Materials question

Okay. We all know that PVC = BAD, but I have this idea:

This:


Does not, in ANY way look “Star Wars”. Now, Disney sells these “mouse droid” popcorn buckets at Galaxy’s Edge:

and the above charger will fit INSIDE it!

My problem is that there are vents all over the charger and the popcorn bucket is pretty solid. Enter Glowforge? I disassembled the popcorn bucket and the top and bottom will easily fit into a glowforge, and I happen to have an SVG of the specific vent pattern they use all over the Star Wars universe.

Jump back up to the first sentence… Can’t find much in the way of a materials listing for the thing. There are lots of OTHER plastics out there that would be safe to cut on the glowforge, but…

Anybody know of any way to find out what kind of plastic the thing is made from?

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Use the search tool to find “flame test” - that’s a way to test for laser-killing chlorine compounds. Even if the plastic bucket tests safe, expect a lot of testing to determine the appropriate setting needed.

You may find that your GF isn’t the best way to add ventilation to the droid.

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That’s what it was! I KNEW I’d seen something somewhere, but you reminded me…

“If the flame’s not green, the plastic’s clean!”

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Did the burn test, bright yellow. No green.

Decided not to risk it, so I cut holes with an oscillating saw then made vent covers with the Glowforge.


(Still-masked matte black acrylic)
I also decided to drill out the top of the “stacks” up top. More airflow can’t hurt.

Oh - and THEN I heard back from a friend at Disney. They’re made from polystyrene.

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Which is totally cuttable - but tends to melt, drip, and continue burning so yay for the saw :slight_smile:

Looking forward to seeing the final results!

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Here ya go…

Ugly power pack:

Not so ugly now:



(Warning stencils cut with Glowforge)

Plenty of ventilation.



(Vent design cut with Glowforge)

Tomorrow Amazon will deliver the plastic loom to make the wires look less like wires, and…

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Needed more weathering…



NOW it looks like it’s been sitting around a rebel base for a while…

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OMG LOVE!

(yes Discourse, that is a complete sentence)

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Amazon delivered, so I put the cable loom on:


…and even added a window so I can tell what the status LEDs are doing:

That’s ANOTHER idea I can chalk up as done…

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