Lighting up the Eyes

Was pretty busy with life the past couple weeks. Had very little time to get on this project. But, things are starting to settle again... so, it's back on target:

Lit Eyes:

The wiring for the eye LEDs are in place. All that's left to do here is paint the wires matte black and find a way to shield the bulbs so when they're lit, they won't cause a glare back at my eyes.

Had some leftover "turn signal amber" paint from my car models of the past that was the perfect shade I was looking for. Now, I had both yellow and amber paint. Tried them both, but found out the bluish tint of the LEDs made the yellow shine green. Whereas the amber paint plus the LEDs resulted in the standard Gundam yellow eyes. 

Good, the LEDs lit up the details just as I hoped.

Lighting... teaser

Don't have time to work on the project today.

Only can give you a teaser of the lights so far. The lights for the eyes aren't in yet. The blue camera (mohawk) lens isn't in yet either.

This thing can light up a room!

EDIT: Just found out one of the LEDs in the yellow fin is busted!!!! The one that was permanently cemented in!!!!! ARRRGH. There's no easy fix for this. Only start scratch build another one!!!! sigh.

Eye Lens Redux

Eye Lens:

Here we go again! My second (and hopefully FINAL) attempt at making the eye lens for the build. 

To recap my requirements on this sub-project:

- Must not limit my vision, much

- Should have detail

- Tinted yellow

- Must be lit up.

- Lights must not be seen from the outside

- Lights must not be glaring back at MY eyes.

Had put a lot of thought back into this one. Going to start off with a piece of clear lexan plastic. I think this is good approach.

Since I already have the shape of the eye lens from the previous build attempt. I'm going to use it as a template for the curvature. Here I'm laying it down on a piece of 2x4 wood. I needed a shape to put the melting plastic onto. And the wood can handle the heat.

Cutting the shape out with a jigsaw.

I stole this toaster oven from my wife years ago. Started out when I was secretly baking my sculptures in it before. Got caught by the wife.. and said something, something.. and she just gave me the oven! Woohoo!! Score! Anyways, inside the oven is a couple strips of lexan plastic. Warming it up for 5-10 minutes. The moment I can see them droop, I pull them out and put it on my wooden form....

Almost lost this piece. You can see some bubbling at the corners! Luckily, the bubbles are outside and would be cut off.

Cutting them out with my dremel.

Quick test fit. PERFECT!

Now, for the details. I'm thinking of frosting them in. To achieve that, I just mask out a simple design. With my dremel again, I used a steel brush attachment, and just went over the exposed areas.

I could use some fancy window etching solution to frost the details. But, that would mean money. And I rather not spend money if I didn't have to. The return wasn't worth it. Simple economics. hehe

TEST: Can I see out of the new lens? 

Yes! Yes, I can. Even in the frosted areas, I can see vague shapes. So, this is successful.

TEST: Does the detail light up? 

Yes, perfectly!! Success, again!

TEST: Are the lights visible from the outside? 

Nope. Since the lights would be mounted just out of sight. It's perfect again. Another Score!

TEST: Would the lights be glaring back into my eyes/face?

Nope, eventually, I will be mounting the LEDs with hot glue. Then I'll be painting the globs with dark matte paint. The light would only be directed at the lens itself.

PERFECT SCORE!!

Random Progress

Polish:

The "camera lens" in the mohawk is a bit dull. So, I grabbed my bottle of 'fine scratch remover'. It was for polishing up tiny scratches on my rear plastic window on my convertible. Grabbed a towel and rubbed the face up with lots of elbow grease.

LED test:
While I was wiring some of the LEDs, I noticed one of them had a bad flicker. So, I cut it out of the system. As decided to use it for experimenting. I wanted to see if I could diffuse the LED bulbs a bit. And I know hot glue dries cloudy. So, I put the two together....

I globbed some hot glue right ON the LED bulb. And let it dry. You can see in the pic... the LED bulb is completely "submerged" inside the wad of hot glue.

Test wired it to my battery... and voila! A nice diffused glow! Success. I'll do this to a few of the bulbs in the "camera lens"




Wire connectors:

Bought some quick-release wire-to-wire connectors for some parts of the electrical work. The fins are separable, so these are needed. I'm not really liking these types. But I couldn't find any better alternative. These were pretty prices too. Don't like pricey.

Experi-mold: Conclusion

From the first half of the mold, I knew the second half would come apart without any difficulties. 

Upon closer review, the details are horrendously inconsistent! It picked up some super fine lines here and there. BUT, leaving huge gaps and bubbles everywhere. I guess I could have spent some more time and care applying the first coat of silicone. 

I've already gone this far, might as well go through with it and see how it fares at the resin stage. I attempted to fill in some of the bigger gaps. Then coated both halves with vaseline. Again, this is the releasing agent that will (hopefully) separate the resin from the silicone mold.

I should break here and explain what those channels are for. The ones I made a few posts back.

This diagram should explain it a bit better. Once the halves are together, it's difficult for me to make sure the resin gets into every corner. So, the channels are made to 'guide' the resin through. Essentially, making a one-way path for it to travel. The second channel (at the bottom) connects the two lens together. I'll cut it out when it's de-molded. The third channel, the one that's marked "Air out" is for.. well.. the air to escape. If i didn't have this outlet, the air would get trapped, the resin wouldn't be able to displace the air to fill the mold. It's also a good 'window' to use to see when the resin is filling the mold properly. When you see resin come through this hole, you know you're done.

Used the box again for support. I can already feel how unstable the entire hold is at this point. So, I attempted to brace it a bit with some clay here and there.

The resin pour.

and....FAIL!!! As expected, the resin leaked out of the sides. I doubt this silicone mold would have worked if I built a hard mother mold around it. It's just too flimsy. O well, I anticipate this wasn't going to work from the beginning. It was an experiment after all. Only thing I lost is a bit of time, and $3 for the tube of silicone. That's my price for education.

Now, I have to start again!

Hook me up

Wiring:

Back on the electric work. Had to figure out how I wanted the switch to turn on/off. And how to wire all of the fans and millions of LEDs

Use my vice and alligator clip (held in place by a piece of placticine) to help me hold the wires so I can solder them together. Everything is multipurpose! hehe

Heat shrink wrapped the connections. Not necessary. I just want to do it right.

LEDs:

I had to sample test the LEDs in the mohawk lens. Needed to know how many I would need to make this thing look cool.

Maybe just a few more.. hehe

Man, there's so much more electrical work to be done:
- the fans
- the machine guns
- eyes
- V-fins (still waiting for more LEDs to come in the mail)
And all these needs to be hooked up with quick release connectors. For easy battery swap outs.

Experimental Mold Process

Silicon Caulk Mold:

So, my catalyst dried up on me. I can't make my mold for the eye lens the usual way. And I'm too impatient to wait again for another order through snail mail. I YouTube'd a new process. (at least to me). Where, instead of RTV rubber mold, you can simply go cheap and just use a tube of silicone. Right from the hardware store! Thought this might be fun to experiment with new techniques. It looks like its one of those 'it's crazy enough, it might just work'. Who knows, if this works out, I may use this method in the future.

The process calls for:

- Cup of soapy water

- releasing agent. (I use Vaseline) with cotton swabs.

- Silicone caulk

- Caulk gun

- Organic Respirator (with canisters) or well-vented area.

Because the silicone was made for bathtub/kitchen repairs, it has inherent adhesive properties. It makes a mess. But, once dried, it's no longer sticky.

I coated the entire area with Vaseline and cotton swab. Making sure every corner is coated with it evenly. No extra globs anywhere. The vaseline will  add a layer between the silicone and the mold, eye lens, and walls.. so, I can separate them apart later. (Hopefully!)

TIP: Use the organic respirator. The ones with 2 carbon filter canisters on the sides. Silicone is super smelly. Like strong vinegar. And it's super toxic. A simple face mask will not do.

To start, I laid down one line of silicone. Then dipped my finger into the cup of soapy water, and started to press down on the silicone. Flattening it all out across the surface. Slowly working it and pushing it into every area. Taking caution not to go too fast as to leave air bubbles anywhere. The layer at this point is pretty thin. About 1/8" all around. The soapy water will cause the silicone to just slip around your finger. It's a pretty cool trick. The water actually acts as an accelerator to the silicone. So, it's a plus plus.

I'll leave this to dry complete overnight. And repeat 2 more layers.

I don't have a whole lot of confidence in this method. I'm actually expecting this to fail. But, I still have to give it a try.

My prediction: The vaseline would fail. And the silicone would stick to everything. Causing me to lose my lens. I'll either have to start over or just suck it up and pick another alternative in making the eye lens. Any bets?

We'll find out in a few days...

The Eyes Have It (part 2)

The Mold:

This part will be the same as the mohawk lens build.  Plasticine for the base and plastic for the walls.

The difference from the mohawk build is the fact that we need to make a second half mold. So, we need to make "keys" so the 2 halves can join back exactly in the same spot.

TIP: Just found a pencil. Pushed it down around 1/8".  Those 3 little "noodles" that are attached to lens are there to mold the channels where the resin and air will be travelling through. I'll explain this during the resin build.

TIP: Once the walls are up, I drew a "pour line". It's roughly .5 inch high. This line will tell me when to stop pouring the mold liquid. Any less, then the mold would be too thin... any thicker, then it's just a waste of good (expensive) mold material. It's my goldilocks line.

I had a new box of RTV Rubber Mold stored away for years. It's a 2 part mix compound. 20:1 ratio (Rubber:Catalyst). I was going to start this half tonight, but when I opened up the box... I found the catalyst was completely dried out! UGH!

Now, this sub-project will have to wait till I can make a trip out to the supply store. 

I hate delays when I'm inspired and motivated.