Tom Baker era style sonic screwdriver

[tailgunner30uk]

I grew up in the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker era of Dr Who, and amongst the many things I desired (The Who mobile anyone) a sonic screwdriver was high on the list.  A few years ago a colleague at work approached me to build the Blakes 7 blaster for him.  Along with the plans for this he provided a a general drawing of the "Classic" screwdriver.  Having completed the Liberator gun I set to, to build the screwdriver.  The first attempt ended in disaster when the main body tore from the lathe whilst boring out the centre to lighten the body and provide the recess for the telescoping section.  Not too disheartened a new piece of aluminium was chucked up and the machining order was revised to reduce the likely hood of this re-occurring.

Below are some pictures of the finished item.

The emitter was manufactured in 4 parts, the head, the ring and the 3 vanes.  The parts were joined in a jig by aluminium welding using Technoweld, a proprietary Aluminium joining method.  A Tennant era screwdriver is alongside for scale.

Thankyou for your time.

If I have time, I am in the process of designing and building a Teletran inspired Sonic screwdriver and will upload some pictures of the initial designwork soon.  Although there are still some aspects of the mechanisms and design that need to be revised.

[chriskingbees]

This sounds fantastic, but I can't see the pictures 


KB

[tailgunner30uk]

sorry, not sure why the pictures haven't uploaded, I think I need to give the system some time...

[Rassilons Rod]

There's no number in the attach tags... Try editing the post and give it another go

[tailgunner30uk]

The pictures seem to have updated now, at least for my browser..

[greatwazoo42]

Pretty good work.  You can avoid the scratching by boring the tube a little wider and putting in a piece of aluminum tape or any other sort of tape that has a low friction surface.  By putting it on the inside no one sees it but it still lets the moving parts move.

Good luck with the teletranic.  It's one of the best custom designs I've ever fallen in love with but it sure isn't an easy design or build to achieve.

[ten]

Great work!

And I know it's not Doctor Who and perhaps the moderators will have my head for this, but any chance of any pictures of that Liberator gun as well? 

[tailgunner30uk]

At the present it is difficult.  When I completed the Liberator blaster I neglected to take any pictures of it, and I now no longer work for the same company.  I have been to the site where the gentleman works and next time I will ask him if he could send me some pictures of it, assuming he still has it  He unfortunately does not have an email address or any other internet access.  I do have most of the materials needed to make a new one and have thought about it on several occasions.  Guess I might have to knuckle down.  The hardest part of the blaster was the handle, as on the TV prop I understand it came from a Black and Decker drill, which may no longer be available.

The Teletran inspired screwdriver is proving to be a challenging design, some parts are less than 1mm in thickness and will need support whilst boring in the lathe.  A simple 3 jaw chuck won't do as the force needed to hold the piece would collapse the tube and if that happens while working on it, well the results can be spectacular with bits of metal flying about the workshop with gay abandon.  I still have the first body I made which has dents and gouges in it, to remind me that it is not a good idea to be in the way when metal spinning at 800 rpm leaves a chuck unexpectedly.

The screwdriver in this article is about 8 years old, so a few scratches are expected.  The sliding part forms a near airtight seal with the outer tube, this can be felt by a certain springiness when sliding it up and down.  It locks by twisting it in the'up' position.  The lower part is a taper fit that holds quite well needing a twist to release it.

[Rassilons Rod]

Maybe you could just post a link to it, just to keep things on topic a bit...

For yes, I too would love to see it, should you get hold of any photos or make a new one