My HAL 9000 builds (plural)

j_holtslander

Well-Known Member
I was starting to feel guilty about all my chatter about my own build in other people's threads so I figured I should start my own thread.

This all snowballed for me after I accidentally stumbled upon some replica HAL lenses for sale on eBay and then got curious about building a HAL 9000 replica.

As I weighed the thought of buying the lenses I started to research the Moebius models HAL 9000 kit that I'd never heard of before and were referenced in the lenses product description. Building a super realistic HAL 9000 suddenly seemed in reach.

Then I remembered that my best friend is a huge 2001 fan and thought "Hmm this might make a good gift idea for him." which then turned into "I should buy two of each so I can build one for him, and one for myself!"

So I bit the bullet and bought two of the replica lenses off eBay (Now sold out) and two of the Moebius kits off of Amazon.

Then I discovered other people's HAL 900 builds here on RPF.

I looked at what other people had done and then decided that maybe the plastic kit wasn't good enough and maybe I should replace much of the kit with upgraded parts (including metal)

Related threads I've participated in so far:
I'm still early in my build and moving slowly but my plan is for one of the following options:
  1. Build the kit as-is (painted plastic) with the replacement lens. (Not likely at this point.)
  2. Upgrade the kit with a new faceplate that is either:
    1. Vinyl wrapped polystyrene in a brushed anodized black aluminum finish (I've ordered and receieved the vinyl and it's "ok".)
    2. Actual metal brushed anodized black aluminum finish. (I've order a plate and it's enroute to me now.)
  3. Upgrade the kit with a new faceplate AND an aluminum frame, AND custom machined aluminum lens enclosure rings. (I have requests for quotes in progress.)
Regardless of what option I go with, the build will also have sound effects built in. I'm currently getting a quote from an Arduino expert on Fiverr who may be building it for me. Unlike most HAL 9000 builds though, mine would be triggered with a small remote to play the sounds as opposed to a physical button on HAL. The question is where to place the remote sensor? (In the speaker grill?, hidden inside the lens? We'll see.)

This evening I meticulously cut apart the Moebius plastic lens ring to accomodate the glass replacement lens and it went extremely well but it still needs more sanding. The glass lens fits into the original part extremely snugly and definitely won't be falling loose as I had initially feared.

More to come soon. This thread will be peppered with pics.
 
Keep us posted. I too took the plunge and bought the glass lens from hilarious sales pitch guy on ebay. I was not disappointed, his lens was a nice upgrade to the shallow glass lens I was using originally. After seeing your vinyl, I looked up something almost identical from a vendor here in Ireland. It too has elevated the look of my Hal's plywoodface plate. I've used the Mobieus lens rings, and built the main Hal frame from aluminium. Also now I have installed a voice module for the movie sound bites. Many thanks to you, joberg, Valor and all the other great guys on here who provided help, advice and encouragement.

John
;)
 
Last edited:
Looks good so far. I still think you should've cut it lower though. By cutting it higher, we can see your cut edge. Had you done it lower, your cut would've been hidden underneath away from view and you'd just see the clean edge of the molded plastic. I'm sure you can smooth it out with some more sanding though. I'd just say go easy and test fit often; it's so easy to over sand and you can't go back once you do.
Looking forward to seeing more progress
 
I misunderstood where to cut and had to buy another kit. I cut all the way at the bottom and worked my way up test fitting as I went along.I think where you cut is fine. It’s such a tight fit to keep thickness at that beveled edge and fit the lense. One thing I wish is that they molded that part in black. The real one is black plastic so..Anyway, build is looking good.
 
The anodized black brushed aluminum plates I ordered should be here either tomorrow or the day after according to the package tracking info.
I'm excited to see them since the website I ordered them from doesn't provide any good photos of them but they were cheap enough to take a chance.

If they're decent enough that I think others may be interested I'll post the store's details. The pricing was VERY reasonable comparatively speaking and should be the exact size of the Moebius faceplate.
(Store has 0.025" and 0.040" thicknesses available to choose from.)

Photos coming soon.

I still think you should've cut it lower though. By cutting it higher, we can see your cut edge. Had you done it lower, your cut would've been hidden underneath away from view and you'd just see the clean edge of the molded plastic.
Yeah that was my plan but I thought this way it'd be easier to hide. Will take more closeups once I finish sanding it.
 
It's great to see another enthusiastic HAL 9000 build thread, and I'm looking forward to following this over the next [weeks, months, years?].
I'm especially looking forward to the photos that you promised.
Not sure if you are aware of this: I have isolated and edited all of HAL's soundclips and you can get these at mawob/HAL9000.
The numbering follows the one I used in the list of all HAL quotes on my blog.
I built a HAL some time ago, based on the idea on the Adafruit page, using the plastic button (which is not great - but o.k.), and I included an Arduino-based circuit with a motion sensor, triggering the HAL sound clips (however, with a limit of not more than one sound clip per four to six minutes, to prevent it from becoming annoying). The effect is fantastic: if someone shows up in my office for a longer discussion, HAL contributes some "words of wisdom" every now and then - and, surprisingly, his comments often fit the discussion.
I'm currently also thinking about building a new, improved version and I would appreciate if you could give links to your materials, like your aluminium plate. Thx!
 
The problem I've found with Hal sound files, is the ambient noise, especially toward the end of the movie.when Dave is breathing inside his space suit. My brother spent some time working on stripping it out of audio to have a better Hal voice sound file. It got almost impossible at the end of 2010 movie, as he had to wrestle with the music track too.

The anodized black brushed aluminum plates I ordered should be here either tomorrow or the day after according to the package tracking info.
I'm excited to see them since the website I ordered them from doesn't provide any good photos of them but they were cheap enough to take a chance.

If they're decent enough that I think others may be interested I'll post the store's details. The pricing was VERY reasonable comparatively speaking and should be the exact size of the Moebius faceplate.
(Store has 0.025" and 0.040" thicknesses available to choose from.)

Photos coming soon.


Yeah that was my plan but I thought this way it'd be easier to hide. Will take more closeups once I finish sanding it.
I cut my one off very low, with little mercy. Its very difficult to see the cut no matter where you cut it I think. The lens covers up a great deal. I have noticed that if you keep the piece from the kit to hold the led, the plastic that surrounded the opening, blocks the partially translucent effect of the paint on the back of the lens. Thus you don't get the light glow effect. I ended up using a clear plastic disc to hold the led in place. Hope that makes sense.

John
 
The problem I've found with Hal sound files, is the ambient noise, especially toward the end of the movie.when Dave is breathing inside his space suit. My brother spent some time working on stripping it out of audio to have a better Hal voice sound file. It got almost impossible at the end of 2010 movie, as he had to wrestle with the music track too.
I totally agree. When editing the sounds, I also tried to apply noise reduction at some point. However, this also affected the character of the voice. In the end, I focused on optimizing the fade-outs (keeping that last piece of the voice while smoothly and quickly fading out the noise floor).
For the 2010 movie, I just had a brief look. But there was too much background music at many places, plus the sound clips are not that legendary, so I decided not to touch those sounds at all.
But I did extract Douglas Rain's sound clips from Woody Allen's "Sleeper" (1973) where he voiced the "biocentral computer 2100 series G" as a nod to HAL. To be able to merge those sounds clips with the 2001 clips, I removed specific references to the "Sleeper" movie, like the name "Dr. Tamkin", the name of the computer "biocentral computer 2100 series G", and the reference to the "cloning procedure").
 
Ok so my metal plates came from this place which normally makes nameplates for doors or desks and whatnot. I just ordered without any engraving done on them.

"Custom Engraving Plates"
For sizes that are not listed on our website, find the nearest size (or use sq in calculation because they are priced by sq in.) and choose from our dropdown list the same sq inches or size that is close to place your order.

Example: 4 x 2.25" = 9 sq inches / choose size 3 x 3" (Round up over ½”)
Then you can add any customizations (holes, tape, and corners). If you order using these methods remember to send us a note in the shipping area of checkout or send us an email after you order with your custom size request.
So from the dropdown dialog you want to select size: 9"x5"
Then in the notes section specify 4 5/16 x 10 7/16 (Moebius sizing)

You can also try specifying "Exactly like customer order #5886 please."

Below you can see comparisons to the "brushed metal effect vinyl I'd originally got."

Pics

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg


Video


 
Last edited:
the metal plate looks great and how good is it compared to the Mobius kit?

and how would one go about to cut a hole through the metal plate? I dont have no metal cutting machinery and metal cutting tools
 
how would one go about to cut a hole through the metal plate? I dont have no metal cutting machinery and metal cutting tools
I asked if they could cut the hole but was told they don't have the equipment to offer that. I'm in the same boat tool-wise.
I may use a drill to cut a circle of holes and then file down sharp edges. It'll be hidden by the lens anyway.

I have some boring bits for my drill but I'm not sure the blade is good for aluminum. I'll have to look into that.
 

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top