The LARGE Terminator CPU Chip project - needs a builder.

[Coldblackice]

^Nicely done! Makes me want to brush-up on my Sketch-up

 

[cavx]

^Nicely done! Makes me want to brush-up on my Sketch-up

Thank you.

After finding this image

it seems I am missing a few cubes so I have made a revision to the drawing.

The issue now is this thing is 660mm long and the largest part I can Vac Form must be less than 500. So I guess I need to work out if I can make it 8 pieces instead of 4 :rolleyes

[660mm x 380mm x 240mm]

EDIT: I've redrawn the "halves" to make them fit on the Vac Form.

 

[LeMarchand]

working on recreating the PCB's at the moment (vectortracing the images so i can acid etch them). I finished the small one. Have some good reference for both the large and the small ones, including accurate measurements

here's the small one: made of acid etched brass, measuring 30mmx16mm

 

[scifimetropolis]

I have a 4ft x 8ft CN router, a 5ft x 5ft thermo-forming machine, a large rotocasting machine and a 50w laser table. If you guys have good cad files I may be interested in helping to get this started. I would love to put one in my man cave. I have some ideas on how I would machine and make the molds to keep the cost down.

Norman

 

[gyoung2993]

I would say many of us Terminator collectors , would love to see this come alive, but cost decides , what can be / or cannot be done !!!...I would love to have a big CPU chip out of the terminator skull , which , in my opinion would be an easier task , than the original design block from Myles Dyson's lab

 

[cavx]

If I was to do this now, I would layer up 25mm MDF and router the edges. Yeah, it would be heavy, but that is about the most cost effective way to make it 1:1.

Vac forming the cubes in 2 halves might work, but you would then have to cut all the connection holes.

 

[nick daring]

Wouldn't you still have to cut holes in the MDF?

 

[cavx]

Wouldn't you still have to cut holes in the MDF?

yeah I guess, but with planning, you could make the centre parts with a hollow in the horizontal anyway leaving drilling only for the verticals.

 

[Spoddy]

I'm screaming in my head right now, because I can see this easily being done with MDF, PVC tubing (even for the collars and their notches), and a decent table saw (and preferably also a drill press). Just needs the time to cut everything up, glue, drill holes, paint it all, and finish final assembly.

I lack the table saw (and drill press), and space to build it, as my apartment building would not be pleased with the noise.. :-/

With MDF it would be heavy, but the fabrication is pretty repetitive & routine stuff.

I'm back!

I now have a table saw, drill press (and bandsaw), and most importantly, the space and some scrap plywood to do a prototype of one of the cubes - just to see how it goes.

The picky part are those collars on the tubes. I may have to prototype one of those, and then learn how to cast up the 118(?) or so needed.

The pipe.. bah. PVC pipe or wood dowel painted up. Former is preferred for the weight saving of course, but then this is going to sit on a shelf (or desk), and isn't going to be carried around, so who cares how heavy it is? OK, Shipping is a concern, yes, but then if you want a quality one, you'd pay that too, right?
(not that I'm selling... yet)

As for cutting holes, someone already mentioned the easiest way for this: a jig & drill press. The jig doesn't even have to be that complicated. Just a couple pieces of wood to hold each cube in the same position for the repetition.

 

[The Terminator]

I'm back!

I now have a table saw, drill press (and bandsaw), and most importantly, the space and some scrap plywood to do a prototype of one of the cubes - just to see how it goes.

The picky part are those collars on the tubes. I may have to prototype one of those, and then learn how to cast up the 118(?) or so needed.

The pipe.. bah. PVC pipe or wood dowel painted up. Former is preferred for the weight saving of course, but then this is going to sit on a shelf (or desk), and isn't going to be carried around, so who cares how heavy it is? OK, Shipping is a concern, yes, but then if you want a quality one, you'd pay that too, right?
(not that I'm selling... yet)

As for cutting holes, someone already mentioned the easiest way for this: a jig & drill press. The jig doesn't even have to be that complicated. Just a couple pieces of wood to hold each cube in the same position for the repetition.

You could build a master and from that build a mold and make castings, for simplicity

 

[Spoddy]

You could build a master and from that build a mold and make castings, for simplicity

That does depend on the cost of (ply)wood vs molding materials. Mentioned up-thread, roto-casting would produce cheap copies, but expensive and timely to set up (relatively).

I don't have a vac-former, but that wouldn't be a bad route for cheap production, but on the flip side of that coin, there's a lot of set up putting those pieces together. A kit form option for sure.

Weirdly (for me), I managed to put together a quick test-cube - within a mm & 99% square on all sides ( I did say quick, right? ) - but getting the corners perfectly chamfered has become a challenge.. :-/ Edges weren't a problem, just the corners.

 

[cavx]

Edges weren't a problem, just the corners.

I used build speakers and use a router with a round off bit and the corners always gave only 2 sides that looked good. The best results came when I did the vertical edges first and tops and bases.

For this, you might be hand sanding to get the corners nice from all three axis.