Arc Reactor - MARK I

I believe there isn't any other character in the entertainment industry that as inspiring, amazing and one that has a sort of a role model influence on us young engineers as Tony Stark - Iron Man.

For that reason I decided to make some kind of a tribute to this character and what it represents. In the end there was almost no other choice than the Arc Reactor and the most iconic of them all is Mark I.

So I hope you enjoy the walkthrough and get some ideas yourself. I'll try to make it as concise as possible if some of you try to make one for yourself - just remember "Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave...with a box of scraps" ;)

Supplies:

- 3D printer and appropriate software

- 3D models: STL files link: https://ufile.io/f/08oxs

- 3D printing fillament (PLA and TPU)

- Sandpaper approximately 100 grit

- Spray primer and matte spray paint

- LED strip and round LED from a lamp for example

- Basic electronic and engineering tools

I designed the base plate in Solidworks. My reference was the "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart" base, but I wanted to add some additional touches so I inscribed his famous response to Captain Rogers in Avengers.

For the arc reactor model I used a model that was an exact copy from Thingiverse. And scaled it appropriately.

After a couple of days the parts were finished.

After printing it was time to remove some excess material and stringing (use lighter and some cable cutters).

Then there comes the sanding part. You can use some 100 grit sanding paper for example to even the surfaces.

When basic processing is done you can start the paint job. I used primer and spray paint (steel and matte black), to make sure the paint is evenly distributed use 3 thin layers. I also painted the text with black so it stands out more.

For the glowy parts I had to use some thin and transparent material. I used TPU fillament that is also flexible and more manipulative, which came in hand when installing LED lights into the parts.

After some tries I made a final version of a ring with 1mm thick walls and hollow interior. The base was printed with very low infill percentage, because I planed to cut out the inside to put the light in.

First thing to do was to cut the two parts in the places that won't show, luckily I used flexible material so this wasn't a big problem. I just cut the bottom of a ring on an inner circle. And with the base part I cut the whole bottom side and removed thin inner walls.

Then I inserted LED strip plus some basic wire LEDs into the ring and the round LEDs, which I took from a small magnetic lamp. When it all came together nicely I glued it in place.

After ring lighting was complete it was time to wind the coils and what a time it was. I spent hours to find the best length of a 0,7 mm copper wire and when I found it (circa 2 meters), I cut 10 exact pieces to start winding. My advice is: just don't give up.

Finally it was time to put everything together!

Firstly I assembled the Arc Reactor and glued all the moving parts, plus added 3 black screws on top.

Then I put the wires through the base plate, in which I made a hole just for this purpose, and hooked all lights to the batteries below the plate - again I made an empty,hollow space in the base plate for this purpose.

The last step was to attach the Arc Reactor to the base plate's stand.

Et voila!

And here is the final product. I was really suprised and exited to see how it turned out. I hope you got some ideas of your own and enjoyed this presentation.

Steve Rogers: "Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?", Tony Stark: "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."