W.I.P. - The "Enhanced Galvanick Lucifer" (fuel tank built & glowing!)

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

I have just procured two 12V flicker controllers that drive a pair of LEDs to simulate arc welding in diorama scenes, and a length of drainpipe.

This will become the body of the aetheric engine complete with actinic flickering from inside (seen through vents).

Of course you won't see it unless the lantern is powered up and you have the back open, but it's the thought that counts!

Herr Doktor, this is your fault by the way - you have inspired me a little too much!   

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

More filing, sanding and cutting later, and.....

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Allow me to present to you the almost-completed control box, all switches and the blue LED "armed" indicator in situ and all panels cut and ready.



Side panels are not yet glued in place - I need strip out the switches, fill the remaining gaps between the top and front panels with epoxy putty and then prime and paint before I do that!

Still, imagine that a nice brassy hue instead of plain white!

Update - I have made a pair of bands that will wrap all the way round the control box from front to rear.

These will serve to hide the seam where the removable side panel sits (to allow later access to the wiring) and also make it appear as if the control box has been inserted into a bracket which is part of the back plate. The side removable side panel will probably be held in place by 4 or more neodymium magnets with steel washers on the back of the plate (hidden under green fabric).

These will also make it easier for me to do final assembly post painting as it will let me have access into the box from both sides before finally gluing it in place onto the frame.

There will be rivets 

[Daemon Thorne]

Are these flicker LEDs similar to this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Evan-Designs-U3W-9-19V-Flashing-Welding-LED-Light-Kit_W0QQitemZ230251624184QQcmdZViewItem

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

I believe that they are similar in function, yes, although I got mine from a UK modelling bits supplier. Just waiting for them to turn up.

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Well, my supply of EMA PlasWeld (good old dichloromethane - Thanks for the tip Herr Doktor!) arrived in the post this morning and I have used it to chemically weld the "straps" that I mentioned in my last post onto the backboard and the control panel frame. I also ran some along the structural seams on the frame so if there were gaps in the cyanocrylate glue I had used some would seep in and strengthen the bonds.

I've also discovered that 3/16" long #4-40 screws are just long enough to go through the "strap" on the backboard and still have enough left over to solidly screw into a matching nut... So rather than glue the control box onto the backboard I've drilled 6 holes through the strap and into the frame (going into the uprights for strength), and bored out one of the holes in the control box to take a matching nut which I've fixed in place using JB Weld. (I also used the JB Weld I had left after mixing to fill the gaps between plates).

Now I'm just waiting for the JB Weld to set overnight, and if that works and seems like a good solid bond (and it doesn't look like the strap is going to snap when I tighten the screw) I'll drill out the remaining 5 holes for their nuts and JBWeld them in place too.

Once that's done, I'll be able to pop the control box into the back plate and screw it in place which will mean it will be easily removeable as needed. Then I'll just sort out the magnets and washers to hold theoutside panel in place, and I'll be ready to sand everything down some more, prime and paint :-)

Of course, if that doesn't work at all, then I'll fill the drill holes with epoxy putty and go back to plan A of using EMA Plasweld to bond the frame to the backplate once all the wires are soldered and tested which will make future maintenance a pain, but never mind!

P.S. dichloromethane is pretty nasty stuff, but by Goddess it doesn't half bond styrene together well!! 

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

THE JB WELD + NUT + SCREW WORKED, and it seems to be a good solid join!!! 

*bounces gleefully*

[KinoOmega]

Oh my, now if only you could add the ability to recharge it like the ones in "Journey to the center of the Earth"!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

I've not read it in far too long. Care to remind me how they recharge?

Oh, and this is what the fully assembled control unit looks like.



I just need to add the 5 other screws to fix it onto the backplate and the magnets to hold the cover closed along with some detailing on the side panel and then it's ready for priming and painting.

I'm going to get the wood for the lantern body and paints (hopefully) this weekend.

Control box and corner reinforcements on lantern body = Plastikote Metallic brass effect + sealer (the same paint Herr Doktor used on his helmet's chestplate)
Lantern body = "hammered metal" finish "forest green" from Plastikote
Lantern feet = Brass cupboard doorknobs (1" round balls)

I've dropped the idea for external "fuel" tanks, and will instead move to a single "fuel tank" inside the lantern body, revealed by a locking downward hinged rear opening door, but I'm having problems sourcing some clear acrylic tubing to make it out of, which is a major pain in the rear.

[Herr Döktor]

Just a suggestion, regarding acrylic tube or shapes, but the likes of Marks'n'Sparks are doing ranges of acrylic wineglasses, beakers, tumblers etc. that are ideal for utilisation in a range of ways that thier makers can never have imagined!

ohh! I found some pictures: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/node/n/54370031/026-2669778-6822834?ie=UTF8&mnSBrand=core

Best of all, the EMA Plastic Weld will bond them perfectly!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Thank you Herr Doktor! I shall head to M&S at some point tomorrow and have a looksee!

Unfortunately I have had to abandon the screws & nuts plan as testing has revealed that while the JB weld as good enough to hold the hut in place, and the "strap" PlasWelded to the backplate was OK with a screw being tightened down on it, there is not enough surface area between the strap and the base plate for it to be strong enough to hold it all together, and the strap started to seperate from the backplate.

So I'm PlasWelding the control box and backplate together for extra strength.

It'll make final assembly a little tricker, but it should stand up to use better.

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

The Trip to M&S was a resounding success and I now have a "fuel tank" made out of an acrylic high-ball tumbler and an acrylic plate.

I also popped to B&Q and got wood to form the frame of the lantern and 6mm MDF for the outer and inner skin - it's going to be double walled so all the electrical cables are hidden as far as is possible.

UPDATE

The first of the wooden frames is now finished and waiting to dry for 24 hours in a band clamp, and I now have a sense of scale. This thing is going to be BIG. Well, bigger than I originally imagined anyway!

13" wide x 16" tall x 13" deep. 

Lamp bezel = 13" diameter at the front of the lantern, protrudes out the front about 18mm. Mounted so the lamp is towards the top of the case to make space for a front ventilation grille below the lamp. I just need to work out where the other grille (or grilles) will go to allow hot air to exit. - I'm currently in favour of two grilles in the top of the lantern body, either side of the carrying handle.

OK, that means the lantern is not going to be usable in the rain, but seeing as the original lantern was not usable in rain either (due to it having ventilation holes in the case around the lamp) that's not really a problem - and my ventilation holes will look much more classy!!!

So... it's going to be a bit unwieldy to carry, but the original lantern was pretty damn big anyway! And because this is being a bit over-engineered (I'm using 25mm x 25mm pine battens for the frame and 6mm thick MDF for the skins on the frame) you could probably be use it as a stool in a pinch!

So, double the functionality! Huzzah!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

And here's the progress so far on the fuel tank...

White boxes at top and bottom are (again) scratchbuilt, the top one fulfilling the dual purpose of sealing the filler hole - the space around the curved walls of the glass is going to be packed with epoxy putty, then I'll mask off the glass for painting. I'll embed the brass grille into the putty on the bottom box and leave the top one unfixed and unpainted until the tank has been filled. (Yes, the tank DOES taper from top to bottom)



Fuel filler pipe is made from plumbing fitments, cut off at the top where the external fuel filler flap will go. The pipe will pass through both walls of the box, and join onto the back plate of the flap. The fuel filler flap will be hinged, openable and held closed with neodymium magnets and look thoroughly real (I'm even including an o-ring seal!) even though it is only a dummy - again it's going to be scratchbuilt.

All white bits will be painted brass, and I have a nice brass grille to go over the "glass" (which will also be the grille on the ventilation holes)



The second wooden frame is now assembled and I'm waiting for the glue to dry.

[Herr Döktor]

keep the pictures coming, I'm really intriqued to see this coming together!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Have no fear old chap, I intend to bore the lot of you silly post frequent build progress updates with photos! 

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

Have no fear old chap, I intend to bore the lot of you silly post frequent build progress updates with photos! 

At least I won't be suffering alone!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

OK. Minor change of plan (and a very lengthy post!).

Both of the main wooden frames glue had set OK.

Unfortunately I hadn't noticed that as I was finally tightening the band clamp on each of them, they had subtly twisted or slipped and were no longer square!

Fortunately, "No More Nails" has a tensile strength of about 50Kg when set, so with a few sharp raps from a mallet, and a couple of good tugs, I was able to seperate the frames into their seperate parts.

Unfortunately, while sanding off the set glue from the faces of the 45 degree mitre cuts, I managed to round off or otherwise knacker the mitres so when I came to put them back together they were all lop sided or had huge gaps in the joints which would be useless for strength. Note that I have no woodworking workshop, and the only "specialised" tool at my disposal is a mitre saw with preset angles (apart from my modelling tools, but they are a bit too small for 25mm square pine!) so everything is being done by hand with basic tools - sandpaper of various grits, some small modelling files for minor touch ups (must get a set of woodworking files!) and a mitre saw.

So. Back in the mitre saw to cut a small chunk off the end of each bit so they would mitre back together again.

It's now gone midnight, and I've finished sawing and fettling wood, and I have 8 pieces of wood all with nice 45 degree ends. So I'm not going to glue them back together tonight - too tired!

Anyway, I'm waffling.

"What's the change of plan?" I hear you ask

Ah yes.

Instead of being a tall lantern, I'm now flipping it down on what would originally have been it's side, so the reflector and lens will take up pretty much the entirety of one end (imposing!). This means that the fuel filler will now be on the top (makes sense, easier to pour liquified Aether into it!), and the air intakes will now be along the sides at the bottom, with the hot air exhausts also going on top.

Speaking of the hot air exhausts, I'm going to duct them out through... well, I'll keep that as a surprise!

I'm also going to add a ventilation duct inside, using the void inside the top between the inner and outer walls to exhaust air to the vents on top, and to ensure a good flow of air from outside through the lantern there will be a 120mm fan pulling 38 cubic feet per minute of air through the lantern body will mean that there will (a) be negative pressure inside the case, (b) the interior will be kept cool and (c) there will be a positively intriguing breeze exiting from the.... No, I'm keeping the details of the exhaust vents a surprise for now! 

Upcoming schedule is hopefully as follows:

Tomorrow night I'll be gluing the frames back together again, then it's a case of waiting 24 hours for the glue to dry again. Measure and cut wood to become the frame of the rear door (the whole back wall of the lantern body will be a hinged downward opening access door to let you see inside and change the bulb when needed).

Wednesday = drill and screw the joints together for extra strength, and glue the two frames together with the seperator beams. Clamp and wait 24 hours again. (More styrene and other bits due from EMA Modelling supplies, so hopefully make a start on the "aetheric engine" case to hide the battery).

Thursday = drill and screw the those joints together for extra strength,  glue the supports for the internal walls into place inside the main framework, clamp and leave to dry 24 hours. Start measuring and marking MDF for the walls. Hopefully mark and cut the MDF rings that will become the bezel around the lens.

Friday = Cut cardboard for floor and three of the walls and fix to the internal frame struts. Test location of fuel tank, air inlet vents etc and transfer to MDF

Weekend - source the paint, get the last remaining bits to make the handle with, get the fan from Maplins, get some hardboard or similar to make the vent... oh no, I'm not telling you about them yet! 

[Herr Döktor]

You know wht that post really needed?




PICTURES!!!

 

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

It was bad enough dragging him off to bed as it was without him taking pics to go with it!!!

[Herr Döktor]

You paint such a pretty picture of domestic bliss!



EDIT: Just noticed the time Mr. Clough posted that, er, post: Now wonder he was rambling!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Apologies for the rambling, it was rather late... errrr... early.

Didn't get any gluing done tonight as I forgot it was the staff BBQ at work this evening so didn't get home until 9:45pm or thereabouts.

Have however just cut a stack of circles out of styrene sheet to make the fuel filler - totalling 6.5mm thick. Now I just have to cut out the centres and I can make the hinges.

Will post pics once I've got the holes cut.

P.S. Switched from a 120mm fan to a 90mm fan and was just making sure that it worked when wired in to the circuit, when the damn thing bit me!! Be warned - Running a ThermalTake 90mm, 2850rpm fan (shifts 58 cubic feet per minute of air) with no fan guards can be hazardous to one's finger tips!

[Herr Döktor]

I know I asked for pictures, but you really don't need to cut chunks from yourself just to suit me!

PS: Ouch!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Thank you for the sympathy Herr Doktor. I was quite taken aback when I realised the damned thing had drawn blood!

The fuel filler cap (lower section) is now completed and ready for the outer edge to be filed and sanded

Laminate of 6 layers of styrene sheet and there's a matching lid that sits in the centre hole over the o-ring, but that's not shown in these pics.

Without the o-ring so you can see the stepped layers. "Fuel" pipe glues onto the base of the bottom layer.



And showing the o-ring in place. It sits .3 of a mm above it's retaining ring, so when the lid is closed the o-ring will actually seal it. Not that there is anything to seal mind you, but it's the little touches!

[Herr Döktor]

Oh, the little touches that no one notices are there, but would miss if they wern't! Something I call 'finessing'!

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Decided that a round fuel filler was a bit too reminiscent of the aftermarket replica "race fillers" you see on chav-mobiles.

So it's now octagonal

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

And now, it has a lid.

With a hinge...



... which actually works!



Needs fettling still before it's ready for paint - the square hinge arms are going to be shaped to a nice slope, and the hinge posts need tidying up and levelling off, not to mention radiusing all the 90 degree corners so it's nice and smooth.

At the moment, the hinge pin is not glued in place so it can be taken apart for painting.

Again, this is all scratchbuilt (apart from the o-ring) from styrene sheet, 6mm square styrene rod and 3.2mm round styrene rod.