Fusion furnace

Ryan Clinton

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
The fusion furnace from The Empire Strikes Back. Been working on this thing on and off between projects. The top of this thing looked like a generator fan or a fan to a motor. I found one that was somewhat close made of aluminum. When I started scaling and comparing this fan to the one I was seeing on screen the fan blades ended up being 3/4 inch too short and the top was about two inches too short. I didn't want to waste the fan so I modified it. To add height to the blades I made a template and used a thin sheet of metal. Easy to cut with tin snips. The piece of metal once cut simply folds over the existing blade. Then I filled the empty space with resin. Before I did this I made a cone with the correct slope out of styrene. After installing it I sealed off all edges and filled the empty space with resin so it was solid. Next I added the raised lines leading up to the top from each blade with thicker styrene. My wife cast the greeblies from an original 1977 Revell visible V8 engine kit. The greeblies at the top I can not see in any available image so I used a part from the Revell v8 kit that seemed suitable. The cap at the top I made removable so I can disassemble in order to replace the LED'S if need be. The anchor looking greeblies I made from an aluminum tube and some flat bar. I tapped the flat bar pieces and threaded the tube ends. I figured aluminum was stronger than 3d printed ones. I filled the tubes half way with resin and screwed them in place to the base of the fan. I sealed the tops of the screws with filler, sanded and painted so they wouldn't be seen. I cleaned up every seam with bondo. I also screwed in place every greeblie on the top of the fan. I just put on a couple coats of Tamiya nato black. Also my wife wound all the copper coils. One of the greeblies I cut with my glowforge, slightly shaped and then cast. This is what I have so far. Now working on the base.
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Looks great! Impressive that you're making it from metal.

Interesting that you made the top section conical. Most people have modelled it as a kind of flattened sphere at the top moving out into a flat surface via a compound curve. I see why you did the cone - the fin wedges look fairly straight towards the top.

I think the lower visible V8 parts look right, though the middle ones seem a little bit large in diameter. I modelled a narrower taller one without the ring of posts around the edge. Looking at mine compared to the source images, perhaps the lower visible V8 bits are too small. Hmmm.



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Looks great! Impressive that you're making it from metal.

Interesting that you made the top section conical. Most people have modelled it as a kind of flattened sphere at the top moving out into a flat surface via a compound curve. I see why you did the cone - the fin wedges look fairly straight towards the top.

I think the lower visible V8 parts look right, though the middle ones seem a little bit large in diameter. I modelled a narrower taller one without the ring of posts around the edge. Looking at mine compared to the source images, perhaps the lower visible V8 bits are too small. Hmmm.



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Thank you. The visible v8 parts are cast directly from the original kit that I have. Wouldn't want to increase the size. If anything the fan itself is slightly off. By the way I wouldn't suggest anyone to build this thing like I did. Its a lot of work.
I have noticed that most round the top of the cone. I need some clearer images before I can confirm that. I have 3 more I have to build after this one. I just didn't want to discard the fan blade. It does have a fair bit of weight to it. I'll dial this thing in with the others I have to build. Unfortunately this thing doesn't exist in the archives. I did speak to a former ILM worker that worked on the empire strikes back and he said the original came from a centrifugal pump. Sounds easy enough, except the pump and the motor are two separate components and finding the correct motor with the correct internal fan is and has been rather difficult.
 
Beneath the rings where the hoses or copper coils connect, that area is actually recessed. Its difficult to tell if the bottom tubes are actually tubes or more wire coils. In certain photos they give off the same effect. It also looks like there's a wire inside the copper coils.
 
Looking great. It's funny how so much Star Warsy stuff looks terrific, and then increasingly makes no sense whatsoever when you think about it. :)

Beneath the rings where the hoses or copper coils connect, that area is actually recessed. Its difficult to tell if the bottom tubes are actually tubes or more wire coils. In certain photos they give off the same effect. It also looks like there's a wire inside the copper coils.

Hm. Are you talking about the ring where the lower copper plugs go having a set of recesses in it? Or the ring below that where the black wires for the lower section plug in?
 
Looking great. It's funny how so much Star Warsy stuff looks terrific, and then increasingly makes no sense whatsoever when you think about it. :)



Hm. Are you talking about the ring where the lower copper plugs go having a set of recesses in it? Or the ring below that where the black wires for the lower section plug in?
This area here. You can sort of see little "pillars" and how its a smaller diameter than the ring section
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I noticed on your drawing you have it slightly recessed but I think its more than that and it appears that there's a pillar on either side of the hose connection points. Not criticizing just a suggestion. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.
 

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