Art Asylum Rebuilding, Part 2
Okay gang, it's time to dissect the P1. Our goal here is to gut it, make a few
modifications, and get it ready for sanding.
Tools Needed:
If you haven't already, you might want to get some kind of plastic parts organizer to
keep things straight. When you're finished with this section, you'll be left with just the
major pieces in hand - the P1 and P2 halves - getting them ready for grinding and
sanding. Most of the rest of the parts will be unneeded for quite some time, so find a
safe place for them.
Here we have a fine specimen of an Art Asylum Phaser 1. The biggest thing we're
going to accomplish here is the filling of the try-me slot. Then we're going to cut out that
molded-in plastic emitter.
Flip it over on its back and remove the battery door and batteries (already removed in
this pic). Throw the batteries away - we'll be replacing them later on.
Remove the other two screws:
Now, separate the halves. Start at the front and gently pry them apart as shown. You
can already see that that P1 has a lot of stuff crammed into it:
Lay it open now. Pretty much everything that makes the AA operate is located here
inside the P1. No wonder it's crowded! We're going to be adding some features to the
completed phaser but they'll all be inside the P2 body.
Go ahead and remove the seven screws - the three holding the top plate in and the
four holding the circuit board in. Also remove the big one holding the speaker in.
As you pull the board out, snip the black wire flush with the metal connectors. Leave as
much as possible on the Red wire, though. There's a reason for this, but you'll hafta
wait a while to find out....
Pry out the battery connectors. We're going to remove as much metal as possible.
These parts are going to be under a lot of running water later, so we want to prevent
rust.
Everything's separated now. All we're going to need to work with for the next good while
will be the top and bottom halves of the P1 - so go ahead and put everything else in a
safe place.
Now that all the small parts are out of the way, it's time for Surgery. Using the molded-on
side rail as a guide, scribe the top of the tab as shown. Use the back of the blade.
Whatever you do, do not give in to the temptation to slice it. Practice this trick - we'll be
using it a lot later. You want to go almost all the way thru the tab....
....and snap it off. Do not throw this away!
Rough up the front of the tab, and the front 'wall' of the slot. You want to give the CA
something to 'bite'.
BUT, before we glue the tab in, get that 1/4" bit. Don't be tempted to use a standard
1/4" bit... the point on the wood bit makes it self-index beautifully.
Stick the point into the P1's molded-in emitter and drill away. You want to drill it all out
and go in about 1mm deep but you don't want to drill all the way through. Also, you may
end up with a small burr as shown - but don't sweat it.
NOW we're going to glue the tab in! The drilling step was decidedly non-delicate, so I
didn't want to take a chance on breaking it back off.
Attach it as shown. Notice that it's not big enough to fill in the whole slot... make sure the
top edge is flush. A little careful work here will save many headaches later on. Trust me
on this.
It's time for the old CA-and-baking-Soda trick. (Thank You, John Long!)
Dribble CA into the gaps as shown. Don't worry if you don't get the whole thing filled in.
Hurry and dust the area with baking soda. The CA will only absorb so much, so you
can't overdo it.
You may need to do it more than once to get the whole gap filled. Remember, glue
THEN soda.
Do the same trick on the inside....
Now to finish up, let's reinforce the inside with JBWeld. The LAST thing you want to see
is a crack appearing in the joint right after you lay the final clear coat to the piece!
(Been there, done that!)
Let it cure. Thoroughly.
Next time we'll be working over the P1 and P2 bodies. Tutorial-wise, it'll probably only
be one section (I think), but it will be the most laborious and time-consuming part of the
rebuild.
Whenever you're ready, go on a scavenger hunt to Lowe's or Home Depot.
You will need:
There'll be more odds and ends that you'll need but I'll write them down as I go. The list
above is the big stuff. Also, you may want one of my nozzle mounting plates. I have a
bunch of them for a very reasonable price each. It'll save you having to buy five buck's
worth of sheet plastic, two sizes brass tubing, and a drill bit if you get one.
Till then!
Dave
Okay gang, it's time to dissect the P1. Our goal here is to gut it, make a few
modifications, and get it ready for sanding.
Tools Needed:
- One Philips Screwdriver
- One pair wire nippers
- Small flat-bladed screwdriver
- One X-Acto knife (or similar)
- One 1/4 inch 'flat' drill bit
- JB Weld (NOT the Quik-Weld... that's a fine product but the standard works better
on what we're doing here.) - Loctite brand standard CA (super glue)
- Baking soda
- File
If you haven't already, you might want to get some kind of plastic parts organizer to
keep things straight. When you're finished with this section, you'll be left with just the
major pieces in hand - the P1 and P2 halves - getting them ready for grinding and
sanding. Most of the rest of the parts will be unneeded for quite some time, so find a
safe place for them.
Here we have a fine specimen of an Art Asylum Phaser 1. The biggest thing we're
going to accomplish here is the filling of the try-me slot. Then we're going to cut out that
molded-in plastic emitter.
Flip it over on its back and remove the battery door and batteries (already removed in
this pic). Throw the batteries away - we'll be replacing them later on.
Remove the other two screws:
Now, separate the halves. Start at the front and gently pry them apart as shown. You
can already see that that P1 has a lot of stuff crammed into it:
Lay it open now. Pretty much everything that makes the AA operate is located here
inside the P1. No wonder it's crowded! We're going to be adding some features to the
completed phaser but they'll all be inside the P2 body.
Go ahead and remove the seven screws - the three holding the top plate in and the
four holding the circuit board in. Also remove the big one holding the speaker in.
As you pull the board out, snip the black wire flush with the metal connectors. Leave as
much as possible on the Red wire, though. There's a reason for this, but you'll hafta
wait a while to find out....
Pry out the battery connectors. We're going to remove as much metal as possible.
These parts are going to be under a lot of running water later, so we want to prevent
rust.
Everything's separated now. All we're going to need to work with for the next good while
will be the top and bottom halves of the P1 - so go ahead and put everything else in a
safe place.
Now that all the small parts are out of the way, it's time for Surgery. Using the molded-on
side rail as a guide, scribe the top of the tab as shown. Use the back of the blade.
Whatever you do, do not give in to the temptation to slice it. Practice this trick - we'll be
using it a lot later. You want to go almost all the way thru the tab....
....and snap it off. Do not throw this away!
Rough up the front of the tab, and the front 'wall' of the slot. You want to give the CA
something to 'bite'.
BUT, before we glue the tab in, get that 1/4" bit. Don't be tempted to use a standard
1/4" bit... the point on the wood bit makes it self-index beautifully.
Stick the point into the P1's molded-in emitter and drill away. You want to drill it all out
and go in about 1mm deep but you don't want to drill all the way through. Also, you may
end up with a small burr as shown - but don't sweat it.
NOW we're going to glue the tab in! The drilling step was decidedly non-delicate, so I
didn't want to take a chance on breaking it back off.
Attach it as shown. Notice that it's not big enough to fill in the whole slot... make sure the
top edge is flush. A little careful work here will save many headaches later on. Trust me
on this.
It's time for the old CA-and-baking-Soda trick. (Thank You, John Long!)
Dribble CA into the gaps as shown. Don't worry if you don't get the whole thing filled in.
Hurry and dust the area with baking soda. The CA will only absorb so much, so you
can't overdo it.
You may need to do it more than once to get the whole gap filled. Remember, glue
THEN soda.
Do the same trick on the inside....
Now to finish up, let's reinforce the inside with JBWeld. The LAST thing you want to see
is a crack appearing in the joint right after you lay the final clear coat to the piece!
(Been there, done that!)
Let it cure. Thoroughly.
Next time we'll be working over the P1 and P2 bodies. Tutorial-wise, it'll probably only
be one section (I think), but it will be the most laborious and time-consuming part of the
rebuild.
Whenever you're ready, go on a scavenger hunt to Lowe's or Home Depot.
You will need:
- A Mouse Sander
- Varying grits of sandpaper for said Sander - 80, 120, 220, etc.
- Sanding block(s), the black rubber kind that's ~3 inches wide
- Varying grits sandpaper for said block(s) *MUST be Wet/Dry!
- Dremel tool
- Cutoff wheels (Fiber-reinforced are better and safer) and sanding drums for said
Dremel
There'll be more odds and ends that you'll need but I'll write them down as I go. The list
above is the big stuff. Also, you may want one of my nozzle mounting plates. I have a
bunch of them for a very reasonable price each. It'll save you having to buy five buck's
worth of sheet plastic, two sizes brass tubing, and a drill bit if you get one.
Till then!
Dave
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