Phenry's Plasma Pistol

[phenry]

I decided to take a break from making my Mark 6 armor and whipped this out today, using ROBOGENESIS' (awesome) pep file from the wiki. I plan on doing 2-3 coats of resin on the outside, cutting it in half longitudinally and fiberglassing the inside, while cutting out the two plasma emitters (?) and replacing them with 1/2" plexiglass with green LED's wired up to a trigger. And I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the circular display on the back, I'll probably use plexiglass and LED's there too.

 

[Optimus Rhyme]

Great job on putting that together man. Im about to make one myself. How did you get it to look so clean and nice?

 

[phenry]

Great job on putting that together man. Im about to make one myself. How did you get it to look so clean and nice?

I took some time to figure out the best (I think) plan of approach, and decided to build the two main pieces separately, and lastly join the two together. It worked out pretty good, the ugliest joints are pretty well hidden at the front of the lower connection.

 

[donutman123]

I took some time to figure out the best (I think) plan of approach, and decided to build the two main pieces separately, and lastly join the two together. It worked out pretty good, the ugliest joints are pretty well hidden at the front of the lower connection.

That's pretty good. Going to resin that?

 

[phenry]

That's pretty good. Going to resin that?

Yep, the first coat is drying as I type this.

Here's a rough sketch of what I was thinking might work for wiring up the LED's. I want the circular display on the back to be continuously lit via an on/off switch, and wire in the projectile firers in parallel, turned on and off via a trigger type button. I didn't include resistors and whatnot in the diagram, I know I'll need some so my bulbs don't blow. How does this look to you guys? I'm not any good with wiring, so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[iliketacos95]

Yep, the first coat is drying as I type this.

Here's a rough sketch of what I was thinking might work for wiring up the LED's. I want the circular display on the back to be continuously lit via an on/off switch, and wire in the projectile firers in parallel, turned on and off via a trigger type button. I didn't include resistors and whatnot in the diagram, I know I'll need some so my bulbs don't blow. How does this look to you guys? I'm not any good with wiring, so any help is greatly appreciated.

It's a good idea and yes resistors will be needed, but if you look hard enough on ebay you can find all the circut work and wires/resistors and such with diagrams for around $20, good hunting!

 

[JEDI THERON]

Sweet!

 

[Sherm]

That looks amazing!!
The one I made sucks... did you scale yours down? because I didnt and it is ginormous

 

[mkshane81]

Looks, and sounds, like you've got it all planned out. Can't wait to see this bad boy in it's progress.

 

[phenry]

That looks amazing!!
The one I made sucks... did you scale yours down? because I didnt and it is ginormous

Thanks, I just used the default scale from robogenesis' file (75.00). It came out to be just about a foot in length, so it's pretty close to the actual size of 13.5" (or something like that). I'll admit that it is a bit larger than I had anticipated, but hopefully my armor bulks me up enough to the point that it doesn't look out of place.

I'm going to let the last coat of resin dry overnight, tomorrow I should be cracking it open and fiberglassing it along with some other pieces of my armor. Pics to come.

 

[bilsy28]

Nice Job, it looks really nice. is that the way it's supposed your supposed to hold it, I guess I've been holding it wrong

 

[Master Leet117]

Thanks, I just used the default scale from robogenesis' file (75.00). It came out to be just about a foot in length, so it's pretty close to the actual size of 13.5" (or something like that). I'll admit that it is a bit larger than I had anticipated, but hopefully my armor bulks me up enough to the point that it doesn't look out of place.

I'm going to let the last coat of resin dry overnight, tomorrow I should be cracking it open and fiberglassing it along with some other pieces of my armor. Pics to come.

alright i read how your goin to cut it in half but what are you going to use to do that? Also i was thinking of another way to stiffen it.
- Drill hole in one of the areas you are going to put and LED at and maybe pour some smooth cast around inside of it-

Well that's just what i was think then finish drilling all your hole thread the wiring through and make a removable panel for the batter to sit in.

Only reason i say that is because if you cut it in half there is no guarantee that it is going to go back together right

 

[phenry]

I just got done cutting my pistol in half, fiberglassing will happen tonight after dinner.

 

[TH3 FETT MAN]

wow looks really nice and hope fiberglassing goes well and fold look very clean

 

[phenry]

So I got bored and glued some scrap wood to an old cereal box:

And it turned out to be quite helpful:

The blocks basically acted as a jig while I fiberglassed each half, so they would retain most of their original shape and not warp too much from getting soggy and whatnot. The end result turned out pretty good I think (it's not flush because there's still a lot of fiberglass hanging over the edges) :

I still have to trim up the excess fiberglass and install all the electronics and plexiglass, then onto sealing it up and bondoing!

 

[phenry]

Okay so I've been thinking about what I want to do with wiring and such, and I think I have a pretty good idea of what I finally want to do. The first 3 green LEDs will be controlled by an on/off (red) button (the red circle on the side of the plasma pistol) and will be lit the entire time. The lower three LEDs (2 green 1 red) will be controlled by a momentary switch (blue button) which will act as a trigger, lighting up the two plasma emitters to a greater intensity and flashing red on the circular display on the back.

What advice do you guys have for choosing resistors? I was thinking of either 150 or 200 ohms. And will just one 9V battery be enough?

I want to be able to run to radioshack tomorrow and pick everything up so I can get this thing sealed up and ready to go.

 

[DreadMullet]

i dont know about all that wiring talk, but it does look like the 2 halves will come back together nicely... good work, i tried that method once and it ended bad... so im impressed.

 

[Emo Possum]

Thats amazing you should paint it or colour to make it more real looking and post the pics after!

 

[box o crayons]

haha when you cut it in half i was like, wait did you make two. looks awsome and you could always find a broken laser tag one for the lights

 

[Dark]

What advice do you guys have for choosing resistors? I was thinking of either 150 or 200 ohms. And will just one 9V battery be enough?

One 9V might be enough depending on the type of LEDs you get. I would add up the power requirements of the LEDS to make sure that one 9V will work. Just remember that the way this is wired up the first 3 will be the only ones on the when the first button is pressed. When you press the second button all 6 LEDs will be sharing the power and may not be at full strength. You don't want too much power because you may fry the first 3 LEDs when only one button is pressed. I hope this helps . About the resistors, I don't know what type to use. Sorry.