need advice on building a classic series Time Column / Time Rotor

[warmcanofcoke]

My console is still in the planning stage, but I hope to start construction soon. (well before the Mayan predicted end of the world in December =P )
I've always felt (maybe wrongly) that before you could start building a Tardis console, you would have to start out with a decent time column first. You might have to adapt the rest of the dimensions of your blueprints if the column were off by an inch or two, for instance. After looking online at various cylindrical trophy classes, display stands, Chinese companies who make acrylic tubes in 20 foot sections, and even fish tanks, I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to have to make my own column.

in this image from "The Awakening" you can clearly see the seam on the column.
obviously the directors would spin the column so as to hide this unsightly join during recordings of the program.

this is my plan



I want to get a drum that I can wrap an acrylic sheet around, I would use a heat gun to help shape the acrylic around the drum, remove it from the drum, and then use some sort of solvent adhesive to seal the join. I think it may be necessary to have a curved guide around the drum to help curve the acrylic into a cylinder.

Has anyone ever done something like this before? Is there a better way?

[Mark]

Hmm, and interesting approach.

I have to agree with you about the column being the make/break part of a console, I would be rather annoyed to have taken ages building the console only to find out I can't make the final part!

Maybe if you have a row of hot lamps over and rotate it the other way as in the flat piece on top, the slow turning and the hot uniform spread of heat would work and the plastic would melt just enough to "drop" onto  the former and as it has slowly turned it would cool again to retain it's shape.

Do I make sense there as I typed as I thought?

[Rassilons Rod]

I would be a little concerned about clear plastic losing some of it's transparency in the bending. Perhaps a test on something smaller would be in order?

[warmcanofcoke]

Maybe if you have a row of hot lamps over and rotate it the other way as in the flat piece on top, the slow turning and the hot uniform spread of heat would work and the plastic would melt just enough to "drop" onto  the former and as it has slowly turned it would cool again to retain it's shape.
Do I make sense there as I typed as I thought?

I like the idea, I'm sure I can lay my hands on some of those red heating bulbs. and I suppose I could rotate my plans 90 degrees easy enough.
makes sense I'll run it past my dad. My dad is the one who put me onto the idea of using a heat gun, he says it might work, but I thought Id ask you guys first just to get a few ideas.

I would be a little concerned about clear plastic losing some of it's transparency in the bending. Perhaps a test on something smaller would be in order?

you are right, I have never done this before a test would be in order. I guess I should price some acrylic sheeting.

[Scarfwearer]

I got the cover for my time column well after I'd built the structure of my console - I didn't want to spend the money on a display case and then not do the project...

The cover doesn't need to be strong, in fact it really only needs to hold up the top plate.
My backup plan if I couldn't get a display case was to get some quite thin grade acrylic sheet (maybe 1mm or 1/32nd inch - possibly even less) and wrap it into a cylinder twice around. If it's thin enough you wouldn't need anything to bend it. The overlap could be joined at the edge using either pop rivets or possibly a discrete threading with fishing line. The double wrap allows you to get away with just one seam, and avoid the plastic turning tear-drop shaped (when seen from above) because of the difficulty of getting a strong enough join.
I don't have a good story for how to attach the top plate, perhaps building the thing upside down and using a suitable glue might work.
I also never really looked for a source of a 13' long piece of this thin sheet...

Crispin

[warmcanofcoke]

My backup plan if I couldn't get a display case was to get some quite thin grade acrylic sheet (maybe 1mm or 1/32nd inch - possibly even less) and wrap it into a cylinder. If it's thin enough you wouldn't need anything to bend it.

I thought about that method as well.



I was thinking if I could make a form, it could help me make the column.

the above image starts with a 24" x 24" sheet of wood(x3) and then cut circles out of the sheets and an opening to feed the acylic in. after gluing the join, I would but a circular wood base on the bottom and screw in the acrylic.

but I think I'd like to try the heating option.

but also good advice, thank you.

[Scarfwearer]

A former might not need a slot in it. If you roll the sheet slightly smaller than full diameter (with a little extra overlap) it should uncoil into your frame in much the same way a poster will into a tube.

You'd want to line the former with something to avoid scratching the cylinder when you remove it.

I think the right gauge of acrylic sheet may be available from picture framers, but I don't know if they'd have it big enough.

Crispin

[warmcanofcoke]

yeah, good idea. I guess I was over engineering there .... using thin acrylic is a little worrying though - I'm just afraid it might look a little beat up after a wile. Like in this image.


clearly this is a thinner gauge of plastic.

[Scarfwearer]

I think it's likely that there were several covers over the years, possibly made in different ways. Acrylic is quite easily scratched, so given the treatment that the props apparently got it seems more than likely that they wrote one off from time to time...

There are certainly some periods where the cover appears to have two very visible columns of rivets (and rivets around the top plate) and some where none are visible at all, so rivets may be 'accurate' depending on what console you're going for.

Crispin

[galacticprobe]

If you look at the column cover of the Hartnell console in the Reference section you'll actually see two seams in the cover like the one in the above Tom Baker photo: one seam on each side, and each seam is held closed by a small strip which is screwed down each side of the seam. (You can really see the seams in the "Inferno" photos where the column is raised: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1097.0.) As with the Tom Baker photo, the "plastic" cover does look thin, and as Scarfwearer suggests may just be thin sheet plastic with its shape made by forming it around the top circle and a similar circle at the bottom, and then joining the edges at the seams.

As far as "heat forming" acrylic or plexi around a form to get a cylinder, Check out Museumdave's 2005 Console build thread http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3155.0. He's used that method to form his column. He used a different material, but it was still plastic-like. He may have some suggestions for you.

Dino.

[celation]

Interesting thread - I'm watching it closely for tips!

My current plan is just to bend the sheet perspex cold. I've bought some of the sheet glazing stuff that's available from the local DIY outlet. It's about 1 - 1.5 mm thick and bends fairly readily. I'm hoping that I won't need to heat-treat it to get it to keep its shape once it's screwed into position on the outside of the column.

I'll be going for the double-join method as shown above.

It is making me wonder, though, if I should make some kind of mould for it to go into and use a heat gun or similar to shape it.

In my experience, heating doesn't affect the transparency of the acrylic at all. That's how I did the two rings and the curved outer for my paddle wheel. These curved flat sections were pretty difficult to get right, though - the acrylic has a tendency to stretch as well as bend. Hence my reluctance to use the same method for the column cover.

[warmcanofcoke]

I'm getting a lot of good advice here and plenty of food for thought. (I never knew the Shawcraft console column was made in three pieces)

by Scarfwearer's plans in the reference section the diameter of the classic console cylinder is 22.5", and by petertheta's illustration http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1099.0 the visible portion of the time column is 29" tall. Lets say 32 inches in total, because the time column extends further into the console that the visible portion.

So if my math is right the circumference is about 70.65". So I need a piece of Plexiglas 32" by 70 11/16" to make the cylinder part of the time column.

now I just need to find the thickness that works best.

[Rassilons Rod]

Are you going to do it as two pieces (with two seams) or one piece (with one seam)?

My thoughts are that the original cover may have had a split at some stage... I can't back this up at the moment, but I had thought that a second join was made to fix a split.

[warmcanofcoke]

I want to have as few seams as possible. I'll probably hide the join behind the interior bits of the Time Rotor when I take pictures.

right now the hardest thing I need to do is build or find a drum to wrap the acrylic around.

[Rassilons Rod]

BTW, did I read you right... Did you say the Brachacki rotor was made with three pieces of bent perspex?