Bolt's Z-6 Rotary Cannon build

[Bolt_2112]

Thanks everyone!!

Well today was a bit of a case of one step forward and two steps back.
I finally got into making the business end, three rotating discs and barrels, which was very exciting!

Bolt's top tip: don't try to draw out a nice round circle if you don't have a decent compass, just use a perfectly sized pot from the kitchen!



After 30mins of jigsawing and a trip to bunnings for the right size hole saw bit and I had the three discs (two of which get nailed and glued together)



The forward rotating disc has the center tube running to it, inside of that is where the drive shaft will go.



And now for the 2 steps back bit. I fitted the barrels... hmmm... they look a bit big...



Actually they look very out of proportion!!
This doesn't look like the picture on the box...





Turn's out that the 32mm pipe that they sell at bunnings is actually more like 42mm diameter. So there is a whole extra 10mm per barrel. The 25mm pipe that they sell is actually 32mm in diameter...so go figure! I will have to re-make the mounting discs and buy some more pipes. All is not lost though, I did work on the drive shaft and mounting the motor. I am using some copper fittings for the drive shaft to spin through, just had to file them out a little for a clean spin.





And adding some supports to the drill.



So, tomorrow I will buy some new parts and start the rotating section again!

[Studio 49]

Oh man that's rough, not to mention while reading I had a mini panic attack thinking I'd given the wrong dimensions! But I know that if anybody can fix it's you Luke
Keep up the awesome work!

(By the way, I'm loving the blaster display on the wall, might have to make some more room there soon )

[Bally]

The innovation in this is fantastic. And yeah, I learnt all about pipe sizing when I was researching my DC-15 build. It's a pain.

[TerrorFirma]

Kicking along real nice, loving the updates

Terror

[Whitey]

Looking good Bolt. Be good to see it when it's finished.

[Bolt_2112]

Oh man that's rough, not to mention while reading I had a mini panic attack thinking I'd given the wrong dimensions! But I know that if anybody can fix it's you Luke
Keep up the awesome work!

(By the way, I'm loving the blaster display on the wall, might have to make some more room there soon )

Yeh the dimensions were right, just the pipe size was wrong. I don't think this big guy can go on the wall, it's gonna be heavy!

The innovation in this is fantastic. And yeah, I learnt all about pipe sizing when I was researching my DC-15 build. It's a pain.

Thanks Sac! It certainly is a pain. Back to the drawing board!

Kicking along real nice, loving the updates

Terror

Thanks Terror!

Looking good Bolt. Be good to see it when it's finished.

I will be glad when it is finished too! No stealing though... this ones mine :P



Today's update! Not a whole heap to report, bought the new (correct size) pipe and cut out some new discs. Also went online at jaycar and bought a few electronic goodies for the build. I am going to remove the original switch for the drill as it is way too big to fit in the handle, so I had to have a way to regulate the speed (as I am removing the variable speed element that is the switch). So I am getting a little dimmer/motor speed controller off jaycar (pretty much a fancy potentiometer). Should be able to set a rotation speed and keep it. I drew up a crude wiring diagram to remind me how I am going to wire it up.



And that's it for today

[Studio 49]

Oh man that's rough, not to mention while reading I had a mini panic attack thinking I'd given the wrong dimensions! But I know that if anybody can fix it's you Luke
Keep up the awesome work!

(By the way, I'm loving the blaster display on the wall, might have to make some more room there soon )

Yeh the dimensions were right, just the pipe size was wrong. I don't think this big guy can go on the wall, it's gonna be heavy!

Well the weight will just add to the realism

By the way, nice electronics set up diagram, something tells me that you've done wiring before! I wish I was better at electronics. I can do simple circuits but it's one of those areas I've always wanted to know more about. Hopefully I'll learn something from what you do

[Altair]

Awesome work bolt! Now was that an imperial or metric pot you were using?

[Bolt_2112]

Awesome work bolt! Now was that an imperial or metric pot you were using?

Haha! Imperial all the way

Check out what came in the mail today: my programmable sound module!! Just waiting on my Jaycar order and I can start wiring it up.

[Studio 49]

That soundboard looks great! Let's hope it does the job as well as we had envisioned. I'd be very interested, once you've had a play to hear your thoughts on it and whether I should still have it on my Vader upgrade list

And if it means anything, the bowls in the cupboard here get a good workout for tracing here And I'm enjoying the daily updates, keep up the great work at this rate you'll be done in no time and mowing down clankers!

[Sly]

Looks like an Arduino, they are great fun and can be programmed to do a wide range of tasks.
Excellent work

[Chivo]

Nice work so far, the weight on my Z6 comes in at 5kg

[Bolt_2112]

Thanks again everyone! It is going to be fun using the soundboard! And I hope that my gun won't weigh too much...

Anyway more exciting things in the mail today!



The rest of my electronics from Jaycar, I should be good to start wiring it up now. The red illuminating switches are the safety switches, the large silver switch is the main trigger and the red one is the secondary (sound) trigger. The DC controller is for the rotation speed setting. Can't wait to get started!

[Studio 49]

Let's the games begin
Have fun mate!

[Bolt_2112]

Been a bit busy over the last week but here's today's progress!

I have painted the handle and inner tray, Fitted the motor and started wiring it up!



Unfortunately I ordered AC powered illuminated switches so they won't actually light up when you turn it on, but that may be a future mod I will do on it!



I have soldered up the output side of the DC controller to the left switch and the drill is ready to have it's trigger attached (hence the 2 wires poking out the handle). You can see the Aker amp that I put in to test fit and the lack of sound board... it's going to sit aft of the aker. I am ordering some C cell battery holders from jaycar to put the drill's battery pack into as it won't fit in it's current state, these will sit on the bottom of the fwd section (under the drive shaft). So lots to go and the big guy is starting to get heavy with all that stuff in there!

That's all for now