Rowan contactor prop

Well I decided to try and make my first attempt at building a bttf time machine prop for fun. I have discovered most people who do this are unwilling to share or help. I am the opposite. So here is what I did. Please spare me the movie accuracy comments :-). Hopefully this helps someone or atleast here is what I did.
2 Rowan contactors off eBay
2 bottles of testors flat cherry for bottom half of contactor 1197
2 bottles of flat red for uppers 1150
1 bag of 10 flat Philips with nuts #8-32x3/4 in (6 each neaded)
2 packs of testors brushes
1 bottle of thinner 1148
1 piece of 1/8 aluminum 4x10
1 pack of countersink drill bits (1/4 followed by just a hint of 3/8s lol)
First I disassembled contactors and painted them . Allow 72 hours before reassembly. Then reassembled and removed 4th blades. Marked and drilled plate based of references of movie car , just tried to eyeball. Mounted contactors then used random wire and connectors I had laying around again based of pics I could find. Then did a final top coat while mounted....and walla done. Cost me 90 bucks total in supplies to build vs almost 300 for some replicas I have seen out there and I felt like a kid building car models again.



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Originally Posted by powerline84

Well I decided to try and make my first attempt at building a bttf time machine prop for fun. I have discovered most people who do this are unwilling to share or help. I am the opposite.

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Yes and no. Yes in that there are the "professional" builders who got lots of information and then decided not to share, and also charge very hefty prices for "parts", like one's that are resin copies (upwards of $500), which when purchased, one still has to sand, trim, fill, paint, etc.

I come from the R2 Builders group, where all the plans for all the parts are available online, and when someone does make a part run for sale (say, metal domes), prices are reasonable for what you're getting, and yes, you still have to do some finish work. BUT, the community is about sharing, and helping, and not ripping each other off.

I found out a RESIN replica of an unfinished wormhole emitter is $500 smackers. So I made a 3D model to scale, and it's on Thingiverse. For Free. You just need either a 3D printer, or get a friend to print it, or pay to have it printed by any service.

And there are other parts on Thingiverse (not mine), like the Flux Boxes, and the beauty is not only are they free, they're super lightweight. And if one breaks - print another.

I might just think about starting a new forum for that. There used to be one a while back, and there were some nice folks on it, but then there were the "I found out first" folks that just wanted to be jerk holes about it.


So, thanks for sharing how you did this!

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Originally Posted by Timebender

Yes and no. Yes in that there are the "professional" builders who got lots of information and then decided not to share, and also charge very hefty prices for "parts", like one's that are resin copies (upwards of $500), which when purchased, one still has to sand, trim, fill, paint, etc.

I come from the R2 Builders group, where all the plans for all the parts are available online, and when someone does make a part run for sale (say, metal domes), prices are reasonable for what you're getting, and yes, you still have to do some finish work. BUT, the community is about sharing, and helping, and not ripping each other off.

I found out a RESIN replica of an unfinished wormhole emitter is $500 smackers. So I made a 3D model to scale, and it's on Thingiverse. For Free. You just need either a 3D printer, or get a friend to print it, or pay to have it printed by any service.

And there are other parts on Thingiverse (not mine), like the Flux Boxes, and the beauty is not only are they free, they're super lightweight. And if one breaks - print another.

I might just think about starting a new forum for that. There used to be one a while back, and there were some nice folks on it, but then there were the "I found out first" folks that just wanted to be jerk holes about it.


So, thanks for sharing how you did this!

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+1 on all this...

Cheers
Steven

I also agree . Very well written . I am doing a lot of interior props for a build now but I tend to not share on this forum as I feel most on talk aren't really interested. I post some stuff on Facebook and have met a few good guys on there. I would love to see a forum like you talk of amongst guys that actually wanna share work like myself. Would be pretty cool. I am of the crowd to enjoys bttf and time machines. But as we have all seen there are strong opinions either way. The way I see it is if you love deloreans and own one then own it for your own reasons and who gives a shit what someone does with their car.....its their car lol. I like concourse deloreans , I like modified , I like time machines . I think it's an awesome car and many different types of people with different agendas and likes own them...and that's ok.

On a side note I plan on modifying this prop by taking a half inch off width and length of the aluminum plate and rounding the edges after seing the real car at the peterson .so 3.5 by 9.5"

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Originally Posted by powerline84

I also agree . Very well written . I am doing a lot of interior props for a build now but I tend to not share on this forum as I feel most on talk aren't really interested. I post some stuff on Facebook and have met a few good guys on there. I would love to see a forum like you talk of amongst guys that actually wanna share work like myself. Would be pretty cool. I am of the crowd to enjoys bttf and time machines. But as we have all seen there are strong opinions either way. The way I see it is if you love deloreans and own one then own it for your own reasons and who gives a shit what someone does with their car.....its their car lol. I like concourse deloreans , I like modified , I like time machines . I think it's an awesome car and many different types of people with different agendas and likes own them...and that's ok.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by Timebender

You just need either a 3D printer, or get a friend to print it, or pay to have it printed by any service.

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https://www.3dhubs.com/3d-printing

There's over 7,000 3D printing services, some incredibly cheap, some more expensive. I'll tend to use it if my machines are down or if I need something made in a material I don't have the capability to print with (ASA for example -- damn prolific PTFE-based extrusion tubes...).

For material suggestions, ABS is always a solid choice, hard to go wrong there. PETG is also good but is such a giant PITA to work with really, it's stringy and gets everywhere and is very tempermental at times, even the good stuff. ASA is great for outdoors use but is hard to find a print shop that can print with it given the required extrusion temperatures being above what most printers can print with (again, prolific PTFE-based extrusion tubes are why). If you need flexible, TPU works well and has plentiful real-world examples (flexible phone cases are usually injection-molded TPU).

Whatever you do, avoid PLA like the plague. It's great for indoors-only prints or fitment prototypes (I do a lot of this), but it's abysmal handling of heat and biodegradable nature mean its only suitable purpose outdoors is flower pots (thanks to Maker's Muse for that idea). Generally seen as an obsolete type of filament, but don't tell my stash that, it's going to be a while before it's gone!



And hey, if anyone needs help with anything relating to 3D modeling, printing, design, I'll help in whatever way I can. I'm all for this, I'll do whatever I can pro bono to a reasonable extent. I obviously can't give away $700 worth of filament in a print, but I'm not going to try and sell you a turd for that much either.

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Originally Posted by Shep

https://www.3dhubs.com/3d-printing

There's over 7,000 3D printing services, some incredibly cheap, some more expensive. I'll tend to use it if my machines are down or if I need something made in a material I don't have the capability to print with (ASA for example -- damn prolific PTFE-based extrusion tubes...).

For material suggestions, ABS is always a solid choice, hard to go wrong there. PETG is also good but is such a giant PITA to work with really, it's stringy and gets everywhere and is very tempermental at times, even the good stuff. ASA is great for outdoors use but is hard to find a print shop that can print with it given the required extrusion temperatures being above what most printers can print with (again, prolific PTFE-based extrusion tubes are why). If you need flexible, TPU works well and has plentiful real-world examples (flexible phone cases are usually injection-molded TPU).

Whatever you do, avoid PLA like the plague. It's great for indoors-only prints or fitment prototypes (I do a lot of this), but it's abysmal handling of heat and biodegradable nature mean its only suitable purpose outdoors is flower pots (thanks to Maker's Muse for that idea). Generally seen as an obsolete type of filament, but don't tell my stash that, it's going to be a while before it's gone!



And hey, if anyone needs help with anything relating to 3D modeling, printing, design, I'll help in whatever way I can. I'm all for this, I'll do whatever I can pro bono to a reasonable extent. I obviously can't give away $700 worth of filament in a print, but I'm not going to try and sell you a turd for that much either.

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Awesome and welcome to the club! (if we had one that is).
BTW a good friend also told me to stay away from PLA as well, but I had to have a few things printed for my Project X-Wing themed motorcycle (look for #projectxwing on Instagram). Anyway, I designed laser cannons for the front turn signals and X-wing engines for the rear signals in Fusion 360, and a local business was kind enough to do the prints.

When I got those, and glued the parts together I used Smooth-On XL3d resin. Then after painting I'd let the parts sit out in the sun on an 85% day all day, and no warping or anything happened. Even a part I did some test painting on, without the resin coat, was left outside to let paint cure for most the day, and it held up well also.

I would've preferred ABS, but being the prints were free and this is a portfolio piece (design, customizing, themed design) and not for daily riding, it really was no big deal to me, and I was surprised how well they held up in the sun and heat, being I was warned as to what would happen.

Btw, the PLA was the Makerbot brand - both their white PLA and their new Tough PLA.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by powerline84

I also agree . Very well written . I am doing a lot of interior props for a build now but I tend to not share on this forum as I feel most on talk aren't really interested. I post some stuff on Facebook and have met a few good guys on there. I would love to see a forum like you talk of amongst guys that actually wanna share work like myself. Would be pretty cool. I am of the crowd to enjoys bttf and time machines. But as we have all seen there are strong opinions either way. The way I see it is if you love deloreans and own one then own it for your own reasons and who gives a shit what someone does with their car.....its their car lol. I like concourse deloreans , I like modified , I like time machines . I think it's an awesome car and many different types of people with different agendas and likes own them...and that's ok.

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I'd like to do something similar to the mod Hissem did, so it's down to being able to go from stock to time machine in a couple hours and then back in about the same time.

Painting PLA -- new one to me, but makes since as they're free. I've had PLA dash cam mounts fail within 24 hours holding up the tiniest of weights, probably under 8 oz, I will grab a picture as I avoid it like the plague nowadays.

I can see why they might hold up well for your use case (air-cooled, away from engine heat), but BTTF props are almost exclusively inside or above / around the engine, both areas of high heat potential and best left to material that can handle higher heat.

ABS is the "norm" now, I still use M3D's ABS-R, which is an offshoot of PET if memory serves that avoids stringiness and warping.

A lot of people glue parts, I've always been a self-advocate of "design around the parameters". A junky soldering iron is a great tack-weld for plastic in areas not visible (extra filament helps here, but takes practice), but I most prefer a suitably sized printer. This can be hard however -- my biggest is a 10" cubic print area, expandable to 14" in Z height with an add-on, but I need a project to justify it first, and most prints fit within the confines well.