning kit. But definitely turn off the wand when not using. If you get serious about soldering, upgrade to a high quality solder station. Weller is a good brand but there are others. Best money I ever spent but I do a lot of soldering.
Thanks for wanting to keep up with my build. That means a lot to me. I just got back from the stores and picked up a soldering stand and iron cleaner like what you posted. Most likely in the future I will pick up a nice soldering station and get away from these irons that I have.

The more and more I look at this tip that I have, it looks like I've lost some of the coating on the very tip. What do you think?

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Well back to the Gizmo. The LED test worked so the soldering has been correct so far. Thanks again!!
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926257
Fitzhume wrote:it looks like I've lost some of the coating on the very tip. What do you think?
That happens with prolonged heating. Sand the tip with 320 or 400 grit paper then retin. The kits are usually ammonia based so take some care not to get a lungful of fumes.
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User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926368
Mechanized wrote: October 29th, 2019, 8:16 pm Hey Fitzhume, did your reflector cups arrive painted red like that or did you do it yourself?

Been trying to find a proper set to use.
I painted these reflector cups myself as I took this idea from canpara. You should look at his build as well. I pulled the cups out of some cheap flashlights from Walmart and then used a red anodized reflective paint to allow the cup to retain its reflective properties. I was able to find that paint at Walmart as well. I used clear frost lenses for this effect since I was using TVG lights(from Spongeface) in the pack too. With this setup, when the cyclotron changes from red/blue/green/ornage-red, you see these colors instead of just red.

I didn't document this part well as I had sessions working on this stuff that I would forget to document it. However, i doubt I will ever be able to forget how I built this thing. Too much fun!!
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By Mechanized
#4926380
Fitzhume wrote: October 30th, 2019, 10:26 am
Mechanized wrote: October 29th, 2019, 8:16 pm Hey Fitzhume, did your reflector cups arrive painted red like that or did you do it yourself?

Been trying to find a proper set to use.
I painted these reflector cups myself as I took this idea from canpara. You should look at his build as well. I pulled the cups out of some cheap flashlights from Walmart and then used a red anodized reflective paint to allow the cup to retain its reflective properties. I was able to find that paint at Walmart as well. I used clear frost lenses for this effect since I was using TVG lights(from Spongeface) in the pack too. With this setup, when the cyclotron changes from red/blue/green/ornage-red, you see these colors instead of just red.

I didn't document this part well as I had sessions working on this stuff that I would forget to document it. However, i doubt I will ever be able to forget how I built this thing. Too much fun!!
Nice!

Okay, I must’ve missed that on his build. I’ve got three threads for references. I believe you mentioned his thread before and I immediately found it for additional help.

I was reading through them all last night and must’ve just passed it.

I did read about the flashlights and that looks like the route I’ll go. Cheap and an easy find.

Thank you for help, much appreciated as always.
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User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926439
Well, I got to wear the pack tonight as I was able to walk with my daughter who wore a Stay Puft inflatable costume. Everything was going well until I took the pack off for the 4th time. We travelled around the city going to other places. I went to pick up the pack to put it back on and one of the straps came undone and the pack fell. It caved in the corner that the ion block was bolted into. I'm just dumbfounded that I spent so much time to build this pack that I've wanted since I was a child and broke it not after 2 hrs of wearing it.

I'm just going to sleep on it tonight and take pictures tomorrow. I will need some opinions on how to approach fixing this.

Happy Halloween everyone!
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926440
Definitely sorry to hear this but should be fixable. Stuff happens. It will be a great story to tell in a few years.

For what it’s worth, nearly the same happened to me so I added a few safety features like rivets in the straps and zip ties around the quick releases. Pictures are in my build I think.
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By Fitzhume
#4926441
bishopdonmiguel wrote: October 31st, 2019, 7:37 pm Definitely sorry to hear this but should be fixable. Stuff happens. It will be a great story to tell in a few years.

For what it’s worth, nearly the same happened to me so I added a few safety features like rivets in the straps and zip ties around the quick releases. Pictures are in my build I think.
I will look into this immediately. Thanks Bishop!
User avatar
By Fitzhume
#4926472
Here are photos of the damage. I'm not sure how to approach this to fix it. At least none of the electronics were damaged. Sorry for the size of the photos but I thought it would help to see it in more detail.

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Has anyone ever fix something like this type of damage on their pack before? How does one even approach this? I feel defeated honestly.
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926473
Reassemble it the best you can using CA glue with a kicker or fast setting epoxy. Reinforce the backside with 2-part Bondo and fiberglass tape, overlapping the joints by several inches. Bondo sets quickly so work fast or work in small sections. You’ll probably need to embed the bolts from Ion Arm into a thick section of Bondo on back so you might need longer bolts. Fill the front side cracks with Milliput and smooth with water. Sand flat after 24 hours and fill any small gaps or cracks with 3M Red Glazing & Spot putty. Sand again. Repaint.

It will probably not be as strong as before but the repairs should last a long time.
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By Fitzhume
#4926474
bishopdonmiguel wrote: November 1st, 2019, 4:03 pm Reassemble it the best you can using CA glue with a kicker or fast setting epoxy. Reinforce the backside with 2-part Bondo and fiberglass tape, overlapping the joints by several inches. Bondo sets quickly so work fast or work in small sections. You’ll probably need to embed the bolts from Ion Arm into a thick section of Bondo on back so you might need longer bolts. Fill the front side cracks with Milliput and smooth with water. Sand flat after 24 hours and fill any small gaps or cracks with 3M Red Glazing & Spot putty. Sand again. Repaint.

It will probably not be as strong as before but the repairs should last a long time.
Thanks for the reply, Bishop. I was thinking of not putting the resin ion block back on and maybe just buying an aluminum one due to the possibility of the lack of weight the corner could hold once I get it fixed.

I have some JB Weld (Steelstik) Expoxy putty. Do you think that could be used in place of Milliput or should I just get Milliput? I have 2part Bondo and E6000. Do you think the E6000 would be good for the cracks before applying the Bondo? I'm not familiar with CA glue. I'll have to run out and get some fiberglass tape, 3M Red Glazing,and Spot Putty.
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926475
CA is “superglue.” With a “kicker” (accelerator) it cures instantly. I’d recommend using “medium” (thin is too runny), press parts together and wipe any excess off with a paper towel then spray on the kicker. Just don’t glue your fingers together and avoid breathing CA fumes.

JB Weld is strong but very sticky and cures quickly. I don’t think you’d be able to wipe down smoothly. Milliput is easier to work with and can be smoothed with water but takes 24 hours to cure.

I would not use E6000. It has no hold until cured for several hours at least. Plus it’s flexible so it might be make patching the cracks difficult and would probably cause the paint to crack over time.
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4926476
By the way, 2-part Bondo body filler has high compressive strength but low shear strength. The fiberglass tape is necessary to help hold it all together. You might also coat the Bondo backing with some Epoxy to add further strength.
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By RedSpecial
#4926496
Really sorry to see that, especially so soon after you completed all that hard work.
Why anyone would choose to cast something like this in straight poly resin with zero reinforcement is baffling.

Bishopdonmiguels sound advice should have it back to form in no time.
I'd reinforce the hell out of the entire thing with epoxy resin and fiberglass.
I always recommend that people who buy a BOK shell do that for this very reason.
It won't stop the poly shell from cracking and fracturing from damage but it will hold it together and stop it from shattering.
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By Fitzhume
#4926533
starburst wrote: November 2nd, 2019, 8:15 am Hope you can get her fixed up soon!
I have scheduled things coming up this week and into next, so it will have to wait until then before I can start working on it again. After looking more closely. the only pieces that were separated from the pack were the part that was bolted to the ion block. There was nothing else loose. I have the glues, epoxies, Bondo, and putty to start the work. I just have to track down the 3M Red Glazing Spot Putty.

I will document this the best that I can so others can see how this can be repaired.
User avatar
By bishopdonmiguel
#4926534
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

There are other filler options but this is the stuff I use for base filling. Dries quite hard. Not structural but holds up well. If there are still imperfections, you can use the softer Bondo Red Spot & Glazing Putty to fill in thin spots and small holes. Probably not necessary for this project.
3M Acryl Red Spot & Glazing Putty
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