Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

I think I can help or at the very least give you an option.

This is a normal type of count sink used for tapering holes for flat head screws.
View attachment 519204

As you can see it's much to big to go through the top access hole in your nozzle.

View attachment 519205

Here's a little trick I use.

I don't know the technical name of this little gem but it's used with a lathe's tail piece to make
a centering hole when a piece is to long and needs to be supported on both ends.

View attachment 519208

It works quite well as a counter sink.

You may have to slightly enlarge the outer screw hole on your nozzle to get to the bottom screw hole.
I would recommend turning it by hand a little bit at a time until you get the results you want. Do not
use this in a drill cause you run the risk of going all the way through and ruining your nozzle.

Hope this helps....

That's a center drill. That's what I use on the lathe for opening centers, both for starting a drill operation and for opening a divot for use with a live or dead center in the tailstock. I prefer to call it the Center Divot Thingy 3000, because marketing. We have all kinds of those things, and countersinks too, but I was hoping to figure something out that didn't involve opening the outside hole.*

Don't worry, going in there with a drill was not on my list of options. I'm crazy, but I'm not stupid. Or... I dunno. One of those.

* EDIT-- And of course, I wound up opening the outside hole anyway, because I'm not a magician. Although I can pull a rabbit out of my ass.

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Ugh! Bad day at black rock. I had the entire receiver mechanism perfect, and then when I went to drill the hole for the wire that connects to the return spring, the shop bit I was using was dull, and the pressure (and the heat) actually twisted the damn thing out of alignment! Plus there's a broken bit in there now. So after nailing it, I have to nail it again...

I'm back to the shop tomorrow (Sunday) to do it all over again, and I'll probably post the whole thing on Monday. Meanwhile, here's a couple of shots of tonight's near miss...

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Hey, everybody! Still no finished receiver, but I have four failures now that have each taught me something different. The last lesson, titled Don't Keep Pushing Past the Point of Exhaustion Because You'll Just Make Things Worse, was actually a remedial assignment. I've learned it too many times to count, but it's always the first one I forget when I'm past the point of exhaustion and my decision-making skills go down the toilet.


Along with my faith.

So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm going to post this weekend's efforts tonight, and then I'm taking the next two weekends off from the build. I'm still going to the shop, but I need to do something else to shake the cobwebs loose. I'll probably do some more work in Inventor, since there's a growing list of projects I'll need it for, and brush up on my CNC so I can start using the Tormach PCNC 1100. It's literally the only way I can completely make a nozzle (let alone six or eight), since there's no radial index thingy at the shop for the mill or the lathe (and that really bugs me since I learned how to cut the slots into the knurling entirely on the lathe, without a milling attachment).

I've laid in a couple of needful things (that reminds me, I have to finish that King novel) to organize my tools and such, and ordered a little more material, and I'm gonna restart this part of the build in two weeks. Meanwhile, I've got a donor profile to write for the Axanar blog (my piece on TOS props is here), a couple of other writing opportunities to pursue (some of which pay actual dollars instead of Popeye's coupons and dryer lint), and various RL things that I've allowed to pile up.

Steven R. Covey called what I'm doing "sharpening the saw" in his book Seven [Annoying] Habits of Highly Successful [Self-help Writers], ironically right before he died of tetanus. The other six habits included "use folksy metaphors," "put them in books," and "sell them." In my own upcoming book, Embarrassing Psychotic Breaks and How to Pass Them Off as Food Poisoning, I'll try to be more helpful.

When I pick this up again, I'll come right back to the whole emitter-slider package and get it done right. Or stick my face in the lathe chuck and turn it on. Could go either way.

So till tonight, here it is, your moment of zen -- a new feature I totally just made up and didn't steal from anybody.


I still have like a gallon, right?

 

[Sean]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

:lol Get a good break my friend. and In two weeks you will be fresh as a daisy...

 

[DrMcoy]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

great article on "prop nerds," -- well written, very funny (as expected based on your RPF posts) and pleasantly nostalgic. aside from the fact that i do not have your machining skills, patience, wry wit or command of the english language, we appear to be cut from the same cloth...although my cloth is the end piece and a bit more tattered, and please, stop pulling on that loose thread.

 

[Sean]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

The article rocks! :thumbsup

 

[Apollo]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

A nice visit to the Holodeck should do you some good! :thumbsup

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'll keep you posted and as always I'll be back asap. Ted, that's very funny!

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Hey guys, just checking in. RL has me hog-tied right now. Re-locating myself and hopefully my mom! Meanwhile, I've been watching building and machining videos galore, and I have new ideas and approaches to the Emitter Mechanism That Would Not Die or Eat Cincinnati, Because Picky Eater.

I'll try to check in again soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robn1]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Looking forward to it. I've been working on the emitter mech too, I'll have my update in a couple days.

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Excellent!! Please feel free to post a link here as well as your thread, if you like. Cross-pollination is always nice. Also cross-dressing, but that's probably just me.

I'm finally ensconced in my forever home as of this past weekend. Forever apartment, anyway. I'm on a brand-spanking-new gig that's going to pay shamefully well for three months or so. Mom and cat are reunited and happy. So all that adds up to getting my fat Cuban ass back in the shop this very month, as soon as I can wrangle daycare for my mom.

Also, my new BR is quite large, so I'll finally have a proper home bench space for props and models. Yay!

I'll be updating a bit more often now that the dust is settling.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Aaaaaannnnd I lied. Not gonna make it into the shop this month. Work hours are intense, I still don't have my stuff out of my POD (that won't be till after my first check at the end of this month). But things are progressing, I'm getting used to taking care of my mom, and the list of crap that has to be taken care of is steadily dwindling. But there's really great news -- there are three paydays between now and Black Friday, and Techshop will be having some sort of fire sale as they do every major holiday. BF is 11/27, and my closest payday is 11/25...

Can you say 1-year membership? I can! WOOHOO!!

Plus they always knock down class prices, so I smell a vinyl cutter class coming my way in December...

Meanwhile, I'm staying sane watching others' builds here and on YouTube. Keeps the shakes down...

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Well, not gonna get the annual membership (thanks a LOT, ridiculous low Walmart TV prices!), but I am re-upping and diving back into this project tomorrow morning! It'll be wonderful to get back into the shop. Things are settling down in RL, taking care of my mom is finally becoming... um... not hell on Earth, and all my stuff has turned up from the move. Including my box of Kydex!

I'm going to restart the emitter assembly from scratch, except possibly the tube, and I'll post pictures and the usual snarkalanche this weekend. Please hold your comments, taunts and death threats till then.

Oh, and HappMerry Christhallowthankskwanzukkah, everybody!

 

[Replicator1701]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

does that include rock throwing too! ha ha ha

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

does that include rock throwing too! ha ha ha

Aw, shucks... anything for you, Todd.

 

[Replicator1701]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Any Progress?

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Any Progress?

Sorry I've been silent, but it's been quite a time. I'm on a gig right now that doesn't leave me much spare time at all after caring for my mom. It was supposed to be nice and short, but it's morphed into Michael frakkin' Meyers.

I have to create a jig to solder together the brass slide, since all my hilariously inept attempts at creative clamping have just been... well, hilarious. Well, hilarious now. (Yes, as usual, I'll post all about them, once I'm over the trauma. ) That's my next step. I've said it before -- this piece gets 3D-printed if I ever make another hero (let alone six!).

I'm also kinda Kanye-West-or-get-off-the-pot about whether to scratch or 3D-print the P1 release mechanism.


I have absolutely nothing to add to this.

I've also gotten a bit distracted by a side project, making my own patches and braid for my costume for Trekonderoga in August. The embroidery is the easy part -- it's making the backing that's been a long time coming. But finally I have the process giving me the results I want.

I will get back to this project, but it's going to have to wait till I'm between gigs again -- and I plan a long hiatus from work. I've been almost constantly employed since I started taking care of my mom, and I'm hardly getting in any time at all at Techshop. I'm often short on sleep. My place is a wreck. I need some time off, and I need to get creative, and soon. My last completed thing was my entry into the Strange New Worlds short story contest, and that's well in my rear view. Getting cranky...

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

Okay. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and here's my approach for finishing the phaser.

1. I'm going to 3D print all the remaining brass parts, which basically means the P1 catch and the emitter slide. I could laser-cut or shopbot a jig, but if I'm doing the computer work anyway, I might as well leverage that and just have Shapeways do the work. I can't wait anymore for my soldering skills with tiny parts to catch up to my ambition, so Blender to the rescue. (BTW, Steve Pielock is incredibly close to nailing it. He's got a thread about it at The Fleet Workshop.)

2. I'm also going to model and print a midgrade, which I'll wear to cons and such. I'll append that build to the end of this thread. It'll be short, since printing, preening, and painting is a fairly straightforward thing.

3. Anything I successfully create and print I'll make available on Shapeways. They won't be expensive.

I'm hoping this gig I'm on now, which is seriously cramping my hobby time (how dare they pay me not to have fun?), will be over soon. There's no way to know for sure, since the firm I'm working for is at the mercy of a DoJ lawyer who doesn't seem to know squat (a shockingly common state of affairs at the DoJ). But when it does end, I'm taking at least a month off. I really, really need a break. Last year was really stressful, and this year has been nothing but work, so I seriously need me some Techshop stay-cay.

So when that happens, I'll sleep for a week straight, then I'll get back to this thread and my usual pants-around-my-ankles incompetence™, hopefully with at least 3 shop days/week. Depending on how long I need to recover between sessions. I tend to work myself into the ground at the shop. (At the office, not so much.)

Crap. It just jumped from 1:59 am to 3 am. Spring blows.

 

[Sean]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

glad to have you back man! and I was wondering how that latch worked. now I know....:thumbsup

 

[asalaw]

Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration

glad to have you back man! and I was wondering how that latch worked. now I know....:thumbsup

Steve basically has it when it comes to the brass rod and the return spring. The front latch part is shaped differently, but that's what Todd figured out in his diagrams. So mechanically, Steve has it nailed -- it's just the shape of the front thing he needs to fix.