a pursuit of fruitless endeavors and endless refinements

Double Vision

Gen Con 2019 is rapidly approaching and as I started up my annual trophy creation, I was trying to think of what diabolical new challenge I through at the Loopin’ Chewie Tournament group. Since I have to cannibalize a full Loopin’ Chewie set every three years, I had to pick up a new one this year and was left with some extra pieces.

The main pieces of interest were the extra chewie and armature pendulum. Something must have been cooking in the dark recessed of my mind as I laid things out and it immediately clicked- I should make a double armed Loopin’ Chewie!

Doing a quick layout test and taking a few things apart showed that it was theoretically possible. I really only needed one piece: a flat base piece to set both arms on top of. A quick shout out to Reese and a boot up of Fusion 360 and I was in business.

The test print worked great and it was ready to start assembling. I didn’t take the time to measure out the holes in Fusion 360 so I used the blue tac trick of putting on the base and letting the arm supports press in and show me where to drill the holes.

Using the same screws as the original game, I started connecting the pieces to the base.

The plastic is pretty soft so I cut off the extended screw holes with an Xacto knife. Slow and steady does it here with no bloodshed. If you are unsure, it’s better to put on some heavy duty work gloves and save yourself the risk of having to triage a wound.

With both pieces assembled onto the new base and the original base sanded down flat (using a sanding drum head on a Dremel), I was all set. I decided to super glue a support piece between the two. I don’t know if it will actually help in stabilizing anything but I went with my gut anyway. A true stabilizer would run through both arm structures and keep them locked in place but I wanted to get this through quickly.

My initial test runs were pretty successful. I have some fine tuning to do (sanding down the bottom of the counter-weight so the armature can fully swing from one side to the other) and then I can finish this up. Be prepared Loopin’ Chewie Tourney goers, Double Chewie is coming for you!

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2 Comments

  1. Russ Spears

    I winced a little when I saw that exacto blade – as I spent an evening in the ER with 8 stitches in my thumb a year or 2 back 🙂

    This year you’ll have to take video of the tourney!

    • Christian

      oh man! stitches are no fun but glad you recovered. I did those rings in the shot and then started trying to trim down the thick edges when I thought… “this could go poorly.” I switched to the dremel and “sanded” the piece down.

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