themaninthesuitcase

Account deleted as requested.

The batteries are also powering the Pi? So when both fans are off you have no power at all. Current will be what it needs on the fan. If you apply 5v it will draw as much as it takes to spin up. I’m not exactly sure what the aim is here. If you describe what the goal is then maybe we can figure it out. If needed we can start drawing a proper schematic. Feel free to PM me if you want as well as I am about to heat to bed as it’s now tomorrow here.

Are the two lines next to the 14k the batteries? And the white lines switches? So when you switch the switch you apply current to the base and so the fan turns on? So seems okay ish. Not sure what the two potential dividers are doing for the 2.6v though. Could be that that’s the issue.

You really did a great job on this one Justin. Easily the smoothest merch group run I’ve done on my end. The packing was awesome and really made the local distribution easier. The stamp was also cool

Just a gloss white. All systems will have one. The Humbrol enamel is a little more on the yellow where a Tamiya is more of a pure white. For an ABS armour the slightly yellow colour works but for a acrylic capped a purer is probably going to look a bit better. If your worried about accuracy the humbrol enamel is probably the one you want.

I've done that fix with standard CA glue before. I don't know how well the gel type would soak into the fabric. My tip for these is to put a few drops one first and press the fabric into that to get it where you need it. Then you can start to flood the area, but pay attention to the edges as they have a habit of curling up if you're not careful. Once dry and cool, it will get quite warm, run over the area with some 120-320 ish sand paper to just take of any points that can catch things.

Just seen this one "- Election Archives ????????" That feels like it should be left alone. Given what it is it should be a correct historical record warts and all.

Congratulations, welcome to the team.

This one came from Amazon.

Projects not dead, just a bit slow going. I've assembled some of the body armour but I'm not overly happy with it. I might end up re-printing it and rebuilding. Also COVID weight. Small child back armour for 70% scale. This is a little pinched in at the sides which is "sub optimal". Again not overly happy with how the body sections have come out as whole so will re address these later. I have started on the fore arms which I'm a lot happier with. The resin printer has done some fine work on the detail parts. I have modded the rail section to allow for a screw at the top to match the screen used props. I wasn't happy with the shape of the holes in the raised bits so have made a small part which was cut in to replace the original one. Not a huge difference, and you'd never notice from more than a meter away but it made me happier. The helmet has also been in the corner staring at me being all oversized and a pain to assemble. So I took a punt on the Hasbro black series helmet. Clearly not clearable out of the box, but as a canvas I think it will work. Some holes need to be filled and some holes need to be made. When I can I'll get some isographic images and compare the helmet with the one sold at auction a year or so ago. First impressions are: It goes on my head which is never a given. The strapping supplied is awful It's rather heavy compared to what I am used to in the OT bucket But it looks pretty decent

I don't like Dremels on plastic, I find it tends to melt not cut. For ABS armour I either used score and snap, or for curves lexan scissors. If I need to clean up I used either files or sand paper. You also don't need to go crazy with sanding, just a quick pass with something int the 180-320 region to take off any sharp bits. The lexan scissors can be a bit hard going on the hands so some metal snips might be a pretty good choice!

Congratulations Eric. Thanks to all of you who took part, there was some great entries to pick through.

I've figured out a way to mount the battery now, and it all just about fits. The final item is a bit different from the images below as I've added a rear foot to help keep the mount level in the blaster as it was tipping due to the batteries weight. I am considering changing the foot design again to make it easier to print with less support. The battery will be attached to the sled with high strength double sided tape, either a VHB or some gorilla tape I have. Note: no rear foot yet! The sled also has a slotted hole for the screw so it actually ends up clamping the charge board in place as well. The end cap will be mounted via magnets to a plate that will be glued inside. There is a small cut out for the screw that holds the silver bit on, and a recess for the on/off switch to sit in. Today I was looking at a photo of a rank of TLJ F-11Ds from production to replicate the piccatiny rail and mount and noticed 2 extra holes. So clearly I needed these on my blaster. I started out by measuring and marking out based on the images. I measured the existing holes to be 12mm so predrilled with a 3mm pilot drill. Next up was a 12mm forstner bit, so I was about to either have a nice hole or a ruined blaster. Ominous forbidding.... 12mm was too big, it looked HUGE compared to the standard holes. I swapped to 10mm wood spur drill for the front, then stepped up to 11mm with a step drill and looked pretty much spot on. To fix this was a hassle. First I cut a small piece of 1mm styrene, bent it slightly and then super glued this behind the hole. This was then filled with a 2 part filler in 2 passes. I used some masking tape to minimise the area this affected, and removed it whilst the filler was still soft. To sand down the filler I used a sanding stick to ensure that I kept the filler level to the barrel and no big gouges or lumps where left. I then re-marked the hole and re drilled with the 10mm wood drill. The step drill was too long for the rear hole, the front had an opening on the other side, so it only cut about half way through. To finish I used a small round file and a pen wrapped with sand paper to clean it up. To finish the repair I sprayed on a couple of coats of filler primer. Again to minimise the impact I masked off most of the barrel so that I only sprayed the repair area. Once this has dried I will sand out the area again to smooth out the lip left from the tape. There's a small mark visible up close but the end result is pretty good and won't be visible unless you're looking up close.

I've raised this in the staff area and we will come up with a new approach.

Hi, The archives are not a public forum, only admins have access. @Dark CMF put it brilliantly "Yeah, archives are/have always kind of been like the areas behind the scenes in a museum. There is probably some cool stuff there, but it isn't meant for public viewing. That's why the stuff gets archived." If you can point me to specific thread links we can look at those specifically and see if they should be moved somewhere publicly available. Chris FISD DOCG.

Seems I'm overdue an update. I've spent some time working on my blasters in the last week as I had some time off work. Since my last update I reprinted a number of parts on my Elegoo Mars resin printer which gives a far cleaner finish. Some of these are just better versions of the previously FDM printed parts, others have been modified to better suit my specific build. I still have a few bits to print, mainly the detailed hand grips, but they failed on previous attempts and I have yet to re-try now I am better at setting up resin prints. So first up is the Hengstler box. This was modded to make it fully hollow, as I did intend to put the battery here, and a hole was added for the wiring between the screws. I also had to modify the mounting bracket as well. Next up the other side of the rifle for the magazine. This has been modified to add a slide switch. This will be the on off switch for the lighting. It's subtle easy to access and I believe reasonably accurately placed. This was a bit of a pain to mod, and I was only able to get 1 screw in. I have also finished up the basic wiring for the torch at the front, this also has a resin printed ring. To get the torch to fit I had to hollow out a lot of the mount and add some reinforcement on what was left. The wiring is a basic connection commonly used in RC I think. It clips in nicely and will mean I can remove/replace the torch if needed with out having to cut things. As the bore is larger I also had to Dremel out some meat in the main blaster section too. End result should look pretty nice I hope As I now believe I have all the needed holes for the wiring in place I have started sub assembly so I can start looking towards final paint. Basically all parts that need to be glued in place have been. So the hengsteler connector, front hand grip mount, side mount, barrel rails, flash suppressors etc. It was also time to check the fit of the barrel tip. I have 2 of these, one FDM one resin. I drilled the holes to 1/4" as I don't have a 6mm and a little clearance isn't a bad thing. I like to have through holes be clearance holes where I can as then there's no mucking about trying to line up threads later which can cause them to get stripped, which I did on my 3D printer. Finally I have started figuring out the power situation for the blaster. Based on a design from the BlastFX community I came up with my own version. I am using a 650mAh LiPo battery as they are small and powerful. To charge it I am using a TP4056 board. This gives USB micro charging with over charging protection. This updated version has separate connections for the battery and the output which I believe means it protects against over discharge. You hook the battery to the B+/B- connections and the circuit to the OUT connections go out to the circuit. The original idea was to put the battery in the hengstler where it would be easy to remove. I didn't like the long power lines from the charger this would mean though. So based on the other design I have created a mount that fits in the end of the barrel. This has a slot for the board to slide into, which is then secured by an M3 screw which keeps things simple. A small hole next to the USB socket lets me see the status LED of the charging board. Still a bit loose. I need to adjust the design in a few places, this was a first test. Above the USB socket is a 2nd DPDT slide switch. This will allow me to completely disconnect the battery from the charging board for storage and transport. It does mean I'll have to remember to turn it on to charge the battery. The extra length is intended to be a place to mount the LiPo battery. I am not exactly sure how I will do this yet, maybe cable ties or some adhesive foam tape? I need it to have a small amount of movement as I don't want to crush the battery with a clamp. The 2 holes top and bottom are for neodymium magnets, 4x2mm at the moment. There will be a matching plate in the end cap that will have magnets in too to allow it to clip in place but still allow access to the charger and main power. I am yet to work out how I'll attach the inner section as I would like to avoid glue to allow access to the battery when needed. Grub screws may be an option if they can be hidden but I'm not sure the wall is thick enough. Other than the last few parts I am almost ready for paint. I'm hoping to try go to Halfords and get some matt black and Appliance white soon now that shops are opening up again. All parts are sanded to 320 which should be good enough for the colour coat. My primer is quite coarse so if I've missed any spots I'll need to go back after the first coats and fix those.

I've split this post into it's own rather than posting on a thread from 2015.

One of the admins can do it for you, probably best you PM one of us and we can sort it out for you.

Request complete.

Springs came. They were quite a bit over the length I asked for so needed to be trimmed. Not overly easy to do accurately but when trimmed to ~13mm these were perfect. So final specs 3.18mm dia 13mmlong . I ordered 2 and I used the softer of the 2, not sure which one that is but I think it's the stainless 0.41mm wire Been a busy week so not much happened but I did manage to get the last part printed so yeah "just paint" to go.

Progress? Twice in a week? Outrageous. I assembled the sight assembly similar to I did before, but actually glued it. So used a drill bit to align the top to the riser, line it all up and then use a 3mm drill to add a locating hole to the top through the riser. This allowed me to use the 2 drill bits to align the parts whilst I super glued them together. Today a bunch of odds and ends came in so I was able to finish the pre-paint work. First the axle pin for the pulley: The drill bit I used was about 1.8mm diameter. An easy and cheap option for this is pin nails, which are 1.6mm so close enough for imperial work. As I was ordering some other fixings to finish off this blaster I ordered some brass ones to make cutting and smoothing easier. The brass can be easily cut with a pair of pliers and sands/files smooth quickly and easily. As there was holes in the riser and base plate I wanted to screw them together for extra strength. There is hardly any clearance under the plate so I opted to use counter sunk screws. The holes in the riser are 3mm so M3 wasn't an option, so I ordered a 3.3mm drill bit so I could tap them M4. I also used a counter sync on the base for the heads. Protip: when counter syncing slower is better or they go hexagonal, apparently. The riser is only just wide enough for M4 if you look below you can see the thread through the resin. The resin is slightly transparent so it's not as bad as it seems. The end result seems nice and solid. I'll prime with black this in parts and then assemble the pulley section so I can fix any glue residue. This will all then get final colour. I also got some long M4 grub screws to mount the trigger. I've gone for one 20mm long to act as the axle, and then 2 shorter 4mm ones to plug the ends and look tidy. Really I should have used a 3mm shaft and just used the 4mm screws to hold it in. Hind sight is lovely isn't it! The trigger was actually a failed print. The under side lifted and I realised this make it more ergonomically shaped so I ended up filing the other side to match and rounding it off. This makes it look better vs the solid block look it had before. I've not fitted the short grub screws here as I am just testing the fit. The TLJ PDF (I don't have one for the TFA files and I can't find anything on here) specs a 14mm long 4.5mm diameter spring. This can be made from a pen spring so I did that, but unfortunately this did not fit. So using Fusion 360 I measured the holes in the parts which came out at about 3.8mm +- a snifter. This means I don't have anything I can use to hand. Fortunately my loving wife found a supplier that sells springs to order, in a huge range of sizes and rates. https://springsandthings.me.uk These are cut from a length so mm accuracy isn't guaranteed so I've ordered over and I can cut down if needed, and in 2 different strengths. This also means they are "unfinished" and they won't have the flat ends, so may wear into the parts. This isn't a huge deal though as I can't imagine me using it a lot and worst case I'll glue it in place.

Ugh you're all so demanding! I had the air brush out for something else so I ended up starting some colour! This is the cocking handle, that apparently needed sanding^, and the red thingy that goes on the side. Hot glued to a cocktail stick for something to hold but is easy to remove. The handle is just in a matt black primer, I need to decide on matt black or satin black for the blaster. Any input would be appreciated. The "red thingy*" is white primer (both primers are Vallejo if you care) and then some gloss Tamiya Red. I will probably also use some gloss clear too to help reduce scratching. I also had a bit of a shuffle in the work room so that the air brush is less effort to get out hopefully helping with momentum. I am also tempted to get the Ryobi Battery glue gun as well as I do use it a reasonable amount and means it wouldn't need to live in a drawer due to a wire. ^ good luck seeing it at more than 20cm though. * only the finest technical terms here.

Found some mojo just before the new year and started working on things that have sat idle for months. Part of the problem that broke me was rushing things and making silly mistakes and wasting lots of effort/materials/money. This time I am taking it slower. Starting with my blasters, and specifically the smallest this SE-44C first printed before TLJ even came out I've printed all the small parts again in resin, though I apparently forgot the trigger so that is to follow. I had primed the main parts in the summer but a 400grit sanding has gone through in a few areas so I'll need to re-prime before colour. I also made some new side plate for both the SE-44C and F-11D. I printed them as 2 layers to make sanding easier and added holes where the mounting bolts will (hopefully) go. I will make these but only glue them once I am confident that they will fit the thigh plate as I will need to drill into the blaster with some reasonably large bits. Essentially I am now at paint and assembly stage on this one, so should be finished by 2043.

I used these on my build: https://amzn.to/355YdSu I am confident I could do 5 perfectly in the same time it takes to do 1 with a hammer. I've not tested them with non prym snaps though, but I would expect them to work with any snap so long as it's not larger than 15mm.

Nice one Dan, decent amount raised. I wanted to do one but we don't really have the space out the front here.