Epic's Holocron of Ultimate Budgeting!

[tse_epic]

So I'm going to Youmacon in a few months (November to be precise) and I decided "While I'm waiting on some extra cash for a robe and saber, I'll make a holocron!"

My budget is 50 dollars total, including some of the tools.

It started off as a 3x3 Baseball Display Case that i bought for 5 bucks. A few rounds of sanding later and this is the result.



The corners are balsa wood, and though I've tried to make them all exact, it's not very easy using knives to do this with. Still, the point gets across and following this Holocron, I'm sure I'll get better at it. Hell, maybe even sell some Holocrons on some Etsy bullcrap or something (though I've no idea how I'd manage a Sith holocron) XD



I'm using blue LED tea lights to illuminate it. It's brightest at the top, so I'll be using two tea lights when it's finished, using velcro to stick them on either side of the holocron so that it illuminates evenly. Next on my to-do list is to paint the balsa wood a bronze or gold color before going in between the corner cutouts and painting some designs with 3D paint.



The Balsa wood came to a total cost of 10 dollars (I bought a LOT of extra to make sure I could fix any mistakes), and the hand sander I bought was 10 as well, with the Tea lights being 10 dollars for a set of 8. So far, my total cost is 35 dollars.

I'm expecting to pay 5-7 dollars on gold textured spraypaint if I go that route. if not, I already have Gold paint for my D&D minis that I could easily use for all of the balsa wood. My biggest issue is going to be finding a thin wooden ring to put in the center of the 'cron, since I don't plan on leaving it JUST those corner pieces.

[The 97th Acolyte]

This is a really cool idea! Looks great so far, too. Point!

[scraver]

Point for awesome cheep idea. Looking pretty good so far too.

[tse_epic]

Thanks very much. I hope to have it done by June (Spacing out how much I spend and when seems to help me spend less). I've got some ideas in store for it

[chicago.jedi]

DUDE!!!!

I so badly want to make a holocron but could not figure out a good base to build off of. This idea of using a baseball cube it brilliant.

1,000 points to you. (But the forum will only allow one so here you go  )

[tse_epic]

DUDE!!!!

I so badly want to make a holocron but could not figure out a good base to build off of. This idea of using a baseball cube it brilliant.

1,000 points to you. (But the forum will only allow one so here you go  )

It really kinda hit me when I spent about three days trying to find an acrylic cube that I could just put an LED in. And then I realized "Wait a minute... aren't baseball cases plastic? Aren't they *cheap*? Yes. Yes they are."


Best part is, you can get cases for different types of sports balls, so you can change the size of your holocron. 3x3 seems to be the "standard" size, and is just larger than my palm so it works perfectly for cosplays! I would imagine something like a golfball display case would be perfect for a smaller display piece or a personal holocron rather than one meant for study like you'd find in the Jedi Vaults.

If you can find a pyramid shaped case, lemme know becasue I'd LOVE to give a Sith Holocrona  whirl after this baby's finished

[chicago.jedi]

I just picked up a baseball cube. I am totally "borrowing" this idea.

Do you mind sharing what grit sand paper you used?

[tse_epic]

I just picked up a baseball cube. I am totally "borrowing" this idea.

Do you mind sharing what grit sand paper you used?

Go for it! Part of the reason I'm posting pictures as I go is to act as a sort of tutorial for anyone wanting to make a budget holocron themselves!

For the sandpaper, I've been using 80 grit so far, and it works fantastic! Scuffs up the sides enough to make it cloudy after a while and it's still smooth enough to not be annoying to hold. Word of advice: If the inside of your cube has writing on it, like a size or company name, you need to sand *that* away, because no amount of sanding I was doing was enough to obscure it on the other side. So sand those words away (They should be raised plastic on the inside, so it's easy enough) and the scuffing on the other side is barely noticeable.

I may give it a once-over with a finer grit once I've got all of my add-ons and tidbits finished to make it a bit smoother, but it's not necessary, imo. Experiment with other grits if you want and share your own results!

I'm wishing i had access to a 3D Printer, though. This balsa wood is annoying to work with at times. It cracks easily at times. A thicker wood may be better on a future build, but balsa is all I can afford at the moment, and it's also the easiest to cut with what few tools I have.

[tse_epic]

I did work today! Woo!

So I bought some Spraypaint and some Clear Velcro stickers for the tea lights at Wal-mart. I've included the prices in the pictures, but just in case it's hard to see, I'll comment anyhow.

I'm using Rustoleum Hammered Copper spray paint. It's 5.77 at Wal-Mart. It's going to make things difficult later, since this was the only Hammered paint they had that looked remotely golden, but I'll try and figure something out when I go to do designs on the insides of my corner pieces.



This here's the velcro I used. It was 4.77 for a pack that has about, I'd say 30 stickers (60 in total when you count the two sides for each sticker) in it. Not bad, although I could've gotten a similar size'd package for 2.57 had I just gotten plain black velcro instead of this clear velcro.



The balsa wood went through a single coat today, and given it's in the evening I *may* be able to swing a second coat if I'm lucky. But the paint looks okay so far. We'll see how it goes later on. I placed all of my corner pieces on a strip of balsa to both "protect" the driveway (Good job! ) and to get a bit of a first coat on the strip just in case I need to go back and make new corners or cut new pieces entirely for other accessories or accents.





The Tea lights stick remarkably well to the velcro, although I needed to put more than one sticker on each side because of how the bottom of the lights are shaped, so as to maximize the coverage.



Here's the "Finished" Product, with the case closed and both lights snug in their spots on either side of the case.



So far, my total costs are 46 dollars! I'm actually under budget, and the rest of the material and tools I can borrow from family if need be. If not, well we'll get as close to 50 as possible!

Not including the tools used, my costs are running at 36 dollars and I probably could've cut the amount of wood I bought in half, which would make it 31 dollars. Not too bad for a 50 dollar budget! And of course any further 'Crons I make will be cheaper since now I've got the spraypaint I need AND the sander AND the velcro! So woo, savings!

[Deceptae]

Dude, mad points for this. Rock on.

[Lord_Ravik]

Great job on the holocron man, I never would have thought of that. If you ever figure out how to do the sixth holocron let me know!

[tse_epic]

Great job on the holocron man, I never would have thought of that. If you ever figure out how to do the sixth holocron let me know!

If I figure it out, I'll probably post another tutorial in this here thread (to save forum space. No sense in having two tutorials for what's essentially the same thing). I've got a few ideas though!

And much appreciated, the both of you! I hope this thread helps some others out on their own ideas for Holocrons! Maybe inspire some new posts and more props in this section?!

[tse_epic]

Sometime this week, I'll be making a decision on what to do about the center of the cube. I'm thinking either a Copper Washer that's just EXTREMELY LARGE on each side, or cutting more triangles and making a shape out of that.

[chicago.jedi]

I hope I do not offend with this post. It is not in the spirit of steeling your thunder...but rather, in the spirit of "imitation is a form of flattery."

Here is my take on your idea. I have more pictures of how I did this if you are interested, tse-epic. But all of this started out with your great idea.

[tse_epic]

I hope I do not offend with this post. It is not in the spirit of steeling your thunder...but rather, in the spirit of "imitation is a form of flattery."

Here is my take on your idea. I have more pictures of how I did this if you are interested, tse-epic. But all of this started out with your great idea.

Dude, she looks pretty sick! Do go on, since like I said - I'd like for this thread to be a kind of pseudo-Tutorial for other people as well, and the more ideas posted, the better!

I'm actually going into some discussion with a buddy of mine regarding doing some 3D Printing of the designs I have made up, too, so we might be able to see how that pans out as well!