Battlezone Modeling

[Red Devil]

Oh, don't pay this guy any mind.  He's been going on about how he's the real Avatar for years now.  Poor fellow...he must have bailed out one too many times...

[TheWall]

well ya BUMBLER, get me some of that BZ stuff in .3DS file format, and shiz-tuff might just start happenin' ya never know. Can't make promises if/when it'd get done, but you'd be dole'ing out this stuff to the same guy that made a RL BZ-Pilot suit, who's lookin for something "interesting" to use those dust collectors in the basement for...

Don't know if I have enough around, if not I might have access to some.... but I've got bronze, and when it polished up it looks an awful lot like GOLD... might be special to have a GOLD GRIZ.... or even one of 'dem Razors...

SAMPLE (of a small piece I made out of that Bronze)

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af281/kmckenn_bucket/EMCO%20Mill-Lathe/Coke.jpg

[AHadley]

You have a CNC in your basement?

John Cleese all the way through.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

well ya BUMBLER, get me some of that BZ stuff in .3DS file format, and shiz-tuff might just start happenin' ya never know. Can't make promises if/when it'd get done, but you'd be dole'ing out this stuff to the same guy that made a RL BZ-Pilot suit, who's lookin for something "interesting" to use those dust collectors in the basement for...

Don't know if I have enough around, if not I might have access to some.... but I've got bronze, and when it polished up it looks an awful lot like GOLD... might be special to have a GOLD GRIZ.... or even one of 'dem Razors...

Or fanboy keychain do-dads. . .  



Yea, Blackdragon, I have em all.

[Nielk1]

* Nielk1 pictures Battlezone Monopoly pieces.

[General BlackDragon]

Pimpin model.

Hey BFT, if you ever make the chinese "Yeti" tank, I want the model

[ssuser]

Ohhh, I want that keychain... that's what I'm talking about. Remember the little Tonka trucks, the metal ones that came separately and in sets, with the bulldozers, payloaders and such? If you could make the models in just that size, they'd would be perfect. I'm not sure how you could do the original colors - paint might look cheesy on plastic - but you could use decals for the detailing.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Wall. . .without researching it, I don't know the proper term, but what's the resolution ability of your CRC machine?  Or how intricate or detailed can you cut?

[Avatar]

That coke bottle is tiny, and has the vertical divots in it the bottle does, and the coca-cola is raised lettering, so it looks fairly decent resolution-wise.  I'm not sure any CNC will do the little grooves and things in that keychain model but I'd chew them into it to have such a thing...  

Awesome...  I would of course provide my own stock...  and while I mentioned aluminum earlier I'm now thinking ferrous, with a trick magnetic stand.

After all, they're HOVER tanks, right?  What kind of awesome desk display would that make, a Grizzly hovering over the stand???   Ack, I gave myself chills...

-Av-

OK, this is driving me nuts.  Let's say Wally can kick out a decent Grizzly model...  How many of us would actually put up the money for the stock and/or his time/trouble? 

Looks like finding material for sale on the internet isn't really easy, but I did find:

http://www.rigidfoammachining.com/carving-foam.html

They show a block of their maximum density foam that's 16" x 24" x 4" @ $79.50 USD.  Seems to me that would make a bunch of Grizzlies...    4" tall is a good sized table model, or tall enough for a bunch of keychains...

Wally, if you're serious about this and could make me a bunch of toys to enjoy in my senility I'll order the materials and have them shipped to you.  I'd prefer something along the lines of styrene as I have a ton of experience with it, it's easy to paint and add pieces to...   Then again doing them in metal would be awesome AND make for a good master for vacumn forming or molding.

I'm starting to picture a little remote controlled Golem wandering around, maybe with that Dinosaur Toy innards in it that lets it guard...  swap out the sounds for "MOOOOVING" and "CRUSSSHHHING ENEMY"...   

-Av-

[General BlackDragon]

Well, I would make it out of something magnetic, and make a nice ringed magnet stand. Designed so that the tank is held in place/over the air by a slanted (like a satellite dish) base magnet. Literally hovering over the air.

[TheWall]

I can't remember what the resolution of the machine is... all I remember is, that when I did see it, it was not a concern, something like .01mm I think... 3 three-thousandths. BUT that being said, I think the bigger issue is.... Tooling size, smallest practical radius I have encountered is .0075" and thats rare... the most common smallest radius is .015625" or .03125 (1/32") diameter. THEN the most reasonable way to use a tool tip that small is to have a taper on it of about 15 degrees. .031 dia ball nose tools can be used on a straight tip, but they get pretty brittle in carbide. THEN the next biggest factor is when you get to tooling that small in dia. a LOT of RPM ("speed") (IE - Dremel like speed) 30K +/-5K is best. SLOWER can be used, but the feed rate rate needs to slow proportionately.... the present max RPM of the spindle is about 1/10th of that @ 3500 RPM. I've already drawn up some plans to make a homemade spindle multiplier, but that project is just about as far along as the tanks are

BOTTOM line, size of the tool tip is the biggest factor, and that is realistically limited to about .031" dia, and ideally with a 15 degree taper for strength to the tip (if its being cut in a hard material). First time looking at it in detail, to most people, it would look like .031" dia ball nose tool would not provide enough detail, but the truth is, there is little out there that is done with smaller.

The Coca-Cola decoration was cut with a .062" dia tool, and is not as good as it could/should be. And as a reference, the Coke bottle is about the size of the last to knuckles on the average guys little finger (mine).

------------------------------------------ EDIT ------------------------------------------

Just looked it up, and the machine resolution is 0.5 micro-meters.... or... 0.5 micrometer = 0.000 01968 inch.

And, if any sort of quantity is a target, SOME SORT moulding is the way to go. THEN the BIGGGGggg decisions come in (that I am not so good at) as to what material and method is best to use. OTHER things to consider, the type of mould, how many parts (2 part, split is most common), AND access to the cavity being made from the direction of the tooling.

And, ya... I do have an interest in doing something like this. I'm presently one of the ecconomies statistics, so I do have more than average time at my disposal, although I try to do something that feels productive (making BZ ICONS? figuratively speaking;-))

There is a capacity here to make these cyber objects "REAL" objects. Someone needs to pop me some BZ geometry so I can play with it!

[VSMIT]

OK, this is driving me nuts.  Let's say Wally can kick out a decent Grizzly model...  How many of us would actually put up the money for the stock and/or his time/trouble?

I would.  I'd really like to have a model Grizzly.

[TheWall]

If ya really wanna drive yourself nuts on "limited run" models..................

http://www.freemansupply.com/video.htm

Browse around the site... but don't do it unless you have time, and visine.

***********************************************

More info on my mill... its 3 Axis X, Y, Z with the spindle oriented like a drill-press. The Maximum work envelope/machine travel is 190mm(7.48") x 125mm(4.92") x 190mm(7.48") So that gives you a little bit of an idea of how the tooling would approach a piece.... imagine trying to cut a piece sitting on a drill-press table with the spindle of a drill-press. Anything more than that takes fixture planning, machining strategies, and what or what NOT is a reasonable compromise in the desired detail.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Well. . .my thoughts were that it might be easier to just run them through a milling type process, (Like your setup) instead of a 'limited run' involving some added injection mold process, since the BZ and BZ2 remaining community is extremely small.  Also, exposing something like this through email archives could get out of hand.

I mean, I was thinking very small numbers. . .8-16, certainly no more than 30. . . especially if you used a 'nicer' metal like brass, silver or even lower-gold.  But of course there would certainly be a deposit 

But . .anyway. . .my thoughts of a small key chain "charm" would be a badge of remembrance if nothing else. Many of us have a few dozen hours playing BZ/BZ2/BZE  so a little reminder of that chunk of your life won't be forgotten. 

[TheWall]

(trying to model a Griz "right now" from in game screen snap-shots, which means a WHOLE lot of BEST GUESSES... sure would like to have a 3DS file........................ )