Sonic Screwdriver Design Ideas

[elkad]

I was thinking of talking about Sonic Screwdriver Design Ideas. Something in the to do list or something you have bin working on in the back of your mind.
Talk about your idea & bounce ideas, shapes, colors or topic designs off the walls, see if anyone might fill in the gaps with a thought or two.

Say for instance, If the doctor was Zapped into the world of TRON, what would his sonic look like?

[Volpone]

Mine was just a twist on the classic 4th Doctor one.  The supermarket here carries a $6 emergency flashlight about the right size and shape.  The bottom has the white light and then the shaft is lit by a colored LED.  The top has a whistle.  The button cycles through lighting the white light, lighting the colored light, and making the colored light blink.  The whole thing got spraypainted silver and then cut to hold the top of a pen body of the appropriate size. A pen cap got cut down to an emitter cone, along with the collar for the bulb on an old-style flashlight (cheap, plastic, and broken).  Then for the 3 "vanes" that hold the emitter cone inside the collar, I used monofilament string-trimmer cord.  The bottom went down the end that the ballpoint would have come out so that the monofilament lit up when I pushed the button.  At one point I was going to use the handles on those little transparent plastic swords they put cocktail garnishes on to replace the monofilament, but after a bunch of cursing and failing to get them together the way I wanted them, I broke down and bought a Character Options toy and added some detail painting. 

[rob49152]

Back in 2012 the RPF (replica prop forum) had a design your own sonic contest. I won with an earlier version of this design. Being the winner meant that a professional machinist was actually going to build one and send it to me. But I've long since given up hope on ever seeing this.  So I started having it 3D printed in  stainless steel. So far I have collected all the parts. I just need to find the time to assemble them.



The head emitter slides out and rotates downwards. I designed it to kind of resemble an old microphone and rocket ship. The classic style red ring is held in place by four brass prongs that are similar in a way to the current style sonics (9/10s & 11/12s sonics).

The neck (black part) also rotates around 270 degrees (from 12 o'clock (facing the user) to 9 o'clock (pointing to the right) and the default is 6 o'clock (facing away from the user)). The lower part of the neck has bits of Romanas sonic design included. The whole head unit and neck slides into the base where it looks like a chuck from a drill press. It enables the sonic to be pointed towards its intended target. I wanted the top part to be very industrial in its design.

The diamond ring/grip rotates. The allows the user to set the color mode of the sonic. This is also shown with the LED over the activation switch.

The body is a clean white enamel with light blue grip. I wanted this part to remind people of actual medical instruments. Light blue seems very popular for medical devices these days.

The black bottom has kind of a steampunk feel to it. It has in internal orange glowing coil within. This part is actually a sonic lance and allows for cutting of materials. You can see the sonic laser beam at the bottom. The whole bottom also acts as sort of a heat sink as well.

the activation switch is a 4-way directional nubb.

Anyways that my sonic design. I also made some youtube videos showing how the design fits together to build it. If anyone wants I can also post links to them.

[davidnagel]

Wow Rob, stunning!

Would love to see the videos

[elkad]

Back in 2012 the RPF (replica prop forum) had a design your own sonic contest. I won with an earlier version of this design. Being the winner meant that a professional machinist was actually going to build one and send it to me. But I've long since given up hope on ever seeing this.  So I started having it 3D printed in  stainless steel. So far I have collected all the parts. I just need to find the time to assemble them.

I WANT ONE   (drool) 8o.....

[handofomega]

I second that!!!

[rob49152]

ok, here are the 3 videos I made showing the construction of my sonic design. The videos are for my original design. I made changes to the activation button controls.

Making the emitter head

Making the body

Making the bottom

[davidnagel]

Ooh fancy

[Volpone]

Back in 2012 the RPF (replica prop forum) had a design your own sonic contest. ...Anyways that my sonic design. I also made some youtube videos showing how the design fits together to build it. If anyone wants I can also post links to them.

Wow. You put a lot of thought into that.  Very nice.  The internal bit, where the emitter joins the body reminds me of Romana's sonic.  And the brass clamps on the red emitter and then the black vents on the silver back of the emitter hints a bit at the early Pertwee paintjob (without being so relentlessly '70s).  

[galacticprobe]

Very nice! (Understatement of the year, that.) Is that a tri-color LED you put into the emitter? Or does each sonic have its own dedicated color (in which case changing the color would simply involve pulling a different sonic out of your pocket)?

Amazingly cool design!

Dino.

[rob49152]

It's an  8 colour emitter. The ring around the neck (the diamond pattern area) rotates to select the colour mode. The last position activates the el-glow wire and laser at the bottom when the activation button is pressed.

[galacticprobe]

It's an 8 colour emitter.

Since there isn't a smiley of the caliber I need to express this, I'll just say 8-color emitter?!?! Good suffering Jehoshaphat! Talk about covering the possible spectrum! (I'll bet that sonic will even work on wood!)

The ring around the neck (the diamond pattern area) rotates to select the colour mode. The last position activates the el-glow wire and laser at the bottom when the activation button is pressed.

That took some serious thought and planning! I knew you were good - really good - but you've just blown me away with this one!

Super Bravo!

Dino.

[elkad]

I was surfing around the net & came upon a pen torch that would look grate as a custom sonic. So I photoshoped & animated it.
The top is the actual butane torch. Your opinion, what color scheme looks better?



If you like to see the animated sonic, look here;  http://elkaddalek.deviantart.com/art/Sonic-Pen-Torch-649632278?ga_submit_new=10%253A1480974074

[Davros Skaro]

nice find, personally I like the silver one.
I went looking on Ebay & they are no longer available. 

[13drwho]

Rob41952... I was part of the Sonic Screwdriver design contest too. I'm sorry to hear you never got your sonic screwdriver prize as the machine shop promised. Personally, I think he underestimated the complexity of the designs people would come up with. I guess that explains why it didn't become a reoccurring thing like the originally suggested. I actually designed one I liked better after the contest... I went the 3D printing route too.

I look forward to seeing pictures of it when it's done... it'll be awesome!