Steam Punk Power Supply

So a while back I talked about building a prop for a local web series Mantecoza. Well it is finally finished, thanks in good part to my father, Kenneth Backer. He helped out tremendously on this build. This was a very interesting project for me, as I normally do replicas or work off of some one else's designs. We were basically given free reign on the design. I just had to incorporate the light fixture that was provided. We also had to finish it in 2 weeks, so ya know, decisions had to be made fast and there was no turning back. Jackie did a quick sketch of our basic idea for the "reactor", but because of the time constraints we ended up not being able to incorporate all of the complexity of her original work. Such is the fate of most concept art.

Once we had our basic ideas it was out to my dad's garage to see what we had laying around to build this thing with. Wood from an old desk: check. PVC pipe so old and heat stressed it was browning: check. Random fittings, valves and switches: check.

Now we were going to need more than that to make this thing look the part, so it was off the the $.99 Only store and thrift shops to find lights and other doodads. Pro Tip: $.99Only is the best place to get LEDs. $1 gets you a battery pack, round circuit board with 7 Leds, mechanical switch and a resistor!? Try pricing that out at Radio Shack.

Always look at the clearance items at Michaels.
The rivets were some scrap-booking sticker.

My dad found this gem at Savers. No idea what it was for, but we cut the guts our, ran 1 AA to the knob switch and attached it to the terminals on the gauge. It actually worked! we were able to control the needle with the knob. I added an on/off switch and some other dummy switches on the final piece.

With the casting from my hardware store silicone fuse mold we began to lay everything out.

We used several different spray paints. A bright hammered finish on the joints, a darker hammered finish on the back board, and a rustic bronze on the pipes them selves. I don't remember the brand or the exact name. Cut us some slack, we were in a hurry. I would also like to note that I hate wood. We used 3 cans of high build filler primer and 1 can of hammered paint on that back board and the grain still came through!

 Did I mention that this needed to light up? And be pretty? I didn't? Well it had to do both, be small, light weight and run on batteries. Well the $.99 Only store provided the light sources, but just plain white lite shinging out of this thing wouldent cut it. Luckly  Jackie had some leftover fantasy film from her Wasp wings. A little heat, armature wire and some glue and we had our prettiness! We also needed tubes coming out of the center of this "pixie warp core". My dad took some PVC fittings and used his oscillating sander to give them a curve that would fit the center of the fixture. With a small screw in the center for support we just 5 minute epoxied them right on

After that it was time for the final assembly and testing.

The thing worked like a champ!

 And one last shot on set.

I want to thank everyone over at Mantecoza for giving my dad and I a chance to work with them. It looks like the series is going to be great, and everyone reading this should shoot over and check out their website and facebook page!

Hardware Store Silicone Mold Makeing

So occasionally I will have a budget of pretty darn close to $0 to do a build. I am working on a prop for a steam punk web series called Mantecoza ( http://mantecoza.wordpress.com/ )and I needed to make 4 copies of this oversized fuse. In a perfect world I would just run down to my local supply store Ball Consulting
 and pick up some platinum Polytek mold making silicone or order some from Smooth-On. But we don't live in a perfect world, and I don't have the extra cash to spend on materials right now. So I started Google-ing different ways to make molds, and ran across people using hardware store %100 silicone caulk. Now everybody seems to have there own recipe, some thinning it with naphtha or adding acrylic paint and glycerin, but that would mean more money and time. So I used what I had: clay, %100 silicone caulk, soapy water, and Bondo fiberglass resin jelly. (Ok so I cheated a bit. I also used some mold release. Its the only non-hardware purchase you need to make for this to work, and if you are going to be casting in your new cheap-ass mold you will need it anyways. Pics with the can to follow, also a good video on this is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KrE3G4t_o) After getting the fuse set half way down in the clay, and using the domed head of a bolt to make registration keys I was ready to start applying the caulk. I laid down a bead all the way around the base where the fuse met the clay. After getting my fingers good and wet I patted down the caulk. That seems to work better than trying to spread it out. I then laid 3 beads going along the length of the fuse and patted them down as well. The fist layer is the most important, so I tried not to trap any air between the silicone and the fuse. The internet also taught me that this kind of silicone cures by moisture, so the water isn't going to harm anything. It also taught me that if you lay down to thick of a layer that the outside will skin over and the caulk will not cure all the way through. So for this mold I did 3 layers on each side, letting each layer cure overnight. Now 6 days to do a mold might seem like a long time, but lets remember that I just bought 2 tubes of Ace brand 50 year %100 silicone caulk for FIVE DOLLARS. Cheap is not going to be fast, but it is going to be cheap.  A mold this size took a little over one tube to do.

After getting one side done, I sprayed mold release over the silicone and clay and did a jacket of Bondo fiberglass resin jelly. Its like regular Bondo but it has fiberglass fibers in it already. I don't really like the stuff, and doing a regular fiberglass and resin jacket would be lighter and stronger, but I've had half a can sitting around my shop for over a year and it seemed like a good time to use it. I cut a piece of mattboard and Bondo-ed it to the back as well so when I flip the mold over and remove the clay it will stand on its own. You could use cardboard as well.

As you can see the mold came apart nicely! I was pretty surprised actually. With my luck I figured that not only was it not going to work, but it would ruin my original as well. A quick test cast proved what I had hoped, that you can get a decent looking cast from this method. Now let me take a moment here to say that this IN NO WAY is better than buying professional mold making silicone. But if you have a tight budget  and don't mind having to do some clean up on your cast pieces, this way works.