Icey
Active Member
I played around with my disc today, and after a failed experiment with frosted glass paint on the inner and outer rings, I had an idea. Since I only really need the inner ring lit for Clu's robes, I went for a quick and dirty solution: hot glue. Pictures and explanations are under the cut so I don't kill everyone's bandwidth.
And there you have it. I'm surprised at how well this worked. I'm going to re-mask it tomorrow and "polish" it with the heat gun so it doesn't look so rough; if it looks too shiny I'll paint over it with light coat of the frosted glass paint I mentioned above.
Edit: The heat gun trick worked, but despite being extremely careful, I still managed to warp the disc. Looking back on what I did, I could have gotten it flush and smooth the first time around without the need for carving. When I did the overflow/swipe step, I did it in segments rather than the whole ring at once; that's the trick. The less buildup on the sides the better. I'm kind of angry at myself that I didn't realize this as it looks pretty good if it weren't for the warping. Ahh well. I have a disc to practice my electronics setup on I guess.
With the inner ring popped out, I masked everything off, making sure the holes on the underside were sealed.
After that, I slowly filled in the canal with glue to eliminate as many air bubbles as possible. Once I got near the top, I squeezed enough so that it overflowed and quickly smoothed it over with a folded piece of cardstock. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this step.
Once the glue was cool but not fully set, I cut a groove in the excess parallel with the ring and peeled off it off. Once the glue set a bit more, I went and carved off the uneven parts with a razor blade so that it was as flush as possible with the disc. I kept the masking on for that so I wouldn't scratch the surface in case my hand slipped.
After I peeled off the masking tape, I did a bit more carving on some spots that were impeded by the tape.
I haven't done anything to the electronics yet, so I taped two LEDs to the now blocked holes where they would slide in on the stock disc. Given the thickness of the glue, they illuminated it rather well considering I wasn't holding the two halves flush with each other. Once I dremel out most of the canal and attach more LEDs, I'm sure it'll look much better.
After that, I slowly filled in the canal with glue to eliminate as many air bubbles as possible. Once I got near the top, I squeezed enough so that it overflowed and quickly smoothed it over with a folded piece of cardstock. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this step.
Once the glue was cool but not fully set, I cut a groove in the excess parallel with the ring and peeled off it off. Once the glue set a bit more, I went and carved off the uneven parts with a razor blade so that it was as flush as possible with the disc. I kept the masking on for that so I wouldn't scratch the surface in case my hand slipped.
After I peeled off the masking tape, I did a bit more carving on some spots that were impeded by the tape.
I haven't done anything to the electronics yet, so I taped two LEDs to the now blocked holes where they would slide in on the stock disc. Given the thickness of the glue, they illuminated it rather well considering I wasn't holding the two halves flush with each other. Once I dremel out most of the canal and attach more LEDs, I'm sure it'll look much better.
Edit: The heat gun trick worked, but despite being extremely careful, I still managed to warp the disc. Looking back on what I did, I could have gotten it flush and smooth the first time around without the need for carving. When I did the overflow/swipe step, I did it in segments rather than the whole ring at once; that's the trick. The less buildup on the sides the better. I'm kind of angry at myself that I didn't realize this as it looks pretty good if it weren't for the warping. Ahh well. I have a disc to practice my electronics setup on I guess.
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