Fifth Element Multipass

[Mike Rush]

A while ago I bought one of Matt Munson's excellent multipass kits which, due to a lack of spare time, unfortunately sat around untouched for a while.

One day recently I looked at it and decided that it deserved better, and that if I did a little bit every day I'd get it done eventually. To give myself added incentive I told my wife that I was making it for her; she also loves Fifth Element.

I didn't take any photos during the buildup as they wouldn't have been very interesting (with the possible exception of my look of confusion upon first opening the kit).

Once I'd read through Matt's detailed and thorough instructions a few times, it all fell into place, and gradually I got it done.

So with apologies for my lack of photographic skill:

I couldn't really build a prop with an LED in it, and not make it light up. I had to figure this part out for myself though, which meant building a switch from scratch as I couldn't find one small enough.

I used one 3V battery. For future access I secured the back of the compartment with screws, as suggested in Matt's instructions. These were the tiniest screws I could find.

I know there are things I could have done better, but overall I'm very happy with the way it turned out, especially as it's the first thing I've built for years.

And thank you Mr Munson.

 

[Kevin]

Excellent job.
I'm impressed. I wouldn't know where to start wiring something like this up.

 

[SWFreak]

Very nice.

So tell us, what did you use for the switch?

 

[kimncris]

That's awesome.

I think a wiring diagram is definitely in order.

-cris

 

[Chingon]

LEELOODALLSMULTIPASS.

MUUUUULTIPASS.

Awesome job. Very impressed with the buildup.

 

[GDafi]

:thumbsup Too cool

 

[PHArchivist]

Who is this "Matt Bunson"...?

 

[MattMunson]

In the immortal words of Ruby Rhod: "UNBELIEVABLE."

Looks great dude. Awesome job with the light ups too.

And don't forget, I've still got a few kits available if anyone is interested. PM me, or see the thread in the junkyard.


hijack over.

 

[blufive]

I'm in a similar boat. I have a kit I bought from Matt in person about 2 years ago. I got to the part where I would want to wire the sucker up and never progressed any further.

:unsure

 

[ArtistTheGeek]

that looks great, I still have mine sitting in a drawer in my hobby corner in my studio. I'll get to it one day.... there's a place for it on my display shelves, lol.

Not sure I'll do the LED though... I agree it's hard to have an LED and not want to make it light up, lol.. but I think i'll be happy with just having a static prop. Plus... it just seems like one other phase of the build for me to mess up.

 

[KnightAsylum]

Sweet
I just bought one from Matt in the Junkyard - I can't wait to get it together.

 

[Mike Rush]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

For those who asked, here's a brief tutorial on how I did it. Sorry it took me a while. This is not necessarily the best way... just my way.

Okay, so this is the general layout of the inside of the kit. The button is provided and so is the LED. There's a nice void for a battery. Everything else was guesswork. As you can see there's not a lot of room, especially to and from the LED.

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The way the kit is built makes it nice and simple to drill holes and attach the back plate (a disc) with screws so that I had an access hatch in case the battery ever needs changing.

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I got these screws by dismantling an old keyring gizmo - it happened to use the smallest screws I've ever seen, which was a lucky find.

Now, power. In my local supermarket of all places I found a range of flat, round 3V batteries which fit perfectly into that void. These batteries might be for cameras, I really didn't bother to ask. :unsure

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The next task was to get the LED prepared. Here's the LED; it's actually got two diodes in it. You can light them up individually or together.

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For a nice bright, even light I wanted them both on. By trial and error I found that I got the best results with them wired in parallel and connected straight to the battery. I probably should have used a resistor or something, but I took a chance. The light is only going to be used for brief periods at a time anyway.

Turn it over and it looks like this (roughly):

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Each diode has two terminals. I needed them connected in parallel. Normally this wouldn't be difficult, but space was at a premium and I had to do it as flat as possible - almost like working in 2D.

First I bent down one positive and one negative. These would eventually be connected to the power.

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Then I had to connect the two remaining terminals to them. My solution was to bend them like this, and then solder at the points circled:

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I knew that this might be vulnerable to damage (and I also knew that once it was inside the multipass I'd never be able to get at it again) so once I had soldered on two wires, I covered the base of the LED in epoxy to seal it. After that I rubbed it over a sheet of wet & dry paper until the base was flat and I had reduced the height by as much as I could. The four 'legs' in the corner were much shorter by now. Checking the film I noticed that the LED does stand quite proud from the main body.

The next problem was the button. Try as I might I could not find a button tiny enough. In the end I gave up and decided to 'MacGuyver' something together.

That electronic gizmo I mentioned earlier had another useful part - a little metal disc with a sprung protrusion, which sits under the battery and keeps pressure on it. I was able to use this just as it was. First I stuck some copper tape onto the inside of the 'hatch', from one side to the center. Then I soldered the little contact disc onto the middle. Here it is so far:

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Along the same lines, I put copper tape onto the back of the button, and made a nice large blob of solder in the centre. (Sometimes simple is best.) This would be what actually makes contact with the battery and completes the circuit.

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The last thing required was some kind of spring, to keep the upper contact off the battery until the button is pushed. Once again I couldn't find the perfect spring, so I found a keyring of just the right size, and forced it open slightly; hey presto, a spring. And a pretty good one, too. The spring was also attached to the back of the button. Before it was attached I put some insulating tape over the copper tape. (Otherwise the circuit would have been permanently complete, via the spring itself.)

So here's the final layout:

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I soldered the wires from the LED onto the two copper tapes (making sure I had the polarity correct of course). Then all that remained was to insert the battery, screw on the hatch, turn it over, hold my breath, and press the button. Hey presto - "mool-tee-paas". B)

I hope my diagrams make sense. I know they're not quite to scale but I wanted to make it as clear as possible. I'm really pleased with the way my multipass turned out, and if I can help anyone else to do the same then it's worth it.

Good luck.

 

[airhead]

Excellent tutorial on adding a battery. I did something similar, only used a donut-shaped piece of plastic foam as the spring. I didn't have any little screws, so mine is sealed for life :lol The battery was scrounged from an old computer motherboard - it is the clock battery - and it fits perfectly. I thought that it wouldn't get much use lighting the diodes and it still works fine after a year, or more.

David

 

[MattMunson]

that's a genius tutorial, and a great way of handling the problem. Awesome drawings too.

Would you mind if I grabbed all that info and added it to my website tutorial? of course, I'll give you full credit.

 

[Kevin]

Excellent tutorial.
Thanks for that. Now all I need to do is buy a multipass kit.

 

[SWFreak]

Awesome tutorial.

Thanks soo much.

 

[mr.predicta]

that's a genius tutorial, and a great way of handling the problem. Awesome drawings too.


I agree Great job. answered a lot of questions .

 

[Mike Rush]

Thanks very much guys.

Matt, feel free to use whatever you want. You gave us this great kit, it's nice to give something back.

 

[blufive]

Great tutorial. I just copied it to my hard drive.



Thanks.

 

[MattMunson]

I've added the brilliant tutorial above to my website. I believe it will help out a lot of folks. Thanks SO much for writing it up, and putting together the brilliant illustrations. Top Shelf.

http://www.mattmunson.com/props/fifth_elem...rial/steps.html