Hey everyone got more updates. This one may be a long one as we have good news and bad news.
I’ll start with the bad news. The bad news is that I’ve had to redo a lot of my work I did previously on the crank gen due to incorrect measurements, bad warps/seamlines, it not sitting flush, etc etc… Its been a mess and getting the part to the point it is right now has been difficult.
After I made my last update, I made the center part where the vacuum pump sits. I wanted to glue the new part to the part I made last, but I realized the old part did not sit flush and the paper warp continued to bother me. I wanted to at least fix the paper warp by redoing the panel and this is where things began to go downhill. After a lot of attempts, it ended being worse than when I started.
I tried to ignore it and glue the center part to it, but the seamline that came from it since it did not sit flush wasn’t pretty. I also realized I made a mistake with the center piece measurement. It was too long by 1/16 of an inch, so if I put the vacuum pump in, there may be too much slack.
![Image]()
At this point, I wasn’t happy with how the part turned out and I decided to move onto the top part where the crank knob sits while I think over the situation with the bottom parts.
![Image]()
Lucky for me the top part turned out good and has all the angles to spec.![:)]( "Smile")
When that was done, I made up my mind to redo the bottom portion to be one piece so that we can avoid the seamline, fix the part being flush, but most importantly redo the measurements.
![Image]()
![Image]()
When I cut these two pieces out, I was super happy with them and I thought I nailed the measurements, but when I double checked them, I realized I got another thing wrong.
![Image]()
In this picture its 2.5 inches long, but I completely forgot that removing 1/16 of an inch from the center piece meant that I had to add 1/16 to this area. Honestly I could’ve just glossed over this and it would’ve been fine, but since this pack was going to be one of my final packs, I wanted it to be as good as I could make it to be so I recut those pieces.
![Image]()
Now we can move onto the good news. I cut the rest of the pieces, then it flew together quickly. I still need to attach the panel for the middle, but that shouldn’t be too difficult. (hopefully lol)
It was good that I redid the part because it looks a lot cleaner, it sits flush, and best of all, the measurements are now acceptable!![:)]( "Smile")
![Image]()
A good overview of the old part (on the bottom) and the new part (on the top).
When this was mostly done, I could finally test fit the bottom part and the top parts together.
![Image]()
Here is the front face of the crank gen
![Image]()
Here is the side of the crank gen, you can see I made the top part taller by 1/8 of an inch then the bottom part like they are on the heros.
![Image]()
![Image]()
A nice general overview of the crank gen and a comparison between old and new. I know the progress isn’t too impressive, but nonetheless I’m happy with the new crank gen so far and there shouldn’t be too much that stands in the way of completing it.
While I was battling the crank gen, I did a few other things.
![Image]()
I wanted to experiment with the corners and I lightly rounded them on the gun mount with some sand paper. I might be able to round it further but I don’t think I can do what lordgilpin did in his foam core build to round the box because I’m too scared lol.
![Image]()
I also added my old scratch built bumper from lost wax onto my old proton pack just for fun. It doesn’t look too bad. One of my main reasons for doing this new build and not finishing my old pack, was because I discovered that every measurement on it was wrong and it was too idealized. Despite that, it still looks so cool and gives me motivation to finish this new pack every time I look at it. I may have some plans for this pack in the future![;)]( "Wink")
Thats it for the updates, I might take a break after the crank gen is completed since the EDA assembly will be another battle on its own, but thanks for reading! (One more thing, don’t be a perfectionist like me because you don’t want to experience the troubles I went through with this haha)
I’ll start with the bad news. The bad news is that I’ve had to redo a lot of my work I did previously on the crank gen due to incorrect measurements, bad warps/seamlines, it not sitting flush, etc etc… Its been a mess and getting the part to the point it is right now has been difficult.
After I made my last update, I made the center part where the vacuum pump sits. I wanted to glue the new part to the part I made last, but I realized the old part did not sit flush and the paper warp continued to bother me. I wanted to at least fix the paper warp by redoing the panel and this is where things began to go downhill. After a lot of attempts, it ended being worse than when I started.
I tried to ignore it and glue the center part to it, but the seamline that came from it since it did not sit flush wasn’t pretty. I also realized I made a mistake with the center piece measurement. It was too long by 1/16 of an inch, so if I put the vacuum pump in, there may be too much slack.
At this point, I wasn’t happy with how the part turned out and I decided to move onto the top part where the crank knob sits while I think over the situation with the bottom parts.
Lucky for me the top part turned out good and has all the angles to spec.
When that was done, I made up my mind to redo the bottom portion to be one piece so that we can avoid the seamline, fix the part being flush, but most importantly redo the measurements.
When I cut these two pieces out, I was super happy with them and I thought I nailed the measurements, but when I double checked them, I realized I got another thing wrong.
In this picture its 2.5 inches long, but I completely forgot that removing 1/16 of an inch from the center piece meant that I had to add 1/16 to this area. Honestly I could’ve just glossed over this and it would’ve been fine, but since this pack was going to be one of my final packs, I wanted it to be as good as I could make it to be so I recut those pieces.
Now we can move onto the good news. I cut the rest of the pieces, then it flew together quickly. I still need to attach the panel for the middle, but that shouldn’t be too difficult. (hopefully lol)
It was good that I redid the part because it looks a lot cleaner, it sits flush, and best of all, the measurements are now acceptable!
A good overview of the old part (on the bottom) and the new part (on the top).
When this was mostly done, I could finally test fit the bottom part and the top parts together.
Here is the front face of the crank gen
Here is the side of the crank gen, you can see I made the top part taller by 1/8 of an inch then the bottom part like they are on the heros.
A nice general overview of the crank gen and a comparison between old and new. I know the progress isn’t too impressive, but nonetheless I’m happy with the new crank gen so far and there shouldn’t be too much that stands in the way of completing it.
While I was battling the crank gen, I did a few other things.
I wanted to experiment with the corners and I lightly rounded them on the gun mount with some sand paper. I might be able to round it further but I don’t think I can do what lordgilpin did in his foam core build to round the box because I’m too scared lol.
I also added my old scratch built bumper from lost wax onto my old proton pack just for fun. It doesn’t look too bad. One of my main reasons for doing this new build and not finishing my old pack, was because I discovered that every measurement on it was wrong and it was too idealized. Despite that, it still looks so cool and gives me motivation to finish this new pack every time I look at it. I may have some plans for this pack in the future
Thats it for the updates, I might take a break after the crank gen is completed since the EDA assembly will be another battle on its own, but thanks for reading! (One more thing, don’t be a perfectionist like me because you don’t want to experience the troubles I went through with this haha)
Statistics: Posted by OnEdge — May 5th, 2024, 4:26 pm