TARDIS Console Rebuild (Phase 2 WIP)

[galacticprobe]

That's a pretty clever use of the whirligig symbols, and it looks really good. Hopefully someday soon The Doctor Who2 will get some free time to finish up the last three symbols. Then you can fill in that last side of your hexagon (where you've got the Doctor's name now). After that, you can always print out more of those symbols and build a larger hexagon to go on top of this one to have a 2-tiered Rotor top. (Or go the whole nine yards and do all three tiers!)

Dino.

[The14thDr]

Thanks Dino. I only printed the Doctor's name on the larger hexagon in the center though. I left the last side of each of the smaller hexagons open because that's where I'll attach all the pieces together. That's a great idea about the second and third tiers though. I'll be sure to add that as soon as the final 3 symbols are complete.

Thankfully the weather cleared up and I was able to cut te hardboard control panel. After a light sanding around the edges I glued the graphics and dials into place.


Not much else to report today, but I managed to make a holder for the switch on the LED lights. This will securely hold the battery box in place so that I can glue it behind a small hole I made in the time rotor's base (more on this in tomorrow's update).


Thanks for looking. Let me know if you have any feedback or criticism.
Kind regards, The14thDr

[The14thDr]

I drilled the necessary holes the hardboard control panel today and just finished gluing it onto the console about 5 minutes. Soon I'll add the dials to the panel and it will all be complete.


Also, using the small cardboard box I built in the last post, I fixed the LED light control into place on the inside of the time rotor base. The holes had already been cut in preparation for this addition a while ago. (FYI: the top hole was originally supposed to be where the switch poked through, but it turned out the battery box wouldn't fit behind this hole so I had to cut another one).


Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

Looking good! As for that "extra" hole in the column's base, depending on which hole the switch fits in, you could always cut a few strips of cardboard slightly larger than the other hole, and then use those strips as "decorative trim" to cover the old hole, and have it run all the way round the base. That way it would look like you intended for the trim to be there all along and no one would be the wiser. You could even give that strip a coat of paint - either a darker grey than the rest of the base, or a silvery color for a slight metallic look; either way that strip would stand out and give the base an extra touch of detail while it hides the unused hole. (Just a thought.)

Dino.

[The14thDr]

Thanks for the suggestion Dino. I'll give that a try soon.

Unfortunately I haven't made any updates to the console for a while because I've been away at the RPF building some non-Doctor Who related props (mainly Captain America's shield and Iron Man's arc reactor). However, I did manage to record a short test video of my new(ish) demat lever and throttle.

Kind regards, The14thDr

[The14thDr]

Long time no post! I finally got round to re-incorporating the two missile cover toggle switches that I removed way back in May. The original plan was to put them back on panel 4, but I was worried about making it look too overcrowded, so I instead put them on panel 1, right next to the big red levers.



More updates coming very soon, so let me know what you think of the refurb so far.
Kind regards, The14thDr

[The14thDr]

Here's a video of my TARDIS console, including explanations of how I made each control and lever. In a nutshell, it basically condenses the contents of this thread into around 14 minutes (with more detail).

[The14thDr]

Calling all TARDIS Builders and electronics alike. For the lighting on my console's time rotor I used a simple string of fairy lights, with a small slider switch fitted into the battery box. However, I wanted to remove this switch and replace it with one of the switches on my console. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of soldering and I have no idea about how to proceed. Any and all ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

Ah... 14th, if only we lived closer together. I used to teach soldering in Coast Guard Electronics School! In person I could have you soldering away within 15 minutes. But, from about 4,000 miles away? Not so easy. However...

(and the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL86gO9mfT8)

This should give you a little bit of an idea on how to go about it. Some of the terminology the guy uses is different than what most ETs (that's Electronics Technicians in Military Rating System) use. So to clarify in case you mention one and someone looks at you like you're speaking Raxacoricofallapatorian:

"Dry Joint" - also known as a "cold" solder joint. What this means is that the solder wasn't hot enough to melt properly and/or the surface of the component's lead (or the circuit board's pad) weren't clean or hot enough either. An easy way to tell one of these cold joints is by appearance; a cold joint will be like a ball of solder, dull, rough and pitted, sitting around the lead and on the pad. A good joint should be smooth and very shiny and completely encompass the lead, have a "volcano shape" to it, and make it look like it blends into the circuit board's pad. (Just look at the back of any electronic piece you have lying about and you'll see what I mean.) You can also get this from a dirty component lead; solder doesn't like to stick to dirty leads. You can clean off a lead with a pencil or pen eraser (use your finger as a backing if the lead is a very thin one, or to keep finger oils off of the lead, lay it out on a sheet of paper). This same technique can be used on the circuit board pads as well. You can also use a very fine wire brush or steel wool on the component leads, but never use those on the circuit board; they will damage the board so only use the erasers on the board!

"Desoldering Pump" - a.k.a. "Solder Sucker". The kind used in the video is commonly referred to as a Solder Sucker. A Desoldering Pump is a mechanical device which is basically a soldering iron with a hollow tip, and is connected to a foot-pedal-operated vacuum pump via a flexible hose (actually a very small one - like a fish tank filter hose). You start out as if you were soldering the component, but once the solder melts, you step on the foot pedal, the vacuum pump engages and draws the solder through the hollow tip, through a glass tube that has some baffles inside it and a filter (to catch any errant solder blobs that make it through from getting to the pump).

Also, here's another place to check out some soldering lessons/techniques: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-solder/.

There are also inexpensive books out there that will take you through basic soldering.

I hope this helps.

Dino.

[The14thDr]

Thanks Dino. Still haven't gotten round to re-soldering that switch, but your tutorial will really come in handy when the time arrives.

I like to spend my time tinkering with the Old Girl, upgrading and rebuilding various controls (sort of how the 9th/10th Doctors did with their own TARDIS). One such control that I wanted to upgrade was the communicator from panel 5.
Updates during the actual construction phase of the console were rather sporadic, so I think this control slipped through the net. Basically, it's made from a coca powder shaker that I wrapped in black duct tape.


Earlier this weekend I acquired an old telephone wire, which would be perfect when attached to the communicator.


The tape on the communicator was beginning to peel, so it was time for a quick repair. Rather than using the same colour tape, I decided to mix things up a little and use some silver duct tape.

(This reminds me of the Stormtrooper communicators from Star Wars Ep.4 ).

Kind regards, The14thDr

[The Forgotten]

Might I say there is one thing I AM jealous of here... Something I can't seem to do and that's make a decent control board and fixture for those sliders. Mine came out.... Well just plain rubbish and and I am taking a VERY long break from that on my console because I first wanted to finish Operation Renovation on my console before focusing on more controls but are those sliders operational? I don't mean hooked to anything I mean do they really go up and down in your track holes you made there without any wiggling to the side or anything else? When you opened the compartment there wasn't exactly a glimpse of how you managed to put them together just simply that you hadn't done what I have attempted and that's buy actual slider potentiometers and attach the slider covers to them and work off that.

[The14thDr]

Hi demat_handle. Yes, the sliders move up and down without wiggling about too much (although having said that, the middle and far right sliders have a tendency to fall to the bottom of the box unless you slide them to the highest position). I did originally look into buying some potentiometers (to make it easier for when I do hook the sliders up to something), but I couldn't find any that were long enough to fit into the slider compartment.
The compartment itself was cut out from a cereal box, and the method I used to fix the sliders to the box wasn't too complex once I'd had a little practise.



Here's a close-up photo from the inside of the slider conpartment.

The backs of the sliders I bought had two small holes in them. I discovered that if I trimmed down a small cocktail stick to remove the pointy bits, they would fit inside these holes perfectly. Then I cut 5 small squares out of cereal box card and poked 2 holes in them, roughly the same diameter and space apart as the cocktail sticks in the sliders.
All I had to do to then was sandwich the compartment between the sliders and the card squares. A bit of glue on the cardboard and Voila!

Hopefully this makes at least a bit of sense .  If you need more explanation for this (or if you have any questions about any of the other controls), don't hesitate to ask.
Kind regards, The14thDr

[The14thDr]

I was thinking of buying a set of thumbwheel switches for the console, but I wasn't entirely sure how they work. Each thumbwheel has two buttons, one above the wheel and one below. The eBay description says that the buttons will change the number display, but I'm not sure whether this happens mechanically or if I need to wire it up electronically.

Kind regards, The14thDr

PS. Here's a photo of the thumbwheels I've found:

[The Forgotten]

Thank you 14th! I am definitely using the method for mine so I appreciate the insight and your methods. And those thumbwheel counters should happen mechanically given the two buttons but still regardless they are mechanical. Thanks again for sharing your control method!

[The14thDr]

Your welcome demat_handle. And thanks for the advice with the thumbwheels. (Now if only I could find space for them on the console ).

Following on from the previous update, I've attached the telephone wire to the communicator. I did this by drilling a hole in the base of the comms unit and pushing the wire into this hole.


I've also been making more upgrades to panel one. I started out by taking a spare LED tap light and fixing it into place between the door levers.



Let me know what you think of the console's upgrades so far; more updates coming soon.
Kind regards, The14thDr