I can stand the heat, too...

Here's another goodie that I made to further another of my crazy interests, blacksmithing:

Propane forge - based on plans from Larry Zoeller's Firebrick Forge.

It works flawlessly, although it's quite loud. I'll probably build a bigger multi-burner forge this next year, in order to heat bigger pieces faster, and perhaps to do some aluminum casting.

Pepakura - first sequence

Here are a couple of photos of my first attempt at pepakura modelling:

This is the Mark III Space Marine helmet, courtesy of the  

Obscurus Crusade (thanks for a great resource guys!).

If you're not familiar with the term, pepakura, or papercraft, is the creation of paper models from 3D computer files. Pepakura Designer is the program used to create the cut patterns. You can download a free vieweras well. If you plan to do any volume of work, please spring for the $38 fee for the full version of designer. It helps support the program, and it's a good deal.

While this first attempt is not perfect, I think it's good enough. As they say in film, "we can fix it in post".  I'll be using Shawn Thorrson's Rondo process to create a master that I'll use to create a master mold. I can then use pulls to create some of the other in the helmet series, as well as some custom Chaplain style helmets.

I'm also constructing a Terminator helmet. Once that's finished, I'll resin and master them both at the same time.

I also see a vacuform table build in my immediate future. Hopefully my shop has room.

MacGyver Award 2012

Yet another interest of mine is motorcycling. I've been riding since 1980. I currently own a Harley Electra Glide. My wife and I do several long touring trips a year, usually with a group of friends and relatives. Our last trip was to the Pacific Coast to see the Redwoods. On the way back, we stopped in Reno/Tahoe. As we exited the freeway, my nephew's clutch cable snapped. So, there we sat on the apron, with a bike stuck in gear and stalled. It was 6:01 PM, which meant that the dealer was closed. No clutch cable for us!

What to do?

As we sat around brainstorming, one of the bunch said that he thought a pair of vise grips could be used as a replacement clutch handle, allowing us to limp to the hotel. Everyone else chuckled, thinking "no way!", but nobody had a better idea. Ten minutes and a trip to Harbor Freight later, we were on our way. The damn thing worked like a champ, and got us all the way to the dealer the next day to get the cable replaced.

All of the doubting Thomases put our heads together and agreed that this type of quick thinking merited an award. As we talked, I could see the award in my head, and I knew I had the parts and the machines to create it. And so, here it is:

Inaugural MacGyver Award

The award is composed of 4 parts:

  A harley transmission gear forms the base
  A harley camshaft serves as the column
  A harley big twin piston as the crown and the engraving surface
  The aforementioned vise grips form the award figurine

And of course, in keeping with the nature of the award, the whole thing dismantles to allow the vise grips to remain functional!

This project took me about a week to fabricate, and another week to have professionally engraved. Thanks to Ron at Hansen Jewelers!

Oh Hi, I didn't see you there...

Hi.

Welcome to my blog!

I guess I've been a maker for most of my life. Thanks to the influence of my father, coupled with a natural inclination to dismantle things to see how they work, I started making things to satisfy my curiosity, get cool stuff I couldn't afford to buy, or just keep myself from shoplifting on the weekends.

For a while (from the late 80s to about 2000), I attempted to learn to program, and was one of the founders of a company called DreamPark Development.We started out with an idea to create a multiplayer RPG. Unfortunately we were about 10 years ahead of our time, and we were all programming on the Atari ST platform, which meant that the only method of networking was the MIDI interface. We did have some minor success however, writing a popular hint (OK, cheat) utility for  FTL's DungeonMaster called The Cartographer. Our most lasting legacy, it's still available here.  We did the same for Graeme Devine's 7th Guest. Our last notable project was a 1.44M floppy add-on for the ST series called the PowerDrive. We did one project for the PC, another hint utility for Westwood Studios Eye of the Beholder. We also created a concept demo of a PC version of Games Workshop's tabletop game Space Hulk which we pitched to EA at the Game Development Conference in 1991 (the license had already been assigned).  Despite having a lot of fun, and learning a lot, we never managed to make a significant profit, and the company eventually folded.

My day job is in the medical field, as an orthopedic physician associate. I've managed to be around long enough to become a partner in a 7 man private practice. I still do some programming (mainly Arduino or web based stuff), but my main interest lies in fabrication these days.

Nowadays I have a bit of disposable income and have managed to cobble together a reasonable workshop. Starting with wood, I soon moved onto metal after learning to weld perform some basic metal fabrication. I acquired a CNC plasma cutter, and began creating yard art, signs, and implements. I also dabble a bit in machining and blacksmithing when the mood strikes.

I've always been a SciFi/Fantasy geek. Recently I happened to run across Shawn Thorsson's blog When My Brain Leaks, the Drops Drip Here after seeing his write-up in Make.  Holy crap. I'm old enough to have owned the original versions of the Space Hulk and Genestealer tabetop games (see above). I was geek enough to actually help create a PC version of the game. I own all the PC and Xbox versions of the genre. I devoured the Make article, and decided to try some of my own pieces.

Shawn's blog has inspired me to post some of my own work, and to try my hand at prop fabrication in the bargain.

In the next few weeks I'll be posting some of my previous projects, as well as tracking my progress in attempting to create a set of display Space Marine helmets.

I also have a new 3d printer on the way, as I'm collaborating with a Phd friend who has some project ideas. I'll also be deciding whether to create a new toolholder that would allow me to use my CNC plasma cutter to function as a CNC mill, or build a mill from scratch.

Whew! This got a bit long winded, and for that I apologize. If you happen to stumble across this page and have questions, please feel free to contact me.