'Timelord Emergency Messaging System' Doctor Who Season 6: 'The Doctor's Wife'

Its the same link. They appear to be sold out again.
When I ordered this morning it said there were 2 left. I didn't check the link again before I posted last.
 
I'm going to have to strongly disagree with that assessment. For one thing, based only on the one screen shot in this thread, if it's on the white cube it's engraved right on the edge of the cube, where if it's actually on the clear cube it's perfectly centered. In addition to that, laser engraving on clear acrylic looks just like that. If you engrave onto white acrylic, you'd barely be able to see the design. I'll queue up the episode some time this weekend to double check, but I'm pretty much positive it's on the outer cube.
 
Well, it doesn't really move at all in the one shot you can see the symbol, and the alignment is awful if it is on the inner cube. While he didn't clarify, reading the post from the guy up above who made the things sounds an awful lot like it's engraved on the outer cube. So going from that evidence and not wanting my cube to look like garbage, I'm going to engrave the outer cube.
 
Oh the hostility...

I thought the snake was centered on a piece of the white acrylic but when they added the piece to the side it caused it to look off center. Sort of like they didn't take that part into consideration during the assembly. That combined with the angle made it look wonky.
I also believe I read this on another forum (I thought it was here but I can't find it).
But when you take into consideration the magnets on either side and the cone in the middle, it looks centered. Amy also appears to run her finger across the engraved pattern.
I... really can't tell. But I don't quite think it would make it look like crap to be on the white cube. I'm still doing it that way.
 
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I could be wrong. Either way I have no interest in the tattoo on my box, so it really does not matter wheer it is to me.
 
Yea, it was only on the one cube anyway.

I'll engrave the design into a piece of white acrylic when I cut the inside cube and I'll post a picture. The design will be barely visible.

I think what really needs more discussion is those 10mm acrylic standoffs. I have access to a lathe, but because of the setup of the table it's a major pain to use it for anything shorter than 18 inches.
 
Note: Upon further reflection I've edited my previous post. I honestly can't tell if it's on the inner or outer cube. I wish we knew where the original was or who had it so we could have a discussion about it. Or just find some more pictures.
The Corsair character (if you can call it that) is what made me so interested in this prop in the first place, so I really want one with the oroboros. That's what kept me from just ordering one of the damned things from a certain person who certainly can't be discussed for certain reasons.
But, then again, there's a some satisfaction in building your own, even if it's kinda crappy. Even though I would have bought the cube frame. And had the inner cube made. But whatever. Maybe later I'll splurge for one that's professionally made.

Do you guys think 2.25" is a good fit for the inner cube? The info from Propsguy says the cones are roughly a half inch long at 12mm, which would only fit the 2" white cube, and we see how that cube is too small. So a cube that is 2.25" and cones that are .375", or roughly 9.5mm long would be more appropriate to me.
And if that's the case, his info about the 10mm width might also be off a little.
 
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Well he also said they were inserted into a hole that had been milled into each wall. It could have been milled 1-2 mm deep. Plus, he said give or take 12 mm. As for how accurate 10 mm is, I'd guess he's likely to remember that a bit better because they would have bought the rod by it's diameter. The number could be off by a bit, by I think it's fairly accurate.

2.25" for the inner cube does look good, and that's what I'm going to try. If it looks wrong I can always cut another.

As for the snake, in the screen shot in this thread, the snake is right on the edge of the white cube. Even if they had engraved it in the center of a piece that was off-set by the wall thickness of the next side, it would have been further from the edge than that.
 
Good points. Inserting it into the hole they milled could account for some of the skewed measurements, but he seemed to be recalling things based on the memory that the white cube is 2", or 24mm smaller than the ID of the clear cube, which doesn't seem correct.

I think I remember where I got the info on the snake. I think it was on the Gallifrey Base forums where I got the oroboros graphic. I seem to remember the guy who uploaded it had to correct the image because it was lopsided. This was because the inner cube was lopsided. This lead to the supposition that it must be on the white cube, or else it would have matched the angle of the outer cube.
Or something. I think. I've searched all over for that thread but I can't find it.

I'm not saying you're wrong about it because you're making perfect sense. But it might all be a trick of the eye thanks to the angle (the way she's holding it and the way the white cube is tilted) and the way it was made. And it just seems to me that if they wanted the snake to show up against the white background, they would have done it in a way that would guarantee the look they wanted. This would be to add a dark colored snake onto the white cube. Putting it on the outer cube could make it look a little like it does on the toy.
 
Well, if you go with the 2.25" measurement for the inside cube, that would leave you with 3/8" on either side. That would be if the walls fit together properly. Since they don't and the beveled edges need to be sanded smooth and to the correct angle, you'd likely lose a bit of space there. It would leave you with somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8". The wall thickness of the outer cube is 1/4". Take a look at the screen grab again, at the bottom edge. It's pretty close to a profile view of the wall and gap, and from the looks of it the gap is just a little bigger than the wall thickness.

As for the dark snake on white/white snake on clear, a laser engraver etches by melting the plastic, which mess with optical clarity, same as sanding would. So an etched design on clear appears frosted/white. If you engrave white plastic it has the same effect, it's going to end up white on white. Visible for sure, but not very well.

For me though it still all comes down to how horrible the prop would look with the snake that far off center. Even if they were on a tight schedule and if they had a low budget, if I was supervising and they handed me that I'd have chucked the inner cube right away and had them do it over. It's like $1 worth of acrylic.
 
Well, if you go with the 2.25" measurement for the inside cube, that would leave you with 3/8" on either side. That would be if the walls fit together properly. Since they don't and the beveled edges need to be sanded smooth and to the correct angle, you'd likely lose a bit of space there. It would leave you with somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8". The wall thickness of the outer cube is 1/4". Take a look at the screen grab again, at the bottom edge. It's pretty close to a profile view of the wall and gap, and from the looks of it the gap is just a little bigger than the wall thickness.

As for the dark snake on white/white snake on clear, a laser engraver etches by melting the plastic, which mess with optical clarity, same as sanding would. So an etched design on clear appears frosted/white. If you engrave white plastic it has the same effect, it's going to end up white on white. Visible for sure, but not very well.

For me though it still all comes down to how horrible the prop would look with the snake that far off center. Even if they were on a tight schedule and if they had a low budget, if I was supervising and they handed me that I'd have chucked the inner cube right away and had them do it over. It's like $1 worth of acrylic.

Agreed on all points, except some of the dimensions -- measured with calipers, the outer (clear) cube wall thickness is exactly 8 mm / 0.315 in. So, closer to 5/16" than 1/4" (and not 3/8" as I just realized I misstated in an earlier post).

From the original prop maker's description (and thank you again for that!), it sounded like he was working in metric (he is in the UK after all). Scale the screenshot so that the right vertical inner edge of the clear cube (the edge to the right of the Ouroboros) is our known dimension of 3" (which comes from the product, not the prop maker)... the white cube edge that is adjacent to that line (so that there is minimal perspective distortion) measures 60 mm.

If we're looking for a round number for inner cube size, why not 60 mm? (that's about 2.36 in)

Also going by that screencap, as you stated that bottom edge is nearly in profile which provides a good reference to scale the gap with respect to the wall thickness. However, the inner cube is a bit crooked in relation to the clear cube, so you have to measure the wall and gap at the center of that edge of the white cube (which will be the true gap width), and you end up with the gap being roughly equivalent to the clear cube thickness.

And as I just realized, 8 mm gap + 60 mm inner cube + 8 mm gap = 72 mm = 2.992 inches.
 
That seems logical, although I think that size (2.36") is too big. I'll keep it in mind when I make mine and if mine looks too small then I'll know what to scale it up to.
 
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