Kresty working on Fusion Power Generator

[kresty]

Ah, Savage clarified the top J/K ring thing.  Which is kinda what I'd accidentally decided to do anyway.  I guess the Kerf of my cuts didn't make it obvious that's how it went.  The K ring goes right on top of the top J ring, in the same notch.

Fusion generator K ring on top of J ring
The K ring is glued directly on top of the top J ring

Anyway, thanks Savage for clarifying that!  It sort of seems obvious now. As you can see here, for some reason mine has a gap between the "I" round grill piece and the inner J ring. Maybe because I'd cut my "I" grill round thing too big? Or didn't get the J rings tight enough?

Anyway, it's close enough to "work"

[url=http://www.rebeldroids.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=1343#top_display_media][/url]

I'm not going to glue the K to the J and instead use that as my access point - since I accidentally glued the two top pieces together.

[kresty]

I've also test-fit my lower diffuser.

I used one of those sheets for fluorescent lights.  Actually bought two different kinds.  The actual piece needs to be a little over 24" and the laser only cuts to 24", so I cut two smaller parts - but I also ripped a bit off the 24" width.  

Dealing with the 2 smaller bits seemed hard, so I put the 24" section in, hoping that the grill walls might conceal the gap.  That worked better than I'd expected, the grill walls help hold in the diffuser.  It actually clicks into place, wow.

Unfortunately my diffuser's a hair too tall and hits the top of the supports B.  I'll just chop a little of those off.

Lower Diffuser

Maybe we can get around to painting it this weekend?

[kresty]

Bonding the last of the styrene panels (well, not E²) just now.

Since I've decided to "open" mine between the K ring and the top window strip L, I'm going to need some way to connect the top to the bottom. I'm thinking that some elastic strips or rubber bands between the parts would work. So I'm going to see if I can print some hooks that will fit on the inside of the wall parts of L and I... Hmm, may need to rethink whether I'm putting the diffusor on the inside or outside of the window strip.

[kresty]

Major steps today were Bondo! and adding hooks to secure the top.

Bondo!

(I predict there will be sanding in my future)

Adding a Hook to Secure Top

Since I've managed to split mine between the K (top grill ring) and L (window) parts instead of at the top, I'll need a way to keep it from slipping off. I've decided to add 4 hooks to the top and bottom and I'll loop elastic or a rubber band over the hooks.

[kresty]

I'd just randomly sent stuff to the printers, but looking closer at the photos, it looks like the "mainhosemount" is clear.  (ring below the grill) - because it's orange in some of the photos.  Kinda cool.  Think I'll reprint those with transparent filament.

Hmm, I also see some continuity errors with the hoses...

[Murasaki]

Looking good so far I have to say

[kresty]

Well, I stumbled a bit because I'm uncertain what I'm going to do with the hoses to attach them to their fittings.  Meanwhile, I was also undecided about the coils - and the top coil mount prints were pretty much useless.

I decided to put little holes in the top coil mounts to accept the coil wire and reprinted them - but, of course, the SD card I have started freaking out and causing errors.  (I gave a spare printer to a school and they got my last good SD card too.  It needs a stupid 2GB max SD card).  I finally found another one that works and got the bits printed.

In the middle of all that, I also applied Bondo to the top and sanded it off. It's not "great", but it'll be OK - my intent is to have a part that looks like it's been camping out in the field a few times.

Fusion Reactor Top Bare

And since I got all those bits attached, then I could prime the top & edges.  Wow, it's starting to look like something...

Fusion Reactor Top Primed

There are a couple spots where the primer's a little thin. I probably can just let the paint catch those, I'm sure they aren't noticeable in the picture. The primer did color the random colors of the parts like I expected!

I have the window strip glued to the bottom, which will be cool I think (protect the T upper hose mounts when removed), but it got loose while painting the top and I had to affix it better. Not terribly surprising given my lackadaisical approach to gluing these things.

Hopefully I'll get wire soon (it's on a slow boat apparently).  I didn't prime the bottom yet because I want to attach the 8 upper hose mounts that go under the rim - which brings me back to that bit I mentioned about not knowing how the hoses are going to attach to the mounts.

Note that the middle bit isn't actually affixed, I've left it removable, at least for now, in case I want to poke my fingers into it or something.

[savagecreature]

It looks awesome primed! That's exactly the way I felt when I primed mine. As far as how the hoses attach, I must admit I haven't solved that problem yet, either. The coils do look like they just stick in the holes, not wrap around or anything more complex.

I'm in the middle of building my children new beds, which has pushed my other projects back, but I'll get back to mine ASAP and see if I can't help answer some of these questions.

great work, kresty. it's lookin like something!

[kresty]

Yea, I added holes to the top ones - but I'm not sure how they'll do. For the bottom side I'll bend the wire with an acute L and see if I can jam it in the hole. Chinese finger trap kind of idea. (That's how I hold the spring for my lightsaber launcher). Might be a bit big for that - maybe should've drilled a tiny hole into the middle of those too.

Off to the store to see if I can find some appropriate hoses. Might reprint the lower parts as needed depending on what I find. Going to redo the main hose mount anyway as it seems to be transparent in the photos.

[kresty]

FWIW, the "real" one looks like the top round bit is silver-y, the grill silver-ish as well (might be brushed highlights). The rest looks pretty dark. I don't think I really want "black" so picked up a dark bronze hammered spray to start with - might brush black onto that if it's not dark enough, we'll see.