Monday 21 March 2011

Taking it easy

Hello

I haven't posted in a while but that is because I have decided to take a break from automata for a while. 

I have given up my workshop and have spent the last couple of weeks clearing it out. I'll only do small projects from now on at home. I cannot justify the expense of a workshop, even though I love making the models. 

I've decided to take a break as it takes too much energy out of me to go to work and at the end of the day go to the workshop which is usually damp and cold to spend a couple of hours working when all I want to do is sit down and rest.

I'm not sure if anybody reads this blog. If you do I hope you're not too disappointed. 

As I said, I'll work on a much smaller scale and make things from home and I'll make posts as and when, but it will be sporadically.

Thanks

Sunday 20 February 2011

Bather complete

I have finished the model of the bather and she is ready to be positioned. now I just need to make the beach hut, dog and the entire mechanism. I have made some changes though to the door mechanism. I am going to have a locking mechanism to hold the door of the beach hut open for a while and then this will be unlocked and a spring will allow the door to close. I am going to use the weakest spring I can find as I don't want it to close too fast. 

Here are some more progress shots:




My friend will be making some bikini bottoms


I have also made a jig to try out the worm gears I do have. The larger one I ordered has not arrives yet. From the jig, I can already see some potential for simple models. 





Friday 18 February 2011

Onward and upward

Sooooooooo, I didn't win the crankahead contest or get a mention in the ranking. That's OK though, I didn't think I would and I enjoyed the experience. Looking at my model now, I can see a lot of things where it went wrong and why the movement is not what I wanted. I will work on it at some point and then make sure it works properly. I'll post an update when it is done (probably not for a long time).

The model I am currently working on is giving me stress. The movement of the pin wheels was too fast for me so I decided to try and make a worm gear. It's a lot harder than it seems and the wood I had was not up to the task and kept on splitting. I have therefore ordered a worm gear and it should hopefully be coming tomorrow.

I was also messing about with my drill press and found a way to make pulley wheels using a blank disc and my files. A drill press should probably never be used in this was but it gave a surprising result.

I have some pictures to upload but the server is not accepting the upload at present.
















Thursday 10 February 2011

Progress report

I've been looking at the current set up with the pin wheel and I'm having the same problem in that all the action is moving too fast. Therefore, I am investigating using a worm gear to slow everything down. 

Dave Johnson (who makes automata in the theme of Sysiphus) made a worm gear using a large plasterboard screw (I think) which was a brilliant idea, so I went to my local DIY store and bought a bag and have been using the Gear Template Generator to try and make some gears that fit. I'll be in my workshop tonight trying to fit everything together. 

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Progress Shots

A few photo's detailing my pin wheel mechanism. 

The first shots are my attempt at a pinwheel but I could never centre the pin wheel correctly. I found out that this was due to an error I made in Illustrator when making the template in that I had not aligned everything centrally and the pins never meshed. 

The next shots show the pin wheels and they mesh together fine.




I need to find a way to stabilise the large pin wheel as it is wobbling as it spins. I also might trim down the pins on the main driving pin (the smaller pin) as they are not needed at this length, although they don't impede the movement.

I'll start working on the door mechanism tonight. I have a feeling it will cause me problems as I have not attempted one before. 

I also need to carve a dog and a bather. I've carved some dogs before in a previous model I made:


The poem is a bit rubbish. You live and learn. At this stage in my model making (a couple of years ago now) this model had been my most advanced. Looking back, it's nice to see how much I've progressed.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

The photo's

Well, I'm glad the competition is over. Frot he intial scoring it looks like nobody has voted for mine but I put that down to the amazing selection of models entered into the competition.

The more I look at my model, the more it looks like the character is actually trying to bite through his tongue rather than try and pull it away. Oh well. 

Here are the rest of the photo's I tool while making the model.





















































I have started to work on my next model which is a commission for a friend. I'll post some pics when I get time.