you spin me right round baby
right round like a record baby
round-round-round...couldn't resist, it's just a test of the template anyway.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Update:
Footman's almost complete. Here's a pic!
As you can see; it is in fact much longer than it needs to be. This is intentional. Since it's so very tricky to make perfect plans for found parts, I'm winging it. Measuring to size as I go.
The crank is a success! It softened in the oven, but I just reheated over the stove again, and bent a bit extra for a longer "handle". Then once it set I used a fiber cutting/sanding disk with my "wishes it was a dremel" and proceeded to hold the wheel as though steering a car to sand the handle of the crank into a reasonably perfect cylindrical shape.
I then drilled a hole in the top of a small scrap of acrylic and ground the hole bigger with a diamond burr bit. It's nice and smooth and I tested as I went to make sure it wouldn't be too ginormous for my crank. Then I ground the top into a nice shape, so it wouldn't be too pointy or have sharp edges(I hate wearing shoes so I'm softening edges and rounding them whenever possible). I can reinforce the crank if need be, but if it's short enough that won't be necessary. It all depends on how long it has to be:).
Next on the list, assemble the center post/bottom of the base, and attatch the piano hinge to the base(and I think I'll add a little extra acrylic to make a really nice level edge for the hinge to sit on. I'm using an easy to aquire hobby and model glue which melts/welds the plastic. Dirt cheap, so anyone can find it. Catch a bit of a buzz off it though, no matter what, cause it's so close to my nose:(. Not huffing, just close to the pieces when lining them up and phwew that stuff's strong.
