Tag: casting

A nice change

Casting has gone splendidly. Best yet even. I will be stunned if the resulting casts are anything but ideal.
Three-stage degass, apparently good pigment mixing, no spills, minimal mess.
Did make an excess mix though. Fortunately had spare moulds on hand. Odd that sometime’s it’s just under but sometimes way over. Better check my notes.

Used large jam-jars for mixing. Can handle larger amounts and can withstand cleaning with acetone afterwards, as well as letting me view the mixing.
Will have to look out for some with wider mouths though, and rounder bottom corners with no overhangs.

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Used a reinforcing spring and some araldite to try and repair the broken wing strut. Will see if that holds.

Salvaged some nice long bits of steel from a wrecked cabin bed.

Also must email Receipt #44. They did not collect their item at the LF meet just gone as they said they would.

Time for a shower.

Tomorrow will correct some masters and get new moulds for them cast. Then either do artwork or design the new display stands I have in mind. Glad I have lots of masking tape.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

Sorting out

Reprap
Thanks to friend , the stepper driver circuit is now working!
Think I’ve currently got a pair of phases crossed though, as it jerks quite badly every so often. The motor also gets hot very fast, so I think I’ll have to get some current limiting on the go as well.

Casting
The moulds are cleaned up from the last bad casting and sitting overnight to let any acetone residue evaporate. Fresh casting in the morning.

Will also tidy up the feline nose with some sandpaper and get it ready for a proper production. Same with trying adding a vent to the Razor claws. Going to aim to have some completed demonstration paws at Confuzzled, as well as new display stands for a number of items.

Also aiming to have the commissions book totally clear before the con.

Heard back from Cosmo very quickly, so now I’m just gonna be ticking boxes. :)

Also, I’m amazed that some of my YouTube videos have now been viewed hundreds of times. One even over a thousand. There’s nothing even very good on there yet!

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

Run out of Shore 40. Need to order some more in and write up a proper supplies tally sheet so I don’t get caught short again in future. Only one current order should be affected.

I’m also down to the dregs of the water-clear resin. Will probably only restock on demand for the moment.

Also have created a page for the Bonsai Repstrap on the RepRapWiki; http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Bonsai_Repstrap

Need to place orders for more shirts for Confuzzled in a months time. Hoping to have one of my own designs included in that order.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

Some progress

I have not been coping well today.

Footpads haven’t bonded correctly. Gluing method hasn’t worked very well. I guess the rubber chemistry changes while setting. Unset won’t bond to set.
Going to have to try slashing the velcro to get rubber to bond into it better.

Still, one set come out acceptable.

More casting tomorrow. May catch up yet.

Also roughed out the folding mechanism for the Bonsai Repstrap..

A portable 3D printer is certainly feasible.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

De-potted pure-red claws, sanded and drilled. Posted the small set, long set ready for collection at next LF meet.
Shore 80 castings came out nicely. Not all fully attached to velcro however. Not surprising since it’s stiffer. It’s not flexing enough to make full contact. Think I’ll cast the Shore 80’s separate, then mix a small amount more and use it to “glue” the pads to the velcro. Will take longer, but will be more reliable. Should also let me use the velcro more efficiently.

Doodled some in SAI. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3685774/
Also progressed some other works a bit further.

Bedding down now. Edging sleep back toward normal.

Will see if I can rig my business site to incorporate this journal as a separate blog-line from the one on the front page.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]