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The next dose of insanity. Matt Smith-ish

Started by tailgunner30uk, Feb 17, 2012, 09:17 pm

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Mark

Well my psychic paper made that last thought so very funny!  ;D Nearly split my sides laughing!

tailgunner30uk

I am so sorry :)  I know that it is an old and well worn joke but I thought it was mildly funny.
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

Mark

The problem with psychic paper is it all depends how much of a dirty mind you have ;D

Maybe others may view it and find it quite educational lol

tailgunner30uk

I thank you for your wisdom Mark :)

Getting back to the screwdriver, as the moderators will be chasing me if I don't, I am trying to get hold of some modelling foam to produce prototypes of the various parts before cutting metal.  As there are several parts that will require significant machining,  hopefully this will allow me to adjust the design to resolve any issues.  One thing I am definitely looking for is the sound and light module from either the Matt Smith or David Tennant sonic.  Here I think EBay will be my friend.
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

tailgunner30uk

Feb 29, 2012, 09:12 pm #19 Last Edit: Feb 29, 2012, 09:16 pm by tailgunner30uk
Hi all,  Time for another update, I think.

I was looking at the design of this screwdriver this week, most of the work I have been doing has been internal, but the top has been bugging me.  whatever I did, the changes did not seem to gel.  The changes involved adding cooling ducts, rearranging the top, cutting down the supports, all of this in the end seemed to unbalance the design, it really wasn't
what I was aiming for.  So I went back to basics.  In my profile I mentioned that my favourite Dr. Who was Tom Baker.  This doesn't mean that I don't like the current one, I really do but I am a classic type person.  So I sketched out some ideas that have been rattling around in my head and this is what I came up with.  I have incorporated the ring element of the classic Sonic Screwdriver from the Jon Pertwee/ Tom Baker era.  This is what i came up with.

ms new 3a.jpg

ms new 4a.jpg

ms new 5a.jpg

I have left the old top in the drawing for comparison.  So what do you think?
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

tailgunner30uk

Feb 29, 2012, 10:41 pm #20 Last Edit: Feb 29, 2012, 10:41 pm by tailgunner30uk
Some more renders after a few small updates.

ms new 6a.jpg

ms new 7a.jpg

ms new 8a.jpg
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

eddyc

Great design,

Gotta love the Tuning fork emitter claws.

Reminds me of one of the designs a did two years ago.

Can't wait to see the end product.

Eddy
Green 3.JPG

tailgunner30uk

Thanks, EddyC,  I did see this feature in your designs and have to admit that I 'borrowed' it.  By the way, have you moved forward at all on your own 11th. Dr. sonic screwdriver.  I have been impressed with the work so far.

I just re-read what I posted yesterday and noticed that I repeated myself.  I must therefore confess that English is my second language, slightly behind Idiot-ese. ;D
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

eddyc

"borrowed" and improved on.... I don't mind :)

Medical problems and lack of cash has kept me for completing my projects.

( I want to buy a mini lathe and the girlfriend thinks I should get a wheelchair scooter instead)

Ed

tailgunner30uk

Hi EddyC,  I can empathise with the lack of cash thing,  budgeting for the last screwdriver meant forgoing other items that I could do with and other projects put on hold.  I used to own a mini-lathe and they can be great little machines.  I hope that things improve for you soon and you can get back to what we all love to do.  Tinkering and building.

Suggest a compromise to your girlfriend.

Tell her that you need to buy the lathe so that you can build the wheelchair scooter.   ;)
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

tailgunner30uk

Mar 17, 2012, 10:57 am #25 Last Edit: Mar 17, 2012, 10:58 am by tailgunner30uk
Hi all, time for another update I think.

Contrary to popular opinion, I have been busy, but other matters have dominated my time recently.  That doesn't mean that I haven't been hard at work on the design for this project.  however, most of the work has been working out how to put it all together.  The last screwdriver was relatively simple, in comparison to this one.  There has been a lot of trial and error, and things are still in a state of flux at the present.  However, that being said I have made at least a little bit of progress towards making this a prop that can be waved around at least a little without parts flying of and hitting people.  something I thought was somewhat important :)

so what has changed?  I'm so glad you asked....
There has been a minor redesign to the emitter head with the solid ring replaced with three thin rings, I am not sure yet if this will work.  The rings themselves present little problem but the supports for them are shall we say, more challenging. Also I wanted to emphasise the more powerful nature of this screwdriver so I have added a heat exchanger design to the vertical struts, in the last iteration this was realised with a few cooling fins.  The remodelling has thinned down the fins and added pipework between them.  Also, in this design as you can see I have decided to split the black part of the handle in two, this will facilitate construction, but may result in a visible seam, this probably cannot be helped.

So with out any further delay, here are a couple of pictures of the virtual sonic as it appears currently.

MS Test V4 1.jpg

MS Test V4 2.jpg
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

tailgunner30uk

Hi all, and welcome to the cafe.

I haven't done this for a while, so I thought I would do it today as I needed to attend the doctor for my damaged finger and I have a little spare time.  As usual for the cafe, there will be no pictures just some random musings of a vaguely screwdriver fashion.  So onward we go. 

I have started to assemble the materials for the screwdriver, this involves the purchase of brass rod in several sizes as well as sorting through my stock of Aluminium and steel there will need to be some further purchases including green acrylic rod in a couple of sizes and a pile of small screws.

I did some more work on the design yesterday, but as I mentioned most of the work now involves trying to get the parts to fit together and be machinable.  Space has been made to accommodate the electronics, therefore I just need to get hold of the necessary parts from a broken or unwanted sonic.  Time to raid a few car boot sales methinks.   Also needed are some tortion springs, four in fact to provide the force to hold open the 'claws' when the screwdriver is activated.  The extending mechanism is coming along and I hope you all will be suitable impressed when it is done, or laughing your socks off when it fails miserably, as well it might :)

I am looking at ways to hide the activation button/s in the handle, as well as fabrication of the plastic parts that from the black part of the handle.  I wish I could afford to build a Reprap, but at the present that is a future project, then I could fabricate the handle in the format I want without too much machining.  So currently the plan for this part is to split some Delrin rod and glue together the two parts to form the basis for the handle, then machine the parts to needed dimensions.  Once this is done the glued joint will be split apart again so that it can be assembled onto the handle.

So the coffee has been drunk, and I am starting to get a few strange looks from others in the cafe, and therefore it is time to depart.  I will therefore thank you for your time and hope you will join me again for a drink and rambling thoughts ;D

TTFN.

Tailgunner30uk.
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.

Quote from Slartibartfast.  Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.