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Interest Guardians of the Galaxy Infinity Orb with Electronics
- Thread starter Ein
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Ein
Sr Member
Basically how I've decided to tackle it.
These are my new parts. The red parts will be cast as single, solid pieces with holes that I will drill out for the black rods pictured, which will be 3mm stainless steel and function as the hinge pin for the flaps. I've opted to turn the flap pieces into two-piece assemblies now because that's the cleanest way to cast a hinge hole that's going to be a few inches long - it'll sandwich around the stainless steel rod and then each flap will get two screws to hold it shut. The stainless steel pins themselves should be glued into the red parts, which I think will be sufficient to hold its' shape. The seam from that whole process will be facing down when the trap is open, so I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. The alternative of casting the flaps as a solid piece, trying to drill the hole for the hinge out straight, then threading it through and gluing it into the red bits is still absolutely an option if a one-piece flap is required, but honestly? A two-piece assembly like this will make my life a lot easier when it comes to putting these things together.
I also made some changes to the orb exterior and am reprinting it now to make the electronics a lot easier to work with - I carved out some sections of the inside which should make the battery assembly fit properly without carving it down like I had to do on my original.
Lord Magneto
Sr Member
You sir are a mad genius
Ein
Sr Member
First try at molding the orb didn't go so great largely because it had some deep indentations that were not properly concave, meaning the rubber would get stuck in the orbs and pull and tear. To remedy this, I've been spending the last few days sitting down with some Apoxie Sculpt and slowly going my way around the exterior of the orb, filling in the holes so they slope inwards to make the molding process easier and the pulls cleaner.
Here's where we're at right now!
I got my 3mm aluminum rods in this morning, so the orb base [the thing it sits on] should be pretty much ready to mold in the next day or two. I have a bit more sanding and cleanup still to do on the orb exteriors, but I have reprinted them with a socket for the battery electronics to sit inside, which should make actual assembly of the cast pieces a hell of a lot easier.
As an ETA, I'm still hoping to get the first batch of these finished by the end of November. Whether or not I can depends on how my first few shots at cold casting the aluminum go, though!
Here's where we're at right now!
I got my 3mm aluminum rods in this morning, so the orb base [the thing it sits on] should be pretty much ready to mold in the next day or two. I have a bit more sanding and cleanup still to do on the orb exteriors, but I have reprinted them with a socket for the battery electronics to sit inside, which should make actual assembly of the cast pieces a hell of a lot easier.
As an ETA, I'm still hoping to get the first batch of these finished by the end of November. Whether or not I can depends on how my first few shots at cold casting the aluminum go, though!
How's it coming along?
Daniel Nelms
Sr Member
Are these the ones that (you) posted on Thingiverse? I printed the orb and it came out pretty good
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Ein
Sr Member
They're the model by Tonyyoungblood, who has given me the go-ahead to do this run.
In other news...
Had a couple false starts where I had to fix some things on the original model, but we should be good by the end of the week? I'm guessing.
Daniel Nelms
Sr Member
Typo (YOU/I)
80sKIDAutoman
Well-Known Member
Great use of LEGO
Looking forward to your end results. Thanks to you and Tonyyoungblood for turning this item to a reality. IMHO an iconic item as much as the Walkman. This will make your cosplay POP. Hope you can get the ORB arm holders made here combined with this somehow. Breathtaking detail.
Ein
Sr Member
This is one of the cold cast halves with just a spare 3d print for reference as to the shape of the final thing. I think I'm starting to finally figure this stuff out, but it has been a bit of trial and error. One thing I will say is that these don't polish to quite as high a shine as I thought I might get, but that might be the tools I'm using at the moment - I just bought some mother's aluminum polish off of Amazon, which I'm told works wonders, so we'll see!
The mold is coming out really nice and clean, though, and the finished products are cold to the touch and pretty heavy. I've been doing 1:1:1 of Part A, Part B, and Aluminum Powder by volume in my mixing, and pressure casting them to reduce or eliminate air bubbles. I have some molds of the trap base parts that have been made, but I'm not happy with the finish on the parts I'm pulling from those molds, so I may need to remold them.
Obviously I'm a bit behind schedule on producing these things, but once I figure out the system I should be getting a lot quicker - I've just never done cold casting before. Should have a bunch of these finished and shipped out by mid-December for you Christmas gift-givers at this rate.
What's your polishing set up? I buff with fine steel wool and then use a buffing wheel with jeweler's rouge on my drill press.
enterprise0216
Sr Member
I know I am super late! However this is just a piece of art that I have been on the fence for a while now, but have opted to be committed. If there is still time can you please add me to the list. I am in no hurry for it as quality is equated with time. I will keep my fingers crossed bc this just looks totally EPIC!! Outstanding work and craftsmanship.
Ein
Sr Member
None of that! I was using, like, 1200 grit sandpaper for a bit just to see if that would do it. The steel wool seems unusable on this - it just snags on all the little fiddly bits and falls apart. I don't have a buffing wheel, though I surely have to go get one.
The buffing wheel makes all the difference :thumbsup
Ein
Sr Member
Any brand/make/softness suggestions? The dremel attachments I have that I tried frayed quite badly on all the edges.
Thumper1148
New Member
I would love to get on the list, if there is still room. This is a thing of beauty.
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