Scratch Build – In Progress TRON Lightcycle - MotY 3rd Place!

I must admit that I didn't think it was going to work. I thought it was going to be tacky and a bit kitch. I was wrong. It works awesomely well!

 

This is a great tron mod, I was thinking of doing a tron case project myself but not after seeing this!! well done

 

Bod just beautiful work. love that engine. and that mouse light idea just WOW Love that you are able to go concept to finish on track, hats off man good job.

 

Stem.... let this be a jumping point.... something to vault your creativity! Don't "not" do a mod because you don't think you can compete with this! The whole spirit of modding is to inspire and drive the next mod!! Bod simply lays down the inspiration in unconscionably thick layers!

Just swinging by to bid one of my favorite modders a hearty "good effing job!" and keep up the good work!

Oh... and.... dont take your eyes off of this, cuz I may just take it!

-=TD

 

Amazing skills Bod, turning out to become awesome!

 

That keyboard/mouse/mousemat set look awesome! Brilliant project, very very cool

 

grats on the MOTM win Bod

 

wow awesome mod, loving the mouse and keyboard, thinking of getting both myself. I can find the mouse and mousepad, but where on earth did you get the keyboard from as I can't find it anywhere! Also I shall be following this now (subscribed)

 

This is really going to be nice...thinking of re-doing your whole appartement TRON style?
Great entry for your contest good luck

 

Thanks Samaya

Thank you ringo. The color might be a bit off, but it still works!

Thanks riekmaharg2.

Thanks Nexxo, I'm glad to have proven you wrong! (I was hoping it wouldn't look cheesy either)

Thanks craig!

@Stem, Tech-Daddy is right, don't let one mod discourage you from doing your own thing.

Thanks PyrO!

Thanks stonedsurd! I was so busy with this, I hadn't realized it had ended. Thanks to all who voted!

Not sure of any source in the UK that sells Razer keyboards, but doing a quick google search shows you can order one from Tiger Direct.

 

More progress on the tubes. Got them painted inside and out, after taping off the areas where the ribs will be glued. Then after doing a light test, I decided to chamfer the ends to widen the glow area a bit.

I set up the router table with a 45° chamfer bit, and made a semi-circuler fence for the tube to fit in so it wouldn't go anywhere, then I slowly rotated it by hand 360°.


All four ends done.


For lighting, I'll be using these blue light strips wrapped around the tube center...


... like so.


A close up shot of the glowing end.


And an overhead shot.


The part on the bottom is darker because there is about a 3" gap between the ends of the light strip (it's 20" long, and the circumference of the tube is roughly 23"). I will cut a 2nd strip down to fill in that area. Otherwise, I think that is pretty much the look I was going for.

 

Nice one on MOTM mate. It's all looking so good and that key board is just perfect, going to fit in with very nicely.

 

Gotta love those lighting effects on the tubes! Awesome brother!!!

 

I think if I seen the completed version of this in person I'd faint from seeing such awesomeness .
Loving what you are doing since you switched over to scratch building Bod , your case mods were awesome though but you scratch building is pure .

 

I like your tubes, the blue fits very good to the black color.

 

Thanks bulldogjeff!

Thanks Alex!

lol thanks Wayne, but it's not like I switched modding teams or something. I'm sure I will still be doing case mods AND scratch builds in the future.

Thanks ringo, I've always loved the blue & black color combo.

-------------------------

Smallish update...

Playing with different lighting for the lightwall emitter. I drilled a few holes in the side of the center rib to accept 3mm uv leds, and fired them up to see how they look.
For some reason they look too purple here, not at all the same color as the SSD Engine. Maybe it's because these leds are embedded into the acrylic, whereas the SSD engine had the uv lights hanging over the pieces.


So then I tried white leds and got a better blue hue, but the leds were too far apart and I could see gaps in the lighting. So I went to a white led lightstrip curved along the inside edge. Looks much better! I think I'll be going with door number three, Bob.


So since I can't put the lightstrip where I'll be gluing the center rib to the tube, I had to cut a new groove in the side. So I taped off the area and drew my cut line.


Using the rotary tool, I carefully cut a thin groove just wide enough and deep enough for the lightstrip. I didn't want to cut through to the other side, so I put a mark on the saw blade for a depth guage.


Groove is cut, and the other side is unscathed!


The light strip fits right in.


It's just deep enough for the width of the strip.


With that taken care of, I can now glue the center rib to the tube. I used various pieces of scrap wood and acrylic to keep everything level, square, and plumb.


Back when I first dry-fitted the ribs and tubes, I realized that the tubes weren't a perfect cylinder. Holding the tube and center rib up to the light, you can really see how imperfect it really is.




I'll be filling in the gaps with some JB Weld, now that the two pieces are tacked together.

More tomorrow!

 

Looking great Brian! You kicked that lighting problem squarely in the nads. Mod on.

 

Insane, I loved the original movie as a kid the this cycle mod is genius!!
The lighting is perfect.. Just speechless

 

Just saw the movie can't wait to see the end results...I did not see the other contestant but you have my vote!

 

I just saw the second movie and it was worse than the first.
But I love what you are doing here. Particularly the lighting. Awesome.