#4898328
Thanks! The two best pieces of advice I can offer is, read read read, I figured out most of the steps or tricks I described here by reading or asking other ghostheads and/or experienced builders, and the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Looking forward to seeing your results!

So I've done a little behind-the-scenes work, the last few days. Today I finally got around to really getting it together. Upgraded my home made reflector cups for the Cyclotron lights by giving them a silver/chrome coat of paint, and used small pieces of strategically deployed duct tap to give the LEDs a solid pressure fit inside them. I also pulled open my Gun body and reseated several lights, as well as fixed the ribbon connection to the bar graph so it's no longer animating upside down. (Turns out reading the instructions is useful, who knew?)
So minus sound, which at this point will be a simple matter of mounting the speaker to the motherboard and plugging the wire in, just as soon as I receive that darn speaker...
Anyway, here she is, all gussied up with fancy lights!
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twmedford23 liked this
#4900103
Part 42f:No sleep to residential Ukiah
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I got around to wrapping up my stuffs! The soldering job turned out pretty clean, I don't know if I mentioned previously that I'd had a bit of misadventure in regards to mounting my Speakers to the mobo, I had intended on mounting them in a vertical stack and got as far as cutting a 4" hole out of the board and mounting holes and everything, had the first speaker screwed into place, went to close the shell over it for a test fitting and found my speaker was sitting perfectly in the way of the Sync gen block of my shell interior.
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Sooooo, I went back and remounted the two speakers side-by-side under the Cyclotron horizontally instead. I already had a big freakin' hole cut out of my mobo just above the speakers, so I took a piece of left over wire screen I'd used to line the inside of my N-Filter painted it black and attached it over the hole so at least it's not just a big gaping hole.
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Once I had my speakers all situated I used the mounting screws to line up and drilled out a handful of 1/4" holes under the speakers. Voila, She's loud! I'm not sure how well it shows in the picture but I also stacked extra nuts under both speakers so they sit about a 1/2" off the Mobo, letting more sound out from my accidenthole (Haaaaa, see what I did there?)
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And now, she's all loud and stuff! I haven't had a lot of chance to wear it in heavy crowds but I can say she certainly rumbles. It's rather satisfying having all the vibration from the sound under the Cyclotron.
https://youtu.be/-o9Uj5AsFSY
#4900134
Nice work! Those speakers look like they ain't nothin' to mess with. With the large hole in the middle of your motherboard, I'm willing to bet the sound comes out very clear... and less "tinny."

Do you have any pictures of the electronics inside your wand?
Christof liked this
#4900135
Thanks, canpara! They're actually the same speakers sold on the GBFans shop, 4.5" 70w speakers. It actually had quite a bit of distortion happening from the motherboard until I drilled out grill holes to let more sound out, now she's growling like a mother grizzly. I'll try and get some decent shots on my wand interior later after work, but I don't know how clear it will come out, the interior with all the wires in place is a nice little rat's nest. It looks awesome from outside with the vent light lighting the gun body interior, but actually opening the body for any kind of access is a huge pain in the ass, mostly because of that lovely delicate little ribbon that connects the bargraph to the main board.
#4900136
Christof wrote:Thanks, canpara! They're actually the same speakers sold on the GBFans shop, 4.5" 70w speakers. It actually had quite a bit of distortion happening from the motherboard until I drilled out grill holes to let more sound out, now she's growling like a mother grizzly. I'll try and get some decent shots on my wand interior later after work, but I don't know how clear it will come out, the interior with all the wires in place is a nice little rat's nest. It looks awesome from outside with the vent light lighting the gun body interior, but actually opening the body for any kind of access is a huge pain in the ass, mostly because of that lovely delicate little ribbon that connects the bargraph to the main board.
I'm working on my wand right now and I completely understand. Please do not open it up on my account!
#4900149
Well damn, wish I'd read that twenty minutes ago :P

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Without fully disconnecting the wand board and pulling everything apart to show off how the wiring is run, this is the best I can do, mostly you can see my board and how I mounted it, and a few of the wiring connections, otherwise it's all kind of hidden in the chaos.
Stealth edit: Image
To show off my comment regarding the vent light and wand interior, not perfectly screen accurate but I love the "Real" look it adds to the wand. :D
#4905980
Part 52:That Time Editors Changed Everything
I've been meaning to write something of an epilogue to this build post for some time now, and I can't think of a better subject for it than something everyone does when they finish building a proton pack.
Upgrades, updates, and repairs
Over the last eight months I've been going to events, and quietly acquiring more parts. Whatever could I be gathering parts for? Why, to upgrade my pack of course.
But first, I had to update my Cylcotron lights:
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As you can see I started with duct tape. While it works, it also wants to lose adhesion when exposed to temperature changes, so pretty much constantly.
Well, I can do better and what's better than good old Hot Glue?!
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I went to Silicon Valley Comic Con this year! Whooooo, for any other West Coast Ghostheads who are on the fence, Check. It. Out. I was only there for one day, but what a crazy good convention.
During the course of the con though, whether it was a bad solder or just from all of the movement, one of my speaker wires came loose. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
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And finally, the upgrade, most pack builders end up with something being their "Holy Grail", that particular part they cannot find to their satisfaction, but they're still hunting for even if they get something temporary. In my case, that was the Crank Knob. I'd set out to build a GB2 pack, and having the black crank knob was a big detail to doing it. So I couldn't for the life of me find a real crank knob, and said, "Aw gee, save that search eBay."
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In the meantime a Resin replica supplied by GBFans filled that role. It's a great replica, but it's just... Not the real, vintage, part.
Well, I hit paydirt!
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It's not a very notable detail, but it stands out to me. This is definitely not the last upgrade. Or repair. And absolutely not my last Proton Pack. I already loved these things, but building one has given me a new love and appreciation for the prop itself. These things are frickin' awesome.
#4907500
Thank you so much guys! I couldn't have done it without the fine folks here at GBFans having figured out all the work already, and answering all my noob questions. Hopefully others who want to do the same can see some of the mistakes I made and avoid them in their own builds, and are vaguely entertained by my antics.

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