W.I.P Portal sentry turret - fully working replica

JakeySnakey630

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Hi guys and gals,

After finishing my Fifth Element ZF1, I decided to have a go at making one of these cute little dudes..

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This will move, sound and act like the game version. Each arm will have two BB guns each, and it’ll make sounds and extend and retract its weapons.

So here we go...

Bought 6 of these toy BB guns..

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..and instantly took them all apart to figure out how I could make it work.

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An early test to check for fit..

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The airsoft gearboxes have to be angled past each other so they fit..

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This pipe will feed the lower barrel it’s BBs..

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The extending barrels need a stiffener plate to function properly..

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Silicone pipes will feed BBs from hopper in the top of the head..

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Firing!!

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Turning down aluminium barrels to fit better..

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Much better!!

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Gun pod with cover..

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The whole pod also retracts into the side frame. This mechanism had to be designed too..

Retracted..

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Extended..

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The idea is to have them spring loaded, so they extend and retract themselves as the arms extend.

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Gunpod..

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The grey parts will be replaced with aluminium soon..
 
Programmed to fire on button press..

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With BBs..

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Upgraded gun parts..

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This turned aluminium acts as a guide for a pin..

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The frame houses two pins, each also has a spring. They allow for a smooth, square movement of the gunpod in and out of its shroud..

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Springy!!

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Keep and eye out for my next update. I’ll be making the extension mechanism that extends and retracts both of the side arms. Quite complicated..

These are some of the parts required!!

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Thank you for looking!
 
Saw you mention this a while back as being your next project, and have been looking forward to this thread ever since! Great job so far and best of luck with the build. l’m excited to watch it all come together; seeing that I’m a total sucker for these games!
 
Thank you for the comments everyone. This is going to be an interesting one!

After getting the first gunpod more or less finalised, the big concern for me is the extension/ retraction mechanism. This forms the spine of the entire build, it needs to be robust, accurate, each side needs to carry the weight of a gunpod, frame and outer shell, and it needs to repeatably extend and retract to the same positions without wobbling around or looking rubbish! No problemo!

First up build it in Fusion..

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This is effectively a 2 way rack and pinion, powering another 2 way rack and pinion on either side. If I get rid of the middle tubes, the mechanism would sag at its fullest extents due to the weight on the arms. This should mitigate any sagging and enable a smoother motion.

Cross section of motor, power cog and encoder..

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This shows the motor (in blue) and opposite the hollow cylinder is where the encoder sits. This accurately measures the rotation of the motor and attached spur gear and will let me accurately position where the arms extends and retracts too. The cog rotates around 540 degrees for a full extension, and I think this gives me a count 1048 times per revolution, so pretty accurate!!

Bought rack parts, cut up and drilled for holding..

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Placed in arbor for turning a radius onto their backs...

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Radiused, this will sit perfectly in side its respective telescopic tube..

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Motor and motor holder...

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Beginning assembly of main tube..

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..with encoder shaft and magnet.

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..with encoder attached..

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This was interesting to design as you have to actually be able to assemble the parts!

Parts for middle tube...

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..this is a 'rack aligner' jig I made to perfectly ensure correct alignment..(20mm steel rod with groove and hole for lining up)

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Welded...

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Main and middle tubes...

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Middle tubes needed their own pinion gears to power the smaller, inner tubes that carry the gunpods, frame etc

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...small bushes turned from brass to hold pinion gear central in shaft.

Middle tubes finished!

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Inner tubes started..

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...these (as the ones before) are cut over length, they have their grooves and holes machined into them and then get cut down to correct length. These are pictured over length.

I had to make an alignment jig for the two rack pieces in the main tube...

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..turned from brass rod, with groove to hold rack and alignment hole to make alignment spot on. Misalignment would mean the whole mechanism doesn't work..

All ready to go..

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..the hole in the tube is for welding the parts together...I ended up using 2 part epoxy.

Finally I reused the old arbor for turning down the inner tube racking..

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Inner tubes finished...

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All the main parts..

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Working at 15Vs!! Nice and quick and smooth...extension is about the same as in the game. This is powered only by a relay so doesn't allow retraction at the moment but this will change when I wire up a proper motor controller.

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...and with mounted gunpod..

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The second gunpod is on its way so hopefully have this thing firing quad BB guns in the next couple of days!! Then I have to make the gimbal for the whole lot so it can aim.

Stay tuned!!
 
Following ! It's all hocus pocus to me, but nevertheless amazing stuff to watch !
Good luck with the (process towards) completion !
 
That is some excellent machining. Is it just a hobby for you, or are you in that field?

following this to see your progress!

I'm a general fabricator/modelmaker by trade. Not props, but pretty much anything. This is my second prop, after my ZF1 I finished a couple of months ago.

This project however is my new found hobby! Spend my lunch breaks and an hour or two after work every day.
 

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