Iron man Arc reactor project

[Weaselhammer]

I finished my Arc reactor today and thought I'd share my humble "replica"
It's loosley based off the Mk I version, but it's not accurate to any version.. I referenced tutorials by Throwing Chicken, and Honus for inspiration, and those were the only decent tutorials I could find, Youtube had alot of garbage !!
Parts include 4" pvc, a blank dvd, a faucet aerator, Sintra, and an acrylic ring. I cut the ring out by hand. I stripped some small gauge power wire from it's casing for the copper wrap and I used an L.E.D kit from autozone to light it. Total cost less than 30 dollars !

I started off with a blueprint and reference pic I found in Throwing Chicken's tutorial.
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This is the finished prop, I made subtle changes to the designs I found online.
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Here it is lit up, in hindsight, I probably should have sanded the acrylic ring more to diffuse the light, the steel wool wasn't enough.

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here are a few more pics

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Now I have to think about my next prop, I may go back and improve my Boba Fett costume !

 

[Honus]

That looks great- well done! Wrapping copper wire is fun.

 

[cozz1102]

That looks great.

 

[TMP]

Sweet.

 

[micdavis]

Nice!!!!

 

[geordi]

Great looking replica

 

[Weaselhammer]

That looks great- well done! Wrapping copper wire is fun.

Thanks ! after all, with the exception of making Lightsaber props from "Thebigyellowbox", Your Boba Fett tutorial on instructables got me started in prop/replica making, so thanks for that too !

And thanks for everyones comments... much appreciated !

 

[Weaselhammer]

Added a couple new pics, also, any Idea why I can't get my "signature" to show up in my posts ?

 

[Weaselhammer]

well figures as soon as I ask that it shows up in my posts now, I guess problem solved, lol

 

[Alan Castillo]

Nice job :thumbsup I love seeing props that are 'close enough', and well made to boot

Way to go :cool

 

[IndustrialActn]

Looks really good to me! I have spent endless hours wrapping and unwrapping copper coils. I totally feel your pain.

 

[Weaselhammer]

Looking back at my thread, I feel I should have included some better build pictures so I'm adding some here for whomever my be interested.

I started off cutting a 1" piece of 4" PVC, sanding it and painting it "stainless steel" color.
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I marked off and cut a scrap piece of acrylic about 3/8 inch deep from a friends gundam display base.
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I sanded the edges smooth
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I cut a ring out of sintra and drilled a series of holes with a tabletop drill press, I used the brass spacers salvaged from a blown motherboard in a computer.
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I cut and notched little sintra squares for the "transformers" to wrap the copper wire around, for the wire I used small gauge remote power wire left over from my car stereo installation days, stripped off the casing with an exacto knife and wound it around the sintra square and acrylic ring.
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I cut another thinner acrylic ring to mount the LED's to, I used a package of 10 12volt LED's from Autozone for the light. The correct arc reactor has a total of 11, 10 around the outside and one in the middle, I adjusted my design to accomodate since my reactor isn't screen accurate anyways, just a fan prop. The package of LED's comes with a little pushbutton switch and 12 volt battery in it's own little box for testing purposes which works out great for my use.
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The top ring fit perfectly onto the LED ring. In hindsight, I should have sanded the clear ring more or something to diffuse the light better, The LED's turned out really bright.
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I browsed the plumbing section at Lowe's and found a nice pretty faucet attachment that I took home and hacked up with a dremel tool to make the center of my arc reactor.
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I made a backplate out of plastic and covered the back in sticky foam
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all the final pics are at the beginning of the thread, and there it is !

 

[Deathbird]

You have a link to that little LED setup you purchased?

 

[Weaselhammer]

You have a link to that little LED setup you purchased?

I looked on the Autozone website and cannot find it, I know I have seen similar lights at Walmart too, but cannot find them on wallyworld's website either. I'll see if I can track it down and post a link as soon as I can. I just mailed a costume piece out to New Brunswick ! what a coincidence !

 

[Wilbur Walsh]

I love it. THX!

 

[ZellaRivens]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s146/zellarivens/1316636217.jpg

I just went to an Autozone near me and found it. In case the link doesn't work, the brand is called Touring Items Type S, and it's their 10 LED accent lights blue LED lights. I couldn't find it on the autozone website, but the local store should have it. It's $19.99

Thanks for posting this weaselhammer!

 

[Weaselhammer]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s146/zellarivens/1316636217.jpg

I just went to an Autozone near me and found it. In case the link doesn't work, the brand is called Touring Items Type S, and it's their 10 LED accent lights blue LED lights. I couldn't find it on the autozone website, but the local store should have it. It's $19.99

Thanks for posting this weaselhammer!

Thanks for finding and posting the part !

 

[ZellaRivens]

Thanks for finding and posting the part !

No problem. Btw, I just did a quick search on Autozone using the item number on the box (LM50947-60/6), and I found this: Mood Light | AutoZone.com

It's the same price, and the description looks the same, so I'm 99% sure that it's the same LED kit.

Also, do you have any pictures you can post showing how you wired the push button in place of the cigarette lighter plug? I'm probably going to end up wiring up a different push switch, but I'd like to see how you did yours. Thanks.

 

[OPTIMUS124]

I love the fact that you used parts that are fairly easy to acquire. What did you use to cut the acrylic ring out?

 

[Weaselhammer]

I used a dremel tool with a little sawblade on it. It was a pain in the behind for sure ! after I cut it , it looked really ragged so I wrapped sandpaper around a round tube close to the diameter of the inside of the ring and twisted the acrylic ring onto it until it became nice and smooth. Of course now I have a scroll saw and band saw that make these things easier, but a year ago all I had was the Dremel tool.