Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials 27 October 2015
I've completed the red and blue Pym vials in bronze. Bronze is similar to brass at first glance, but it is over time that its properties shine. If I get around to building a box to hold them, I will post it.
I could build it as a presentation from Dr. Hank Pym to someone worthy... me. I'll laugh about that all day.
Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials 18 October 2015
Here is my first vial with red colored Pym particles. The caps fit to the ends of the tube with a very tight fit - so tight that, due to the pressure generated, I was not able to glue the ends on with the Pym particles in place. So I drilled and tapped an 8-32 hole in the bottom and installed a stainless steel setscrew. This also allows the color to be changed.
Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials
My prototype vial was very primitive by comparison with the four I machined today. Here is one with blue Pym particles. This vial has nice crisp lines.
Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials 17 October 2015
I saw a set of these being built for sale on therpf.com and decided to take a whack at a set of my own. I obtained several 12" 3/4" OD clear acrylic tubes with a 1/2" ID - perfect for these vials. I cut four tubes out of the long tube and prepared a piece of brass for the end caps. The movie has aluminum or steel caps, so I will make a few in one or the other. Here is the first 30 minutes of machining; two of the tubes are not shown. The single brass rod has holes bored in to match the ends of the tubes, and will be cut in half after I cut in the grooves etc.
18 October 2015 Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials
I pounded out a sample.
19 October 2015 Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials
A detail photo of the cap being machined. I decided to make a few of these things as I have a lot of brass rod and acrylic tube on hand. That is a 1/16" ball cutter.
20 October 2015 Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials
I had a few hours to play in the shop, so I pounded out a few caps for the vials. This is really fun machining - no complex issues to resolve; no precise anything. Just machining it. I am not happy with colored water, so I am going to try denatured alcohol. If I were to bore the hole at 1/4", these caps would make really nice control knobs for a home brew stereo amplifier.
I think my face is getting lopsided... Must be from using Facebook too much. Another trick the millennials are pulling on the boomer gen. Can you guess which picture is from the movie?
23 October 2015 Ant-Man Pym Particle Vials
This build is about done. I have just completed the machining on a pair of vials with bronze end caps instead of brass. What a difference... I'll post the pictures on the top of this page when I get them glued up and after I have synthesized another batch of Pym particles. I have refined the process for blue and red, so all is good.
Just a comment on bronze Vs brass - if you do not know the difference between the two, let me tell you that it is subtle and yet profound. The color, luster and the way bronze ages is far superior. I'm using silicon bronze.
24 June 2018
I made this one today using saturated copper (II) sulfate. I added extra and let it form nice blue crystals - so I'm calling the crystals the particles. The next few I build, as gifts for some students, will have methyl red as the colorant. Methyl red is quite a bit more light-stable than food color.
25 July 2019
I decided to add a couple of silicone O-rings to better seal the caps. And the methyl red dye is attacking the epoxy. The seals should shield the epoxy from harm.
I decided to add a couple of silicone O-rings to better seal the caps. And the methyl red dye is attacking the epoxy. The seals should shield the epoxy from harm.