UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that I had uploaded the wrong body files - they were too large. This Thing has now been updated with V2 body files that are the correct size for the rest of the parts. My apologies to anyone who grabbed the earlier files.
This is a very slightly interactive prop of the Commlock communications and door pass device from the 1970s Gerry Anderson show, Space:1999. I recently got caught up in a Space:1999 stun gun project, so making a Commlock was the next obvious choice!
It's designed to be printed in multiple filament colours and then glued together, rather than being painted. I used the following colours:
- Matte Light Khaki for the body
- Shiny Silver for the various silver parts - buttons, speaker grille, the clip
- Black for the keypad and other buttons
- White, Red, and Green for the various surface buttons
- Space Grey for the linkers and the screen hood
- Clear for the screen - I printed the screen with concentric skin and gyroid infill to give it a slightly more 'screeny' effect.
The various buttons, and other surface detail, should be glued into the appropriate depressions on the body - refer to the attached photos for the correct locations.
It is also designed to have the screen light up using a simple LED setup. This is why the larger linker part is so long - that should only be glued to the top of the body, and then the top and mid body slide fit, so the unit can be taken apart to get at batteries and such held inside.
The electronics are extremely simple:
- 1x 6mm x 6mm x 9mm tall momentary switch
- 3x 3v white flickering LEDs wired in parallel
- 1x 3v CR2032 battery and battery holder
The circuit is assembled as follows:
- Add leads to the LEDs and feed them through the holes in the LED holder - in the end I lay the LEDs sideways so as to reduce the bright spots on the screen, but see what you think. Then glue the LED holder into the top body - do this before adding the switch.
- See the attached photos that might help explain all this (and in case you are worried about all the gunk in there, I'm using superglue and baking soda to get those joints extra strong - it's not pretty but it works).
- Solder the bundle of +ve LED leads directly to the +ve of the battery holder, and run the -ve LED leads through the momentary switch and back to -ve of the battery holder (I'm not even sure this counts as 'electronics'...)
- I chose flickering LEDs just to give a bit of character to the screen when it is lit. No need for resistors on these white LEDs as their forward voltage is 3V - if you decide to go for a different colour, you might want to add appropriate resistors.
- The switch should be assembled before being glued into the body.
- Solder leads to the lil' momentary switch, and then glue the base of this switch to the L-shaped bracket
- Glue the top peg of the momentary switch into the hole in the silver cap - but you might want to hold off on the gluing until you have done a test fit - see below.
- Then put the assembled switch into the top body, there should be enough wriggle room to get the silver cap through the hole in the body, and then click the bracket into the depression in the body.
- Glue both ends of the bracket to the body.
- Again see the attached photos and TinkerCAD screenshots to help explain this.
- NOTE: When all this is assembled in the body, the switch must have enough free space to depress - if you find it's too tight, file a bit off the length of the momentary switch peg to give a bit more room.
If you don't fancy breaking out the soldering iron, just glue the silver switch cap into the hole in the top of the body, and you are all good.
The translucent screen should be glued to the back of the screen hood, there are no alignment marks, but it should be centred over the aperture. When that has set, the hood can be glued to the top of the body - the screen will help centre the hood.
I've also included PDFs for the various decals. I printed them out on an inkjet, laminated them, and then cut them to size. I applied them with double-sided tape.
And yes, the font on the keypad is not correct, but I don't know what the actual font used on the prop was - so if anyone does know, do please let me know!
jayembee67
