The Mother Board

Finished. Check em out.

Aug-27-2008

All my holes tapped within minutes! I mean,... i think it took me like 30 - 40 minutes actually. But thats good! Thats 144 holes! It took me days to do this before the drill press mod!


Here's some holes where I just used water and a lube/ coolant. They look ok but I was having a lot of trouble because the acrylic was melting. The tap would cut fine on the down down but when I reversed the pressed to pull the tap out,... it would pull the melts shavings back into the hole and it would mess up the threads a bit.


So thats when I started using this special blade lube. It's kind of like bee's wax if thats not what it is. Just a tiny bit on the tap for every 2 to 3 holes was all it took for the tap to cut nearly clear threads. It not only acted as a lubricant but most importantly it created a non stick surface:) So when I reversed the press to pull the tap out,... the melted shaving fell off instead of being pull inside. It couldnt stick. OMG I was tapping so fast! I took a video of the whole process. So cool.


Here I was getting ready to clean the tubes up a bit and then seal them. I did run into a problem though. They wouldnt seal with the 1/16" o-rings I originally wanted to use. So I had to modify the caps so that I could use 3/32 o-rings. Whats happened was the area of the end pieces where the oring is ftter was a tiny bit to small. Plus the tubes are out of round a bit. So they wouldnt seal. After modifying the end pieces a bit to fit the larger orings, they sealed fine. I am a bit pissed though that I had to change the original plans. I have to remember this for next time. they came out good though.


These are teh reservoirs completed and ready for sale! I am goign to hold onto them for a while though. I just want to see if anything weird happens. Because in my experience,... everything is fone in the studio until I box it and ship it. So I want to hold on to them for a bit so there are no weird problems. I am tired of the my s@#$ is broken emails. s@#$ should just work! Anyways. So yea.


Here's the drill press video I made:


Hell Glaive is at NVision08. This is the "DayWalker" PC featuring the Hell Glaive reservoir,...
HellGlaive in San Hose California, NVision 08

_________________
A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

This is a cool update! I did something that I thought I would never do. The idea makes me nervous.

Sep-02-2008

I thought I would give turning cutting tubes a try. The idea along makes me nervous. No reall fancy turning cutting. I just want to be able to cut the tubes to size so the edges are nice and clean looking. Straight too. The largest tube being 7.5". So where to start?!?! How about with a shaft! This is a 5/8" steel shaft I cut from a 5/8" steel rod. I cleaned it up a bit. I knew it had to be thick for strength. Dont want to take any chances.


I also know that I will nee a bearing. To hold the other end of the shaft, keeping it from wobbling during high speed cutting. I cutt this hole using a uni-bit because they make ream like holes. Very smooth.


The other end of the shaft goes into the bearing and the bearing gets clamped the the drill press table. The table is stationary, it doesnt move.


A little bit of bearing grease and we're good to go. I this this puppy cranked all the way up at 3000rpm. It's works great!!! If I did that with out the bearing,... let put it this way, I wouldn't be here typing out this update right now:)


I'm going to need some disc's on the shaft. Something for the tubes to slide over. The discs will hold the tubes center over the shaft.


I modified a boring bit so that it cuts a diameter very close to the diameter of the shaft. I dont want a lot of slack. Has to be snug.


Snug they are. The OD of the discs are very much larger than the ID of the 2.5" tubing. I show you why in a sec,....


These disc's are going to be kind of like "C" clamps. I think. You'll see what I mean. They will lock onto the shaft by means a bolt.


Done. Now,...


About 3 at a time I will turn cut these while tightly clamped the the shaft until their OD's reach the ID of the tubing. Right now unclamped they are near perfect circles. If I clamp them to the shaft the shape will change. They will no longer bea circle. Because I cant use them while unclamped, I have to clamp them and then reshape them. Understand?


Works so well!!! OMG!!! I need a lathe!!! PLEASE!


Look at that. Awesome!


Done! While clamped,... their shape is a near perfect circle with a OD of something a tiny bit smaller then the ID of the tubing. I decided to go a bit small because I want to be sure that I will be able to fit all 2.5" tube. They have tolerances. I will wrapped the disc's with tape to increase the OD of the discs.


Almost done.


I made a stopping disc. Every tube I slide on this shaft will stop at that disc. I can repeat the same cut over and over and over by means of this disc. So all my tube will have the same length.


I wrapped the discs in tape to increase the OD of the discs so the tubes are snug.


I modified the bearing a bit. I bent it downward and drilled it out again. I did this so I can remove the shaft easily to replace the tube. I loosen the chuck first and then tilt the shaft outward towards the slanted portion of the bearing, then pull out. Works nicely:)


Now. Here's my problem. I can not pull down on the drill press lever to bring the top of the tube to the lathe bit. SO I need to bring the lathe bit to the top of the tube. Hmmmm,...


Also,... even though I dont think its all that needed. I think I will make another clamp for the outside of the tube. To kind of hold it firm to the discs while turn cutting. The tube is on those discs pretty well but ehhhhh, i dont know. Anyways! Look at it go!!! WHAHOOOOO!!!

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A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

Update! Sorry guys, but I have been sick. I still a bit something something going on, but for the most part I feel better. Blowing my nose, coughing s@#$ up like crazy, sinus headaches you name it! So I did really get much done this past weekend. So here's what I got. You guys should of seen some of the stuff coming out my nose! Looked,...

Sep-09-2008

Kind of like this! America Runs On Dunkin! So does mold! It amazing how each cup looks different. Like theres different molds or something. I,m pretty sure its all the same mold just at different stages. Anyways,...


I sold a couple of reservoirs and with that money I got some shelving! Its about time! I mean I could of bought shelving at anytime but I was just to bust for it. But seeing how I was sick and not feeling like being precise,... I spent the day cleaning instead.


So much more room. I want to get two more of the same shelving and put them ontop of the ones you see here. I have 12' ceiling so it would fit! LOL. Of course I would have to have multiple anchors in the wall to make sure it doesnt topple over.


I have a floor.


You guys like my box of bandaids?!?! LOL.


Anyways,... time to test out the tube shaft jig thing. I cut up the rest of my 2.5" tubing. I got 19 bodies of the two standard sizes. That would be 3.5" and 7.5" even though the reservoirs im selling now have 8.5" bodies. I changed to 7.5" because I felt liek they were just a tid bit to big. So yeah. The over length now is 8" instead of 9". For the little one it will be 4". Those are good standard sizes.


I have to get the ends to look like this:) So nice. No chips and straight!


Boom. Done. 7.5" Complete.


Very nice finish. I can buff that to a somewhat good shine but I dont think I will. I will just leave it like that. Theres a reason. I'll explain later.


3.5" bodies complete.


An army! 38 reservoirs. Actually 36 but one of ach is an extra just in case I goof. What I am going to do with these,... I dont know yet. I might make them all sFX reservoirs. Im not sure yet because that would be a S@#$ load of work! They would look sweet though.


This is how I cut the ends. I loaded up a tube. I didnt have to make a clamp to hold the tube firm. The tubes fit snug enough that they didnt turn while cutting. I did notice how some tubes were a lot looser than some of the others. So I was seperating them and removing/ adding tape so they all fit snug. you will notice that I have to make a spacer for the top of the shaft. I'll show you what thats for in a sec,..


You stick the bottom end of the shaft in the bearing first.


You then tilt it over so the top is right under the chuck.


You then insert the top of the shaft into the chuck, tightening the chuck around the shaft.


Heres what the spacer is for. Everytime you put it in the chuck the spacer must touch the chuck. This way you know the shaft is always in the same position each time you remove and install it again.


This is how I cut the top of the 7.5" tubes. Kind of ghetto but it works.


Now that they are all done I will put them away so I can start the ends.


Baam. Not enough 3/4" acrylic. I got 32 pieces right here. thats 16 reservoirs. I need more! I have to order some. I'll put this away for now and work on something else,...


Like the stuff I promised Cheapskate!!! ARGH! Dude,... these came out pretty good. I made these lathe bits from regular steel rod. Im impressed. I didnt test them but I am sure they work just fine. That is if cheapy uses them right. LOL. Dont kill yourself man.


so what im going to do,... is order some more material. while im waiting for that,... I am goingto continue working on Qhs's reservoirs. that has been on hold for a while. I am actually thinking I will finish that before moving on with this new batch of reservoirs. After this batch I think I will start on Blackout again. And prototype a new reservoir I am dying to show you guys.

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A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

Wow,... an update! I did some work on Borealis! Thats Qhs's reservoir for those of you who dont know. check it out!

Sep-24-2008 (qHS987b)

I need to side skirts,...


Baam. This is clear acrylic.


Need some letters. This time I am going for the extruded look. Cutting these out will probably suck,..


wow it didnt suck all that bad! I think they came out pretty alright. You agree? I hope.


LED test. This is only one UV LED and the battery is very much low. I have to find my 5 led flashlight.


This is going to look hot! Very futuristic looking.


I started soldering LEDs. This bad boy is going to have a lot. Like 16 LEDs. Going to be lit up nicely.


Going to use aqua fish tank tubing for sleeving again. I love this stuff.


I"m going to use red UV sleeving for this reservoir. Should look nice with the UV everything else blue.


I was going to clean up and reassemble his reservoir but for the death of me I couldnt find his res body. I think I cut it up when I was cutting the production sFX res bodies. LOL. Anyways,... I ordered more acrylic and it actually arrived today. So I'll just make him a new one. This res is like 95% complete. After this its time for blackout!!!

_________________
A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

Small update.

Sep-27-2008 (xPRZ5331r)

72 sFX reservoirs on their way! 36 x 8" and 36 x 4"!!!


This picture has me dribbling urine. 72 reservoirs = 144 end caps to cut = 576 holes to thread! Thank god for the drill press mod! This might take a while.


This sucks. You see the first 4 stacks compared to the rest? Each stack has 8 pieces. This is what you call tolerance. The first 4 stacks is whats left of the first sheet I bought from usplastic.com. It's thickness is .728". The rest you see is from a new sheet I bought from the same company. It's thickness is .66". Thats a big friggin difference! It not going to effect anything but still,... thats messed up. I need to buy a thicker sheet and cut down to a set thickness so they are all the same. But I need a lathe to do that. Oh well.


Look at that. Thats pisses me off. Thats hardly .75!!!!!! I feel jipped. These guys only sent me 12ft of my 24 ft of 2.5" tubing too! I'm waiting for them to sen me the rest of my tubing.


I need some aluminum discs,...


Not bad for drill press turn cutting. There was some clatter when cutting these. Wasnt as smooth as I wanted it but what am I going to do,... its a drill press.


Thats sweet looking.


Need to make shaping jigs for the router. I want to cut these squares round before turn cutting. I am hoping this will save time.


Gluing them together. I'll show you how I will use them in the next update.

_________________
A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

Update! Whoa. Thats was a lot of work! Several days just to trim the acrylic squares down to circles! 144 of them!!! Thats really sucked.

Oct-01-2008

So, heres the discs I made. I have eight of them.


Works just like this. The disc gets mounted to the block and it goes to the router from there. The router bit runs alone the outside of the disc trimming the square down to a circle.


The bottom of the disc gets taped alone with the top of the acrylic block. I then super glue the two taped surface together.


This should produce this,... hockey pucks.


I had to trim the corners off the squares. It was to much for the router bit. Even what you see here is to much. Cutting 3/4" acrylic all in one shot is not fun.


Right after having met the router.


Check this out. As I was trimming down my squares,... I noticed the the shopvac was hardly sucking or blowing. I mean it was seriously lacking! I thought it was broken until,...


I opened it up! Filler to the brim!!! I have never filled this thing up like this before! It's packed in there!


Looked how backed up it is!! LOL.


I never seen so much acrylic shavings in my life!


Anyways,... all done! All 144 trimmed down. I did this because when it comes time to turn cut them, it will be a bit faster because cutting down to a circle from a circle is a lot faster then cutting down from a square.


Boxed. I'm going to hold off before cutting these up. I want to finish this reservoir and do some work on blackout.


Ok,... this is for Borealis. The LED's are pretty much read to go. I just have to add resistors.


I spun them in the cordless to get that straight twist.


check this out. I always wanted to do this. Have a frosted reservoir. I decided to it for Borealis. This frosting is cool because its frosted from the inside! Its shiny on the outside.


A nice even pattern too!


I did it with this! A simple foam sanding block and a large boring bit.I used a razor and cut a pocket down the middle. I poured super glue all over the boring bit and then shoved it in there. I then glued closed the rest of the pocket. I stuck it in the drill press and then spun away! It works great!


This is a boring bit.


Here's the reservoir all cleaned up and ready for installation. When lit, the blue acrylic should give off a nice swirling blue glow on the inside of the reservoir. Going to look hot.


Starting to install the LEDs. This is looking great.

_________________
A.C. Ryan | Thrust & HEXX

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