Crafts of the Living Dead: DIY Back To The Future Flux Capacitor Replica

This is my Homemade Back To The Future Replica of the Flux Capacitor .
It is very Cheap, and very easy to make for anyone on a budget .Best of all its made from parts everyone can get from around the house,thrift store,$1 store......ect......

Here is a list of the items i used to make this Time Traveling Mechanism...

Wooden Whiskey Box
Clear Plastic Pens
Small Carpenter Nails
Grey Plastic Storage Bin Lid - or what ever piece of plastic that is able to be cut or melted threw
Tic Tac Breath mint Boxes - Very important for glowing Time circuits
Old T.V cable Wire - used for the 3 main Wires on Each Circuit as seen above
Clip on LED Book Reading lights From the $1 store - 3 needed used for lighting of time circuits
Grey Spray Paint
Gold or Copper spray paint
Black Electrical Tape
Yellow & Black Hazard tape
Teflon Tape - the tape itself is not used , but i used the plastic spool the tape is on
Super Glue
Flat Electrical Cord - like the ones used for hair Dryers and other electronic devices
Clear Plastic from Picture frame - used for the very face of it that you see threw
Random Plumbing, and sprinkler parts
Duct Tape - the greatest invention ever.. haha
Red & Blue Flashing LED light -used it to simulate the flashing light that indicates when your out of plutonium
Audio AV Cord
Water Gallon Caps

TOOLS
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Hand Drill
Lighter - like a bic lighter
Soldering iron
Pliers - any kind will do
Metal file - just to touch up and smooth out stuff

My Flux Capacitor is not 100% exactly like the one from the movie , but its pretty damn close for someone on a budget .Also i didn't fully document the build with pics so certain steps i cant show but i will explain to detail what i did .

First find a good box any kind will do as long as it has the similar shape and size as the movie one .The one i bought is a perfect size but isn't as rounded in the corners like the one from the movie .i bought this from a antique/Thrift store for like a few bucks

I got a Old Rubbermaid Storage container Lid and Cut a portion out of it to match the size of the box to use as the main face of the Flux.i then measured and stenciled out where i was going to cut out the face for the window that is used to see the components inside,

To cut out the stenciled area i wanted to use for the window for the Flux i actually used a soldering iron with a pointed tip to cut it out.Doing it this way was easier then using scissors, or a razor blade and cut it out with sharp lines ....only downfall was it stinks a little cuz duh your melting plastic HA

After I fully cut out the face with the soldering iron , i used a Metal file to smooth out and file down the edges of the plastic i cut.Then i spray painted the inside of the box black,and the outside.....D'lorian Grey..hah Then with a Flat Electrical cord i found around the house, i wrapped the cord in Black Duct tape and gently taped the cord around the area that i previously cut out of the plastic . The one from the movie is like a rubber edge border used for industrial panels....i obviously didn't have that , so i tried the next best alternative and did it this way to simulate that trim for the face .doesn't even look like duct tape and old cords haha

To make the Time Circuits as seen above i used cheap Clear Pens and took out all the ink tubes and stuff , and then shoved a thin carpenters nail threw the pen as if it was like the ink tube i took out .Then let the nail stick out like a half an inch out the pen. There are 3 Time Circuits so this step is done 3 Times

Once the pens are done i got a lighter and started to heat up and carefully melt the opposite end of the pen (the side that doesn't have a nail) till your able to gently flatten out the end of the pen using pliers. once the back end of the pen is flat from carefully melting it , i got my soldering iron and gently melted a hole through the flat melted end of the pen.i did this because i used a bolt to put though the pen so i can make it all stay together....ill explain later...ok so all 3 pens are done with nail,melted and with holes.....

Now to make the Clear Plastic LED boxes that are used to light up the pens and to simulate the plastic acrylic ones that are used in the original from the movie .The ones from the movie look like custom made almost trapezoid shaped glowing crystals or something.To simulate this i used TIC TAC BOXES!! i know random to use but came out perfect for this build.
Take each box ( after they are emptied of course) and cut them to the shape shown above...the bottom part of the Tic Tac Box is going to be the slanted part of the box where my thumb is in the pic.once they are cut to shape,i then got sand paper and sanded down the inside of the box so it looks like powdered glass when the light shines though it.Once your done sanding it and everything cut out a little hole on the very bottom of the Clear box (bottom meaning the new bottom of the box as seen above) ,the reason you cut out a hole is for the LED light that your going to put in later on. After your done with that , get super glue , and glue the box corners and seems together so it ends up staying together in the shape above..I was surprised how convincing these came out almost look like the real thing

Now for this next step i suggest to use what you can find that looks similar,, i literally found all these parts in the garage . The white tube thing where my finger is ,i think from a old sprinkler plumbing system.The Red Plastic washer thing , is actually a Teflon Tape Spool cut in half and just fit perfectly into the white tube thing.Remember that hole i made in the pen? Thats the bolt that goes threw it. The plastic Black Washer thing above the pen in this pic is....i have no idea what it is hahaha i found them around my house and knew they looked perfect for the circuit, but i have no idea what they are used for....guess now they are used for time travel .lol..........the main bolt in the pic is what is holding all of these components together,and the white tube part where my thumb is has a threading for a thin nut to screw on. and that thin nut is whats used to bolt on the Time Circuit to the inside of the box (also i spray painted the Red Teflon Tape spool, and the white plumbing tube bottom Gold to give it a more industrial metallic look )

Now all 3 Time Circuits are done, and all assembled . now i measured, and placed out where i was going to Drill the holes for the white tubes on the bottom of the Time Circuit so i can mount them inside the box like in the picture above.Once all 3 holes are drilled ,i stick the Time Circuits in place and use the thin washer like nut to bolt on the Time Circuits to the box.Now once the Circuits are in place its time to make the 3 main cords that are on each Time circuit, for this i used Old T.V cable cords that i cut short and wrapped in Yellow & Black Hazard tape with audio AV cable tips taped to the ends of the cables.The Audio AV Tips are the ones for like every stereo,i used this because the AV tip fit perfectly snug around the bolt that is holding the Time Circuits together so no gluing or anything was needed.Once the wires are taped up and tipped i then drilled the right size holes below ,and on the side of the Time Circuits to put the ends of the cords threw the holes to hide the tips and to make it like the real Flux .( the holes i drilled for the cords and the circuits are in the pics below)

After The cords and circuits are all done and placed into position its time to install the Plastic LED TIC TAC boxes i made for the Time Circuits. I place each plastic tic tac box under each clear plastic pen that was modified.Once i had the tic tac boxes in the perfect position i marked with a pen where the holes are that i cut out on the bottom for the LED light to go through.Onced Marked with a pen i take out the boxes and drill the right size hole for the LED wire/bulb to come through from the back of the flux to go into the plastic tic tac boxes so it can be illuminated. Put the tic tac boxes back into underneath the clear pens , the pens and the Time Circuit itself hold down the plastic boxes snug into the box, and when you install the light it will also hold down the box from poping out.(below you can see the bolts and holes that were drilled for the Circuits, and wires)

Once the plastic TIC TAC boxes are in and the holes are drilled out for the LED light wire/bulb to go through , its now time to install the LED lights. I used these cheap LED reading lights that i found at the $1 store. The lights had like a little lamp head on on it that i had to break off because it was too wide to fit inside of the plastic tic tac circuit boxes i made,once i did that i was just a small wire with a tiny bulb at the end.Then just stick the lights through the holes into the plastic tic tac boxes on the other side,adjust the lights to preference, and duct tape the LED reading lights into place like shown in the picture above.....AND WALLA!!! WE HAVE LIGHT !

Now that everything is almost installed ,and painted,its time to install the Flashing Blue/Red LED light that indicates when the Plutonium tanks are empty...or that's how it was in the movie anyway . The flashing LED light i bought at the same time i bought the LED reading lights at the $1 store its just a flashlight with a flashing warning light .In the picture below you can see that all i did was pop out the LED bulb out of the flashlight and duct tape the light, and the bulb into place.and BOOM! Plutonium Lights are DONE! This looks awesome at night looks soo real ! lol

well....ITS ALMOST DONE!.....the only thing now to do is get a Clear Plastic sheet for the window of the face of the flux ( for this i used the clear plastic you get from picture frames,or you can use actual glass from a picture frame, and duct tape it to the door of the wooden box ) after you find and install the clear plastic or glass which ever you choose.its time to add the finishing touches to the look of the Flux Capacitor .In the movie it has a tube on the top and side , for wires i guess to come out of ....you can design it however you like , i tried to make it as close to the real one from the movie as i could on a budget so i got more plumbing parts and spray painted them D'lorian grey to match the box, then i super glued them to the top and side as shown in the picture below .When that was done i added some valves and wires to give it that 1980 technology look haha

Well my friends the TIME ....is here...... the finished product of my Flux Capacitor .....i hope everyone who sees this ,or wants to build one of these replicas finds this step by step guide helpful.....i loved building this Flux Capacitor because i loove Back to The Future.. lol.. its my all time favorite movie , and it goes perfectly with my BTTF Collection i have of props and things...

AS A GREAT MAN ONCE SAID !!!!............

"ROADS!?...........WHERE WE'RE GOING WE DON'T NEED ROADS!