Project "The Core" - PLEASE REMOVE THIS POST

Warp core

*pictures lights running up and down a cylinder*

[edit] OMG! "The Core" That's why Doh...

 

Molds Created 3/15/03

Well, got paid, so had some money to put towards the "Mod Fund" Decided to go with Philot's suggestion on the concrete tubing material. Went to the local Hardware store and bought one. This was actually a very good purchase, since you get a set of three tubes, which all fit into one another, sort of like those Russian Dolls. Anyways...

Here's a picture of all of my materials before I started today (from left to right):
The Concrete Setting Tubes, an 8lb tub of Plaster of Paris, a hacksaw and a concrete mixing tub.

Well, I had a lot of problems starting off. First thing, the hacksaw blade was too small, so I had to switch to a wood saw. I didn't want to have to pour plaster into a 4ft tall container, so I decided to knock about 3ft off of it


Next step was mixing and pourting the plaster. I was soon to find out that the 8lbs I bought wasn't going to be NEAR enough, plus I had not made a proper mold. I had originally planned on using some scrap pieces of styrofoam to cover the bottom, and just try to jam in the container....here's the result of that endeveour


Quick trip to the hardware store again. This time, I purchase a 25lb bag of plaster....That should do it I then proceeded to make the two molds I'd need: one for the exterior of the inner cylinder, and one of the interior of the exterior cylinder (Confusing? Look at my design again and I think you'll see what I mean). This time, I used the tool of God (aka Dremel) to cut a little channel in the styrofoam for the tubes to sit in, then sealed the exterior as best I could with my wimpy a** hot glue gun. Seemed better. I then proceeded to mix the plaster.

For anyone dealing with plaster, I have 2 tips. 1) Don't mix it all at once. I made this mistake, and by the time I got to the second mold the plaster was hard to handle, but it lead to tip 2) If you want the plaster to flow to the shape, put it in your mold, the add a nice, heavy dosage of water. This will make the plaster take longer to dry, but it seems like it flowed into the mold better.
My results:




As you can see, a descent job. I should point out that the only part of the mold I care about is the sides, and even that doesn't have to be perfect. Just enough to bend the acrylic against.


Plaster is d*mn messy stuff

Tomorrow I'll take the plaster out of the molds to see the results. Pics posted tomorrow.

BTW, be sure, if you do do this, to cover your molds unless you have someplace indoors to store them. I covered mine with an old shower curtain, and thank god I did. It started drizzling, which would have caused the plaster to soften in the mold...

EDIT: My thanks goes out to Philot for pointing out about the concrete tubes.

 

Looks like you're up to building a sweet ass mod
Will the water be moving inside the 'reservoir'?

 

Perhaps

 

Looking good so far... Theres nothing really to look at yet, but it sounds good! Try and get the water moving inside the tube like everyone is talking about, i bet that will look really nice!

Take a few jets (3 or 4 of them), point them at an angle inside the tube, then turn on a pump (a big one), then it will really start to flow!!

 

Nice to see this project getting under way. Ill admit that when I saw the first post that I thaught this thread would just die and you would never get too it. Nice to see you have proved me wrong.

Good Luck.

 

I know not much to digest as far as modding, but if you could be inside my head, you would say "HELP! HELP! I'm inside someone's head! This isn't John Malkovich!!" Then you would understand that since I have NEVER done any work with acrylic or resin casting, I'm in my experimenting phase.

Result from Experiment 1 (Make plaster molds and bend acrylic around it): Failed

The acrylic wouldn't bend right around the plaster. It didn't make a nice, smooth curve like I imagine in my head (Again, you have to be in there to see it). Don't fret, my modding companions, hope for this case is not lost. New idea is spinning around in my head. Will post pics of something SUBSTANTIAL in the near future (aka next week).

 

why use the plaster at all? Just use the tubes as a mold!

 

Hehe, I hate plaster. Way too messy.

Can't wait to see the final product.

 

Web Site Update

Go to my webpage (link in my signature) to read about the fun of the Bending Acrylic experiment. Also tell me what you think of the site, as I am still working on it (I need to add a better navigation system between sections...It's on my todo, okay!! )

Green Soda: I thought the tubes would burst into flame from the heat of the heat gun, so made a plaster mold.

 

Re: Web Site Update

Maybe... <runs to Home Depot to get tubes and torch >

 

Not much to report as of yet. I just finished doing yet another experiment on making the cylinders. Read about it on my web site if you want, I'm not goingto bore you here.

I know this project seems like it's dying. That's not true, I just don't have the money right now to spend on modding supplies. It'll be very slow for a while until I can find a new job that'll give me more hours. I try to work on this when I can, and I'll try and post only interesting updates on the forums, but have all my info on my web site.

I'll keep you all informed with the project when I can. Hopefully, I'll have an actual clinder in about 2-3 weeks. (I told you...no money ), unless, of course, one of you wants to become a silent partner in this project

 

Project Dul drums

This project is not dead, it's just on pause right now while I wait for some money.

I get paid tomorrow and get off of work at 3, then it's a trip to the hardware store for some mdf and start to work. I should have an actual "update" to the project, sometime over the weekend. Stay tuned..

EDIT:


I got some l33t viewage

 

I can't believe it. I actually have something that's going to contribute to the end result of the project Check out the pictures of my work from today





I started cutting out the inner cylinder's master key. I plan on making two more of these of the same size, and sanding down the edges (It has an uneven finish right now).

Here some pics of the result




And yes, a motherboard does fit inside of it longways



Hopefully sometime in the next couple of days I'll post an update with a completed master piece (no pun on that one), with smooth sanded sides.

EDIT: My picture server is being screwy right now....Try refreshing the page a couple of times to see the pics...I don't know why this is happening

 

Ahhh, I see them now.

 

Re: Project Dul drums

LOL! Nice timing!

Anywho: Why is its notched?

Edit: By it i mean the wooden "key"

 

lol @ 1337 hehehehe

 

Green Soda. I plan on notching the cylinders so tha the computer won't accidentally spin...You'll see what I mean when I get all the key pieces built