Dead Space 211-V Plasma Cutter

Congratulations on your purchase of a Schofield Tools 211-V Directed Energy Plasma Cutter! The 211-V combines power and reliability in a portable form factor, allowing for one-handed operation.

The Plasma Cutter delivers a cohesive pulse-stream, or "bolt", of ionized plasma when fired. It is capable of firing bolts vertically (primary firing mode) and horizontally (secondary firing mode). The Plasma Cutter is very accurate, utilizing three blue lasers to indicate the desired cutting plane.

On impact with the target, bolt cohesion fails frontward first, penetrating the target with a focused jet of superheated matter. This causes intense localized shear effects as well as a tunnelling thermal expansion. When used upon brittle, frozen rocks riddled with faults, it can split them open in one or two shots in skilled hands. Against pliable targets, however, impact will cause minimal damage and thermal expansion will not so much cut as stress the area around the impact site, sometimes requiring several consecutive hits with the non-upgraded tool. Still, when presented with a less than effective alternative against dense organic matter, the 211-V Plasma Cutter retains its utility.

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Video: https://youtu.be/oI-qG2dK5ow
Instructables build guide: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dead-Space-Schofield-Tools-211-V-Plasma-Cutter/

I've probably spent hundreds of hours on this - I originally made it for a costume in 2014 but it was a very rough design and some of the moving parts were unreliable. This year I've decided to revive it, clean it up, make it durable, and add some extra features.

The Plasma Cutter features a rotating front barrel capable of mounting either three lasers, or for a cosplay-safe version, three LEDs. The LEDs take up considerably less space which enabled me to design a mechanism to extend the 'fins' on the front of the cutter, making it more game-accurate. The actual movement of the fins in-game can only be described as 'physics defying' as they move through parts of the model, but extending the fins IRL still looks damn cool!

Most of the design is my own, but I borrowed and modified the grip from this Seburo M5: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:175053, and this rack and pinion: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:21206