By alextwigg
#4892870
Howdy,

A this thread seems somewhat static but thought I would say hello and get involved. I am pretty well versed in 3D and am currently in the process of fully 3D printing a pack. Up until this moment I have been running off Stefan's plans, but when I came in here looking for some missing info, it looks like those plans might be a little out of date and thought this project looked like on I could be a part of.

If I am going to take the time to model and print a pack, I may as well make it as accurate as I can. I will clone the repo and make a fork. I will have a look at modelling in Sketchup, but may stick to working in Houdini and outputting the STL files.

I am new to the pack building thing and am not that clued up yet on where the best reference is. Is there a primary source we are looking to work from, or are well pulling from multiple source?

Hope we can get this moving!

Alex
Jonobiwan liked this
By alextwigg
#4892882
So I have had a pass at the synchronous generator. These are purely based of Stefan's plans. Does anyone know of any stats, measurements or references that would be of note here?


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By alextwigg
#4892895
Built and added the cyclotron. At the moment this is all still in Houdini as it is much easier for me to make very quick and easy changes to any component. I will export the STLs at some point. I also want to go through and cut the object into parts that will fit into my print volume and make sure the parts are easily assembled down the line.

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Kingpin liked this
By alextwigg
#4892935
Nice work! Have you worked the bump into the geometry or is that coming from a texture?

I started on the bumper this morning and it is a pain in the ass in terms of shape. Everything else is just circles and boxes! I will send it to you if when I have it done if you are interested. Are you rocking in Maya?

If we got enough good reference photos we could smash the all through photogrammetry software and probably get something pretty good.
User avatar
By askernas
#4892980
alextwigg wrote:Nice work! Have you worked the bump into the geometry or is that coming from a texture?

I started on the bumper this morning and it is a pain in the ass in terms of shape. Everything else is just circles and boxes! I will send it to you if when I have it done if you are interested. Are you rocking in Maya?

If we got enough good reference photos we could smash the all through photogrammetry software and probably get something pretty good.
Thanks!

The bumpiness of the main pack is from the rendering texture. I figured it wouldn't help much when developing plans.

I'll put up a .stp file of my work so far if you want. I've hollowed it out to 3mm thick shell on most parts, the idea was to make it into flat pack files for scratch building one.... or just get proper measurements from =)
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By abritinthebay
#4932641
I’ve been thinking of reviving this but using Fusion 360 (more geared to industry standards, better designed for this stuff), and breaking it up into components with one “pack” assembly.

That said: I was going to do that for an all-aluminum build so... might be constructed slightly differently in CAD form.
User avatar
By AJ Quick
#4932932
The main problem was being able to find a CAD program that enough people could use, was cheap / free and then for everyone to understand how to use the CAD and revision system on Github.

For example, I never really understood how to use Sketchup. I could have drawn the whole pack in Inventor (or Fusion360 though).
By Silvertek
#4932953
Fusion360 is free for personal use. With 3D printing getting more popular, it's getting a lot more traction in hobby adoption (and a ton of youtube videos & tutorials). I'd love to see a full CAD breakdown from the community.

Speaking of which, is there any interest in a dedicated 3D Print forum? I'd love to see more 3D printing incorporated. I was doing a search last week for thing to print, or to try my hand a designing some props of pieces given I've got nothing but time, but there's few threads on it.

I was thinking a lifeguard would be a simple fun project to model up and create a file, but I can't even find dimensions online.
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By abritinthebay
#4932954
Yeah, Fusion is great tbh. It's not only a good modeling tool it's a FANTASTIC CAD tool. However you do have to learn how to build CAD files *well* for it to be worth it (but it would be SO worth it).

re 3d printing - There's a bunch of Ghostbusters stuff on Thingiverse but I can't say how accurate it is. I figure a good, simple, first task for that would be the Walkie Talkies....
By Cole Funstuff
#4933429
Unfortunately, I have a couple personal roadblocks regarding working on updated Proton Pack plans any further:
  • There are companies and people who have had access to the hero prop, but either aren't able to share the measurements or aren't willing. It feels pointless for me to try and scale/rotate photos and blurry screenshots just to figure out the last detail when there's probably a set of molds or measurements already available somewhere.
  • There are opinions about what should even be included in a set of plans. Stefan's have always been an "idealized" version, omitting a lot of the crooked and sloppy parts that I personally love to add to my props. How do we accurately show how crooked a fin is or what radius a fillet is when it was probably done fast and dirty by hand in the 1980's?
  • How do we document what the right measurement is? What level of accuracy are we going down to? Which prop do we standardize on as the main reference piece? All questions that I don't feel we can all agree on as a community.
  • Who owns and moderates the plans? Where does the buck stop on incorporating pull requests for measurements or details? I was working with Julz for a while and that was great, but unfortunately I don't think he's still very active on the boards. (I'm not the most consistent either)
  • What software do we use so that anyone can contribute? I would have suggested OnShape, but now I've transitioned to Fusion 360 since keeping all my work in the "cloud" seemed risky in case they ever decided to change their license.
Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than to develop another set of prints that address some of the shortcomings of Stefan's set. I just think there are a lot of questions that need to get answered first, or for someone to just say screw it and work on it in private and share with the community. Unfortunately, it seems most people who invest a lot of time into these models aren't the most likely to share them openly with the rest of us. I can't blame them and that was partly the reason I wanted to get better at 3D modeling. It's just hard to take on something as complex and revered as the Proton Pack and not get burnt out.

Maybe ranting about it here will re-ignite my spark. Then again, I have a kid now and free time is a luxury I have less and less of as time moves forward.
Kingpin wrote: March 17th, 2020, 2:34 am
GraygoryGruesome wrote: March 16th, 2020, 9:41 am So... It's been almost three years since anyone has commented on this... How did the project finish? Is it finished?
Unfortunately it's been dead in the water for years. :(

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Back in 2014 I had never 3D modeled before and SketchUp was the only tool I could find that was free and had online tutorials. Over the years, more advanced software like OnShape and Fusion 360 have released which I (and others it seems) have been learning with other reference pieces:

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..and more recently:

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I know a lot of the items are going to get harder and harder to find, so it's my intention to release these files (in a safe and controlled location at some point) so that others have access to re-create them or reference them as they see fit.

I've also been working on the RGB PKE meter, GB1 Ghost Trap, and Giga Meter as I get burnt out on other projects. So there's definitely still activity on developing new prop plans. (Maybe just not proton packs for now) :vinzclortho:
Kingpin, BlkBullitt liked this
By BlkBullitt
#4933510
Thought I'd share what I've been working on. I built my first pack (mostly 3D printed with analog circuits for lighting) for Halloween last year and during the process I discovered a number of things that I wanted to address that I couldn't due to time or wasn't aware of until I was too far in. Since I had bought enough materials to build two packs I decided I'd spend time building the seconding one and would put together a good set of 3D printable files and a materials list for both the pack and wand that accomplished a few goals...

1. Mostly 3D printable, 100% scale with dimensions being as accurate as possible.

2. As upgradable as possible.
A pack is an investment. I wanted to put together a set of files that someone could 3D print and if they so choose over time upgrade components from printed items to aluminum / real items. Most of the parts on the pack I've remixed so that they attach to the 3D printed shell using the same mounting hardware as the aluminum parts in the GBFans shop.

3. As complete as possible.
I want someone who has no 3D modeling capabilities to be able to print and assemble a complete pack using the files and materials list. For example, I'm including 3D models for mounting the cyclotron lenses and lights.

I plan to post everything up on Thingiverse after I'm finished with everything.

Quick photo to give everyone an idea of where I'm at right now...

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This past week I've been working on the wand quite a bit. Made the gun track more accurate (based on photos from the reference section here). The file I started with combined the bottom plate of the wand body, the gun track, and the washers/socket head bolts for the s-hook. I made all of these individual parts so that you could add an s-hook or change to an aluminum gun track in the future. I also did a bunch of work on the front handle / barrel so that the hand grip can rotate and the barrel extension (green) lever works.

Here's a quick demo video of the wand prototype...

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By badash320
#4934768
Hey guys, I just found this thread and wanted to share what I just finished. A "functioning" neutrona wand. By which I mean a working pop mechanism, a rotating front handle, and lights. I wasn't going for screen accurate. Instead, I wanted a cleaner, updated version using currently available parts. Which seemed in the vein of this thread. Many of those parts came from the shop here. I even modeled the gun body to the light kit sold here.

My design approach was to maintain the spirit (no pun intended) of Ghostbusters without worrying about being screen accurate to any given prop. As long as I thought it would be "screen ready" (as in able to fool the camera or be just as functional as the original prop) I went with it. For example, I made an access plate on the back of the switch housing, which I tried to make look like the lid of a conduit junction box. I also mounted the top hat light on top, not glued in from underneath, also mine is orange, not white.

Here's what I managed to make:
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I loaded up all the files, drill templates, details, build photos, and instructions for my build on Thingiverse.com. They're all available for download completely free. just go here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4112177

It's a combination of purchase parts, 3D printed components, and aluminum fabrication. A list of each is provided in a txt file on thinigiverse.
Kingpin, Marcus B liked this
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By Shwalamazula
#4941030
I found it annoying to keep going back to the Stefan plans and trying to remember how I was able to infer a bunch of the geometry, so I decided to take the plans and just mock them up in Fusion 360. I'll post the files on Thingiverse as STL, F3d, and STEP, so that they can easily be manipulated. I'll make a second post to Thingiverse with some of the corrections like the cyclotron diameter. Is there a good resource for getting a list of the stuff in the Steffan plans that need updating?

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