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SJSoane

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Everything posted by SJSoane

  1. Toni, Beautiful friezes. Like Remco, I have been pondering whether to paint directly onto the hull or use paper. You have shown how successful the paper approach can be! Mark
  2. Hi everyone, I have managed to cast my first cannon, more by luck than skill. Many thanks to Greg Herbert for the cypher; I have yet to accomplish a photo engraved cypher myself. I learned a great deal, but will have to do this again, since the mould line between the two halves got a little ragged, leading to leakage and also a loss of detail at the join. Here is what I learned: First, I built the initial mould box taller than the clay, which was a mistake. I was digging around from above to try to level the clay, and to push it evenly against the master. In hindsight, I see that the clay needed to be more accurately pushed up against the master. I didn't, and the first pour seeped down into the areas where the clay was not fully against the master, leaving a thin "flap" that prevented the second pour from coming cleanly against the master. Next time, I need to build a first box at the level of the clay, then build higher walls to contain the first pour of rubber (the idea can be seen in the PDF about making moulds in the resources section of this website). Second, I was using MicroMark rubber mould material that was 18 months beyond its shelf life. I don't know what it is supposed to be like within its shelf life, but one of the bottle's material was very stiff to stir at first. Indeed, I did not stir it enough for the first pour, and as a consequence it took overnight to dry and did not capture the detail as well as the second pour. I worked hard at mixing for the second pour, and added some thinner. The fidelity to the master was significantly better. I used a bottom-up feed on the mould, with the understanding that the trapped air would be pushed out a vent at the top. I poured resin until I saw it bubbling out of the center vent. That method seemed to work flawlessly, with no captured air bubbles. However, I did notice a couple of pin holes in the top of the muzzle, which i assume were bubbles created when i poured the rubber onto the master. I poured a very thin stream rubber from over a foot above the mould into a corner, understanding that this would remove bubbles thicker than the stream, and that the material would slowly flow over the master. Worked almost, not quite! Perhaps my rubber material is too thick still, and needs more thinning. If I am feeling experimental, I might try a top feed and see if it makes any difference or causes any difficulties. A top feed would certainly reduce wastage on the poured material. (I am in no rush, since I am still backing and filling, waiting for the Colorado humidity to come up in the spring so I can get back to building wales at the same humidity as the internal deck clamps.) Back to the foundry for round two... Mark
  3. Gaetan, Beautiful, and what a rich tradition of decoration in French ships! Mark
  4. Hi Siggi, Yes, you are right, my mistake. The barrel is indeed 10 and 12 sided. Your method worked well! Mark
  5. Michael, Very clever idea, sliding the blank progressively out of the collet chuck to keep the cutting close to the chuck. So obvious once you mention it, but not obvious enough that I ever thought of it. We continue to learn from the master! Mark
  6. Michael, your work continues to show the art at a level of sophistication and skill that I would not have believed possible until I see it before our very eyes... Mark
  7. Very nice, Siggi! I found it very challenging to cut the octagonal hole within the capstan head, to slide down on the barrel. You did it flawlessly. Mark
  8. Alan I have been working happily at 1:64. The biggest challenge so far in terms of size was the capstans' whelps. But it is possible! Mark
  9. Ed, I am also intrigued by your sculpting epoxy. What is the brand? Beautiful, inspiring work. Mark
  10. Hi Siggi, I echo Gary's question. Do you have any photos of making the small details? They look very good. Great photos! Mark
  11. Dear Gaetan, Beautiful, artistic, exquisitely crafted. You are a master. I notice your vise for holding the carving. I have seen these vises, but never how they might be used. Very ingenious. Best wishes, Mark
  12. Thanks, druxey, that is a good idea. I spent the day trying fine wire, Fino modeling clay, and then some stick-on thin copper. None worked as well as the copper, which I show in a rough form here. I was thinking about casting a copy of the cannon, then adhering the thin copper to the barrel, and then engraving and cutting while it is in place. But before trying that, I will try the acrylic matt. I am learning that, at this scale, it is an impression of detail, not as defined as I thought at first. The thin wire and modeling clay were way too "chunky" for the scale of the detail and the cannon. druxey, any ideas on how I will transfer the pattern to the brass barrel? Of this this a case of free-handing with a fine awl? Best wishes, Mark
  13. Thanks, Michael, this is a very good lead. I'll look up Doris' log, and track down some Fino in the morning. The etching was beginning to look like major overkill for one master.... Your machining continues to inspire me. I worked a little harder on my cannon master after seeing how you approached your project. Thanks! Mark
  14. HI everyone, Well, I confidently started out trying to make the gun insignia with photo etch. I simplified the George III image, but when I print it out at 3/16" inch scale (about 1/8" long), even the simplified detail disappears. And I am not yet sure how much detail will even show after I sort out the etching process. Not so confident now! Maybe there is a better idea.... Best wishes, Mark
  15. Thanks, Sherry, for the thoughts about the resin. I'll proceed cautiously.... Best wishes, Mark
  16. Ed, I don't know how you managed to resist the temptation to show the other hull all this time. It looks great from afar.... Mark
  17. Hi Sherry, I was just about to start working with casting resin cannon, and read your comment. What kinds of problems did you encounter? Best wishes, Mark
  18. Hi Mark, It worked for me, drilling the hole first. I then turned it at the highest RPM on the Sherline lathe, with a very shallow cut across the area with the drilled hole. I was also using the pointed cutting bit, which presumably has a smaller surface to catch if it would. I was only aware of a smallest change in sound, but no sense of anything catching. It seemed to work without difficulty. Best wishes, Mark
  19. Thanks, Nils, Siggi and also Ed. Nils, I appreciate your comments, thanks. Ed, I got an email telling me of your post, but it does not show up in my build log on my computer. Strange.... Thanks for the information about shrinkage in casting. I confess I did not even think about it when I was making the master, although I was vaguely aware of it from reading about manufacturing processes years ago. I'll see how much shrinkage will happen in 2", with lead-free pewter. I may moderate my quest for perfection, since I don't fancy right now turning another master. At 3/16" scale, a quarter or a half an inch is not really perceptible, I keep telling myself... Siggi, thanks for the pictures of the barge. I admired that every time I visited the National Maritime Museum. I haven't been in years to Greenwich; is it still in the main building at Greenwich, or has it been moved to Chatham? Best wishes, Mark
  20. Very nice, Siggi. What are the white objects in your moulds? I have been thinking about painting my gun carriages red, and your photo just convinced me. They are red in most 18th century models I have seen that have guns. Best wishes, Mark
  21. Dear Greg, druxey, Siggi, Grant and Ed, Thank you for the kind comments. It took me almost a week of long days to produce this one master cannon, and your support on this website kept me going at times. When I first laid out my "recipe" of dimensions, I did not account for the fact that the pointed cutting bit has an angled face. Cutting up to the line on the fine moldings meant that I had already cut away half of its thickness. So If you look closely at the drawing (actual sizes on the lower half, the cutting dimensions on the upper half), I thickened up the various moldings so that when I cut to the line, I ended up with the right size. But I only got to this through a number of failed trial and error recipes. I confess it got tedious! I did try switching cutting bits to a face perpendicular to the moulding on each side, but then I got so lost in where I was. I finally had to figure out how to use a pointed cutter for the entire length. Greg, I am an admirer of your own machining skills, and I can share with you that the angle gauges did have to come into the shop only after I got very tired of setting angles by trigonometry (moving the cutter in the X dimension down a set length, then dialing in the Y direction to see if it hit the blank forming a 1 degree triangle, then adjusting and doing it again). The manual method was OK at first, but not after so many failed trial and errors. That was one of the reasons it took me so long to produce this master. Siggi, I know how it feels to discover information after you have completed something that is now out of reach for repair. I have a few of those in my project that I keep thinking about. But I looked at your photos, and your cannon look great to me. Also, I discovered that there are a number of variations on this cannon pattern, so who will know! Ed, I have not cast anything before, and I am going to follow the directions in David Antscherl's volume II of the Fully Framed Model. I found lead free pewter at a local jewelry supply, and will see what happens. I also just bought some Micro Mark casting resin, to see how this turns out in comparison to the pewter. I would give a special acknowledgement to Michael Mott, whose magnificent machining precision on his skipjack engine inspired me to work a little harder at getting this as right as I could, within my own skill level. Best wishes, Mark
  22. Hi everyone, Well, after a number of rejects, I finally made a master 32 pound cannon for casting. A few details. First, I decided to use the Sherline angle cutting device for the angled cuts, since the angle to the hind of the second reinforce is different from the angle ahead of the reinforce. I used some very handy angle gauges to set the device to the 1 degree and then 1 1/2 degree parts. This was infinitely easier than calculating the tangents of the angles, and then trial and error setting the angles. The second photo shows setup using the 1 and 1/2 degree gauges. I have a digital readout on my lathe, but this does not work on the angle device. So I had to count turns for distances. To facilitate this, I adapted an old Sherline hand wheel that can reset to 0, turning it down to fit the angle device. This helped enormously with incremental counts down the length of the cannon. And then I drew up a recipe (fourth photo), converting actual scale lengths to numbers of full turns of the hand wheel plus numbers of increments in part of a turn. You can see this in the photo as, for example, 9T 38, which means nine full turns plus 38 increments. Each horizontal and then vertical cut is color coded the same so I could keep track of where I was. Inspired by Michael Mott's machining, I used a center bit in the mill as seen in the first photo, for drilling the hole for the trunnion. This helped keep the hole accurately located while drilling into a curved surface (the trunnion is off center by half its diameter). It worked perfectly. Thanks, Michael! I intend to cast these, so the muzzle mouth has a dowel on it, onto which I will attach a funnel head for making the mold. At last, I can think about making molds! All for now, Mark
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