hey ronnie i came threw tonight and dropped off the table saw. i have some clamps that ill bring tomorrow. lets start cranking out some stuff! woot
let us know if that bumper template gives you any trouble ; ) I used the same bumper template for my last pack, works wonders.
Great looking stuff, very professional, keep it up !
JULY 3RD UPDATE
Hey again, all-- Picture-intensive post ahead!
Before I begin, let me just say that yesterday, I only picked up right where I left off, with THIS:
Keep this in mind. Just a Motherboard made of MDF. That being said, here we go!
:arrow: :arrow: :arrow:
Dimitri and Abby came to pick me up from my place at about 12:30, and we ran a few errands. Then we arrived at the workplace around 1:30 or so. First thing we did was set up shop, with powertools, air tools, my own rotary tool case, the little stereo I’m going to eventually cannibalize, and Fernando’s tablesaw (YOU CAN’T PARK THAT HERE!):
Then we promptly started goofing off with the compressor.
See what we did there?
Soon, work was underway, and the first thing to do was the testing of the stencils I’d printed at home. Thankfully, they all fit perfectly! I felt pretty good about this.
The lines were drawn on MDF board:
Then the board was cut via jigsaw…
Also went ahead and tested placement of the cakepan (now with Rubbermaid turntable) on the synchronous generator pattern:
Then cut the synchronous generator top while I was at it.
Now, at this time, Chris and Fernando are tinkering with the table saw, essentially refurbishing it. Fernando was sanding it down, as it was still covered with blue paint from his RGB pack build. Chris was doing the rewiring of a switch, and Dimitri and I were sent to get an appliance cable, electrical box, new switch, and switchplate, so we decided to get a single board of 1 x 3 (if memory serves me correctly, don’t quote me) wood, for use on the walls of the upper box assembly.
While there, we found this very excellent fan that’d look great on the top of their Ecto:
…but perhaps later. We’re on a budget, and pressed for time. We got the stuff needed, then headed back. By this time, the saw has been sanded down, and MDF walls added. They’re thrilled by our choice in switch cover: diamond plate.
They wire it up, and the Ecto-Saw is born.
Meanwhile, Dimitri and I started laying down walls. Here is the first one.
Working our way around the top:
The flipside of the completed box:
Here you can see the start of a hole for wiring the Powercell:
Chris and Fernando start a second project: they begin making a ladder for the side of the Ecto V.
Jemal got home not too long after that, and Steve joined us as well. The gang’s all here!
The workzone (it was humid as hell, good thing we had water!):
Dimitri suggests wooden dowels to elevate the top of the sync gen from the mobo, and so little dowel-platforms were cut and placed:
Here is the spacer in the middle of the pack. The center section is elevated by 2 legs on either side, and is hollow for wiring later. This also allows clearance for the wingnut that secures the mobo to the frame. The left and right parts flanking it will be glued down eventually. The basic gearbox is cut, from 2 sets of sandwiched wood, and placed. It’ll be permanently attached later, when it’s sanded and shaped.
This is the left third of the spacer, wood-glued and clamped. It was later sanded smooth and even.
The Gun Mount was made next, and we’d used the whole strip of 1x3 wood… but there was one piece left: a piece of one of the LI GB’s original packs. It was a scrapped piece of an old gearbox, still had spraypaint on it outlining where the ribs used to be. We added it to a sandwich of about 6 pieces, and cut it, and we had a gun mount!
Pack with gun mount, and sync gen dowels drilled into place on the upper lid.
We were out there in the heat from roughly 2 to 8:30 pm, when it became too dark. But we were all pretty astonished at how much we got done in just a few hours… and the fact that so far, this pack is made from *one sheet *of MDF, one dowel, and one long 1x3 plank. Looking forward to next weekend, when I can provide more updates… and not looking forward to tracking down all those Clippards and resistors and such, 'cause I know that can get pricey pretty quick, and I am most assuredly a starving artist. But nonetheless, all in due time. Got a long way to go still!
It was a good day. I get by with a little help from my friends.
Thanks for reading! Stick around! Oh yeah, and HAPPY 4th!
Looking good! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
Hell to the YEAH!!! I love scratch builds man, I’m too chicken to try one though.