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By Cornelius
#4822843
NOTE: Some Photobucket links in my old thread didn't work anymore, so I decided to create a new thread, including the old pictures. Update November 2017: all Photobucket links have now been updated as Imgur links instead. Photobucket may get sucked into limbo for all I care...

On 13 April 2014 I posted:
I thought it would be a nice time to start documenting something that I've seen a lot of people before start documenting at some point in time and have never managed to do fully, clearly, and in detail (well, not that I know of at least): building a movie-style PKE meter from an Iona including electronics. Although I'm guessing that after the Matty PKE Meter became available, not many people will be interested and I might also be annoying some people because of the source of my PKE electronics kit, I'd still like to post my progress anyway. Also, progress will be horribly slow (as it has been for the past several years) given my de facto full-time teaching job and family life (wife + kid of about one-and-a-half years old), but then again, that's mostly my own problem :blush:

The basis for my PKE: an Iona that I bought several years ago...

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... and a PKE electronics kit from GhostGuy.

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I didn't buy a full PKE kit from GhostGuy as I really wanted to build it into an actual Iona shell myself, but after I'd received it (admittedly after a very very very long waiting time) I hardly ever found the time to build it.

After the Imagicon in Ede (the Netherlands), which I - as part of Ghostbusters Dutch Division - attended, I became inspired to start working on it again, and started dremeling out some of the interior section walls of my Iona a few days ago, making room for the kit.

I've also bought some polystyrene sheets for the ribs that will be attached to the back and for the bottom side where the on/off switch will be. Looking into using Apoxie sculpt for some of the interior changes I might need to make. This will also come in handy for the proton pack I've worked on since 2007 (and have thought about since 1996 8-) )

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I'll try to update this post whenever I've had the time to continue working on it (fingers crossed), but I can't promise anything of course ;-) Any constructive feedback is appreciated!
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On 4 May 2014 I posted:
Not a lot of progress in this post, really, but yesterday evening I found some time - in between putting Tobin to bed and doing some socialising with my wife - to have a look at the micro ball joints that came with the kit that connect the servos with the PKE arms. I just put their constituent parts together. It's hardly a significant step, but it was fun to do nonetheless. :cool:

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Last edited by Cornelius on November 12th, 2017, 5:57 am, edited 5 times in total.
Noremon, AfterShock liked this
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4822844
In the past couple of weeks, I've been at it again, and have been further dremeling away in my Iona shell. I'm not exactly sure yet how much - or where exactly - I need to cut out material, but so far I've managed to make a clean opening out of the venting hole at the top of the handle, which, of course, will house the speed knob. Also, yesterday I filed away the lettering below where the brush spindle used to be located. That was easier than I thought it would be.

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Some random notes:
  • I find it difficult to find really small screws or threaded inserts in Dutch hardware stores (so far); should probably go to hobby stores for this.
  • I've ordered Apoxie Sculpt so that I may mess around with the Iona's interior as it were :-) Have never worked with epoxy before, so this should be interesting. Should arrive one of these days.
  • According to the Cylandprops site, the original screw bosses were removed completely and new ones were created. My impression is, though, that the bosses in the top of the shoe polisher as well as at the very end of the handle are perfectly located, so I'm wondering why...
I'll do some more thinking-out-loud in this thread here - feel free to help out or comment.
As you might spot from the second photo, there's a PKE shell in the background - I've forgotten whom I've bought this from, but I had it before I got my Iona and am using it as inspiration/comparison...

More to come at a later date!
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4822884
Apoxie sculpt hath arrived! Hopefully, I'll find some time to work with this material before the end of the Christmas break. First thing on my list: using it to fill those weird ridge bits at the end of the handle's interior so that I can dremel some of the exterior ridges away (similar to what Grimmy GB has done here).

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Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4824415
Riggs45 wrote:Moar please.
Haha, yes sir/ma'am, I'll try! I just have this horrible habit of wanting to do lots of research before taking further concrete steps. My next step is probably going to be filing away that side of the Iona that used to house the Iona's switch. More soon!
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4825747
So, once more I've had the time to do some more work on my PKE meter. My initial plan was to work on the handle first and get rid of the ridges at the very end because I now have epoxy to work with, but for one reason or another I simply decided to do some filing work first - create the elongated spaces in the sides of the top half of the PKE that will house the wings. For that, I first simply started filing away at the side that used to house the shoe polisher's power switch, and focus on the front half of the iona's body first.

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As you can see, I was first simply filing away in different places, ending up with a silly teeth-like pattern. Here's from a sightly different angle:

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Then I thought: oh geez, I need to keep a close check on how far I'm filing into the plastic: the wings are about 1/4-inch thick, so I would need to file about 1/8" into the material. Obviously, there needs to be a tiny bit more space for the wings than 0.25", but I can always increase the amount of space by about 1mm on either side. Yeah, as you will notice, I will mix up references to metric and imperial while building this thing. Sometimes I need to resort to using metric-sized material, like screws, etc., as imperially-sized material is quite hard to get on this side of the Atlantic (I'm not counting the UK here; they usually don't feel that European anyway, no offense :-P ).

Anyway, to play safe, I added a thin strip of tape at a 0.125" distance from the edge as a clear reference line:

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This was very useful indeed. Lo and behold my future PKE meter's left side (assuming that the side with the screen is commonly considered the front side):

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In this picture, you can see a bit more clearly what the overall effect is as I've reattached the rear half. There already was some material missing from the side of the rear half - this probably to allow space for the switch mechanism of the original shoe polisher. Some of this space - especially closer to the handle - I will probably need to fill with epoxy or create some kind of other filler; a small bit of styrene sheet perhaps?

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Then it was time for the right side of the rear half. In this picture, I had already started doing some work. The first bit of plastic that needed removing was the extra ridge that can be found on the rear half of an iona shell. I get the impression that this ridge ensures that the two halves of an iona stay screwed together more strongly. I have a feeling that that wee vertical bit of erect plastic has a similar function, even though I'm not entirely certain. For this side, too, I added a thin strip of industrial tape.

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When I thought I was done, I suddenly realised that I had only filed away 1/16" inch - a mere slit. I had become confused staring at the inch fractions on my measuring tape for too long at too late an hour...

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Lo and behold, step two: finally an opening that equals the opening on the other side - 0.125". Here's the front half of my iona with, for the fun of it, some nice, sterotypically Dutch flowers in the background :-D :

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And here's both halves together again: well, it's hardly something, but I personally think it looks quite neat anyway. Baby-steps perhaps, but very significant steps nonetheless!

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Time for some serious filing of the rear half!
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4825811
joviaaldreetje wrote:You meaning to get this done before Dutch Comic Con?

Nice work btw ...:)
Well, ... as I said before, you know: baby steps :-) But er... I won't make any promises, as you may understand... :eyeroll:
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4826421
As I have not been able to find any exact measurements for the wings, I'm just trying to get an idea of the size of the wings as based on the wing PCB:

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Also, today, I did a bit more filing on the rear half's right side. I first drew a straight line at a distance of 0.25" from the top edge that I had filed earlier, added a bit of tape to have a clearer reference line, and did a semi-decent job filing away the rear half of the 'right-wing slot'.

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I'm sure I need to work on some of the finer details, still (the bit where the two halves meet, for instance). Oh well, perhaps later this week. I probably need to elongate the holes a wee bit more anyway; at least, I think that considering the holes' length, the wings won't fit properly...

CK
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4828056
Some more progress... Finally had the guts to actually try out some of that Apoxie sculpt on my Iona's handle - I guess I'll found out about the result in about a day's time.

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And now I really need to go finish sanding the stairs. Previous tenants had left them in a horrible state and I really need to paint them at least a couple of weeks before my daughter is born round about the end of April (give or take one standard deviation :-P )
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Cornelius
#4828130
So, the stairs are done, and the only thing left now is to get some primer and paint for those d****d stairs. Now, however, I'll feel less guilty spending the occasional half hour on hobby-related stuff.

The epoxy has dried up nicely and seems ready to be sanded - I guess it's more or less time to start sanding the end of the handle level with the rest of the handle.

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More later!
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4831350
"Oh File my Iona,
Joyful and Triumphant"

't Is a slow and tedious process indeed when I cannot use my dremel 'cos there's a wee bairn sleeping upstairs. :-P Oh well, patience is a virtue :-)
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4834335
To those wondering what's happening to this project, I've put it on hiatus for a short period because of a course I'm doing at my job (bloody time-intensive, including homework) and because of the fact that I have become a dad for the second time a little over a month ago. Should be able to get back working on it later this month!
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4834361
Grimmy GB wrote:Congratulations on becoming a father once again! I've been eyeballing this thread. Look forward to future updates!
Thanks! Our son Tobin now has a wee sister!

And I'm also looking forward to my own updates! ;-)
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4838544
So, quite a few weeks later (in between finalising the last exams, changing s**tloads of nappies, and receiving my second—read: redundant—teaching certificate), I finally found the time to do a bit more filing on my PKE meter's handle, filing away some of the plastic and epoxy. Looking a lot better already—on the outside at least. Still need to do some filing away on the inside, obviously, but I still need to do some thinking about how to put the power switch there exactly anyway...

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Other side, from a slightly different angle, adding my son's Funko (funky?) Venkman for variation's sake... :-P

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More to come later—well, sooner rather than later, I hope, but you know what I mean... :-D
Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4841931
Tried my hand at some of the ribs for the rear half of the PKE meter. Horribly cut my thumb in the process. Have recovered since then :-) and the next step will be filling the hole where the brush used to be with fibreglass to strengthen the structure. More pictures later (this week/month/season/... ;-) ) :eyeroll:

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Last edited by Cornelius on November 11th, 2017, 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By propcicle
#4841935
Looking forward to your build. I have an Iona on its way now, but not planning on starting until Halloween. Lots of research to do. Where did you get your electronics kit? I'm thinking about doing one myself using Arduino, sine I did the pack already and have some familiarity with how long it would take to set up.
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4841940
Thanx!
I got my electronics from GhostGuy/Shawn Swift, who has - fortunately/unfortunately, depending on one's perspective - been blacklisted for some years now. He has been rather shifty in most of his dealings apparently, but I do really like his pke kit...
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4855193
It's definitely not dead, this project. Just temporarily dormant due to lots of teaching and grading, parental obligations, and being in the middle of moving house. :roll:
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4900824
Gosh... More than one and a half year after the last post (it would be wrong calling that last post an update ;-) ). Project's definitely not dead. A friend of mine at GBNL (i.e. Ghostbusters NL, the GB chapter I'm currently a member of), who has a 3D-printer, made me an awesome pair of wings for my PKE a few months ago. More than excited to move on - although knowing myself, this 'moving on' will at the same time be characterised by quite a bit of procrastination here and there :-) . Will post a picture of the wings shortly!
User avatar
By Cornelius
#4900839
Well, as I already referred to in my previous post, my dear friend and colleague in GhostbustersNL, Ivan, has 3D-printed these two superb PKE wings for me on the basis of GhostGuy's wing-PCBs. Here's an impression:
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One of the the wings' PCBs snugly fitting inside:
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Very neatly printed indeed...
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The both of them.
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...and in the context of my Iona
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I apologise for the huge images, by the way; they don't look that huge on Imgur. Is there any way of adapting the size using forum code?
User avatar
By CPU64
#4900894
I wish these kits were a bit simplified to reduce the amount of wires, and used thinner wire. Shoving all that in a pke with moving parts is such a chore.
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