Wow! Great work Pfillery!
Something out of Nothing - Budget Builds lets see them!
- Thread starter Fuzzual
- Start date
Jetpack Braggin
New Member
Thor's hammer made from MDF, PVC, Apoxie Sculpt and styrene sheets. All told, weighs in at about 9lbs.
robinhood jw
Member
d9791 Re: Something out of Nothing - Budget Builds lets see them!
Good eye!
Yes, I discovered the Big Yellow Box web page 5 years ago (or more). I just kept looking at it and thinking, "I could build that. That would be fun."
So that's what got me going on building better Halloween props, and later steampunk.
As to what's in my saber handle:
It's not built around a wooden dowel. It's built around a piece of PVC - the smallest I could find. The graflex clamp substitute part is made from a piece of sheet nickel that I bent into a tube, cut the square holes and scribed the lines on. There's a piece of aluminum trim scrap that covers the seam of the nickel tube. The screw heads you can see through the circuit board are actually holding the nickel tube and the aluminum trim in place. There's a small piece of wooden dowel inside the PVC right there in the middle. The "gear" substitute is actually several 1/4" pieces of steel rod painted black and glued onto the PVC with epoxy. The "grenade" substitute part is a bunch of black rubber hose gaskets stretched down over the PVC tube. The pommel is part of an old shower head, and the emitter is made from a brass hose tube repair kit and a faucet sprayer.
I was almost done, and I realized it was just too light. It made it seem fake. I stacked up a bunch of steel washers on a piece of threaded rod and epoxied them into the inside of the PVC. The emitter end is actually attached to that same piece of threaded rod. The extra weight of the washers brought the whole thing up to well over a pound and a half. Everyone who picks it up says "Wow, that's so heavy; it really seems real.". (Or something similar)
Ever since then, I've always tried to give props enough weight. They feel so much more real when they have some heft.
Originally Posted by robinhood jw
This is my lightsaber from Halloween several years ago. Very loosely based on Kenobi's. This was back before all the parts to the Obi Wan AHN saber had been identified.
Anyway, all-in-all I spent maybe $20 on new parts, and the rest was made from stuff already in my basement.
Great thread BTW. Most of my stuff is low budget. I'll post more later when I have time to dig for some photos.
Good eye!
Yes, I discovered the Big Yellow Box web page 5 years ago (or more). I just kept looking at it and thinking, "I could build that. That would be fun."
So that's what got me going on building better Halloween props, and later steampunk.
As to what's in my saber handle:
It's not built around a wooden dowel. It's built around a piece of PVC - the smallest I could find. The graflex clamp substitute part is made from a piece of sheet nickel that I bent into a tube, cut the square holes and scribed the lines on. There's a piece of aluminum trim scrap that covers the seam of the nickel tube. The screw heads you can see through the circuit board are actually holding the nickel tube and the aluminum trim in place. There's a small piece of wooden dowel inside the PVC right there in the middle. The "gear" substitute is actually several 1/4" pieces of steel rod painted black and glued onto the PVC with epoxy. The "grenade" substitute part is a bunch of black rubber hose gaskets stretched down over the PVC tube. The pommel is part of an old shower head, and the emitter is made from a brass hose tube repair kit and a faucet sprayer.
I was almost done, and I realized it was just too light. It made it seem fake. I stacked up a bunch of steel washers on a piece of threaded rod and epoxied them into the inside of the PVC. The emitter end is actually attached to that same piece of threaded rod. The extra weight of the washers brought the whole thing up to well over a pound and a half. Everyone who picks it up says "Wow, that's so heavy; it really seems real.". (Or something similar)
Ever since then, I've always tried to give props enough weight. They feel so much more real when they have some heft.
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My budget lightsaber crystal chamber made to fit a graflex- all the parts made up right before assembly.
And after:
Total cost under $2.00. Lots of time went into it though.
And my Vader inspired saber built from around $20 worth of junk:
I remember reading both of these threads as you built them I think - such great work, very inspiring
Fuzzual
Sr Member
WOW WOW WOW! Nice builds! Thanks for sharing. I was really hoping this thread would pan out, its awesome to see all of these in one place!
My budget lightsaber crystal chamber made to fit a graflex- all the parts made up right before assembly.
And after:
Total cost under $2.00. Lots of time went into it though.
And my Vader inspired saber built from around $20 worth of junk:
Fuzzual
Sr Member
Very cool!!!! nice work
opcorn
opcorn
This is my lightsaber from Halloween several years ago. Very loosely based on Kenobi's. This was back before all the parts to the Obi Wan AHN saber had been identified.
Anyway, all-in-all I spent maybe $20 on new parts, and the rest was made from stuff already in my basement.
Great thread BTW. Most of my stuff is low budget. I'll post more later when I have time to dig for some photos.
CaptainMarvel
Well-Known Member
My budget lightsaber crystal chamber made to fit a graflex- all the parts made up right before assembly.
And after:
Total cost under $2.00. Lots of time went into it though.
How on God's Green Earth did that cost UNDER $2.00 ??? :eek
SlimeTime13
Well-Known Member
wow all of these look really good!!
If I'm not mistaken, that man is extremely talented with machining and tooling, and has those type of tools I think? (Drill presses, Lathes, etc)
Fatherttam
New Member
here's my HAL panel. i made it for for about $5
http://www.therpf.com/attachments/f9/hal-9000-2001-space-odyssey-0630022337.jpg-122239d1351268973
http://www.therpf.com/attachments/f9/hal-9000-2001-space-odyssey-0630022337.jpg-122239d1351268973
A 3 GP arrow:
There was a gazebo set-piece in our last musical. During paper tech, we were talking about how a partial blackout would mean the audience would see the gazebo roaming about as it was brought on stage. I said "Too late; you've awakened it" and the Stage Manager broke up. So right then I knew I had to stick an arrow in the set piece before closing night.
Three bucks of supplies (dowel and string) and three nights of work. Short nights, too, since I had both evening and matinee performances. Head is aluminium bar stock cut with a grinder and shaped with hand files (would have been much faster if I could have set up my work bench and grinder for this), plus Apoxie Sculpt. Dowel rubbed with watered-down acrylic paints in lieu of stain. Feathers were left over from "Lucky Duck," a musical from last season, thus free (so I was willing to overlook the color), and wrap was with Wallgreen's string stained with black acrylic. Nock is reinforced with a chunk of soft black plastic cut from a discarded Sennheiser stacking adapter, because if you are silly enough to stick an arrow in a gazebo, you should be silly enough to give it the right medieval detailing.
The Stage Manager loved it.
There was a gazebo set-piece in our last musical. During paper tech, we were talking about how a partial blackout would mean the audience would see the gazebo roaming about as it was brought on stage. I said "Too late; you've awakened it" and the Stage Manager broke up. So right then I knew I had to stick an arrow in the set piece before closing night.
Three bucks of supplies (dowel and string) and three nights of work. Short nights, too, since I had both evening and matinee performances. Head is aluminium bar stock cut with a grinder and shaped with hand files (would have been much faster if I could have set up my work bench and grinder for this), plus Apoxie Sculpt. Dowel rubbed with watered-down acrylic paints in lieu of stain. Feathers were left over from "Lucky Duck," a musical from last season, thus free (so I was willing to overlook the color), and wrap was with Wallgreen's string stained with black acrylic. Nock is reinforced with a chunk of soft black plastic cut from a discarded Sennheiser stacking adapter, because if you are silly enough to stick an arrow in a gazebo, you should be silly enough to give it the right medieval detailing.
The Stage Manager loved it.
CaptainMarvel
Well-Known Member
:thumbsup
madprops
Member
Oh man! too much cool stuff here!
Here are a couple of mine.
Millie Thompson's Gatling Gun. Made from scrap wood and cardboard shipping tubes. The only thing I bought was the wood dowel for the top and the Cardboard Cement tubes for the outer part of the gun. I think I put $15 into it
Vash's Colt 45 made from card stock and fiber glass resin. $5 for paint.
Here are a couple of mine.
Millie Thompson's Gatling Gun. Made from scrap wood and cardboard shipping tubes. The only thing I bought was the wood dowel for the top and the Cardboard Cement tubes for the outer part of the gun. I think I put $15 into it
Vash's Colt 45 made from card stock and fiber glass resin. $5 for paint.
Considering prices...Graflex Flash Guns run for hundreds of dollars, well I don't have that kind of budget - and ended up finding this one for 50 bucks (I got to name the price, but was scared to go too low) and the conversion kit cost almost nothing from Blast Tech, and now I have an ANH lightsaber that's pretty clean!
I still have to turn the lever back, and to do that I have to undo the screw holding the clamp on, which I just never got around to doing. Oh I also attached the grips top close, so the flash gun don't separate...I'll just wait until they fall off haha
I still have to turn the lever back, and to do that I have to undo the screw holding the clamp on, which I just never got around to doing. Oh I also attached the grips top close, so the flash gun don't separate...I'll just wait until they fall off haha
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Captain Marvel, the cost was entirtely made up of the price of the crystals - the rest was made from freebie bearings, old hard drive parts, plumbing pipe, junk and a lot of time and effort to get it right. None of the other stuff for it cost anything, so definitely a build on a budget. And in fact the hard drive leftovers were sold for scrap so does that mean it actually made me a profit and was a negative cost to build? It did take 4 or 5 full days of work by hand to do though, definitely blood sweat and tears.
thd - just a drill press and files and a lot of time - no lathes here:lol and thanks for the kind words
Unless you count turning things in the drill as using a lathe!
I toyed with the idea of selling the chamber, I don't have it on display and since taking up full time work again there is little time for toys!
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