The first two packs I made were from polystyrene rigid insulation foam. Everything, including the lighting, was custom-built by hand. Here’s one of them:
Flash forward a few years and the original molds are old, tired and disintegrating. Also, having seen all the great work done by our members, and reviewing specs and reference pics, I’m ready to make a set of new master molds.
I’m primarily using Stefan’s plans, with changes based on member findings (e.g. the additional spacer plate) with some notes, tips and triangulation from Sean’s documents.
I’m trying to get my dimensions much better for this build, so my first step has been to print plans at one-to-one scale:
stick with it and dont rush or get in a hurry. took me roughly 4 years to build mine;of course i work slow, on and off with two or three hiatus’s. i still have things needing to be done, adjusting and re-adjusting. i dont think i will ever be completely happy with it, but upon completion i had the big sense of accomplishment ever.
looking good!! i never thought about blowing the plans up; i did a ton of measuring and using compassing. keep updating. scratch builds are rare these days but much more exciting to follow.
So are you going to do vac form again? If so I’d leave the smaller detail parts off, and add them yourself (like the fins) Small details like that rarely come out well when vac formed, and odds are you could produce a killer looking shell with the proper vac formed parts.
I suggested to aj that he produce plastic or mdf cyclotron rings. If he makes them, that would allow those details to be left off as well, and the final result would look nice and sharp.
We are ready for new more accurate packs as well now, too. Have you seen zombie repellant’s shells? They look pretty amazing!
Minor update. I got the spacer cut -three separate sheets of 3/4" MDF glued together. I forget, no matter how accurately I cut, I can never get an exact match. So out comes the Bondo for cleanup.
Yeah, the Zombie shells are impressive. I’m actually using some of the pictures he posted as reference pics.
I like your idea of leaving off detail pieces -I may try that for next time. I’m actually planning on doing a pull and then using the pull to do a reverse vac-form -since the inside of the pulls always have nice crisp detailing -so we’ll see how it works out.
That might be interesting. I’ve been considering caving and getting shells.. they are easier I think on repairs, and have all that space inside for electronics.
Sfter two years, we are still digging this hobby, so we are both jonesin for more accurate packs.
Far be it from me to talk you out of one of the excellent shells that are available. That said, given the incredible work you’ve done so far, I’m sure you wouldn’t find making your own “more accurate” shell too much of a challenge.
I’ve learned a lot over the past two years. I just don’t know If I want to go through all the time it takes to build two more from scratch. I can cannabalize a lot of the parts from our existing packs, but thats kinda like killing our babies.. LOL!
I’m sure at this point I could probably even cobble up a buck and a mold, but thats alot of additional work, and the end result is a shell anyway.
I do want to fix our bumpers one of these days as well. How I missed that they are 1/2 octagon shaped is beyond me.
I’ve made a dent in the upper part of the pack. Unlike my last buck/pack, I’m only using wood glue -no other types of fasteners. The pack looks looks a lot cleaner and the strength is good. Course, it slows progress a little since you have to wait for the glue to dry (I’m not the most patient person).
I got the PPD done. For no good reason I decided to make a curved area for the angled cylinder (I really like the look I’ve seen others do). In retrospect, I made this much harder than it needed to be, but that’s how we learn…
Beauty shots of the EDA… (creating the curve presented the same challenges as for the angled cylinder -yikes. Don’t do it if you’re not prepared to sink a lot of time into it).
Got the ribbing added to the powercell. The ribs are styrene, attached to the powercell with woodglue. I used a heat gun to soften the ribs, then bent them over the top of the cell.
I’m planning on priming and clear coating the buck to try and get a very smooth, seamless and “holistic” look. I’m hoping the clear coat will make the vac-formed styrene release more easily from the buck.
