Year 20, Week 43, Day one (week 1086)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-14-20 Saturday
Some early morning sprinkles, nice the rest of the day. This weather report was brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Last week I finished my drums, guitars and banjos. I let someone take a guitar and gift it to someone else. There is satisfaction in finishing something.
Today, I decided to do the guitars and drums, but use a different design. For the guitars, I decided to make electric guitars. For the drums, I decided to make a base drum with small drum and symbol.
I was going to use the mystery wood I got from work, but decided that would be too heavy. Instead I dug out an old 3x3 and turned that round. I cut the drums a little thinner than they should have but they will do. I had some small drums from a previous experiment and decided to make use of them. I drilled and added dowels for them to be mounted on the base drum. My symbols were made from the mystery wood because I knew it would be strong. I made them too small but went with them anyway.
For the symbols, I drilled and glued a heavy bamboo rod in place and then after some hand sanding with the dremel, I mounted the shaft into the drill and spun it against the spinning dremel bit to get a shape close to what I was after. I likely could have done that from the start and done a better job... While I tried to get the shafts center, the drill wandered a little. I should remake them, bigger, but won’t. They tell the story. I cleaned up the big drums and made sure they were sanded nicely.
For the guitars, I looked on line to find out what they looked like. It is surprising how one can recognize something without knowing how it is shaped. This time, after deciding on the basic shape, I sketched it on paper so I would have something to go by (no printer).
I drew the guitar shape on a two by two, and used the bandsaw to cut it out. I used the sander to clean up the shape, then put it on its side and ran it through the bandsaw to make four guitars. I sanded them on the disk sander so the surfaces were flat. I traced one and cut out four more.
I used the drum sanding bit on the dremel and sanded beside the string path. The string path will be raised up and I will draw some strings on it when it gets to finishing.
I considered that a good day of work. I spent most of the day and got results.
Year 20, Week 43, Day two (week 1086)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-15-20 Sunday
Some dots of rain on radar, but none that would ever come close to us. The day was nice and the 84 high was comfortable as it was a dry air.. This weather report was brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I did touch up on the drums, using the sanding drum in the Dremel, I sanded the fabric area so the rim was raised up slightly. I was not accurate on the size, leaving the rim too wide but decided it was easier than correcting a mistake by going too close to the edge. I also touched up the small drums that way too.
I drilled the base drums for the small drum and symbol. A few times I got off track and broke through the side. One I split in half and had to glue it back together.
I then dug out the paint and started painting everything. The symbols are in canary yellow so I could not do a drum in that color as that is my version of brass. I keep forgetting that I need to paint things white before adding that color as the wood beneath shows up.
I messed up on a couple colors but finally got them all painted. I did not do the white on the rim of the drums and will have to touch up the tan of the drum surface. There will be several rounds of corrections on the colors as brushes slip sometimes. The guitar gets some more colors too.
Several weeks back, the motor for my little machine lathe was dying. My brother took the motor and the mounting with him and machined up a new motor mount. He had picked up a sewing machine motor but it was not powerful enough so he ended up getting a fan motor used in a cooler unit (cannot remember if it was an AC or a walk-in cooler. He set the lathe up with the new motor and it has more power than the older motor had. We can cut a little deeper than before. Now my brother found that the chuck was not good.
One project was that I purchased some cheep drill-bit set and figured I would machine them so they will fit in the dremel. I could use the dremel for drilling holes larger than it is is supposed to handle. My brother machined the end of the largest drill bit and I stuck it in the lathe and accidentally put it on full speed. It spun nicely for a minute then broke, sending the bit flying. The little part of the drill bit that my brother machined to size, was still in the dremel. I really need to swap dremels. I have one with a grinding bit in, sort of permanently attached. That one has better speed control. The bit can be used with poorer dremels that generally do best at high speed.
I have the original wood box the lathe came in, but it has taken a serious beating. I really need to fix it, possibly replacing some parts. I emptied it out and re-packed it and that helped give us some room but the box really needs work. It is outside and time has done a number on the wood.
Next week I hope to finish the drum set painting and glue the small drum and symbol in place (have to finish painting first). If I can get the painting done next week, then all I have to do is add the eye hooks, sign them and varnish them. Since I try to have everything done by December first, this will be a challenge. The weather and my skills will tell if I get them finished. Next week I also need to start on some more banjos. I only have four, but that is enough to show initially. I do want a dozen of them when I am done. ‘
Will see what happens next week.
1146
No comments:
Post a Comment