Elsie the "Evil" Dalek

[Scarfwearer]

I cut the end of a 4" ball to make a new dalek eye recently, and did something similar: I used a hole saw to cut holes nearly 4" across in a couple of wood scraps, sandwiched the ball between these and clamped them to my pillar drill. The clamps keep the whole lot very tightly held. You really want the ball to be prevented from spinning, or whatever is holding it with produce a circular scuff mark around it probably in several places.
Actually I used three holes: the third sits below the sandwich to keep the protruding curved surface of the ball away from the drill platform.

These metal balls vary in thickness quite a lot: you can get a pretty good idea of the thickness if you can weigh them and do the math (the surface area of a sphere is 4 * pi * r^2, density of steel is about 8kg/litre, divide volume by surface area to get thickness). Alternatively, drill a pilot hole and look. 

I'd suggest looking around on the dalek forums - a number of people have used metal gazing balls for dalek arm pivots, and there are sure to be some good hints there.

Use good eye, ear and hand protection whatever you do: cutting metal is hard on tinnitus.

I recently fitted my daleks with felt lining to the arm sockets, which is also a tried and tested method of easing the movement. I just glued it on in 2" strips using wood glue and it worked very well.

Crispin

[chriskingbees]

Hi all
My 500th post and it's just
BALLS!



If you'll pardon the expression.
Thanks to Crispin and Purple for the excellent advice on how to to drill these babies. Gotta say the joints move beautifully smooth now.
I've also acquired a voice modulator that flashes the dome lights, mic and speakers (Goodness knows how to set it up) AND an electric wheelchair assembly that's ready to go.
This is going to be fun. Now to raise the £20,000 for the size reduction surgery (Alright, stop giggling at the back!) I mean I'm too TALL for Dalek operating.
KB

[willytron]

That is one sexy looking Dalek you got there, KB.  Oh, and by the way - congrats on becoming the penguin!

[dematerialiser]

Great workmanship there KB - they look great, they all look so neat and shiny too.

cheers
Chris

PS: note how I neatly avoided continuing your use of the word 'BALLS' in conjunction with my other comments.. ;P

[karsthotep]

OH MY G**..that is smashing,  Great work Chris, I know who I'll be coming to for build advice when I start mine.  Looks awesome. 

karst

[Scarfwearer]

It's a splendid dalek, and nice to see that particular variant.

Incidentally, if you ever really want to go for a trundle, make yourself a DIOE or a movie base - you get about 6" or more extra height inside the dalek, which makes a lot of difference if you're 6 foot or more tall. If I remember rightly for DIOE you wouldn't even have to remove your existing base.

Crispin

[chriskingbees]

Hi All
Well, Elsie goes public on Saturday, at the Hop Farm, near Paddock Wood. She has complete voice modulation, dome light sync, and an electric chariot to boot.




I would like thank everyone here for their support, and immensely valuable advice during this project. I don't know if I'd have made it without you all.

Many, many thanks as always
KB

[atomicgraph]

the final touches, it must be so cool to have a fully automated dalek... i'm very, very jealous. elsie looks great

[Rassilons Rod]

Damn Elsie looks great

Its a shame electric wheelchairs are so stupidly expensive...

My boss's one has a top speed of 10km/h!!! :O

[willytron]

Elsie looks AMAZING!  How well does the electronic base work?  Does she move about fairly smoothly? 

[dematerialiser]

Looks fantastic KB! There's something 'invasion of earth' about that first pic. Nice :-)

[chriskingbees]

Hi all
At the weekend, I trundled Elsie at the Volksworld show in Surrey (Beetles and buses by the hundred) and raised £130 for Last Chance.
It was worth the visit as you can see:



Thanks
KB

[Doctor Iz]

Boy oh boy! Look at those three gals...

KB, wait till Scott see's this...lol

Nice photo and what a great charity that you support...

cheers,
Jon~

[geminitimelord]

OH WOW, those are ENGLISH WOMEN??

CHRIS, I AM MAKING MY PLANE ARRANGEMENTS ASAP!!!!!

PLEASE INTRODUCE ME!!!!!!

[atomicgraph]

i wish i was a dalek