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1/4 Scale Brachacki Console

Started by themindprobe, Jan 12, 2018, 02:14 am

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themindprobe

Jan 12, 2018, 02:14 am Last Edit: Jan 14, 2018, 03:39 pm by themindprobe


Once upon a time, I wanted to make a full scale model of this console. Then I realized how long seven feet is in relation to any room in my house and decided to be more reasonable.

The console will be made of laser-cut acrylic and cardstock with 3D-printed controls. I already have two out of seven sheets of acrylic cut, and a couple of 3D printed test parts.

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The full-scale Sketchup model I made which I'm basing the build on

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1/4 scale virtual model of laser-cut parts

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Here are all of the sheets to be laser cut - the middle rows are 1/8" acrylic, the bottom rows are cardstock, and the top sheet is 3/8" acrylic (which I definitely have solid reasons for using)

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The console table's base, with John Lennon for scale

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Structural pieces (supports for the base)

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The above pieces in the virtual model

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The 3d printed parts- I kind of wish the console had more than six of the octagonal knobs. Those things are beautiful.

Well, that's all I have so far. I should be able to get one or two more of the acrylic sheets done and do a little more 3D printing tomorrow. Once I eventually finish all of that, it's on to Step 2 of my plan: realizing I have no idea how to successfully paint tiny pieces of PLA plastic or where to find a tube for the Time Rotor, and panicking!

Davros Skaro

Depending on how big (diameter) your rotor is, there are the bubble wands that have fairly large tubes to them. Just a thought.

Hope this has helped.
Chris.
Chris.

Rassilons Rod

Quote from: themindprobe on Jan 12, 2018, 02:14 am
with John Lennon for scale


Ha! That really made me chuckle :D
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

TheMasterRichman

Very nice, so your building the quarter and i'm building the half  ;D
Barbara: Doctor, the trembling stopped, The Doctor: Oh, my dear! I'm so glad you're feeling better. Barbara: No! Not me! The ship! The Doctor: Oh, the... Oh, my! I'm so sorry...

themindprobe

Quote from: Davros Skaro on Jan 12, 2018, 06:37 am
Depending on how big (diameter) your rotor is, there are the bubble wands that have fairly large tubes to them. Just a thought.


Thanks for the idea! The rotor is 5.5" wide, which doesn't seem like too crazy of a scale for bubble wand packaging.

themindprobe

Jan 14, 2018, 03:56 am #5 Last Edit: Jan 14, 2018, 04:35 am by themindprobe
I got three more sheets of acrylic cut- one of them being the (dreaded) 3/8" sheet.

tb_upload.png
It contains the panel supports and a thing for the time rotor, located at the very bottom of the model, which I though would be a good idea when I drew it up. It has three holes which I imagined three columns would fit into, which would fit into the bottom of an as of yet not designed base for the time rotor itself. Anyway, the 3/8" didn't cut very neatly (the laser didn't always cut all the way through) because I used a slightly too high speed setting on the laser engraver. This was mostly a problem at the ends of lines, meaning the panel supports turned out alright (they're still a little rough due to extra acrylic sticking to some spots on the edges).

This was not so for the other piece. Since I'm using imported DXFs, which were themselves exported from SketchUp, the circles were cut as 48 sided polygons, with individually cut edges. The circles ended up still stuck to the rest of the piece, with no easy way to get them out. I guess I'll come up with a new design once I start working on the time rotor.

I don't have any pictures of the panel supports yet, but here are the rest of the new parts:

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Here's the console base. The cut-out in the middle is to make placing the plinth walls easier. The circular piece underneath it is there to support those, and is also a bit of a nod to the construction of the original console. Also, it's probably hard to see in the photo but it has segmented edges- it's not that much of a problem since it won't be visible anyway but I think from now on I'm going to substitute actual circles for the 48-gons in the DXFs once I import them.

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The table supports fit a little more loosely than I had hoped, mostly because I used the nominal (.125") rather than the actual (.118"?) thickness of the acrylic sheets in the virtual model. Oh well, at least it's better than them not fitting at all...

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I don't really know what this was doing in the model. It was supposed to be located under the ill-fated time rotor support holder, but there really was no good reason to have it there since that piece could easily just rest on the circular base.

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The plinth walls (or, the five I could fit on a single sheet). The ones in the bottom row have holes for access to the plinth interior, which are to be covered with cardstock flaps.

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Every piece in the model so far, minus panel supports and controls. I should really allocate a table or two for this!

davidnagel

Nice! Are you fabricating it completely with 3d printed parts?
Regards
David

themindprobe

Quote from: davidnagel on Jan 14, 2018, 10:28 am
completely with 3d printed parts?


Almost completely. I'm not really sure what to use for the lamps yet, especially the red symbolic indicators. I'm also going to use laser cutting for flat parts like the rings around the small lamps and the black "labels".

themindprobe

Jan 18, 2018, 12:28 am #8 Last Edit: Jan 18, 2018, 02:55 am by themindprobe
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I've finished laser cutting the acrylic, and have begun the cardstock!

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The panels - the holes for the levers aren't really necessary since all of the controls will be static, but they do help make the panels a little more recognizable.

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The cardstock plinth columns. They're hardly visible but I added some short lines to the middle of the top and bottom edges of each piece so they could be folded in half more accurately.

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The plinth columns in place

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I've started gluing, beginning with the table support alignment things. They were pretty easy to get in place, but since the fit between them and the supports turned out to be so loose, it's going to be hard to get the supports perfectly vertical.

themindprobe

Feb 06, 2018, 12:16 pm #9 Last Edit: Feb 07, 2018, 03:41 am by themindprobe
That was a little longer of a break than I had intended.

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The vertical supports are in- they're hot glued, since it would've taken a while to hold them in place otherwise.

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Here's how they were kept square with the base. It didn't work all that well, since they seem to be slightly crooked, but that obviously won't matter once they're glued to the table base.

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I'm now done with both sizes of rotary switches, and both sizes of octagon knobs! The remaining slide switches and handle knobs shouldn't take too long- the secondary and primary levers will, though. They print in about half an hour and an hour and a half, respectively.

Davros Skaro

WOW  :o This looks cool. Don't be fussed about how long between posts, there's no time limits & people do have lives & other things to do, so post updates when ever you have time, no pressure at all.

Chris.
Chris.

galacticprobe

Feb 07, 2018, 06:17 am #11 Last Edit: Feb 07, 2018, 06:17 am by galacticprobe
Quote from: Davros Skaro on Feb 06, 2018, 10:08 pm
WOW  :o This looks cool.

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement!

Quote from: Davros Skaro on Feb 06, 2018, 10:08 pm
Don't be fussed about how long between posts, there's no time limits & people do have lives & other things to do, so post updates when ever you have time, no pressure at all.

And what to I say to people in my "Welcome" posts?! Yes: exactly that! And yet we still get apologies! Aaaaaah! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

d33j r093r5

... wow, this looks awesome! Honestly, the idea of laser-cutting the main console parts was something that hadn't occurred to me, and they have come out looking absolutely amazing. Also, your 3D printed parts for the console are superb. I have some experience with 3D printing, and I now how damn fiddly and finicky those little pieces can be, but I cannot fault them. In fact, I'm somewhat jealous of the quality of your parts dood!

Brilliant stuff. Can't wait to see more...  ;D  ;D  ;D ... but as galacticprobe & Davros Skaro said, no pressure... ;)
ERROR READING DRIVE C: (A)BORT, (R)ETRY, (F)AIL (I)GNORE?

themindprobe

Jan 05, 2024, 01:20 am #13 Last Edit: Jan 05, 2024, 01:24 am by themindprobe
Thanks to everyone in 2018 for the encouragement and for making sure I wouldn't feel evil for taking a hiatus (even though I didn't expect I'd do that yet)!

Here's a long overdue update... I'm going to start this build over from scratch at some point, hopefully fairly soon (I unfortunately don't have access to all the resources I had in 2018 so can't start immediately).

There were a few reasons I stopped working on the model besides general burnout and other priorities. Some I can remember are:
  • I realized that despite their absurd level of quality for how cheap the printer was, my printed components could have had better detail and surface finish (At some point, I saw some resin 3D prints my friend had and my standards irrevocably went up)
  • Making thin pieces out of cardstock was a bad idea, because paint is wet and even thick paper gets wet.
  • I started getting paranoid about paint accuracy, especially that the green paint I had picked out wasn't quite pale enough. I'm still not sure if I was right about that...

Here are some "post-mortem" pictures of how far I got:
components.JPG
panel 1.JPG
all.JPG
My mother kindly folded and painted the trim pieces, and painted one of the panels.

With a resin printer's level of detail, I'm hoping I'll be able to make most levers movable (My old plan was to make a static model, excepting maybe the central column). Having learned a decent amount about circuits and embedded computing since 2018, I'm also hoping to make the lights and (economical motor size permitting) meters individually controllable through some kind of software interface. I don't think I'll actually wire them to controls on the console, though- that might be one level of complexity too many for me.