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***UPDATE 5/3/10: If you make a proton pack based on this slideshow, post a picture down in the comments, and I'll send you a patch!***
Update 10/31 - Just got back from the Halloween party, and added 4 pictures of me in full costume. Pretend the coveralls are tan. Warning: these pictures contain chest hair!
Well, I didn't think this would warrant a full instructable, as Honus created this instructable that I used to make my own Proton Pack. So, here is a slideshow of the the awesome costume prop I built. Sadly, I couldn't find a flight suit or even a coverall that was the right color, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, but at least I have the proton pack!
Since Honus already did the the full instructable on this, I didn't document the construction process. Here is an (incomplete) list of the parts I used to build this:
1/4" plywood
an old backpack frame
LOTS of black spraypaint
cardboard
styrofoam
duct tape
masking tape
electrical tape
packaging tape
foam weatherstripping tape
random wires
epoxy
zerks
capscrews
an old garden light
empty bottle of ibuprofen
magnets
LED's
perfboard
PVC pipe
an old plastic dish
a spraypaint can
an IDE cable
toilet paper tubes
and many more things
I worked on this starting last sunday night. I worked on it every night that week, until at least midnight, and literally all day long both saturday and sunday. I put the finishing touches on it monday night. Let me know what you think, I'm very proud of it!
Update 10/31 - Just got back from the Halloween party, and added 4 pictures of me in full costume. Pretend the coveralls are tan. Warning: these pictures contain chest hair!
Well, I didn't think this would warrant a full instructable, as Honus created this instructable that I used to make my own Proton Pack. So, here is a slideshow of the the awesome costume prop I built. Sadly, I couldn't find a flight suit or even a coverall that was the right color, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, but at least I have the proton pack!
Since Honus already did the the full instructable on this, I didn't document the construction process. Here is an (incomplete) list of the parts I used to build this:
1/4" plywood
an old backpack frame
LOTS of black spraypaint
cardboard
styrofoam
duct tape
masking tape
electrical tape
packaging tape
foam weatherstripping tape
random wires
epoxy
zerks
capscrews
an old garden light
empty bottle of ibuprofen
magnets
LED's
perfboard
PVC pipe
an old plastic dish
a spraypaint can
an IDE cable
toilet paper tubes
and many more things
I worked on this starting last sunday night. I worked on it every night that week, until at least midnight, and literally all day long both saturday and sunday. I put the finishing touches on it monday night. Let me know what you think, I'm very proud of it!
You can harvest a 200mw red out of a DVD burner, but they're very easy to break. Also, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, you can seriously screw up your eyes, PERMANENTLY, if you don't have a pair of laser protective goggles, or I'm guessing you'd need several pairs if you're going to put this in the science fair. Really man, go to laserpointerforums.com and read some of the things people have written about the importance of getting good safety goggles. You can go blind for the rest of your life, or make someone else blind if you catch the beam directly or even from a reflection off of glass, plastic, metal, water, etc.
If all you need is a visible beam laser, get a 5mw green from dealextreme. Our eyes are well adapted to green light so it's quite easy to fire it through smoke or steam or fog or dust or something and have the beam be seen.
Speaking of lasers, I've added two to my proton pack for halloween this year, so you should stay tuned for that!
By the way, I faced a similar no-coveralls-the-right-color-anywhere problem with my own Halloween costume this year, which was especially irritating when you consider that I only wanted black ones.
I discovered that the only solution was to order them online directly from the Dickies web site. It's a little late now, of course, but for future reference they only took five days to arrive, and that included the weekend!