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Step 6New style reactor
So here is a new reactor based on what I believed the Iron Man 2 movie reactor would look like based on early screen shots. Notice that it now has eight segments instead of ten. It is constructed in a similar manner to the original reactor except that it is made from stainless steel and aluminum instead of plastic. This particular pair of reactors were built for a custom Iron Man theme motorcycle so they had to be able to withstand heat and vibration. They measure four inches in diameter and one inch deep.
The first thing I did was make a simple model in Sketchup to get an idea what the finished reactor would look like. Note that there are slight changes from the Sketchup model and the finished reactors.
The first thing I made were separate circuit boards for the LEDs. These are different from my original reactor in that they have 100 Ohm resistors connected to one side of the LED to protect the LED from burning out. The circuit boards get wires soldered to them and are then bolted to the stainless back plate with small hex head brass screws.
The spider is made from stainless steel that is welded together. There are four small brass hex head bolts that are threaded into each section of the spider and then they are soldered together to keep them from coming loose. The lenses were turned from clear acrylic and them the outer lens was inserted into the spider and the wire wrapping began. The wire wrapping takes forever since it's pretty hard to keep it straight. There's about 50 feet of wire in each reactor.
The outer ring is turned from thick wall aluminum tubing using a lathe and there are four holes drilled and threaded into the back side so it can be mounted to the stainless steel back plate. There is also a thin lip machined into the front of the ring- this will hold a clear protective lens on the finished piece.
The center piece is also turned from aluminum. There is a lip machined into the back side to fit the small brass screen. The back side is also drilled and threaded for two allen head screws so it can be bolted to the stainless back plate- the screws go through the center lens to hold it in place and the center aluminum piece fits into the stainless spider. There are also several small bras hex head screws that hold the stainless spider to the back plate.
Next the outer ring and clear lens are bolted in place. The clear lens slides into the outer ring from the back and gets a bead of clear silicone to seal it to the outer ring. This assembly is then fitted to the back plate.
Since these reactors were built for a motorcycle they needed to be able to take 12v input power and output no more than 4v. To accomplish this I used a power supply circuit from Adafruit www.adafruit.com/index.php. The power supply is adjustable and can accept up to 20v input- it's a really easy to build kit that works great.
These reactors were a lot more work to make than my original reactors but I think they really came out nice. All in all there's 26 stainless steel parts, 32 laser welded joints, 40 soldered joints, 3 acrylic lenses, 2 machined aluminum parts, 50 micro sized brass hex head bolts, 6 allen head bolts, 50ft. of copper wire, 9 surface mount LEDs, 9 surface mount resistors, 2 circuit boards and 1 brass mesh piece in each reactor- whew!
The first thing I did was make a simple model in Sketchup to get an idea what the finished reactor would look like. Note that there are slight changes from the Sketchup model and the finished reactors.
The first thing I made were separate circuit boards for the LEDs. These are different from my original reactor in that they have 100 Ohm resistors connected to one side of the LED to protect the LED from burning out. The circuit boards get wires soldered to them and are then bolted to the stainless back plate with small hex head brass screws.
The spider is made from stainless steel that is welded together. There are four small brass hex head bolts that are threaded into each section of the spider and then they are soldered together to keep them from coming loose. The lenses were turned from clear acrylic and them the outer lens was inserted into the spider and the wire wrapping began. The wire wrapping takes forever since it's pretty hard to keep it straight. There's about 50 feet of wire in each reactor.
The outer ring is turned from thick wall aluminum tubing using a lathe and there are four holes drilled and threaded into the back side so it can be mounted to the stainless steel back plate. There is also a thin lip machined into the front of the ring- this will hold a clear protective lens on the finished piece.
The center piece is also turned from aluminum. There is a lip machined into the back side to fit the small brass screen. The back side is also drilled and threaded for two allen head screws so it can be bolted to the stainless back plate- the screws go through the center lens to hold it in place and the center aluminum piece fits into the stainless spider. There are also several small bras hex head screws that hold the stainless spider to the back plate.
Next the outer ring and clear lens are bolted in place. The clear lens slides into the outer ring from the back and gets a bead of clear silicone to seal it to the outer ring. This assembly is then fitted to the back plate.
Since these reactors were built for a motorcycle they needed to be able to take 12v input power and output no more than 4v. To accomplish this I used a power supply circuit from Adafruit www.adafruit.com/index.php. The power supply is adjustable and can accept up to 20v input- it's a really easy to build kit that works great.
These reactors were a lot more work to make than my original reactors but I think they really came out nice. All in all there's 26 stainless steel parts, 32 laser welded joints, 40 soldered joints, 3 acrylic lenses, 2 machined aluminum parts, 50 micro sized brass hex head bolts, 6 allen head bolts, 50ft. of copper wire, 9 surface mount LEDs, 9 surface mount resistors, 2 circuit boards and 1 brass mesh piece in each reactor- whew!
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im planning to make one of these, but i have 2 questions: what is the size and weight of the power supply? and could the whole reactor set be able to go on a person nicely without anything sticking out (except the reactor itself of course)?
Thanks!
sorry i meant the adafruit power supply with heatsink in the metal unit you have in the last image of this page-how much does it weigh and what is the size?
Thank you very much!
just 1 last question: do you have any of these lying around? i would gladly buy one!
After reading the design and looking at the pictures, I have a few questions:
How did you cut the metals (stainless steel, aluminum, etc) hence the spider legs, backplate, etc? Did you do it with a machine yourself or some one else from a workshop helped you with the exact specification cuts?
Did you cut the outer and center lense the same way?
Thank You!
I would love to see how the spider area patterns for the "new" style reactor look from the side with some dimensions scribbled on there..
also some measurements of the various diameters of the several concentric circles in the "new" unit would help me a ton. How thick is your outside wall? What is the inner diameter of the spider piece? How tall are each of those center rings and what are their diameters?
I am sorry if I sound picky, but knowing those things will save me a lot on materials by keeping me from buying the wrong ones.
Overall- AWESOME tutorial though. Really inspiring work you've done! Sure wish I had machining tools like that. As it is I will be making it from sheet metal, plastic, and (hopefully) pvc pipe.
Thanks again!
I have decided to use PVC pipe seated inside one another for the center, I am casting the circle with the holes in it and the outside lens from acrylic, and I still have no clue what to make the spider out of... Trashcan plastic? I used to work with tin and its a pain to cut such small pieces with tinsnips, they bend the metal at the end of a cut slightly which would be frustrating.
Oh hey one more vital piece of info I could use that you might even know offhand... When finished, how tall/deep was this sucker?
If you're looking for something inexpensive to make the spider I'd use plastic FOR SALE signs as some of them are styrene and they glue together really well. Or you could just use sheet styrene from a hobby shop.
I agree that cutting thin sheet metal is a real pain- sometimes quite literally due to all the sharp edges! The best tool I've found for that is a small hand held nibbler like this one-
http://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-76011B-Nibbler-Cutt/dp/B0000CBJCT
The entire reactor is 1" deep. Looking back through my notes I also found that the center aluminum piece is 52mm diameter and 9mm deep, the holes are 4mm and the the lip is 10mm wide. The clear lens underneath it is 7mm deep and between 46mm and 47mm diameter- there is a recess cut in the backside of the lens to clear the center LED.
I tend to mix imperial and metric all the time- I know it bugs people but I'm so used to doing the conversion in my head when I'm making parts depending on the tools I'm using. :)
As a side note- that is a thick lens!
Once again, thanks for all your help Honus, I'll be sure to shoot up a pic when I get done!
If that is correct then it's a lot smaller than I originally thought! I might have to go back to the drawing board for a bit if that is the case... Any idea the inner diameter of the smallest circle (bottom one) in the center piece?
This will certainly give me more space to work with- but the PVC center piece I've built won't work I fear...
The center hole with the brass mesh is around 19mm- there's a small lip cut into the back side to hold the brass mesh screen between the center aluminum piece and the acrylic lens.
If you have any other questions just let me know!
Great reactor ;-)
Thanks