Prometheus Data Cube.

how i made a Data cube from the movie prometheus,


I did a quick prop make while i was waiting for supplies to arrive for another prop i was making so i decided to make the data cube from the film Prometheus.

here is how i did it.

Materials.

1mm styrene or something similar.
2mm or 3mm clear plastics. i used acrylic. if you can find frost plastic it would be great.
glass frost spray paint. if you can find frosted plastic you dont need this.
spray paint in general, plastic primer, under coat and a silver grey for the finish.
 3mm warm orange LEDs the correct resistors for the LED
wires and battery clips.
small press on press off switch.

Tools.

cutting tools. ie hacksaw, knife etc.
i had access to a laser cutter but if you dont you can use many online services that will cut your files then post them to you.
files and sand paper.
plastic glues. (solvents are dangerous please take care and follow all instructions on the glue)
epoxies, super glue any thing you like. personal preference, what you feel most comfortable with is best.

soldering iron and flux.

The first thing to do is to work out how large you want to make your cube.

i made mine 64mm square as i neded to fit all the electronics inside the cube, i didnt want any cables or batteries out side.

make some plans/blueprints

draw a square 64mmx64mm

the pannels are 20mm square and are 1mm spaced apart.

then draw all the sides and base ect.

the tricky part here is to make sure you take into account the thickness of your clear plastic. mine was 2mm thick so from the top of all the sides i took 2mm off.

then on one edge of all the sides i took 2mm off. but be sure to keep the pannel layout the same and in place. (some will have parts cut off but that doesnt matter they are just there for guides.

the bottom side has 2mm taken off on all four sides.

draw a Square in the center where the button will be. and also on the front side draw a square on the middle righ panel these will be cut through the the main body.

i then took some reference photos from the web to work out what the top buttons symbols were. and drew them out on a 20mm square.

also the emmiter on the front side was made with one squre of 20mm and two small triangles to tilt it out. i just eye balled this to make it look right, and then a little rectangle sized to the width ot the short side of the triangle and the width of the panel cut out but dont forget the thickness of the two triangles. so if the pannel is 20mm and the thickness of the plastic is 2mm you have to take 4mm off for the two triangles.


Get all this cut out. either on a laser cutter or by hand if you are acurate at using saws etc. BE CAREFULL!

when you have all your parts cut you need to create the main cube.

Glue all the sides together, but dont gle the bottom on in place.

then assemble the emmiter section of the cube, and attach it to the hole in the front side.

i tested the placement of the top pannels. (dont glue them on yet)

Spray the main clear cube with the glass frost spray, inside and out, give it time to dry and then give the ouside a second coat.

dont forget to spray the bottom panel as well.

Then plastic prime all the styreene 20mm planels and once they are dry give them a coat of the silver grey.

spray the center button of the cube a darker colour, i chose a gloss black. (as thats what i had to hand.)

i then masked the main frosted cube and left just the edges exposed so when i sprayed it with the grey silver it would block out the light coming from the LEDs inside.

then take all the silver grey panels and glue them onto the frosted cube. make sure to leave a 1mm gap between all of them.

also make sure you orientate the detail panels facing the emmiter on the front of the box.

start with the top and work your way round, only when the top has dried move on as you dont want them to move while glueing the other side.

on the bottom pannel the silver parts will over lap off the edge of the frosted panel. this is because we took 2mm off each side. this will act as a way to stop the bottom panel falling into the main box.

Wire up three LEDs with the correct resistor to the press switch and the battery clip.

mount the press switch to the rear of the black center button and then placed the switch on a square of clear plastic,then glue it inside the cube so the black button sits inside the hole on the top of the cube, this will be how the lights are turned on and off.

Glue one led in the emmiter and one on each side of the cube.

place the battery inside and then put the bottom planel on the cube and you are ready for the first lighting.