I have a biggi shell and an aluminum N-filter. I have to remove the old N-filter and somehow attach the aluminum one. Any one got pics / tips or any advice on the best way to do it?
Bondo for any flaws and a buttload of epoxy is really your best bet
One option you could go for is a collar method. When the N-Filter on my Pack got clobbered on New Year’s Day a few years back, I wanted to strengthen it so it wouldn’t be so easy to dislodge. I found a cylindrical terminal box that I sawed the collars off of:
The terminal box was then bolted to the Spacer of my Proton Pack:
What you could do is permanently fix the bolts to the terminal box, or appropriate cylinder, and then screw that to the N-Filter (along the edge that’ll be against the inside cutout of the Cyclotron cover. You can then fix it into place by threading nuts onto the bolts you’ve already installed.
Hope that explanation makes sense.
I can kinda see what you mean… I’m just having a hard time visualizing how its going to be attached because when I dremel off the fiberglass n-filter there will be a hole all the way to the mobo…
I’ve always wondered how people did this too… Did anyone come up with anything?
I have an aluminum n-filter sitting here that i wont likely use because i really dont see a good way to attach it.
In a search I found that pchrisbosh1 might have the info we’re looking for…
link..?
Sorry I didn’t see this thread until now, so I apologize for not getting to you sooner.
for a shell with the nfilter cast in, you need to take a dremel and remove the existing fibreglass one and then cut the metal one to match and use and epoxy glue on the inside to bond it in place.
I don’t have pictures of how I cut mine out but ill try and explain as best as i can.
What you need to do is somehow draw on the metal nfilter the shape of the existing nfilter where it meets the cyclotron…so you have an idea of what you need to cut out. What I did was cut out strips of paper the same thickness as each segment/step, then wrap it around the nfilter and trim of the excess so it overlays perfectly-ish, then sellotape them all together, you should end up with a blueprint with what your nfilter will look like. The very end large segment near the weld wraps the whole way round the nfilter and will join as a seem at the top of the filter.
I think I added quite alot of masking tape to the whole thing - which helped fill the blanks for the complex curves of the nfilter that were missed in the paper segments. The masking tape also gave the whole blueprint a bit of strength.
with this blueprint wrapped around and sellotaped to the bigi nfilter. Draw the detailed curves, basically trace the line around where the nfilter joins the cyclotron onto your paper blueprint.
Remove the paper blueprint and cut out the bits that were occupied by the cyclotron. Wrap your finished blueprint around your metal nfilter and sellotape it in place, making sure the ends join seemlesly at the top.
Trace the edges of the blueprint paper onto the metal nfilter with a vivid. Remove the paper, get a dremel and cut that sucker out.
Then do the same with fibreglass nfilter. I found this pretty scary but just take it easy and all will be fine 
I found it easy to remove bulk areas of the nfilter avoiding getting too close to the join, until most of the nfilter was cut off. Then you can carefuly go in with a dremel on its lowest setting and slowly cut it out. then get some sand paper and sand it nice and flush. Leave the base structure of the fibreglass nfilter intact. Ie only cut off what you have to in order for your metal nfilter to sit nice and flush.
Then when that’s done get some masking tape to hold it in place then glue it in place from the inside with some epoxy and BOOM your done
Okay, so the tl;dr answer is “epoxy the shit out of the inside”, then? 
That template is a great idea. Its so tempting to do another pack now that I know what not to do . . .
I used expoxy on the outside, and then used JB weld putty on the inside because it didn’t have to be pretty.
A small child or monkey could hang from the N-Filter and its not going anywhere.
What if the n-filter you’re replacing is smaller than the metal one you’re replacing it with though? I’m picturing using this same method, but only cutting out the top section of the fiberglass filter(the part flush with the cyclotron and up against the bottom right cyclotron lens). Then I’m thinking all I would have to really do would be to cut down the top of existing flter to where it wouldn’t block the n-filter holes of the new one, slide the new filter in place to check the fit, then epoxy the shit out of the outside of the existing filter and slap the new one over it. Does that sound like it would hold? It seems like it would be more solid like that…
IPv6Freely - I didn’t see a link, just discussion pointing to the fact that he had done it and it went well.
Well Ok then… another thought that pops into mind… go buy a thick cardboard tube or pvc the same thickness as your new metal nfilter.
Then cut your old fibreglass nfilter off and sand it flush. place your cardboard tube on top of the cyclotron and line it up near the bottom right cyclotron light. then place a ruler on the bottom of the cyclotron cake pan facing out to rest on the cardboard tube. Draw a line on both sides of the tube. then cut a sement out of the tube that spans the length of both steps of the nfilter… ( so the length of the red and blue strips in my nfilter pic)
Put the cardboard nfilter in place and repeat the ruler step for the last remaining step , measure the depth and cut the red section portion out. Put the cardboard nfilter in place and then repeat the steps of putting masking tape around the curvey parts so you can draw a new line around the join of the cyclotron and nfilter. Take it off and cut out the excess masking tape… and fit that cardboard nfilter over the metal one and draw and cut it out.
Or you can cut your nfilter off… somehow fill in the hole and make it like an uncut cake pan. then attach the nfilter like the hero ones with some rivets on the inside of the cyclotron 