[NoodleMaps]

Even with the resin version that plug was a pain. Ended up using a lot of epoxy on it and just calling it a day. Good work sir.

[julz]

Well there are slightly different ways of going about it. According to people like Vince and what I've seen the plug is actually welded to the inside of the booster tube, making it one whole piece. I think then the originals were then rivets in place with 4 large rivets, 2 on the ion arm and 2 on the booster tube.

I mostly followed a similar path to you but I marked the holes on the shell and then drilled them. Strapped the booster tube in place and marked the tube from the inside using a vivid pen. Drilled the hole in the booster tube, then threaded screws through from inside the tube and then dropped the whole thing into place and bolted it in from the inside,

If you decided to weld the cap to the booster tube, you could get rid of the bracket and fix your issue with the crooked screw.

Do you know what you might do for your booster tube/ion arm weld?

[PssdffJay]

Nice progress Jay.

You can always fill in the excess space of oblong holes when you find out where the screw wants to sit and then sand it flush again, But you might not need too. Keep it up, you will be finished in no time

Thanks Julz! I may actually need the adjustment until I either find someone who can weld the booster tube to the ion arm like you did, or I was also thinking I could attempt the fake weld with the Apoxie Sculpt I picked up. I would wager that the Apoxie should hold the 2 together as if it was a real weld. It'll definitely be ugly, but not real weld ugly. I don't know any welders, but I might just see if I can find a shop that doesn't laugh at me too badly when I tell them what I want.

It is very cool to see it starting to come together. I got tired of looking at other people's builds (not really, they're awesome and I've learned so much!!) I'm just happy to actually be working on mine. It's become a bit of an obsession.

[PssdffJay]

Well there are slightly different ways of going about it. According to people like Vince and what I've seen the plug is actually welded to the inside of the booster tube, making it one whole piece. I think then the originals were then rivets in place with 4 large rivets, 2 on the ion arm and 2 on the booster tube.

I mostly followed a similar path to you but I marked the holes on the shell and then drilled them. Strapped the booster tube in place and marked the tube from the inside using a vivid pen. Drilled the hole in the booster tube, then threaded screws through from inside the tube and then dropped the whole thing into place and bolted it in from the inside,

If you decided to weld the cap to the booster tube, you could get rid of the bracket and fix your issue with the crooked screw.

Do you know what you might do for your booster tube/ion arm weld?

Thats sort of what I tried to do, but your screws go the other way? The cap head is inside the tube?

If I find someone to weld the plug (or is it a cap?) would the weld be on the bottom or the top? We were posting at the same time about the ion arm tube weld too. Haha!

[PssdffJay]

Even with the resin version that plug was a pain. Ended up using a lot of epoxy on it and just calling it a day. Good work sir.

Thanks! I was worried. Somehow I pulled this one out of my derrière.

[NoodleMaps]

I honestly thought my pack looked awful until the very last day. Even if others think it looks bad, I'm thrilled with it. But, up until the final touches, I was nervous that I wasted a lot of money. The little flaws that I dwelled over became some of my favorite parts. So...Keep at it. It's looking great.

[bishopdonmiguel]

It is very cool to see it starting to come together. I got tired of looking at other people's builds (not really, they're awesome and I've learned so much!!) I'm just happy to actually be working on mine. It's become a bit of an obsession.

Your pack is looking great. Little mistakes are frustrating for sure but they are a great learning experience and you'll fix 'em up. As for learning from others, want you to know I've learned a lot from yours. Really appreciate the effort. It is invaluable.

As for the rattle, is there any reason you could not move up one bolt size and retap?

[pyhasanon]

I honestly thought my pack looked awful until the very last day. Even if others think it looks bad, I'm thrilled with it. But, up until the final touches, I was nervous that I wasted a lot of money. The little flaws that I dwelled over became some of my favorite parts. So...Keep at it. It's looking great.

That's some great advice right there... I will carry that in mind when I start mine...

[Venkman's Swagger]

Don't let your head drop Jay, this pack is going to be a beauty. Your work so far has been awesome. I think Noodlemaps nailed it to be honest. The little things you hate now will probably be the things you love most when everything is complete. It'll have its own character which will make it unique to you. Keep going buddy

[Hoot]

Jay I gotta tell ya... if THAT is the worst thing that happens in your FIRST build? Youre doing just fine. Keep your head up brother

[halliwax]

hey jay, just checking in now. last night i had the duty of driving the gang back home from working out of town so i was phoneless for the night. just came in and saw your new progress, looks good to me! i wouldnt sweat the bolt being crooked! the end result looks good!!

i cant give u any pack advice because i havent done this in awhile, but i can tell ya this, when doing finish carpentry work my boss is a serious PITA about it... he finds every little thing to nit-pick, so over the many years of being told what im doing wrong you learn how to hide your mistakes. im not talking about cutting stuff short and filling the gaps with silicone, what i mean by this is... if you didnt show us the crooked bolt, we would have never known it was crooked and the end result EVEN with the crooked bolt came out awesome!! thats what i mean by "hidding a mistake"

your doing one hell of a job and i look forward to every night reading your thread and seeing your progress, very good work!!!

[PssdffJay]

You guys are awesome!! I appreciate all the feedback, not that I was ready to light this thing on fire, but you guys have kept me positive. A good nights sleep helped too. If I had attempted to work in it anymore last night, I would have still been frustrated and probably messed something up. I needed to walk away for a bit and regroup. Thank you all so much!

Bishop, as for the bigger bolt, it's still a route I can go, I didn't have anything bigger at home last night, it was a 1/4 x 20 and that's the biggest I have right now. I have 3 options I think for that, bigger bolt, put some epoxie, or Apoxie sculpt or JB weld or something, or have it actually welded. I'm still going to see about finding a welder for the ion arm to tube weld so maybe. Thanks everyone for their suggestions on this. Still have a decision to make there.

I've been documenting as much in detail (good and bad) for myself so that 20 years I can (hopefully) pull this up online and show my kids and help me remember what I did, what my thought process was, how I got that scar and lost that chunk of hair etc. and also for anyone here who can maybe learn something from my rambling just like I've learned from so many of the builds here. Yes, even yours Hoot! Ha-ha, I use yours as a warning build! What NOT to do! Just kidding!! Your build is awesome!! Profanity, profanity, brilliance, profanity, profanity, brilliance! I steal so many ideas from everyone it should be illegal!

More goodness and photos to follow!

[PssdffJay]

Enough of that gushy shit, on with the updates!!

I had already drilled out the holes in the shell for the PPD. Hey look! More tape!



I then marked out the holes through the shell. Now here is where I learned something from last night. Drilling into a tube sucks! There round, they move! So I folded some paper towel into a nice little cushion and wrapped it around the PPD and held onto it with my vice grips. A table vice would work too, but I don't own one. Yet. Anyway, worked like a charm, no more rolly rolly!



This time the holes are supposed to be like that because yesterday I drilled the holes in the shell wonky.

Close enough for government work right Hoot?



At this point I realized the 1" long bolts were too long so I switched them out for 1/2" before I installed it.

Check out that washer action!







Now on to the frame!

(See how I'm avoiding drilling out the hole in the top? Drilling a tube straight, is a bit if a challenge for me. I'll leave the straight drilling into an angle for another day!)

[PssdffJay]

I also found some smaller washers for the straights, no grinding needed now. I still need to drill a hole in the caps.

[bishopdonmiguel]

See how I'm avoiding drilling out the hole in the top? Drilling a tube straight, is a bit if a challenge for me. I'll leave the straight drilling into an angle for another day!

At my age, I couldn't do any of this work without my drill press. But you're a youngin' so lay that drill flat on its side against a wall. Attach the PPD to a small piece of wood pushed up against said wall. Shim the wood block as necessary for proper height and depth. Start up that drill as press the PPD into the bit. Nice straight hole (I'm assuming the insert isn't metal).

[PssdffJay]

Ah, tho ol' turn your wall into a drill press trick! I'll definitely give that a go.

In the mean time, now that the booster tube is on and the PPD is on, time for the frame. This is a Nickatron frame and it looks fantastic! Besides a cleaning before paint, there is nothing I need to do to prep or fill or anything! Beautiful! Let's hope I don't screw this one up!

Don't worry, I don't think I did. Until Julz tells me it should have a certain degree to the angle it sits or something. Just kidding Julz! I always welcome your insane knowledge of all things detail! I have some new screws to mount the mobo to the frame too that should make you proud! But all in due time.

I started by drilling out the holes. I'm going with the larger 10-32 screws in mine.



After a long search and lots of reference photos (mainly from Julz's thread TBH) I found the center of the tube. Then I did a dry fit of the frame to allow the right height and clearance from the PPD. This time I did it a little different. I did mark out the holes the same.

It's a little hard to see.



Then I center punched the top hole. (I may have already done that in the above photo.)

The I drilled out the hole to the size I needed while the tube was still mounted.



I had already drilled out the holes in the frame so I put the tap through the frame (not to thread but to guide) and then I tapped the top hole with the frame as a guide. I had no idea if this was going to work with my next step.

Frame with 1 bolt attached.



Now I lined up the frame where I wanted it to be again, and with the frame still there, I punched and drilled my holes into the tube through the frame. Cleaned it up and then I tapped, again through the frame using It as a guide not threading, and low and behold, it worked! No worry of not having the perfect distance between the holes this time!

Test fit of the bolt.



Then I installed the bottom bolt, washer, and the cable clamp.



And one more close up because I'm excited how this turned out.



(Photos are crooked, not the parts, just saying.)

[Mat]

I had a tricky time getting the frame in line with everything looking down vertically on the pack.

Looks great so far! Drilling the top of the ppd is fairly easy; once the short piece of split loom goes over the tube, even if it ends up a little out, it won't be noticeable.

[PssdffJay]

Hey Mat! Long time no post!

That's right, there is that loom there. I even thought of doing something like I did with that dowel and have a small dowel in there to slide the tube over. I think I'd just be creating more work for myself.

[PssdffJay]

Finally drilled out the 3/4" hole for the ribbon cable to go through. Pretty simple. Mark, drill. But here's some photos anyway!!





And the good news, I didn't drill through my kitchen table!

[NoodleMaps]

My Booster Frame is slightly off-center and leans to the left of the pack. To compensate I put extra tension on the ribbon cable when I pulled it through. Can't even tell now.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Great updates! I need to get off my a** and get back to working on mine.

[julz]

Everything you are doing is great, I want you to know this.

Just echoing what people have already been saying, You're doing a great job. Given that this is your first pack it's even more so. My packs are full of mistakes, that are hidden by paint

When you get right down to it the real heros were never put together with such scrutiny for perfection and straight lines. In fact when you look at many of the metal throwers they have bent front handles!

[PssdffJay]

I went for the ribbon trifecta today. On to the ribbon cable clamp.

I had read in many builds that people just eyeballed this part so I pulled up the Omni cover and tried to best match that layout using the booster tube as an anchor point.



I marked it but I went for the same technique I did with the frame and drilled right through using the clamp as a guide.

Inside with some washer and nuts.



And the front bit.



I'm not sure how I want to twist my cable so I'll wait on that and look at some reference photos.

[PssdffJay]

When you get right down to it the real heros were never put together with such scrutiny for perfection and straight lines. In fact when you look at many of the metal throwers they have bent front handles!

Blasphemer!! I understand. They had probably a few days to invent something and we've had 30 years to dissect and perfect it.

And by perfect, I do try to strive for but I do know that would be impossible.

Thanks for your help and for continued help hopefully when I keep with the dumb questions!

[Hoot]

Never a dumb question.... just assholes lol youre doing a great job and its fun sitting back and seeing errbody hand in hand helping everyone with builds. I love it!

[robpenfold]

It's looking good Jay. After watching your build, I wish I had used aluminum parts rather than resin. Oh well. I'm still happy with how mine is shaping up.

Looking forward to seeing yours finished.

[Letmebleed75]

Your doing great work sir, do I see you using my trick on making sure the booster tube was installed straight?

[PssdffJay]

Your doing great work sir, do I see you using my trick on making sure the booster tube was installed straight?

Ha! Thanks! I couldn't remember where I saw that. Fat lot of good it did me though, I couldn't see the sharpie very well. I actually started to use my phone to take a photo to check because the backlit screen would show off the detail a bit better. Now straight on the other hand... I'm sure it's straight-ish...

Only a few more things left to do, the EDA discs (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called, I can't remember), the n filter, the hole at the top for the loom and the hole at the bottom for the thrower loom. Oh, and the holes in the injector tubes and PPD for the hoses.

Meanwhile, I'll just leave this here for the night.



Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it's just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.

[PssdffJay]

Double post.

[Letmebleed75]

Fine work sir. Fine work indeed