Sploinker
New Member
I was asked by a friend to build a flux capacitor to be used as decoration for a BTTF party and to spend at max $40 (Great Scott!) to do it. It was a fun and challenging project and while it’s not anywhere near accurate I think it looks pretty decent for the amount of money spent on it.
The first hurdle I tacked was how to replicate the Y-shaped chasing light effect which is the most recognizable part to the prop. Creating my own custom LED electronics was out of the question due to cost and my own electrical ignorance. So after a ridiculous amount time spent googling everything LED and scouring amazon I ended up finding this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SC8B62?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
These seemed perfect – 6 white LEDs that have a chase pattern. 3 ordered.
My next concern was finding a box to put it all in. I looked at the original prop box which usually costs around $50 and key boxes which are around $20 so those were out. I walked the aisles of multiple home improvement stores and had no luck in finding something that looked the part while being cheap. Then while standing in my garage I noticed the toaster we had recently replaced and I had yet to throw out. It was about the right dimensions (8”x10”), already had a cut out “window” and best of all was free! So I extricated it from its worthless innards and painted it with some primer and called it good. I thought about removing the knobs on the side and covering them up with bondo but opted not to as I didn’t mind them, they seemed to add a level of detail to an otherwise bland case. I did bondo over the side slots so that I could add the pipe elbow which ended up looking perfect in that little recessed section.
My friend asked her neighbor if he had any old spark plugs wires that he didn’t need (he’s an amateur mechanic) and a couple days later I received these:
Some trimming and a smattering of some yellow and red paint and they looked decent enough.
The board all of this was to attached to was some scrap MDF I had pulled out of an old shelf. I measured and drilled out the appropriate holes for the spark plug cables and LEDs and then painted it with primer.
As Torr relays are a rarity and I didn’t have a lot of time to just happen upon them in a junkyard somewhere I used 3 ½ inch pipe caps, metal pipe straps, some wire I had lying around, and 3 pens which I stripped down, sawed in half, and hot glued to the spark plug cap.
I bent the straps and glued them to the pipe caps and shot them with gold spray paint. I then screwed through the cap from the back which not only held the pipe caps in place but gave the spark plug caps something to hold onto. Two birds, one screw.
Not amazing but not terrible.
The LEDs took FOREVER to ship to my house. I hate UPS Innovations. Taking forever to ship a package is not innovative, its infuriating. In an event, they arrived and seemed perfectly suited for my use. I carefully cut them out of their tubes and stuck them into the board.
The only bugger was that each necklace had its own on/off switch and trying to hit them all at the exact same time was nigh impossible. So I was going to have to solder. I thought I could just rewire them so they just used one switch, but nooo. After doing that they still were off. Apparently the little boards were each slightly different in their timing? I didn't know and I didn't care, I just wanted them to sync! So I un-soldered all the LEDs and soldered them back to one board. It was a pain and I burned myself multiple times but for being the first thing I've ever wired together I thought I did a decent job. I mean, they work so that's something, right?
The acrylic pieces above the LEDs I constructed using an 8x10 sheet I got at Lowes which I cut up into pieces, glued together, and then sanded into shape. Once sanded to shape I spray painted the sides black then silver and hot glued them in.
The only pieces I can claim are accurate to the original prop are the labels. I’ve never enjoyed using a label maker as much as I did when I made these three strips.
I also cut an 8x10 sheet of acrylic in half, primed it and glued it to the sides of the back board to help give the interior a more finished look and block any light coming from the back. Another 8x10 piece of acrylic was used for the window which was hot glued in place.
Finally, I touched up the paint in a couple areas, glued the pipe elbows on the box and called it done.
[video=vimeo;143174766]https://vimeo.com/143174766[/video]
Total – $40.47
I learned a lot in the process of building this guy and appreciated being given the opportunity/reason to make it.
Hope you all like it!
The first hurdle I tacked was how to replicate the Y-shaped chasing light effect which is the most recognizable part to the prop. Creating my own custom LED electronics was out of the question due to cost and my own electrical ignorance. So after a ridiculous amount time spent googling everything LED and scouring amazon I ended up finding this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SC8B62?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
These seemed perfect – 6 white LEDs that have a chase pattern. 3 ordered.
My next concern was finding a box to put it all in. I looked at the original prop box which usually costs around $50 and key boxes which are around $20 so those were out. I walked the aisles of multiple home improvement stores and had no luck in finding something that looked the part while being cheap. Then while standing in my garage I noticed the toaster we had recently replaced and I had yet to throw out. It was about the right dimensions (8”x10”), already had a cut out “window” and best of all was free! So I extricated it from its worthless innards and painted it with some primer and called it good. I thought about removing the knobs on the side and covering them up with bondo but opted not to as I didn’t mind them, they seemed to add a level of detail to an otherwise bland case. I did bondo over the side slots so that I could add the pipe elbow which ended up looking perfect in that little recessed section.
My friend asked her neighbor if he had any old spark plugs wires that he didn’t need (he’s an amateur mechanic) and a couple days later I received these:
Some trimming and a smattering of some yellow and red paint and they looked decent enough.
The board all of this was to attached to was some scrap MDF I had pulled out of an old shelf. I measured and drilled out the appropriate holes for the spark plug cables and LEDs and then painted it with primer.
As Torr relays are a rarity and I didn’t have a lot of time to just happen upon them in a junkyard somewhere I used 3 ½ inch pipe caps, metal pipe straps, some wire I had lying around, and 3 pens which I stripped down, sawed in half, and hot glued to the spark plug cap.
I bent the straps and glued them to the pipe caps and shot them with gold spray paint. I then screwed through the cap from the back which not only held the pipe caps in place but gave the spark plug caps something to hold onto. Two birds, one screw.
Not amazing but not terrible.
The LEDs took FOREVER to ship to my house. I hate UPS Innovations. Taking forever to ship a package is not innovative, its infuriating. In an event, they arrived and seemed perfectly suited for my use. I carefully cut them out of their tubes and stuck them into the board.
The only bugger was that each necklace had its own on/off switch and trying to hit them all at the exact same time was nigh impossible. So I was going to have to solder. I thought I could just rewire them so they just used one switch, but nooo. After doing that they still were off. Apparently the little boards were each slightly different in their timing? I didn't know and I didn't care, I just wanted them to sync! So I un-soldered all the LEDs and soldered them back to one board. It was a pain and I burned myself multiple times but for being the first thing I've ever wired together I thought I did a decent job. I mean, they work so that's something, right?
The acrylic pieces above the LEDs I constructed using an 8x10 sheet I got at Lowes which I cut up into pieces, glued together, and then sanded into shape. Once sanded to shape I spray painted the sides black then silver and hot glued them in.
The only pieces I can claim are accurate to the original prop are the labels. I’ve never enjoyed using a label maker as much as I did when I made these three strips.
I also cut an 8x10 sheet of acrylic in half, primed it and glued it to the sides of the back board to help give the interior a more finished look and block any light coming from the back. Another 8x10 piece of acrylic was used for the window which was hot glued in place.
Finally, I touched up the paint in a couple areas, glued the pipe elbows on the box and called it done.
[video=vimeo;143174766]https://vimeo.com/143174766[/video]
Total – $40.47
I learned a lot in the process of building this guy and appreciated being given the opportunity/reason to make it.
Hope you all like it!
