I was wondering what the best kind of wood to use for making a scratch build pack. I made a foam pack last year, but I want lights in mine this time around, so I need to make it out of some kind of wood.
Also, with installing a light kit, where do the circuit board and the batteries usually go? In the cyclotron?
Any help would be great! Thanks!
I would go with MDF wood. You can get some nice sized sheets at Home Depot for like $4
no no no, you want a strong pack right? go with the thickest wood possible, and be sure you fill all the empty spaces inside the pack with wood as well. It’ll last forever.
What?!?! I don’t know if that was meant as a joke but doing that way, it will make the proton pack too heavy to carry.
I might just go ahead and make it out of solid steel. Make my back strong like bull.
seriously, you’d have a pack that everyone would envy, I mean doesn’t it make sence, if it’s solid, it can’t break. a solid wood pack or solid metal is the next logical step in GB propping evolution. It’s really a no brainer!
You could make a combo foam core/insulation foam and wood pack, and still use lights and sounds in it. Thats what I’m planning for our more movie accurate light n sounds ones here.
Medium Density Fiberboard.
'nuff said.
Use MDF for the cyclotron/spacer. Wear a respirator while cutting it because it will create tons of dust you don’t want to breathe. Someone posted plans which show how to stack a few sheets of MDF with different thicknesses that makes it really easy to build. You should find those.
Use basswood for the rest. (Except the bumper.) You can get basswood at craft stores and hobby shops. It comes in all the sizes you’ll need. Get one of those little saws they sell with it to cut it. Don’t get the finest toothed saw, it’ll take you twice as long to cut and the more coarse blade will cut just as smoothly. Use the 1/8" thick stuff. You don’t need the 3/16". 1/8 is more than sturdy enough, even though it may not seem like it when you’re handling it.
While you’re at the craft store, pick up some quick dry tacky glue too. It works great with basswood. You can stick two pices edge to edge and it’ll dry in about five minutes, and it’ll be more than strong enough for most of the parts on the pack.
You may want to use a 2x6 or something for the bumper. MDF is kinda funny in that it can split pretty easily if you drill it too close to an edge. I’m not sure if I’d trust it with the bumper. If someone yanks down on it, it might split where it’s attached to the sides of the spacer.
i like birch wood. i used it last year and it was nice no knots. i was gonna use mdf but it was 2 heavy. birch is nice but its a little on the $$$ side.
I reccomend mdf over basswood.. basswood is way to grainy, and requires a lot of filler and sanding.
Are you kidding? You’d rather make hundreds of cuts through dense fiberboard than use something which is precut to most sizes because you might have to use a little wood filler?
Think about all those little 1/2" ribs. How are you going to cut those out of MDF? Not with a hand saw, if you value your time. With a jigsaw? Good luck getting a straight line.
I made all of those ribs using basswood in half an an hour cutting them by hand. How long did it take you to make them out of MDF?
Oh wait… You didn’t even build that part of the pack! You used electrical boxes!
PS:
You can’t even see the wood grain after a few coats of paint . You only need to use filler sparingly.
No need to be a ■■■■■■, dude.
Oh, and as for the ribs? Balsa wood + exacto knife is way easier than what you suggest.
Yeah, that was kind of harsh, GhostGuy.
Anywho, I’ll probably use MDF for the main components, but definitely use basswood strips for the ribs on the cell/gearbox. I used the basswood strips on my last pack, and it worked out great.
Thanks for the info everyone!! I really appreciate it 
How am I being a ■■■■■■? I’m not insulting Gary’s pack, and I think it’s relevant to point out that he hasn’t even built the portion of the pack we’re talking about here.
I’m sorry if I didn’t put that into words as well as I could have. Nothing I can do about it now though since we can’t edit posts any more.
yeah, different woods/materials work better for different parts of the pack. Arguing this is better than that is a waste of time.
Some areas are best thick/solid, such as where the gun mounts to the pack, referencing my previous post about going solid.
Being called a ■■■■■■ in my opinion is a compliment. Douches make everything fresh and clean. be proud.
Balsa’s good too, but I would be concerned about whether it would get dented easily.
I was looking at the entire build, NOT just the ribs. And I’d use either foam core for the ribs, bala, or one of the other main composit options available.
Maybe you missed the part of my build wip, where the bass wood warped beyond use. Wasted time, and wasted work, and I’ll be damned if I ever buy basswood for anything ever again,
I forget what we bought to replace the basswood for our motherboards, but I’m pretty sure it is detailed in my wip posted here.. and it can with an already smooth ready to paint finish.
As far as being harsh, everyone is passionate here, and I don’t faulty anyone for supporting their own opinion. I found basswood very “splintery” when cut, and I have to apply at least 2 coats of thick house paint on it to get the grain to go away.
I have a tablesaw and a jigsaw, and both cut the other wood in straight lines without issues at all. I cut all the parts for wooden gun boxes, before having to fall back to insulation foam ones because of the halloween deadline.
It DOES sound like you are dissing my use of electrical boxes for our pack parts, and I know some people ARE stickers for accuracy. I’m not so much, but in retrospect, I probably could have easily just used insulation foam for the box parts of the packs, and used foam core for the ribs. Odds are that will be my method for doing more accurate packs down the road.
But I stand by my statement.. basswood is evil, and a pox on the guy who came up with it! LOL!
Are you sure you used basswood?
Because that sure doesn’t look like the basswood I’m familiar with. The grain is way too coarse, the surface too glossy, and that sheet is clearly some sort of laminate. That looks like some kind of hard wood, like birch.
But even if it is basswood, why in the world would you make a motherboard out of basswood? Basswood at motherboard thickness and size would flex terribly, and snap easily.
I suppose it could be some kind of laminated basswood. That’d be the only way they could make a sheet of it that size strong enough to withstand even a little flexing without snapping like a toothpick. But still, I can’t imagine it would be at all ideal for a motherboard. And it would probably be fairly expensive.
Basswood works just fine for its intended purpouse. Building small objects like all the boxes on the top of the pack.