Hardware Doctor Who sonic screwdriver? (Tom Baker version.)

J

jason1976

Sr Member
Ok, so my girlfriend has got me hooked on Doctor who now, and she thought it would be fun for us to do matching hardware sonic screwdrivers. (Tom Backer version)

Hardware, because we're cheep, and I can't machine. :)

Anyway's, I'm thinking different sized pieces of copper pipe, cut to length, assembled. And if she's going to be fussy about the color, I can electro plate them at home. (the hight school science class method.)

So, I went to Lowe's and bout most of the pipe I will need, and then I got to thinking, that maybe I should ask you all for ideas first.

So have any of you done a hardware sonic screwdriver? Are there any tutorials? Tips? suggestions? etc.

Thanks
Jason
 
jason1976 said:
Ok, so my girlfriend has got me hooked on Doctor who now, and she thought it would be fun for us to do matching hardware sonic screwdrivers. (Tom Backer version)

Hardware, because we're cheep, and I can't machine. :)

Anyway's, I'm thinking different sized pieces of copper pipe, cut to length, assembled. And if she's going to be fussy about the color, I can electro plate them at home. (the hight school science class method.)

So, I went to Lowe's and bout most of the pipe I will need, and then I got to thinking, that maybe I should ask you all for ideas first.

So have any of you done a hardware sonic screwdriver? Are there any tutorials? Tips? suggestions? etc.

Thanks
Jason
Click to expand...

Hi Jason... I can machine you a pair of sonic's if you like but have 1 powder coated pink for the Lady!! Let me know what you think, Would be a first!! His and hers sonics.... PM me :)

Russ
 
I have started a similar project, russrep's machined ones are nice but at the moment i dont think i could afford one.

Anybody have accurate blueprints for this version? I looked at another 15 pg thread but no diffinitive measurements were listed.
 
On page 18 of the thread linked bellow, "darthinvictus" has a picture of 7 somic screw drivers, and 2 of them look hardware. (he wont reply to any of my PM's. :( )

I'm working with 3/4", 1/2", and 1/2" "repair" copper pipe to start with, but I'm going to send russrep a PM, and see how much it would set me back to have them made. :)
 
protokev said:
what had you planned to use for the top conical section?

oh and wheres the link to the thread you mentioned?
Click to expand...

OOPs :lol here's the link to that other thread. :)

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=4088&highlight=sonic+screwdriver

As for the top part.. there's a guy in that same thread that made a sonic screwdriver from a toilet paper holder tube, and he used the tip off of one of those art pencils (or was it a pin) anyway's, I thought that was a good idea, or maybe a bullet. (I have a few extras laying around from my Mal display.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well i got quite a bit done on mine today. I used the toliet paper axel idea.

P1010240-1.jpg


For the inner shaft i used 1/2 pex tubing, for the center main ring i used 1/2 pvc ground out to fit, i used the original inner tube for the thinner rings, and a mini wood flowerpot cut down for the upper cone.

For the head i found a copper tubing "bullet" at menards.
 
I found it in the PVC area of Menards (a hardware chain for those without them). Its a slight beige color and has a bit of flex in its full length (but not when cut down). Its smaller in outer diameter than 1/2 pvc pipe
 
How do you cut the pipe at a right angle like that? I've been trying so hard to get it but it's not being very nice to me :(
 
I'll be honest, the flash made it look a lot straighter than it is.

I was impatient and used a cut off wheel, but i cut outside the line of what i wanted and i plan to go back and grind it to be even (or as close as possible)
 
Pipe cutter. I never get any good ressalts with a cut off weal on my dremel, so I got a Pipe cutter. It looks a little like a threaded clap, with a little cutting weal, and two rollers that let the pipe rotate. I got one that goes up to 2" pipe at Lowes for $27. but they make smaller, cheaper, ones. They take a little practice to get the hang of, because if your not careful on the first rotation, it will go off path, and star to look like threading, and never cut through t the pipe, but if you do it right, it will give you a very nice, perfectly straight cut. :) on a lot of pipes, it will leave a little bet of extra material around the inside edge of the pipe, but that is very easy to trip a way, with a file, or what not. (plus, on metal pipes, you can bend the extra rim in buy hitting it with a hammer, or something, and it makes a nice inner lip, to mount an end cap to. )

This all sound much harder then it really is. Now that I have the hang of it, I'll never go back to anything else.
 
Oh, and if you get really good with the pipe cutter, you can use it to put grooves in pipe too. (like the rings around the base of a hardware Anakin ep II saber, or the 3 smaller rings on the sonic screwdriver. :) )
 
i actually did use a pipe cutter for some of the parts, but the tissue roller just wouldnt cut all the way through. id get a nice groove but no matter how many times i turned and tighten it would not cut through because it would deform instead.
 
Yeah, I've ran in to that before too. :( If the plastic is too thin, or flexible, then it does give too much for the pipe cutter, but you can get a nice enough groove to help guide you cutting weal.

Plus if you need to clean up the cut a little, after words, you can always lay down a piece os sand paper, and slowly move the cut end over the sand paper, in a circular shape. (if you change the position of your grip on the item, it helps even more, to insure, that it sands evenly in the end.) that's way I usually cut my stuff, just a little long, better to have a little to sand off (even with metal) then to have it too short.
 
Any more progress yet? I haven't had a chance to work on mine much yet.

Oh, or those trying to use a pipe cutter, if the plastic is too then, you can also use a wood dowel, or metal pipe inside the plastic tube to give it more stability wall cutting it. It's work for me in the past.
 
Anyone make any more progress on this? I was doing OK, with copper pipe, but I got way side tracked, and haven't got back to it yet.
 
Heres mine, though i ended up rush painting it in the cold resulting in a craptastic finish. Luckily i kinda planned on this so i only glued it with hot glue so i could disasemble later
P1010396.jpg


and it does 'work'
P1010372.jpg
 
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