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What are you making? [Artsy farts and craftsy asses]

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Posts

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Yep, a 9 kilo gas cylinder to sacrifice as the body of the forge, another gas cylinder to run the burner, and an air compressor to fit up a fan nozzle to and use as a blower to get things on the inside of the fireclay lining REALLY fucking hot.

    these videos are good, but i'd recommend not using an air compressor for a blower. what you want for this kind of application is high volume, low pressure. high volume because you want as much air supplied to the fire as you can get, low pressure because if the air is moving too fast it doesn't have a chance to burn and you end up losing heat. this is pretty much just academic if you're melting aluminum because it melts at such a low temperature, but i built a blower for my forge out of a $12 bathroom fan from home depot and i'm happy as hell with it

    Which explains why my previous attempts at backyard forgery haven't been quite as successful as I would have liked at controlling steady temps for heat-treating.

  • Ashaman42Ashaman42 Registered User regular
    Well I missed last weeks welding class where they learnt TIG on mild steel so got to go straight into TIG welding aluminium this week. And it was ok. Needs more practice but not bad for a first attempt.

    Then had a little play on MIG again but haven't done that for a couple weeks now and seemed to have forgotten what I was meant to be doing.

    Oh well, if I'm doing it at my new job I should get enough practice quite quickly.

  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular

    Essentially what we want to do is make some of our own DnD coins, because we are gigantic nerds.

    Ok, so that'd cover the foundry.

    And I guess with casting I can make a simple mould with plaster of Paris.

    It obviously works with aluminium, and if I'm making coins that would substitute for silver, and copper would be fine for brass (I could always find some zinc and make actual brass)

    So would the temps be high enough for copper?

    And does anyone have any suggestions for a gold substitute?

    The final question would be, how could I stamp them?

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Blake T wrote: »
    Essentially what we want to do is make some of our own DnD coins, because we are gigantic nerds.

    Ok, so that'd cover the foundry.

    And I guess with casting I can make a simple mould with plaster of Paris.

    It obviously works with aluminium, and if I'm making coins that would substitute for silver, and copper would be fine for brass (I could always find some zinc and make actual brass)

    So would the temps be high enough for copper?

    And does anyone have any suggestions for a gold substitute?

    The final question would be, how could I stamp them?

    To stamp any metal, you're going to want that metal to be annealed dead soft. Not too difficult to do if you have a forge. Then it's just a matter of having a die and dolly machined out of steel (and hardened!) so you put the coin in the dolly, pop the die on top, and either use a hydraulic press to crush it, or belt it with a substantial hammer. You could home-brew anodize aluminium in a range of colours to make them look silver, bronze, and gold.

    You could actually just punch and stamp coins out of annealed aluminium sheet with the right press and die setup.

  • N1tSt4lkerN1tSt4lker Registered User regular
    So in non-metal-working news, I made these for this semester's beta buddy:
    hCgTNKb.jpg
    ldFm0C1.jpg
    UGONUPp.jpg
    QXg86GS.jpg

    For a friend who's taking a high school group on a London-Paris trip this summer, I made these for the groups' suitcases:
    5hfzlXQ.jpg

  • TefTef Registered User regular
    Fuck yes!

    I am fucking keen to melt some shit!

    help a fellow forumer meet their mental health care needs because USA healthcare sucks!

    Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better

    bit.ly/2XQM1ke
  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    Blake T wrote: »
    Essentially what we want to do is make some of our own DnD coins, because we are gigantic nerds.

    Ok, so that'd cover the foundry.

    And I guess with casting I can make a simple mould with plaster of Paris.

    It obviously works with aluminium, and if I'm making coins that would substitute for silver, and copper would be fine for brass (I could always find some zinc and make actual brass)

    So would the temps be high enough for copper?

    And does anyone have any suggestions for a gold substitute?

    The final question would be, how could I stamp them?

    You can just do aluminum and anodized it to a gold color with dye. It's how Apple gets gold iPods, but the process is simple enough to do at home. There's a few places that sell kits and dyes for aluminum annodizing.

  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular
    Dedwrekka wrote: »
    Blake T wrote: »
    Essentially what we want to do is make some of our own DnD coins, because we are gigantic nerds.

    Ok, so that'd cover the foundry.

    And I guess with casting I can make a simple mould with plaster of Paris.

    It obviously works with aluminium, and if I'm making coins that would substitute for silver, and copper would be fine for brass (I could always find some zinc and make actual brass)

    So would the temps be high enough for copper?

    And does anyone have any suggestions for a gold substitute?

    The final question would be, how could I stamp them?

    You can just do aluminum and anodized it to a gold color with dye. It's how Apple gets gold iPods, but the process is simple enough to do at home. There's a few places that sell kits and dyes for aluminum annodizing.

    Awesome, and I can make the other coins space grey!

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    You could home-brew anodize aluminium in a range of colours to make them look silver, bronze, and gold.

    You can make then any colour you want, really. Purple, green, brown?

  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    You could home-brew anodize aluminium in a range of colours to make them look silver, bronze, and gold.

    You can make then any colour you want, really. Purple, green, brown?

    Totally missed that part of your post, I'm a dork.
    But yeah, anodizing or anodizing with a dye work wonders.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    You're cool man, you're cool. No wuckers.

  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    JB1VI5f.jpg

    i forged tongs!

    nothing about them is correct, they're extremely rough, the reins are too small and they took about three times longer to make than they should've, but i am happy with them just the same. next ones will be much better

    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    I sometimes think about the first person to forge certain tools, like tongs . Like some dude figured out, "it'd be real convenient if I could manipulate my work while it's still hot, without getting burnt." And then figuring out a way to do that, without having tongs in the first place.

    Or stuff like locks. What kind of intuitive leaps does it take to design even the simplest lock?

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular
    Well it was probably, I don't want to put this rock against my door.

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Yes but like coming up with the design itself

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Or did it evolve from

    Hey I've mounted these brackets on my door and walls to put a beam in->

    Hey maybe I can use a smaller beam and just have it slide over when I want to block the door~>

    Hey what if I use metal cause it's stronger~>

    Damn this metal is heavy, maybe I should find a way to make this mechanism smaller~>

    Oh hey I can use this for all sorts of things!

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    i'm not even sure there was one dude who first figured out tongs or a hammer or other simple tools. most of the design of them is a function of what they need to do, and there are a hell of a lot of regional variations even in the simplest tools

    it's really cool seeing the various ways that different cultures have gone about solving the same problems

    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Oh yeah, definitely. I didn't necessarily mean it was just one person, it's just interesting to me to think about how technology progresses and how you'd create a new tool if you didn't have one to start with.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    i been thinking about making a copper axe like the one they found on Otzi, as true to the original as i can make it. like, i doubt i'd be able to use hide glue or animal sinew, but casting the head and everything in as low-tech a manner as possible could be fun

    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    Oh yeah, definitely. I didn't necessarily mean it was just one person, it's just interesting to me to think about how technology progresses and how you'd create a new tool if you didn't have one to start with.

    I think about this stuff all the time.

    Related thoughts: who ate the first oyster? Why? Did they like it? Or did they dare the next person to eat it?

  • CreaganCreagan Registered User regular
  • lonelyahavalonelyahava Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~ Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    I got my earrings from @NightDragon ! They look amazing!

    Now to just get my stubborn earlobe to cooperate so I can wear them and show them off!

  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    I sometimes think about the first person to forge certain tools, like tongs . Like some dude figured out, "it'd be real convenient if I could manipulate my work while it's still hot, without getting burnt." And then figuring out a way to do that, without having tongs in the first place.

    Or stuff like locks. What kind of intuitive leaps does it take to design even the simplest lock?

    As someone who's built a handful of locking mechanisms without commercial locks, my thinking tends to go from "Alright, I need something to make sure this is closed and will stay closed." to "Alright now I need some way of opening it from the outside." to "Alright but now I need a way of making sure I'm the one who is opening it."

    That took me from crossbars, to lever latches with an external component to the latch, to a lever latch with a removable external component to the latch. Or to be more specific "piece of wood that fits in a slot", "piece of wood that swings on a pivot and can be accessed from outside the container", and "Piece of wood that can only be accessed with a removable object (Magnets! How do they work?)".

  • SilverWindSilverWind Registered User regular
    edited May 2015
    Finished the shawl I was working on!
    UITuaG2.png?1

    http://www.ravelry.com/projects/SilverWind9/orchid-thief

    I'm onto a pair of socks now, as I've been promising @Wyborn some since forever. Also, they're much easier to knit while focusing on something else, and that's what I'm doing as I watch him play through Witcher 3.

    SilverWind on
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  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Beautiful
    Enchanting
    Intoxicating
    Mesmerizing
    Super Duper
    Well Done

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • CreaganCreagan Registered User regular
    That blue is gorgeous. What kind of yarn did you use?

  • SilverWindSilverWind Registered User regular
    Thanks! :D It was Wollmeise yarn. Things constantly sell out quick on their website, so I bought it from another person on Ravelry.

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  • lonelyahavalonelyahava Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~ Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    So. Many. Projects.

    One baby blanket
    One adult beanie
    One adult blanket
    Set of placemats
    Knitting practice scarf thing

    And nothing is holding my interest! Argh.

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Summer is a hard time for me to stay interested in knitting. There's just so much other stuff to do.

    But I did teach a crochet lady the knitting basics (basic cast on, knit stitch, basic cast off) at our weekly group last week. That felt good.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • UsagiUsagi Nah Registered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    Oh yeah, definitely. I didn't necessarily mean it was just one person, it's just interesting to me to think about how technology progresses and how you'd create a new tool if you didn't have one to start with.

    Ok, so there's this dude named Henry Petroski and this is basically his field--the history of engineering development

    I particularly enjoyed The Evolution of Useful Things, and am working through To Engineer is Human, but he writes a LOT

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    SilverWind wrote: »
    Finished the shawl I was working on!
    UITuaG2.png?1

    http://www.ravelry.com/projects/SilverWind9/orchid-thief

    I'm onto a pair of socks now, as I've been promising @Wyborn some since forever. Also, they're much easier to knit while focusing on something else, and that's what I'm doing as I watch him play through Witcher 3.

    I wish I could knit at all so I could make that exact thing and live in it forever.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • SilverWindSilverWind Registered User regular
    It's never too late to try! The pattern is ~$6 USD: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/orchid-thief/. But I'd definitely recommend starting out with a few simpler patterns first, as it's definitely an intermediate level design.

    This one looks simpler and yet so elegant with the beads... and yet I vowed not to start buying beads, as that is a hole I reaaaaaaally don't want to fall into.

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  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    They all look terrifying to start.. I have a hard time getting knitting for some reason. I can do basic knit/purl stitches, but getting complicated things to come together in my head is really difficult for some reason.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • UsagiUsagi Nah Registered User regular
    Ceres, are you a visual learner?

  • LiiyaLiiya Registered User regular
    I bought a sketchbook today, I'm going to try and start drawing/sketching outside of uni to get better, and now I've nearly finished until summer. I hear all the time its best to draw from life, is this true?

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Usagi wrote: »
    Ceres, are you a visual learner?

    Very much so. I usually go to youtube for all things crochet, but for knitting I'm not sure that would be enough.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    So my wife still has a concussion (4 weeks at home, now) and she still can't really watch TV or play games or use a computer or even read for very long, so to kill the boredom I bought her a whole bunch of puzzles, model kits, craft projects and the like including this guy

    kit_catapult.jpg

    And because she's a wood working nerd, she's spitting in the face of the 40 minute estimated build time on the box and finely sanding, staining and finishing every piece, cleaning up all the joins and glues and really making something of it.

    Later she intends to carve tiny skulls out of clay to launch and also she plans to launch cat treats across the room for funsies.

  • #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    Seriously though if any of you have any good ideas for simple, fun, long projects she can do with hand tools I'm all ears

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Liiya wrote: »
    I bought a sketchbook today, I'm going to try and start drawing/sketching outside of uni to get better, and now I've nearly finished until summer. I hear all the time its best to draw from life, is this true?

    This is definitely true for understanding shapes and light and shade and objects really look/work.

    Another technical aspect that's important for architects and engineers is linework development, and I'd suggest that here it might be helpful to look at pictures and sketches from other artists. Observing their choices can lead you to understand the effects of different kinds of mark-making. Also trying to draw from life AND get your fine-motor skills to behave can be frustrating, so one option is to also copy other drawings or sketches from expert artists. This means they have done most of the hard work for you (ie reducing a complex 3D scene/object to 2D lines), but it's not a bad exercise for training your hands to be able to reproduce what your brain wants.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    #pipe wrote: »
    Seriously though if any of you have any good ideas for simple, fun, long projects she can do with hand tools I'm all ears

    I dunno about super long, but I had an old illustrated version of Robinson Crusoe when I was a kid which had a very comprehensive guide to making your own completely wooden crossbow. (To the chagrine of 8-year-old me, and the heartfelt thanks of everyone else, my parents wouldn't give me any material for the string which could be adequately tensioned to provide any serious force, and I wasn't psychotic enough to eviscerate a local cat). Anyway, I'd probably look for similar projects (online perhaps) which have detailed instructions but don't come with pre-built kit. She'd probably find that much more satisfying if she's into woodwork anyway.

This discussion has been closed.