Ironman Arc Reactor build up from my kit. [IMG heavy + timelapse video]

Still a lot of work to do, but here's my progress...



And with the GK ring



Nothing is secured at the moment. Need to do some touch up painting on the transformer assembly, and solder the LEDs. Speaking of which, I've laid my LEDs out a little differently. I bent each prong at a 90° angle and then hot glued the bulbs in place on the diffusion ring.



Then I fed the prongs through the small holes in the chassis

Will you be able to get the LEDs under the wire?
Coming along otherwise. I'd maybe consider taking some high-grit wet sand paper to the vents to smooth out some of that orange pealing, though.

ThrowingChicken said:

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Will you be able to get the LEDs under the wire?
Coming along otherwise. I'd maybe consider taking some high-grit wet sand paper to the vents to smooth out some of that orange pealing, though.

I put the LEDs in place before wrapping the wire, so they're good to go

And I agree with the vent assembly... Going to strip it down and repaint. My flat black isn't looking so flat there, so I got a new bottle.

Thanks for the tip on the Spanish copper Rub 'n Buff! That worked very well to knock down the shine of the wire a bit. Also tackled the gold plates and wires/solder. I used the existing precut pieces, but cut the "wire" part off and used some fine gauge gold wire I had already. Small blob of epoxy to hold the wire in place topped of with some silver Rub 'n Buff brushed on to give the solder effect.

Looks great, I had the same idea for the gold wires. Great minds think alike! How long did it take you to get to this point?

Not long at all... Two or three hours? The wire wrapping took about an hour, which has been the most time-consuming part (as TC said)

I actually kind of liked the texture in the black paint. It looks more like it was made in a dark cave. I was actually thinking of using that hammered texture spray paint.

Feeling a little defeated right now... After getting everything wired up and soldered, most of my LEDs aren't working now.

Did you check for shorts?

My wrapped wire may be shorting them out... I didn't want to have to do that, but looks like I'll have to anyways if I have to replace the LEDs

See if you can't slide some thin tape or plastic between the wire and the prongs. Like I said, the wires are coated, but it is very thin and can be scratched off if you are not careful. I don't think the short will have ruined your LEDS, so if you separate them then they should work.

Unless you know what your doing soldering the diodes with too much heat can ruin them. I have a lot of experience with electronics but suck at soldering. I am always super careful and still have problems. You can always separate and test each LED to verify they are good. You can't do much with them all in parallel. One thing you can test to make sure it isn't a short is to use the continuity setting on your meter and check between the LED leads and the wire wraps under its coating. If you have continuity then you have a short, if not then you might have damaged the LEDs soldering.

I'm thinking about shaving down the "fake" screws and putting in real ones in the vent assembly. Has anyone else tried this? I'm also a bit undecided on the black versus default grey on the vent. Tho I might leave it grey if i get black screws

Any suggestions on brand/type of for epoxying the bridges?

odog said:

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I'm thinking about shaving down the "fake" screws and putting in real ones in the vent assembly. Has anyone else tried this? I'm also a bit undecided on the black versus default grey on the vent. Tho I might leave it grey if i get black screws

Any suggestions on brand/type of for epoxying the bridges?

Huh???
They look great and are so small, one slip and you are FUBAR... just my opinion. You can get some flat silver or grey and paint them so easily

From what I can tell, the vents are not black, but a very dark grey.

I was walking around the hardware store today and I found these screens that would be a better match for the vents. They are for sink nozzles to aerate the water. Pack of two for only $1.59; if you want to upgrade the one on your reactor you can also fix that aerate problem that I'm sure some sink in your home has.

Just got my kit today. Looks great TC!! Thanks again. Hoping to get the rest of my materials next week and get started.

As I was scrolling down and hit the above pic of the Arc I thought, "the screen looks like faucet screen" haha. Has anyone figured out what kind of power connector that is on it in that pic?

Hey TC, quick question for you. I'm not sure if you know or not, but does the mesh cover the whole area at the base there or just the round center? I was looking at pics of the prop itself, as well as Jason Ehl's beautiful machined build he made and while I couldn't tell definitively from the prop he definitely covered the whole area. See here:

http://www.therpf.com/attachments/f9...687d1273873829

I got an aerator to cover the round portion as I had come to similar conclusions on my own about finding a finer mesh, but I'm debating whether I need to cover those three elongated rounded rectangles that encircle the center of the reactor and wanted to get feedback from you and others.

Also, can you tell me the type of capacitor that came with the kit? I have been trying to track down a more screen accurate baby bluish capacitor based off of pics of the prop but unfortunately electronic sites don't allow you to search capacitors by color. :P

Thanks man, the kit is coming together beautifully, hopefully I can post some photos this weekend!

EDIT: I also tracked down some glass half circles to cover the mesh with like Jason did. I'm not sure if it was in the actual prop but it was in the concept drawings and I thought it added a beautiful pop to Jason's build. For anyone looking for similar, you want a .5" or 12mm glass/acrylic cabochons (say that five times fast!). I actually had an easier time tracking down cheap glass cabochons rather than acrylic, I ordered 3 for .65! If anyone is interested, here's the site and product page I used:

12mm Glass Circles - Glass Domes - Cabochons

Hey TC,

Cool, thanks for the heads up on the capacitors!

I'm not sure if it was an artistic decision on Jason's part or not. Might be a moot point though, I've struggled finding a fine mesh like the sink aerator that is large enough to cover the entire area. Jason used a tea strainer but the aerator is a much finer mesh and I would like to go with something similar if I can find enough of it.

Thanks for your help!

So I started wiring the LED's last night and I know NOTHING about electronics and wiring. I bought the tools to solder the wires but would appreciate any advice on doing it properly. Also, how do we test the lights? Again, total NOOB with electronics.

That might be better left to someone else to explain, or maybe looking at video on youtube. I am pretty terrible with the internal workings of electronics and soldering.

I've made some progress with mine. Chose to do some things to my own taste (mainly not being as neat with the wire and use bare copper wire, while insulting LEDs under the wire). I also finished up the cooling fins today, still got to attach them and decide on how to run the wiring for it all.

Where did you get that back cage????

Valor said:

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Where did you get that back cage????

I made it, been working on it for a few days. Made two of the arm pieces, molded them. Then kept casting until I had 10, made another moldof 10, cast them, so I finally had my 20. Also just molded and cast the ring and top piece for it.

got mine in the mail today. Considering leaving work early so I can start work on it......