Particle thrower works..

It is raining, mostly today, but I spotted a small window of opportunity when the rain slightly stopped, and promptly went on to work on the proton guns.

I sprayed them with black satin, and made the mistake of painting them thoroughly. I meant to paint the upper surface, and then the under, but as I sprayed the guns all over, I needed to suspend them on to coat holder...

Immediately after I sprayed the third gun, I noticed that on my own gun, this paint would have been the choice for us. It dries smoooooooth and nice, and covers well. Still, the packs are painted, and dulled with steel wool, it does not matter anymore. It would have saved us from the steel wool phase, but I still doubt it..

Bumpers and stickers..

This project seems to be moving forward ever so slowly... Ergo, some work needs to be done..


I attached the bumpers finally. They were painted last saturday with black top coat. It had not fully dried yet, but it does not matter, I smoothed and dulled the shine with some fine steel woll, and screwed them in..

It really brings the pack alive a little more..

On all three packs..

I used and old corona board chip as a spacer between the bumper and the cyclotron. The Ion knob was bolted on with washer and a nut on the inside.

The Booster frame cried to be attached..

It still needs some brass washers. I did score a few, but I could not locate them at the moment. So, I took some steel ones, and painted one set with black paint followed with gold, and the other straight to gold. I need to see how the paint reacts on the black & gold ones, as the paints are not the same brand. It might not dry properly... After these dry, I'll attach the frames..

And what would a bumper be without a bumper sticker..?


It really is looking good...

Computer table.. part two

I got the table finished.. Well to some point at the least. I still need to rewire the electrics and usb hubs to the table, but it is, at least now placed..

I stained the top surface on the printer table

As well as the top of the work table.

And after they had dried, I wiped them clean, and proceeded to stain the lower parts..

As you can imagine it, the keyboard shelf was a bit tricky to stain...

I then took out the former computer shelfs. Sorry for the blurry image, my pocket camera's viev screen is at sometimes blank, so I cannot verify the photographs before I download them to the computer..

As I ripped the previous shelves out, the paint chipped of somewhat... This will not be any problem, as the tear is hidden behind the new table..

As you can see, the new table is looking VERY good..

I took the moment to attach the other hard drives to my computer that were not in place. There is now well over one terabyte of disk space..

With the printer in place, the table looks splendid. I still need to clear the cables on the floor, but this is where I am with this at the moment

Computer table..

Leaving the Ghostbusters project aside for a moment, I did some work on my computer station..

This is how it is currently. All cluttered up, and messy... I intend to make this the most efficient piece of my living room..

Now, I had this plywood box saved from the garbage, as I knew that a box this clean has some uses. Even if in pieces..

The lid was about half an inch thich, and wide enough, so I took it off, and...

Measured it's width, and drew a square on it.

The square was then divided into a triangle, and at this point, I took my keyboard and mouse mat to the equation.

I drew curved recess on the board, with just enough room for the mouse mat. The mat needs to be trimmed to fit. With my previous experiences on these tables, the more room you have, the more junk you have, so this is going to be as spartan as possible.

I cut out the table.
And after a quick sanding, it looks nice.

I then took the lid up again, and measured another triangle for my laser printer. It will reside beneath my computer desk..

I planned to leave some space under the printer table for paper tray, and a standard A4 rice fits in nicely.

I tested the keyboard under the table, and it looks good.

I then took out another piece of plywood, 4mm this time and cut out a piece for the keyboard tray.

Another plywood trip was used to make the back end of the tray.

With two other pieces will be the side walls. The walls are one centimeter higher than the back wall, just in case I need to use a corded keyboard at some point..

The keyboard fits in nicely. I DID my research, and checked if the other keyboards would fit inside this tray, and I found out that my current keyboard is wider than most average keyboards out there, so I will have no trouble if this is broken..

I then checked how it looks under the top table.. Looks good..

The tray was then attached to the table, as were the side supports that will be bolted to the walls.

This was done on the printer table as well. I left the paper tray out of the equation for the moment, it is easy to add later on.

I now need to get some wood stain to stain these pieces darker... So, it is off to the shops for me...

Small things, part deux..

Well, it is Easter... I made a promise to myself that these would be done by Easter this year, with or without the help of the boyz..

Still, that is not impossible, but requires much work, and the main constraint is the time the paint and glues take drying..

The injector tubes were sanded and painted. At this point, I suspected some foul play on the loom tubes..

Their outer diameter is the same as the pneumatic tube that is supposed to go inside!!! I'll have to get a bigger tube, and then drill out the smaller ones.. Shucks!

Still, The time I had was not for waste, as I had some other knobs to put in. Crank Knobs, to be exact..

As well as the remaining pneumatic elbows..

And the resistors on the Ion Arms. The boyz did a small boo boo on their packs... They included an extra weld on their Ion Arms, and this poses some problems...

I had to snap the attachment point of on one of them to fit it in. Still, with glue and sqrews, they'll hold..

One can just enjoy the work on these, this is the time that it really is beginning to pay up..

I connected the cable clamps back on, as there is very little painting on these any more..

The Ion Arm blocks were panted the previous night..

I drilled holes for the bolts, and attached them to our packs. I also drilled out the holes needed for the brass tubings..

Nice look in is not??

On the south end of the block, where the longer brass rod is to be attached, the space for the hole is interrupted by the attaching bolt. It only goes about half of an inch inside, whereas I had hoped for a total penetration... Well, this will have to hold.. I meant to attach the brass rods on, but could not locate my tube cutter... So it'll be a job for another day..