I can’t get on the laser to start cutting parts until Tuesday. Then it’s only for 1-1/2 hrs and I can’t try to reserve it again until I use my time. Makes for slow going, especially if you don’t get it right the frst time.
Meanwhile, I’ve been gathering a few things from the parts box wondering how they may find use.
I was able to get on the laser for a couple hours today. I made all of the stantion sides, bottoms, tops, and caps and started on the stairway (three steps) when I ran out of time. But now I can start gluing parts together.
I got all of the stones glued to the sides of the stantions as well as the sides of the … (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
this is going to be a fun one
Todd, how’d you glue them? What glue?
I use this. It has a working time of ~1/2 hr, can be wiped off without smearing even on clear acrylic and won’t "frost" clear or other colored plastics like CA does.
I just put three drops on the plastic sheet, then layed the three bricks on, and straightened everything up with an “edge.”
Is this going to be big enough for any potential clients???
Let’s just say that it will be big enough for people to pitch right in and help.
I painted the stones on the stantions today. I brushed on “Patio Paint” using black, dark grey, light grey, and white to match other stones on the railroad used in retaining walls etc. Because these painted stones all come from a local quarry, they are all fairly similar in type and appearance.
The stones are first wetted with the paint brush and the paint is “flowed” in streaked in a horizontal pattern. Note to those about to paint, I should have prewashed the stones.
I used pieces of double sided tape to hold them secure to a U S Postal Service “If It Fits, It Ships” box. The Post Office is kind enough to provide these in various sizes for free and they find all sorts of uses around here (e.g., templates). Sometimes they are even used to ship stuff.
While the GO2 GLUE works fine with the acrylic and resin stones, it appears that the Patio Paint does not adhere to the GO2 GLUE.
I was able to get on the laser today. Note that this represents about 2 hours of actual cutting time for the laser.
I got a couple hour in on the laser today and made most of the remaining parts.
When I put the panels and stones around the pole stantions, they almost came out to the edge of the top caps. That didn’t look right so the crew came up with some decorative pieces that will encircle (ensquare???) the top caps. I got 10 of the 32 done (shown on the right).
I tried sandblasting a piece of the acrylic in the blast cabinet and really like the results! It does not hurt the piece in any way but gives a beautiful “frosted” appearance that will certainly hold paint/glue better. I like the frosted look and will probably blast these and attach them unpainted. Maybe even install some LEDs in the stantions in future so they glow. BUT…, they are small and will be very hard to handle in the blast cabinet wearing those big azz rubber gloves.
I may also try to have the laser etch woodgrain into the deck and landing.
To do the boards, I ran the laser at its highest speed, twice. Then I used Coreldraw to remove all of the interior lines leaving only the outline and run the laser much slower. This places the cut line in perfect position as opposed to bringing in the cut line from another file, or having all of the board lines cut through.
I’ll probably also make caps to go arounds the legs for the stairway.
A couple of the parts I was working on today.
I have the laser reserved for Wed and hopefully I can finish cutting the remaining pieces. We’ll see.
A miniature grill and fish basket??
Dan Hilyer said:
A miniature grill and fish basket??
I was wondering why a gallows needed a moonshine still
Didn’t get too much done today. I did up files for some misc parts to cut (e.g., footers for the stairway) and did up a jpeg to put wood grain into the deck.
Oh, I also redid this and need to finish it out. It looked like a weiner dog on stilts. This is much better and will work well for Fiesta Fridays.
Did I miss something or is the gallows going to double as a piniata hanger
We now call it “multi-tasking.” (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
A hanging was a festive event in some locals.