It not only looks battered, it was battered... I abused the hell out of it... you can ask Bart how deep those scratches are, a testament to how hard I was randomly whacking the living hell out of it...
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
So, I've been having issues lately with shattering acrylic wand tubes, so naturally, I consulted RJ for some assistance...
This here, is the third tube that I have shattered (as you can see, it has been repaired with super glue a couple of times already)...
Well, apparently, I've been using this piece all wrong...
So, RJ told me to epoxy the crap out of it... epoxy the little aluminum tube support to the inside of the acrylic tube, and then epoxy the acrylic tube to the inside of the inner pop mech tube... I literally emptied out an entire syringe of epoxy to this (sorry, no photos, was in a hurry and completely forgot), but needless to say, that tube ain't going anywhere!
Second issue, the rubber bands kept breaking... so, I decided to find a spring to take its place, so off I went to my local hardware store to find the shortest spring with the smallest diameter and found this...
Now, how to attach it, especially since the rubber band is normally attached to the inner threads of the front handle's knub screw...? Both the knub screw and the pop mech latch are 6-32 screws, so I figured, why not use an 8-32 washer and lasso the knub screw? It's loose enough to drop into the front handle and lasso on to the knub screw, but just small enough to hold on and not slide around... next, I just attached the other end to the pop mech latch screw, held it down by a washer and 6-32 nut, and voila! Spring installed!
You can kind of see the 8-32 washer holding onto the 6-32 knub screw in this photo...
Also, the spring is so strong that it was slamming itself against the front wall of the gun body, so I cut a piece of foam and stuck it to the wall for cushion...
Now, after all that is said and done, how does it work? Well, here you go...
I have tested this probably a good hundred times with no signs of damage and/or cracking, so I think I can count this as a success! Thanks, RJ!
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
ok ok ok ok... i am discovering the same rubber band breakage that you are. When you say, "Local hardware store" are you talking home depot/lowes or a mom and pop type store? Basically I need those springs... Lowes didn't have anything that small and I haven't been to Ace or HD yet.
I have not failed... I have succeeded in finding what doesn't work.
Rankin's True Value... not sure how widespread it is... There's two right by my house, one about 5 minutes away, another about 15 minutes away... The closest Lowe's/Home Depot to me is about 50 minutes away, so I resort to local stuff...
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
Kingpin wrote:I've gotta say, painting the reflectors red and using uncoloured lenses on the Cyclotron lights so they'll change colour properly is ingenious.
I can't take credit for that, that was totally a Father/Son Fincher Team idea!
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
Thanks for sharing this awesome thread showing the amazing journey through your pack build - a job very well done sir! The info you have shared has really helped me out. I don't have the time or resources to build one myself but next year a very talented prop builder in the UK will build one for me What I have been busy with in the meantime is getting all the 'real' parts, and just when you think you've covered everything...I discover the pop mech. I have found that Freeky Geeky offers the entire setup so I will be adding that to this ongoing quest for parts!
I wanted to ask where you got the vent lights from, and for the ribbon cable, I noticed the two white plastic seals used on the top part of the cable, I don't know what these are actually called when trying to search for them online, yet I've seen them used for many things!
Many Thanks
Alex
"...but if we're right, and we can stop this thing...then Lenny, you'll have saved the lives of MILLIONS of registered voters" - Dr. Peter Venkman
I got the vent lights from eBay for like $2 each... as for the ribbon cable seals, I believe you mean the white "zip ties"... or, at least that's what we call them in the Navy... they have other terms - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_tie
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
Um... I don't know, really, I just grabbed a couple from a stash that I had that "looked right"... I'm not even sure if they're the right size myself... I modeled it off of the GB1 Spengler pack, so that's a good reference to check...
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
Holy cow! I thought my super hero was heavy! Please tell me that you take breaks during the day? My boots always feel heavier at the end of a con day. I imagine yours must feel like lead. However, your pack looks great, btw!
Actually, no... I normally wear my pack for the entire 7 hours of an event (on average), I hardly ever take it off... My pack weighs approximately 37.2 pounds, but with the double neck insulation and the super padded straps from Nickatron, it feels more like 20-25 pounds...
I'm also in the military, so I'm used to pushing myself waaaayyy past my limits...
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
pyhasanon wrote:Actually, no... I normally wear my pack for the entire 7 hours of an event (on average), I hardly ever take it off... My pack weighs approximately 37.2 pounds, but with the double neck insulation and the super padded straps from Nickatron, it feels more like 20-25 pounds...
I'm also in the military, so I'm used to pushing myself waaaayyy past my limits...
Ahhh... those straps must make all the difference. My pack weighs probably around the same but i'm using LC-1 straps. It tends to leave bruises around my arms if I don't take breaks.
pyhasanon wrote:Um... I don't know, really, I just grabbed a couple from a stash that I had that "looked right"... I'm not even sure if they're the right size myself... I modeled it off of the GB1 Spengler pack, so that's a good reference to check...
Awesome, thanks again Phil
"...but if we're right, and we can stop this thing...then Lenny, you'll have saved the lives of MILLIONS of registered voters" - Dr. Peter Venkman
910dohead wrote:Ahhh... those straps must make all the difference. My pack weighs probably around the same but i'm using LC-1 straps. It tends to leave bruises around my arms if I don't take breaks.
Oh, yes, unpadded LC-1 straps will kill your shoulders, that's a known fact!
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
Quick update! Slowly picking up parts for my wife's lightweight pack! It won't be an extremely in depth build, but it should be interesting trying to keep it as light as possible... shooting to have the physical build done by October 17th (since I will be on a work-related trip to St Petersburg, FL between Oct 17-23)... would be cool to get the electronics put together by then as well, but I at least want the body done... crossing fingers that all goes well...
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis
I really enjoyed hearing about your story and reading about this build process. This made me smile and made my day. Thank you for sharing this. I can't find the words to begin to describe your pack, it's beyond awesome!
You should have no trouble neutronizing any paranormal entities that you come across!!!
Thanks! New lightweight pack coming soon! Unfortunately won't be completed before Halloween, though...
-- Phil
"There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t confront, if you do it with courage, and intelligence, and ingenuity, and good friends by your side." - Harold Ramis