So I'm not at the point that I wanted to be right now, but I'm still hard at work on completing the Zero-G chamber and have a small update to share.
I'm afraid that my lack of experience in fabrication is what's holding things up at this point. That, and my crazy brain that keeps coming up with new ideas. The latest challenge has been getting the shelves into the chamber so that I can test the drive and pump mounts.
To begin, I need to state that the design of the Zero Gravity Chamber has changed a little. The reason for this is because I've decided to spotlight it in this build by making the front panel of the case retractable--allowing one to see inside the chamber even after it's installed in the case. I'll have more cad drawings on this later to better illustrate the idea, but for now, just picture the front panel as a door that swings open allowing open access to the Zero-G chamber.
Since I've decided to spotlight the chamber internals, I wanted to make them more attractive/innovative. And to do this, I believe that plexiglass will do the trick a lot better than metal shelving. It will also, from certain angles, give off the appearance that the components are weightless--even when looking at them from inside the chamber (I have photos below to illustrate what I mean.) In addition to using plexiglass for the shelving and drive mounts, I've decided to light the inside of the chamber with a softbox. This will give it a nice, even glow effect on the inside and help highlight the components.
A quick personal note -- Sometimes I wish that all these crazy ideas in my head would automatically materialize. Because the building part is much, MUCH more difficult. I know this, and I don't want to get too carried away with design changes so that I'm stuck in an endless circle (like a galaxy vortex?), but I'm pouring my heart and soul into this build and don't want to have any regrets later.
So if you made it through all that babbling, here are some updated CAD drawings to illustrate the new effects.
The entire inside will be made of plexiglass--at least that's the idea. I plan to experiment with some different adhesives such as epoxy to see how clean a bond I can make with the plexi, because I don't want something that's going to be messy since I'll be showing it off.
I don't know yet how well this is going to work; I may end up going back to metal shelves or metal brackets, or both. But I'm going to try this and see how well it works.
Here are some actual shots of the effect it will have on the pumps using a shelf of plexi that's been cut to size:
You should be able to see through the shelves into the very bottom of the chamber. And at the bottom, I plan to add an additional effect later.
I'm afraid that's all I have for now. I was hoping to have a little more to share by this point, but I'll continue work and will hopefully have the chamber finished soon.
Thanks for checking in!