Who was the idiot that said that? Oh–it was me. Son of a …
Well–needless to say, there are bubbles. I would call them micro bubbles. One of these years I will build a vacuum chamber and that should fix this vexing problem. But–that is a project for another day.
So–I decided to cast the insert instead of the whole piece. As good as this molding material is-- it has issues in certain situations. It so happens that this was one of those situations. I was getting air trapped in the recess of the piece when I tried to mold the entire thing. Those bubbles end up as divots in the mold. Over and over I tried, with no luck. I even tried drilling a hole in the master as a means for the air to escape. It DID help–but not enough for my taste. I then cut the frame from the master and cast the insert. That worked beautifully. I am amazed at the detail that carried through.
You can even see the lines from my cutting mat. That is amazing. You can’t feel those lines to the touch, but the mold/cast picked up that nuance from the mat.
Do the bubbles kill this deal? No, it does not. I planned to mask out the areas that surround that center detail. I will paint it so that only the center section will project light through it. In actuality–that is how the unit looks in the movie. Or, at least not until nearing 88 MPH. Then it is glowing bigtime. I think the bubbles are harder to see in that detail. Also–as I hold the piece up to a bright light source the bubbles get washed out. I think that I will be Ok.
I am putting a lot of “time” into this because after all-- it’s the flux capacitor that makes time travel possible.
I cut a hole in the tub allowing access for the flux cap.
I glued the frame to the tub.
I glued the glass into the frame. I secured the glass by running a bead of PFC to the join from the back side of the piece. That worked well. Capillary action pulled the PFC into the join without leaching onto the glass face. This created a strong enough bond to where it won’t fall out.
I hand painted the light mask.
I tested the mask for light leakage. This revealed that another layer of paint was needed. I applied a second layer and I will recheck it tomorrow.
I don’t know if AMT was intentional about it but the glass has a sort of milky opaqueness to it. I like how that looks and it’s why I didn’t try to improve on it. It looks like heavy glass that would shield occupants from lethal doses of radiation. [+o(] Hehe.
I need your solmn promise you won’t laugh .I have it ? Okay . My Landlady tried to cast something for her stained glass projects . Bubbles galore .What Next ? She shows me her finished final piece .No Bubbles .
She made me promise not to laugh . She duct taped a Battery Powered toothbrush to the mold bottom ! Vibrated all those bubbles out , by golly !
NO WAY! That is brilliant! LOL. Landladys method is a lot easier than my building a vacuum chamber. Just for fun-- I will try this using my electric shaver. That might work too. I will let you guys know how the experiment works out.
For reference the piece is not secured. There is plenty of light leakage around the joins, and I see that there is more mask leakage to deal with. For this test… I am using an LED flashlight.
The jury is out regarding the LED type I’ll go with. I might experiment with a tealight. That would produce a yellow light and it would flicker. As well, the light output will not be as intense. The question is, will it be too dim. This flashlight demo uses high intensity LEDs. This is one of those I won’t know until I get there scenarios.
More work to be done, but flux cap is nearing completion.
Hey Tim–with all that you got going on–I didn’t expect to see you post any time soon. Good to hear from you.
No–I don’t see that at all. I am not surprised though, with the site being unsecured. Easy prey.
Yes! Of course! November 5, 1955! That was the day I invented time-travel. I remember it vividly. I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the sink, and when I came to I had a revelation! A vision! A picture in my head! A picture of this! This is what makes time travel possible: the flux capacitor! It’s taken me nearly thirty years and my entire family fortune to realize the vision of that day. My God, has it been that long?
Here is something to chew on: In the 1960 HG Wells movie Time Machine, the lead actors stage name is Rod TAYLOR. There is that name again,Taylor. Both charactors were fed up with their time in history and both looked to the future for hope. Perhaps, it is the same dude traveling back and forth in time. Perhaps… Taylor skewed the space time continuum leading apes to rule the world. WOW! [I]
I received my PE yesterday, below is what you get. Heck–they even threw in a gift for me. It’s a (cough) high quality item. I wonder how much it set them back. Ah well–I am sure they can afford it.
I did a little work on things. The time circuits switch is glued down to the center console. The instructions call it the accumunter. The clear portion is positioned for show and it needs more work. That little assembly was a bear to fit. The original piece as used on the DeLorean would simply not fit. So, I did lots of cutting.
Taped to the dash is the time circuits panel with gauges. I will try and morph them to the dash. With some luck, I’ll have them backlit too. More casting to be done and I will try TBs Land Ladys trick. I hope it works.
