Power Cylinders

[kevster[TK]]

This is my attempt at a scratch build of power cylinders and for future reference to others for a " one stop shop" that I hope will become a HOW TO sticky.

 

First off, I got the template and measurements from Sskunky and this thread. --------------

Try as I might I could not get the template to print right. I tried to resize and got close but eventually what I ended up doing was zooming out from the picture in very small increments until the template was the right size on my screen then I stuck a piece of card stock on the screen and traced it the best I could. I would suggest drawing up your own template if you can't resize it perfectly though. Since I am using tubes and pins slightly larger, I kept drawing and erasing circles on the metal using the tubes until I was happy with the spacing.

 

Second I scrounged and gathered parts as best I could.

7/16 Push Nut ( Home Depot in the screws/nuts isle Crown Bolt brand, Ace has push nuts that they say are 7/16 but to me they were the same size as the 3/8, but they were 7/16 tall)

7/16 Brass Tube ( Ace Hardware) ( the tube and rod brand are KS Engineering metals, I've seen this brand at hobby lobby and little R/C hobby shops too)

1/8 Brass Rod ( Ace Hardware)

Nuts and Screws ( Ace Hardware, the smallest nuts I could find were in a metric box, the screws i found to go with the nuts were in another box labled pan (cheese) head metric screws)

The sheet metal i used was also from Ace Hardware but Home Depot has it too, but Ace I think is cheaper.

 

Now the 7/16 brass tube is 11.1mm wide so it is a little bigger than the measurements Sskunky gave but it fits perfectly into the push nut after they are cut. The rod is a little bigger too at 3.18mm and Ace did have some a little smaller, but I just wanted to see how it was. With the bigger tubes I didn't want the pins to be dwarfed by them so I'm hoping they will look a little more proportional to each other.

 

( I forgot to get a pic before I cut it up, so this is what they looked like before hand, got the pic from home depot)

 

here's a pic of the package of the push nuts and how they are after they are cut with a dremel with the nut I found for reference. The nut is actually 5mm instead of 4mm but it looks like it can still pull it off. I will be drilling a hole in the caps to put the screw in and screw down the bolt then will cut off the extra thread to make it flush with the nut.

 

just a pic of the tube for the cylinder and rod for the pins.

 

More to come soon.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

looks like the kind I make too!

[kevster[TK]]

Then by all means. If you have any tips or tricks that will make this how to better, I would greatly appreciate it.

[kevster[TK]]

A little update

 

Got the template cut out and the holes drilled. The best thing to do is grind off a little at a time and keep checking the sizes.

 

The holes for the pins ended up being too big, so what I ended up doing for the pins to fit in the holes and get a better grip when epoxied in is I mushroomed out the end of the pin. I put the rod in a vice then heated up the end to make it a bit more malleable then gave it a couple good whacks with the hammer. This took a few times to get it how I wanted but it will come out eventually. Last little bit, you'll want to keep the end of the pin close to the vise, if you have it too far out you run the risk of bending the pin when trying to mushroom it out.

 

Next I went ahead and made the bend in the holder. The safe thing to do is put the end with the holes in the vise with your line showing just a little bit above the top of the vise. If you try and bend the metal with the holes out of the vise, it WILL bend the holes because it is so thin around them. Also you want to leave just a tiny bit of space below the line if you are doing it in a vise because the bend will not be a strait 90 degree bend. I left no more than 1mm between the line and the vise.

( you can see how the line ended up in the middle of the bend)

 

Just some pics of how mine is looking

 

 

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

hmm...

[kevster[TK]]

uh oh, is that a bad hmm? I hope i'm not doing something wrong... This is my first time trying this. My main goal here is putting all the info about power cylinders in one place and my adventures in trying to make them.

 

 

Going out of town this weekend, I've been having the darnedest time trying to drill through those caps but i should be able to finish it all up Monday.

Edited May 13, 2011 by kevster

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

you prolly have to use a punch set to mark a divot in the cap from the inside. then drill from there.

 

I am thinking about making some more of these myself.

 

nice work.

 

actually I think that the inner small tubes were adjustable capacitors soldered to the baseplate.

they seem to be at 60 degree angles pointing outwards.

 

let me see if I can dig up a screenshot.

 

the feet for the tubes also has a curve in them, or actually goes into a hole in each cell.

 

Woah! take a look at these!

 

 

you can find more pics

 

go to the blog

Edited May 14, 2011 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[kevster[TK]]

Ok, finally got it all drilled out today. I had put little divots in them and the bit would shave off some metal and then it just wouldn't go any further. So what I ended up having to do was keep using the punch, then drill a little, then punch it again, then drill and I just had to do that over and over. I'm guessing what was happening is since the metal is so hard, instead of really cutting into it, its just shaving the metal so the size of the bit then it will just spin. So by punching it again, it would expose more metal to get shaved off and eventually it would get down far enough that it would have enough bite to drill through. I ended up using a cobalt bit for hard metal from ace hardware. I also had to apply a decent amount of pressure and I ended up breaking the bit but went ahead and was still able to use it. so BE CAREFUL if using the push caps I found, they are very hard to drill through. Hopefully someone else can find an easier way. But here it is, basically done!

 

( i made a little template to help find the center, just poked the center with a needle so I could mark the center and just eyeballed it)

 

 

 

[Locitus[Admin]]

Nice job!

[kevster[TK]]

Thank you Locitus. If anyone has anything to add or other little tips and tricks please do tell. Like I stated in the beginning, I'm trying to make this a "one stop shop" for self made power cylinders. I really want the credit to go to others, I just wanted to put all the info i've gathered for others who want to try and make their own power cylinders. Seeing as this is my first time ever trying these, I know it wouldn't of come out as good as it did if it wasn't for the hard work of others. Special thanks to Sskunky.

Edited May 18, 2011 by kevster

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

nice work!

 

it's always a team effort on the part of many many people to produce designs and information on the hardest parts

to replicate for the star wars universe.

 

I'd have to say that the russ rep design I've shown is the best replica of the whole setup used here.

 

snoberg makes them to order too, his design is what I've used on several blasters I've made...

 

and soon I'll have a small run with the adjustable capacitors and small pin wires going into the baseplate.

 

this is a great tutorial on how to make your own.

 

just a few minor alterations and you'll have your own metal power cells for your blaster!

 

thanks for the tutorial kevin...