Fusion Generator / Reactor?

[kresty]

Ah, hmm, so you were cutting a slot with the CnC? (Rounding too?) Lasers don't do that so well ;-)

[savagecreature]

Ah, hmm, so you were cutting a slot with the CnC?  (Rounding too?)  Lasers don't do that so well ;-)

Yup. Cutting a slot with the CnC. CnCs are good at that part.

As far as the rounding goes, like I said, just delete the line and either leave it un-rounded or get out the ole sand paper after it's cut.  

[kresty]

Ah, hmm, so you were cutting a slot with the CnC?  (Rounding too?)  Lasers don't do that so well ;-)

Yup. Cutting a slot with the CnC. CnCs are good at that part.

As far as the rounding goes, like I said, just delete the line and either leave it un-rounded or get out the ole sand paper after it's cut.  

'k, thanks

[kresty]

Two More questions



Any suggestions for how to segment the long bits if my machine can only cut to 24"?  

The funnest big grilly thing is ~26" (26.106"?) and there are two long bands just over 32"

I guess I can put something on the back of the grilly thing to piece it together, but I was wondering if you'd given it any thought?

#2 - on the middle sheet there are a bunch of round things.  One is a big circle with concentric circles within it.  It wasn't clear to me if those inner circles are all to be cut through, or if that was another part with a notch cut in it?  I'm guessing that either it's 3 circles or 2 circles with the outer one having a notch on near the inside edge?

So: Is the top bit here supposed to explode to the 1st or 2nd diagram, or something else?



Thanks again Savage!

[savagecreature]

I'm glad you're going through this stuff and ironing out all these wrinkles.

It goes something like this:



I say, "something like this" because the sizes I made these slots were entirely arbitrary. The larger slot actually takes a 1/16 thickness piece of styrene, but I made the slot bigger so it would be easier to get it to fit.  I just made the slot according to the interior diameter so the gap was on the outside.  This is included in what I did actually build, so it works, but might be confusing.

The other slot is for a clear 'lens' that goes over that portion of the cylinder of the body. There's a corresponding slot in the ring that goes on the bottom of the clear strip. (that ring is not shown in the image below, only the top one)





The clear lens strip is not represented anywhere in the plans except . . probably the image above.  I simply forgot it. I would think that the entire generator could be constructed without it, or it could be added very near the final assembly.  

for the record, that clear strip is 1 1/8 tall by 24 7/8 in It was intended to be thin. 1/32 thick or less, something like that.

as far as segmenting the pieces to fit a smaller cutting area, the straight strips I would imagine you could segment anywhere you choose. The four strips next to the long ones are actually longer strips that are cut in half because they wouldn't fit in my cutting area. 
You should be able to cut the grilly piece in half as well.  There are rings that wrap around it (ten of them, in fact) that will give you plenty of surface to glue it to to keep it round with it being two pieces instead of one.

You could also cut it out of two 1/32 layers and laminate them to make it easier to bend into the requisite cylinder shape

I hope that cleared things up instead of confusing them more.

[Lichtbringer]

I assume without cnc or laser there is no real chance to make this cool thing?

All parts look optimized for those kind of fabrication, not really for cutting by hand.

[kresty]

Cool, thanks! Kinda what I was wondering - There are other parts needed too (besides the clear) - hoses, right? I alluded to parts on the Wiki, but didn't know what the list was (or if you had sources).

I was kind of wondering about maybe instead of slots, making another ring inside to laminate to it. That'd give me something to fit the bits next to?

I imported the PDF's into CorelDraw. I'll probably export each part as an individual PDF.  The two lasers at work use either color or line width to decide where to cut or engrave. Ironically, a really thin line means cut on the one, but hairline is somehow too thin The other needs pure RGB colors to make it's decisions. Theoretically I could "engrave" the slot but that's unreliable and more trouble than it's worth.

There's a CnC, but it's geared towards blocky smaller things not big flat things (plus I don't know how to use it yet )

All that said, I still don't know if I'm making one Or making it out of Lego!

[kresty]

I assume without cnc or laser there is no real chance to make this cool thing?

All parts look optimized for those kind of fabrication, not really for cutting by hand.

Naw, print the PDF and cut.  That should work great I think (so long as one cuts better than I do, but people make Artoos by hand so it's certainly doable).  Is there something that could be added to the drawings that would aid hand fabrication?

The detail bits are 3D printed though.  You might be able to find replacements or alternatives if you don't have a printer.

[savagecreature]

You would definitely use multiple layers instead of slots. I had even considered it instead of slots in the plans.

I'll put together another version of the plans for both sloted pieces that uses layers instead of CnCing the slots into them, but I won't be able to get to it until later this week.

Lichtbringer, I think the flat portions of this build could be done by hand, it would just take some patience and a circle cutter. The other parts pretty much require a 3D printer, either use of the machine or printed by a service or something. Though as kresty said, it might be possible to find acceptable substitutes.

kresty, I did almost not work on the hoses aside from providing places for them to be mounted to. As people (myself or others) find hoses appropriate, I'll be happy to output new versions of the attachment points better suited to them as needed.

[kresty]

You would definitely use multiple layers instead of slots. I had even considered it instead of slots in the plans.

I'll put together another version of the plans for both sloted pieces that uses layers instead of CnCing the slots into them, but I won't be able to get to it until later this week.

Lichtbringer, I think the flat portions of this build could be done by hand, it would just take some patience and a circle cutter. The other parts pretty much require a 3D printer, either use of the machine or printed by a service or something.  Though as kresty said, it might be possible to find acceptable substitutes.

kresty, I did almost not work on the hoses aside from providing places for them to be mounted to.  As people (myself or others) find hoses appropriate, I'll be happy to output new versions of the attachment points better suited to them as needed.

I'm sure I can figure out how to make an appropriate ring to work as a multiple layer in those places, no worries, thanks