Wood/Brass Steampunky Hammer Mod w/DNA20

[mre777]

So I've always like the look of the hammer mods and I wanted a wood one so what do you guys think? The design was also inspired by bapgood and his wood and metal mod he is currently working on, I would like to thank him for all his help with the lipos because I have never worked with them before and he answered all my questions . I am not that good with wood working so I went a simple route with a box type frame glued and sanded the corners. I had to do a bit of routering on the inside with the Dremel to make things fit. The wood is 1/4in Red Oak hobby board from Homedepot. The battery pack is three 750mah lipos I put in parallel and added a PTC for protection. I curched it up with some cosmetic gears from the craft store. The atty connecter is one of these, Tank Airflow Controller. I took the chrome off it with the dremel to keep the brass going. The two smaller brass posts are the up and down for the wattage and the bolt is the fire button.

 

[Thompson]

Very nicely done, that thing is awesome

 

[mre777]

 

[metropolitan]

very nice! love that big slot on top for some unexplained reason.

 

[mre777]

very nice! love that big slot on top for some unexplained reason.

That's the hole for the screen on the DNA 20

 

[metropolitan]

i like that all the bolts and knobs sticking out of it are functional, not just a decorative bolt sticking out.

 

[bapgood]

Awesome job!!! Looks great....Thor's hammer forged in steampunk

 

[mre777]

Thanks man, it was a pita to finally get get everything inside such a small space but I am very happy with the way it turned out. I am already thinking about the next one I'm going to make The DNA20 is an awesome board, I just wish the screen was a little easier to work with.

 

[gravewolf]

Groovy! I really love the look of this mod. The screws at the side add more character and the gears look just right.

 

[asdaq]

Great job indeed mre. Could you loosen up 12 screws please so we can get a look of the insides? Particularly the button side.

 

[mre777]

Great job indeed mre. Could you loosen up 12 screws please so we can get a look of the insides? Particularly the button side.

Ok well I opened her back up but I don't want to pull it apart anymore then that because it was really tuff to get it all in there right
I hope you can see from the pics that all I used was the standard tact switch like these and I took some 5/32 brass bar stock cut it to size and epoxied it to the back side of the switch. When you push on the brass the button pushed against the battery. I basicaly did the same for the fire button but I used a 12mm tact switch and epoxied a nut to it so the bolt can screw in from the front. You can't see it but I use a piece of electrical tape over the board to isolated it from the brass side plate.

 

[asdaq]

Clever idea with reversing the switch like that to get more surface area, that does look pretty full indeed, especially with a delicate ribbon cable.

 

[mre777]

Thanks, I have a ton of these switches and I was happy to find a way to use them that didn't look like everyone else's. The cool thing about this method is that you can make the actuator any length or shape.

 

[bapgood]

I agree the switch is clever....I will have to remember that.

 

[alekos557]

Very sweet!!

 

[breaktru]

Super job mre.

 

[westy78]

Well done, mre. I just love seeing all the creativity on this forum!

 

[mre777]

An update on the hammer, the DNA is still going strong and it has been my go-to mod for a while now. I did a little etching to the brass side plates, their still shiny and polished right now and I'm waiting to see how it looks as the patina develops

 

[asdaq]

Nicely done, it is like a window to the innards. I miss the domed slotted screws though, hex bolts seem rather 'high tech', and they have more sharp edges to catch on your hand.

 

[mre777]

They actually have a smaller profile then the domed screws. The brass of the screws was so soft that after tightening them down they tended to have little burs that would scratch my hand a little, I had to file them down. The hex bolts heads are smaller and sit tighter to the plate keeping them out of the way and from a distance they almost look like rivets.