MSRaynsford

In the near future I'm going to be doing a few more cyberpunk events so while it's probably a neon dystopia these things all share the same issues. Techno gadgets need to glow/flash/move or other things for a whole weekend in a place where access to electricity may be limited and changing batteries round all the time can be a pain. I've recently picked up several of these USB powerbanks from Poundland  (worth noting that they are £2). The teardown review was relatively positive so I thought it was worth a try. The first blinky LED project I've got running on it has currently been going for 48 hours non stop so I've made the decision to build one of these into the project rather than AA batteries (project details in due course). It's always worth designing with low power in mind and there are a whole bunch of tricks you can do to reduce the power consumption but I'm looking forward to getting these into projects.

EMF Camp always throws up lots of interesting opportunities and discussions. Apparently in the world of DIY cosmetics there is a shortage of presses for powder compacts. I laser cut a few samples from my acrylic off cuts with varying 'gap' sizes between the tin and the press. The downside to EMF is that I have no idea if these were actually any good for purpose but it was an interesting morning and discussion anyway.

One of the EMF projects that didn't make it to completion were these edge lit badges. It uses a similar technique to my own EMF badge  (black spray paint over fluorescent perspex) except this time the UV led and coin cell is built into the badge. The reason it didn't get to completion is because the led needs a hole all the way through the badge but the LED has to be covered otherwise the eye can't see the subtle fluorescing (the LED is too bright). The prototype used a piece of black tape but it's not exactly an elegant solution. I also tried to cut the whole first, then engraved through a black label over placed over the whole thing but I couldn't get it to cut clean enough.

I made a lot of different fluorescent coloured badge cases for EMF camp this year, I always like to keep some of the rarer materials for special people. I made these badge cases for the core team working on the Cybar installation. It's fluorescent orange perspex which has been sprayed with black acrylic paint. The laser then cuts through the paint and into the material so when the material shines under the UV lights the letters glow through the paint.

Photo by Sophie Garrett Saving my best for last were these signs that were mounted on the containers to indicate who was exhibiting inside them. They were engraved onto Fluorescent Acrylic so that the caught the UV lights positioned all around Cybar. My initial intention was to side light them with my own UV led strip but that didn't arrive in time so I was lucky that there was enough UV left to go round. The photographers clearly liked them too and there are some amazing shots floating round out there. Photo by Mitch Altman Photo by Phil Hutchinson There were 6 signs in all, I could swear I've seen a 'puzzle hunt' image somewhere and my own 'chop shop' sign which didn't fluoresce quite as much as the others due to it being blue.

Last on my list of big props for EMF Camp are these pair of central reservation barriers  they're quite common in cyberpunk street depictions so I thought it would be cool. More Sheets of MDF were cut down to the right sizes, a jig saw was used to cut out the end angles. The sides were reinforced with pallet wood to give it strength, in case people decided to sit on them. The Polybius logo was embossed on each side using a router with a 45 degree bit. The paint effects were achieved by applying successive layers of grey paints with a paint scraper rather than a paint brush. The darker colour around the base was spread using a rag and wiped down to blend with the greys. Obviously the orange Polybius was added using spray paint and a laser cut stencil.

In the many glass cabinets at Cyberdog were lots of laser cut acrylic bangles and spectacles. I thought it would be cool to make some of these things up at camp but in the end I spent the whole time cutting badge cases (literally 12 hours a day). I did make this one prototype though which somebody loved enough to take home again. The arms were bent using a hot air gun, although I have done 'off focus' laser bending before it's definitely quicker doing it this way.

Given that the Null Sector comprised of 10x 20ft shipping containers, there was a fair bit of scope for making some larger props to go in the area. A quick flick through google images  shows various scenes of neon lighting and roofscapes adorned with pipework and units. I had the idea to make some faux aircon boxes to mount around the camp. As you can see some of these units crept into the back of shots and proved to be quite useful to cover up the name plates on the sides of the containers.  Image by Sophie Garrett The basic box shapes were made from 6mm MDF straight from B&Q, I spent a good 20 mins their annoying everybody else who wanted sheets cutting down to size but it's generally easier to pay a bit more money per sheet and have someone else cut it down into chunks that A) Can be assembled immediately and B) fit in your car. Some additional holes were cut on the laser cutter, it's a bit sticky as materials go but if you need a tri pronged hole quick...

With my recent builds for EMF camp I had an opportunity to try some new weathering techniques. My skills are a bit lacking and there is lots of conflicting advice/techniques online and my time was short so I went straight to Eldritch  and Simon gave me some definitive answers on the subject of rust. I thought I'd write the info down here so that it can hopefully benefit someone else. You will need. White vinegar and salt, available from any supermarket and you probably already have them Hydrogen Peroxide , available online or I got mine from the Boots chemist. They were unsure they even stocked it so it may pay to be a bit persistent and ask them to actually check the drawers. You'll be asked why you want it but when you have a legitimate reason like this the conversations are always fun. Iron Powder , this is pre rust and not the same as Iron Oxide Powder (post rust). I bought 500g on ebay and now have about 450g left over.  Super glue, I opted for ...

I wanted my container to look like a workshop/shop and sleeping area. I visited Cyberdog  in Camden market and was quite taken with their rows of glass cabinets containing items for sale. Following on from David's assertion  that Ikea is the only store that survives into the cyberfuture I acquired myself some second hand Detolf cabinets . It turns out that flat packing and repacking cabinets is a bit of a pain and trying to transport 8 large glass panels in the back of a Luton van is a bit nerve wracking. The cabinets were packaged well with card and tied up to the railings to stop them falling over. They fit really well with the aesthetic and they served impeccably to display my kits for sale. With my newly installed cabinets came the need to create display stands, having a laser nearby solves those issues though. I built a quick stand to hold all 4 different fractal puzzles vertically within a cube and I built some small price tags (always a good indicat...

It's finally here, the files and the back panel for the EMF Camp badge 2018. That officially took too long to sort out after EMF but I used all my plastic up at the camp and it took me several days to reconnect my laser this year. So, now the excuses are out of the way, I have completed a back panel and stand offs to go between the two. This panel holds the battery down securely and protects the antennae. ( svg here )( dxf here )  I'll also put it on thingiverse

Once the semiotic standard was established and a few legends were scattered around the Cybar camp, it obviously made sense to put a few signs up on the containers. These were cut from Polypropylene and painted badly by hand (because it was faster than airbrushing). They only started to look like real signs once I had applied some rust effects and other weathering techniques. I'm particularly pleased of the rust and there will be more of that to come. Signs were scattered all around camp and after pointing them out to a few people they seemed to blend in too well, people kind of assumed they were part of the containers anyway, which I guess is a good thing. My favourite has to be the shots of the DJ booths in which you can clearly see the 'laser' sign on the doors just behind the DJ's. particularly apt given that they had nearly 100W of visible laser light amongst all of their machines. This photo was taken by Sophie Garrett  and she has lots of awesom...

During the build up to EMF Camp I was sent a hand drawing of the Semiotic Standard , a series of icons used in the Alien movies. I thought these were wonderful and I just had to draw them out in vector format so that we could do something with them. Of course if I had spent less time drawing and more time looking I would have found loads of people who had already done the same thing but at least I had fun.  Once I had recreated the whole thing digitally I had some glossy posters made for me by Braunston Print  (5 stars for quality and service). These posters were put up in strategic places around the container village to add to the overall set dressing. I almost forgot to share the file in case anyone else wants to use it ( svg here )