Our heavy gauge CNC laser cut styrene brain
for our B9 complete with
3-D cat-eye lenses. The lenses are the brainchild
of Mark Thompson. The
lighting effects are produced by a wonderful LED
PCB board designed
and built by TomW. It features 44 high intensity
LED's mounted on PCB
boards and to control the flash rate, is a very
sophisticated and
programmable microprocessor.
Since LED's last many times longer than
standard bulbs, it makes the brain
virtually maintenance free. This setup also uses
less power, which makes it the
perfect choice for us since our B9 is fully battery
powered. I fashioned my own
push rods in order to animate the 7 light rods.
They have been operating flawlessly
and the motion is totally fluid. Seeing all these
components installed and operating
correctly was a site an individual must experience
for themselves.
Tapping our Planet Plastics bubble was a bit
nerve wracking. However, following
the advice given to me by my fellow B9 builders,
all turned out great. The bubble is
held to the bottom plate with (4) #6-32 clear poly
carbonate 1/2" screws. It should be
noted that the contact portion of the bottom plate
where the screw holes must be
drilled, that also pass through into the bubble,
had almost no room to spare. If using
this same bubble on your project, and drilling
freehand, you must take every precaution
to insure you are completely on target.
I used masking tape to hold the bottom plate
to the bubble and made sure the plate
would not drift to one side when pressure was used
while drilling the pilot holes. The
holes were then drilled into the bottom plate
straight through into the bubble. The
masking tape was then removed and the pilot holes
for the bottom plate where then
enlarged to allow #6-32 screws to pass through into
the bubble. The bottom plate does
not get tapped. The same procedure was followed for
the bubble and the pilot holes
carefully enlarged and ultimately they were tapped
for #6-32 diameter screws.
Prior to drilling each hole, the bit was
dipped in oil to make sure it wouldn't grab
and crack the acrylic. I have a supply of these
screws that are available for
purchase and can be viewed on my spare parts
page.
