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I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Goofy Project #5049: Electricity, Smoke, Cardstock, and Noxious Fumes!

I've been unable to access the internets for a couple of days now, so I've got some updating to do...


When last I posted about Goofy Project #5049, the workshop was looking about like so:
Shop Pile


The next day, Matt and Trevor came by and Matt spent some quality time rewiring the oven.  It turned out that our initial circuit design didn't quite get hot enough to serve our purposes before it tripped the breaker and the lights went out.  It turns out that it's really hard to do this sort of work in the dark.


So Matt's first order of business was to convert our four 110V heating elements into ten 240V heating elements:
Oven Wiring


After a quick test for hotness (which was successful) it was time to add some insulation:
Oven Insulation


While they were doing that, I busied myself with some rudimentary woodworking and advanced dustmaking:
Cutting the Panel Bucks


Fully assembled, the oven was HOT:
Huge oven


Smoking hot:
Smoking oven
After a few minutes of cooking, the smoking ceased.  We're figuring it was just a question of burning off the dust that had settled on the top of the inner box of the oven.  In the shot above you can see one of the six orange C-clamps that hold the two halves of the frame together with a sheet of .040" ABS plastic in between
Here you can see some forms on the vacuum table:
Panel Forming Bucks


Here's the whole machine set up and ready for forming:
Vacforming setup


Finally, here's one of the panels formed with a quick and dirty test paintjob:
Formed Panel


This will work beautifully:
Formed and painted panel


Meanwhile, I've also reinforced Alex's stunt double.  Knowing that the stuffed duct tape would be inadequate to the needs of the project, I layered over the entire thing with fiberglass.  When doing this it's important to put glass on every surface.  Everywhere:
Butt Glassing


Because of the potential for being overcome by noxious fumes while working with polyester resin, it's important to work outdoors or in a well-ventilated area and use adequate safety gear.  Miners used to use canaries to indicate when the atmosphere turns poisonous.  When the canary keels over dead, it's time to evacuate.


Being not indigenous to my area, canaries are expensive.  I use chickens instead:
Glassing the Stunt Double


No chickens were harmed in the making of this statue:
Glassed Mannequin dressing


With that coming along nicely, I've also been lining up a few other parts:
Helmet Stack

Not all of them are my own original sculpts, but they'll help with making the whole thing a bit more overwhelming:
Commando Helmet


And since I'm being boned by a supplier, I've had to make my own version of this part:
Back armor pep model

Stay tuned.  It's getting there...

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