Iron Man MkV Arc Reactor

This reactor, like my previous reactor, is available for purchase, visit my website and email me from there, the paypal links are now available for both styles of arc reactor
http://sites.google.com/site/msraynsford/ironmanarcreactors

Feb 2012 Green Arcs Kit's and Assembled
Having just seen the trailer for the new avengers film out this year I'm now pleased to offer the MkV in green for kit versions and fully assembled versions

May 2010  DIY Kit available
This arc reactor is soon to be made available in kit format. So if you ever wanted to make your own but couldn't make the parts yourself, now you can buy a kit containing all the parts, instructions and shaped polymorph.
http://sites.google.com/site/msraynsford/ironmanarcreactors

Step 1 Tools and Materials

The Materials
LED's
Resistors 180R and 330R
Polymorph plastic
4mm plywood
Red and black wire twisted into a length
Kynar Wire
9V battery clip
Heatshrink
An old DVD case

The Tools
Hot Glue Gun
Soldering Iron
Wood Router
Needle nose pliers
Wire Cutters, side cutting

Comments

[DemonKing97]

Nice Reactor. But i kinda lack of the wood to hold the LEDs. Can anybody tell me other materials that can hold the Leds in place. I thought of foam but if solder, it will give out some Chemical thing........

[msraynsford]

Wood is handy because it doesnt melt and it's easy to get hold of.

The much better option is a PCB (like the ones I include in my kits) 

[luseylottay]

This is an awesome tutorial! Any chance of finishing it?

[msraynsford]

This one has kinda had it's day now, I keep meaning to write one based solely upon the kit. Now that there is a PCB for the electronics and a laser cutter to make the details the standard has improved quite a lot and things are quite different

[luseylottay]

Aww, okay then.

[preeceindustries]

sweet arc reactor. you know what I going to make it

[Titanium Rainbow]

Awesome arc reactor

[elemastur]

where can i find the leds you used and how do i circuit them?

[jcordova3]

someone can help me? would you translate me the materials and tools thank you

[AlexJ08]

what if your a child

mark-anthony

[patriots8888]

what if your a bean

michael-jackson

[Onay91]

How do you suggest going about attaching this thing to your chest? I was thinking a necklace, sown onto a shirt, or possibly some sort of body glue. What do you think?

[tobyscool]

I found on other instructables they stick it on belts

[monkeys98]

Would glass work for the light to shine through on the front because i have a piece of glass that is the perfect size and shape.

[uvesh]

interested in this thing give more details about it

[msraynsford]

Lots more details can be found here https://sites.google.com/site/msraynsford/ironmanarcreactors

[benha94]

ok, couple of questions. they look to be wired in series, do you need the resistors to keep them all the same brightness or can you wire them in series without any resistors and have them all the same brightness? would mounting them on balsa wood work? thats all, thanks

[Warmachine11]

just kinda cool but mine is better

[msraynsford]

Sounds like a good challenge to me, I look forward to reading your instructable then.

[MITisNOTHINGtoME]

Where's the rest of the instructable?

[msraynsford]

Actually, you are right it does seem like a short instructable. It's currently more of a "How to improve the Mk1 process" instructable than a "How to build a MkV". Stay Tuned, will be improving shortly which will be of special interest to the people who've just bought MkV kits

[trauma-d]

Do you have to use surface mount leds or would regular ones work?

[afreeland]

You can use standard LED's but as msraynsford said they have a lot more depth than the surface mount led's....I made a couple of arc reactors using some white water clear led's and just made sure to sand them down so that the light was properly diffused and they looked pretty decent....if you would like to see how a sanded led looks in comparison here is how mine turned out www.afreeland.com/node/29 ...hopefully this helps

I also must say that this is an amazing tutorial and must admit that your work is amazing!!!! Keep the great LED content coming =)

[trauma-d]

thanks, looks awesome.

[msraynsford]

Surface mount LED's generally have a wider field for the light it outputs and are only 2mm thick meaning the whole thing can be thinner

[ITAstallion13]

ok great, when will the pay pal link be up for the mkV kit? you did a really excellent job putting these together

[msraynsford]

The MkV kits are now available, sorry for not getting them sorted faster but had some issue with getting the parts laser cut (yes, laser cut for much better accuracy than my Mk1's)

https://sites.google.com/site/msraynsford/ironmanarcreactors

[lonewolfkliq]

Wow.

I seriously want to make this one.

I may buy the kit from you or even just buy a completed one as soon as I have some extra cash.

Awesome stuff.

And your stuff is especially great cause your reactors aren't like 4 inches thick which completely ruins the movie realism.

1000 thumbs up!

[blaqkout]

 where did you get your leds?

[death2602]

Guessing he got them here www.rapidonline.com 

[trauma-d]

this thing is awesome! Great Work! Do you have like a video to show how to make it?

[msraynsford]

Nope, fraid not.
Is there one particular thing you wanted to see in a video? Perhaps I could elaborate on it.

[trauma-d]

Never mind about the design i over looked the design you already provided.

[reoga13]

 i like it it is a much sleaker disign but it just seems like a led array behind som wax or acrilys and a template on front to block some light...i personaly like the older disigns where the is a challacnge presented in constructing it

[trauma-d]

Not really anything in particular. I was just wondering a few things like details on leds and resistors and how they are wired. I've never really wired multiple leds i have made a few projects here and there but never really done anything quite so extravagant but REALLY like this so I wanna give it a try. also did you get the design off the Internet somewhere or something I could print off or look at from a birds eye view?

[mettaurlover]

As for the outer triangle, you could try relocating the LEDs to the corners and double the LEDS in the center-then those would light up the middle of the sides while the relocated ones at the corners would light up the rest.

[msraynsford]

Indeed it is my plan to put 2 led's in each of the outer segments, I'm now just waiting on the local laser cutter to get back to me with a price for the triangular details before I can make the next one but I will be posting photos up once it's completed (should have better wiring too, this one is a bit of a birdsnest)

[mettaurlover]

Yeah... If you just relocate the ones currently in the outer triangle, they should light up the entire thing while allowing for a better wiring plan. I assume you are familiar with the method of putting LEDs onto two rings of wire with one terminal on each, and the same terminal for each? If you used insulated wire here, that method would make wiring look much neater as well as letting you put in as many LEDs as you need.

[msraynsford]

I am unfamiliar of this method of which you speak and I would like to know more please. Any chance of a diagram, cant quite visualise that in my head.
Even if not you've made me think of a better way to do it anyhow (probably the same thing)

[mettaurlover]

It's pretty much like this:
____________
O O O O O O O
But closed on both ends; the O's stand for LEDs and you attach the - leg of every LED in the set to one ring and the + leg to the other ring. Simplifies wiring and allows you to easily make changes to the position fo the LEDs.