Fusion Generator / Reactor?

[kresty]

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.

In my mind, the hardest bit of the non-flat-pack bits would be the fan blade thingy on top. Most of the greeblie parts seem like fittings that could probably be scavenged from all sorts of things, I'm sure you could find something suitable if the 3D printing wasn't an option. Indeed, we got "really close" trying to find an 11 blade fan that fit the model, probably close enough that nobody would know. But maybe even then you could turn the round part on something and then add hand-cut fins?

Or, as Savage said, probably someone could run some of the 3D bits, there're a lot of printers in the club nowadays.

Stoopid question Savage: Why aren't the fins one of the flat-pack bits?  Aren't they like 1/8 or 3mm wide?

[kresty]

Ok, I'm confused (here I am asking more questions and you haven't had a chance to reply to the last

Here, there's a band around the very bottom, then a sloped band, then after the ring, another smaller band.



And looking at the parts here:


I see the slopey band on the right, the two curves.
And it seems like the long bands on the right are each the right length to fit the diameter of the band above the slopey one.
And it seems like the 4 bands in the middle are 1/2 the diameter of the band on the bottom...

So: I'm confused.  That seems like there are extra copies of those two bands?  Or did you double them up?  Or am I missing ???

[kresty]

I got a "bunch" of free 1/16" styrene.  (5 sheets 13" x 3' or so) - wondering if I can build some of the 1/8" parts from 1/16"?

Oh - and some of the circles look like they'd fit as whole circles.  Is it important that they get cut as halves? or was that just to reduce waste? (Too be clear, I'm thinking of some of the upper/bottom rings, not the 20 halves of the grill bits.)

[savagecreature]

I got a "bunch" of free 1/16" styrene.  (5 sheets 13" x 3' or so) - wondering if I can build some of the 1/8" parts from 1/16"?

Oh - and some of the circles look like they'd fit as whole circles.  Is it important that they get cut as halves? or was that just to reduce waste?  (Too be clear, I'm thinking of some of the upper/bottom rings, not the 20 halves of the grill bits.)

You could  make the entire thing out of 1/16 as long as you cut twice as many and glue them together so they're 1/8 thick.

Yes, all of the circles were split to reduce waste at the request of my 'beta builders'. (though I was glad I had done it when I cut one for myself, it made construction considerably easier)

[savagecreature]

Ok, I'm confused (here I am asking more questions and you haven't had a chance to reply to the last

Here, there's a band around the very bottom, then a sloped band, then after the ring, another smaller band.



And looking at the parts here:


I see the slopey band on the right, the two curves.
And it seems like the long bands on the right are each the right length to fit the diameter of the band above the slopey one.
And it seems like the 4 bands in the middle are 1/2 the diameter of the band on the bottom...

So: I'm confused.  That seems like there are extra copies of those two bands?  Or did you double them up?  Or am I missing ???

what question did I not answer? Did I miss one?

the four bands are two bands cut in half because my CnC isn't long enough to cut them. They're the band goes around the bottom, I'm fairly sure. (the one I built is over at the lab, so I can't refresh my memory)  The long bands are the next band up. Both of them are two layers.

I won't get back to the lab until wednesday, but I'll snap some photos for clarification when I get there.

[kresty]

Both of them are two layers.

That's the part I was missing, I was guessing maybe, but not sure.

I don't have all the "rings" identified.  I "lettered" the parts I found on an image, but was going bottom to top (A, B, ...) and since I don't know quite which rings go where I didn't finish that bit.

Just for a few of the rings I thought that if they bottom 8 block things were in the middle of the rings I could probably avoid too much waste.  I might see if I can find something that works for me, though I did hear you say you were glad they were split

The missed question was: Any reason not to cut the fins out of 3mm styrene?  
Something like these

[savagecreature]

The missed question was: Any reason not to cut the fins out of 3mm styrene? 

 Nope. No reason. Just didn't do it that way. Cutting them out of styrene would work just as well

[kresty]

The missed question was: Any reason not to cut the fins out of 3mm styrene? 

 Nope. No reason. Just didn't do it that way. Cutting them out of styrene would work just as well

Ok, well the file's posted, but I haven't tried it, so I don't know the fit.  I took your STL, imported it, flattened it, got rid of the perspective view, but then couldn't figure out how to export as a vector.  So I took a highres bitmap and traced it to get the vector.  It should be "close" - I'll tag it as something other than alpha after I get that far.

I also rejiggered the 1/16" parts to fit better on work's 18x24 laser bed.  I'll see how that goes.  Still trying to find 1/8" styrene!

[kresty]

Still don't know what all of the rings are (I mean the "grill part is obvious, and the top/bottom, but there are 4 other rings). Obviously two are the flat steps above the bands on the bottom of the base, and at least one of the others looks like it would fit on the rim of one of those, but I'm not sure... 

[kresty]

I gave parts letters here so I could talk about them.  I wanted the letters to go from bottom, up, but got stuck on the rings.

[EDIT: Relabeled them a couple posts down, so removing the confusing old labels]

Did I get the order right?