DIY Iron Man Arc Reactor

Watching the Iron Man and Avengers movies, I was always interested in Iron Man's Arc Reactor which inspired me to pursue this project. I recreated the Arc Reactor using FDM and SLA 3D printers. The lights were made from NeoPixels and powered by an Arduino Nano.

I made this Arc Reactor as my SIDE project for my Principles of Engineering class. The tools, machines, and materials were provided by my engineering teacher, Ms. Berbawy. Throughout the process, I relied on an engineering notebook you can view sample of here:

Tools/Materials

3D Printer (Prusa MINI, Prusa i3 MK3S)

SLA Printer (Form 3+ Low Force Stereolithography 3D printer)

Clear Gorilla Glue

3D Modeling Software (Autodesk Fusion 360)

Soldering Station (Weller)

Silver Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint

Gold Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint

Copper Acrylic Paint

Parts

1x Adafruit NeoPixel Jewel

1x Adafruit NeoPixel Ring

1x Arduino Nano

Copper Wire

Protopasta Original Carbon Fiber Composite PLA

Any Colored PLA

Clear Resin (Formlabs Clear)

Jumper Wires

Heat shrink tubing

I referred to videos by Jetto Hobby and Plentiful Props 3D when beginning my CAD. Using their models for ideas, I then made my own pieces with custom measurements and modifications. The pieces pictured above are ordered from top to bottom. Between most of the cylindrical pieces, I used a tolerance of 0.075 cm, which allowed for a smooth fit.

For reference, the name of the pieces from the second image to the last are as follows: skeleton (image 2), fan holder (image 3), fan (image 4), lower reactor (image 5), pegs (image 6), middle reactor (image 7), upper reactor (image 8), hive piece (image 9), ring holders (image 10), rings (image 11), encircled ring (image 12), uppermost ring (image 13), and coil pieces (image 14).

The SLA pieces (uppermost ring, lower reactor, pegs, middle reactor, upper reactor, and ring holders) were printed on a Form 3+ Low Force Stereolithography 3D printer out of clear resin. For some of the pieces, I placed the print at an angle to decrease the amount of contact points that the supports have.

The skeleton, fan holder, encircled ring, and coil pieces were all printed in Protopasta Original Carbon Fiber Composite PLA. The fan, rings, and hive piece can be printed in any PLA filament. Their color doesn't matter because they will be painted.

After the prints were complete, I applied spray paint to the fan to give it an aluminum look. I also applied gold spray paint to the hive shaped-piece. The advantage of the spray paint was that it dried quickly and completely covered the piece. On the other hand, for the three rings, I used copper acrylic paint. This was time consuming as it required more effort to completely cover the pieces and for them to dry. I recommend any future makers to use copper spray paint instead.

I used TinkerCAD to create the schematic for the lights circuit. The lights are powered from the 5V port in the Arduino. For each of the three wires (red - power, green - info, black - ground), I used a wire stripper to expose the wire in the inside. I then connected another wire to the exposed portion. That way, the wire starts at one end and then diverges into two different paths, each connected to one of the NeoPixels (image 2). After I completed this process for each of the three wires, I used heat shrink tubing to cover the exposed portions. The Arduino Nano was then connected to a USB cable to power the final circuit.

I modeled the light code after a flickering flame. However, I changed the colors to blue and white. It is intended to resemble an active power source.

The code used is as follows:

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#ifdef __AVR__
 #include <avr/power.h>
#endif

#define PIN 5

int brightness = 128;

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(29, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
 strip.begin();
 strip.setBrightness(brightness);
 strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
}

void loop() {
 int r = 0, g = 0, b = 255; // Initial color set to blue

 for(int i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i++) {
   if (random(2) == 0) { // Randomly toggle between blue and white
     strip.setPixelColor(i, r, g, b);
   } else {
     strip.setPixelColor(i, 255, 255, 255); // Set to white
   }
 }
 strip.show();

 delay(random(10, 113));
}

There are three primary components that make up the assembly: the skeleton (skeleton, fan holder, fan), the core (lower reactor, pegs, middle reactor, upper reactor, ring holders), and the uppermost ring (uppermost ring, coil pieces).

For the skeleton, I started by placing the NeoPixels inside the fan. I pushed them down until they were flush with the top surface and hot glued them in place. I then slid the fan holder and the fan with the NeoPixels into the skeleton.

For the core, I first placed the three pegs / long cylinders in the bottom slots as seen in the second image. They are mainly used to align the middle & upper reactor and hold the encircled ring on top. Once these pieces were in place, I hot glued the three ring holders in their respective spots (image 3). Using super glue, I carefully placed the three copper rings on the ring holders as well as the middle hex piece (image 4). I left everything to dry and then super glued the encircled ring and hot glued the three screws on top. The final result should resemble image 5.

For the coil holders, I first wrapped the coil completely around the printed piece (image 6,7,8). Once the coil completely covered the top face, I used a screw driver to press on the middle portion on the bottom, tightening the coil on the top layer (image 9). I then used pliers to cut the coil through the bent portion and used a screwdriver to bend the bottom portion on the sides of the printed piece (image 10). Once all of the coil pieces were done, I pushed them into the larger cylinder, completing the uppermost ring (image 11). The tolerance between the two pieces was enough so that it didn't fall off.

Once the three main pieces were assembled, I put them all together. I placed the core above the skeleton and fan, without applying glue. I did this because I wanted the lights to be accessible in case they stopped working. I then placed the uppermost ring on the top the skeleton, aligning the slots to the skeleton's pegs (image 12). I applied super glue to this portion and left the model upside down until it completely dried.

The working model is attached above. If you have any suggestions or questions, please post a comment below. Thank you!