I tried blocking out some of the shapes in foam for the control surfaces and wall panels. There is little to nothing square about this setup, so I'm building in some allowances and considering my options. Since the inside walls will be built out with layers of foam, I just need to be concerned with how they connect to the frame. Then I can hide any gaps with pipe or cable runs. Oh, and I have to be able to take them back apart. In case I move again, for example...
The foam will be coated with fiberglass and resin to hold up to use and abuse. That in itself is worthy of its own series of videos, and I'm excited to apply that skill to this project.
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| Reactor Mark II.a |
After building a ton of small test panels and proof of concept gizmos, I realized that I would need a better power solution than 8 power strips to run the wall warts for each led strip and microcontrollers. This is the power distribution unit, so far.
In essence, there are 8 relays that route power to 8 different circuits, all controlled by 5v signal. I'll use switches until the software control is written.
When the power is off, each bank displays red blinking lights.
A bank of yellow, green and blue lights turn on when powered. This will serve as a diagnostic tool (where the heck's the power?!) and looks frakking cool.
My Gonk droid's faceplate sits waiting for me to finish powering it up as well.
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| Humble beginnings. Again. |
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| Cardstock templates for the overhead panels. Now I can scan and design accurate labels! |
The overhead panel is a legit aicraft panel gifted to me. It had no cover panels but the switches were intact and until now I didn't realize how visually important these small panels are. It breaks the board up logically and I ca give each section an "in-universe" job,and have fun taking liberties. Few switches from this panel will interact with the PC - I need to be able to power and control all the devices, and the overhead is not where you reach things during combat.
In the next installment, dressing out the overhead begins! What goes where, and why.
I'll be building physical panels, designing each "character" and vinyl cutting details and labels.
