Danger, Will Robinson, Danger !!

[snapperhead]

Thanks for the positive comments, I really do appreciate them.
I have to admit that when I started hammering out the boiler cap, I didnt realise how important good and even annealing was to make the copper more pliable and workable.
I now use one of my biggest burners from the foundry to do the annealing, and what a difference it has made. It shoots out a blue flame around 40mm diameter and easily 150mm long, makes it so fast and easy to turn the copper soft enough that I can literally rub shape into it with my thumbs. I had the drum cage and bearing unit from a front loading washing machine here, and it has made a great ghetto turntable for spinning the circular parts slowly while applying the heat evenly.
I am going to put a microwave turntable motor (and light dimmer for speed control) on to the drive wheel of it, and it should make a great welding/ soldering turntable when it comes time to start assembly.

I have taken another day off work to hammer away at the lyne arm, and it is looking very unusual indeed, really is starting to look like a bird sculpture, the alcoholic albatross.

Neighbours are regretting volunteering as taste testers too, as they have to tolerate all the banging away. They are calling me Mr bang bang now, not for much longer though.

Thanks again y-all

[Yummyrum]

Mate ,thats impressive .You are an artist .

I am going to put a microwave turntable motor (and light dimmer for speed control) on to the drive wheel of it, and it should make a great welding/ soldering turntable when it comes time to start assembly.

Regarding this .Microwave motors are synchronous motors .IE ,their speed is governed by the supply frequency, 50Hz in Australia
You can't adjust the speed with a phase angle controller ,IE one that varys the average voltage.

You need an adjustable frequency supply to control a synchronous motor .These are available ."Silicon chip "magazine did a project on one earlier this year but as a kitset ,it still cost around $200 mark from memory.

[snapperhead]

Thanks Yummy, You have saved me a lot of head scratching . I will most likely rig the turntable up like an old school pottery wheel instead, and use a foot to rotate it when welding and soldering. Come to think of it, I have a dc motor from a treadmill on the shelf, I wonder if I could use that with an adjustable dc power supply for some speed control ??. Thanks mate.

And thank you very much for calling it art, it will live in the new lounge so I wanted it to look like furniture, but artwork sounds much better.
I have mostly got the 2 shells of the lyne arm done from yesterdays effort, and now its raining, I will skip out of work again and spend the day smoothing the shape out, if I get that done, I will post pics this arvo.

I do have a question for y-all. I want to run this in the lounge on winter days so I can benefit from the heat after I shut it down and close the doors and windows. It should have a huge thermal mass and I read that it takes around 8-10 hours to cool down after a run (free heating I am thinking). I would like to hear the cons, and any pros about doing this ?

[snapperhead]

Say hello to my little friend

My little friend.jpg

My little friend2.jpg

My little friend3.jpg

Still massive amounts of fetling to do before the shells are ready to assemble, but it shows the idea anyway. Im going to make pipe transitions at each end that will blend into this rough shape into something I can work a flange into. The weight of it is quite well balanced so far and the "beak" should make it just right. The thermo port will be where the eye is, just before the slide down to the PC.

OK spider monkeys, thats enough copper for you for the day, time for me to think about building a shotty of some sort

Peace out
vanilla gorilla

[Dominator]

WOW mate. My vocabulary cannot explain how cool that is.

[Yummyrum]

Well fuck me dead.

All these years here we were making parrots that to be honest look nuthing like a parrot.

and you have knocked out...... the "Albatross" .....in 3D copper !!!!!!!!!!


Mate :mrgreen:

[Sam.]

WOW mate. My vocabulary cannot explain how cool that is.

I can....THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!! :D

Are you sure your not 180 years old and do this shit for a living? :think: :laughing-rolling:

[Grandvewe]

Great to see some creative innovation!

Any ideas for its name?
The Pelican Pot still?
Potty the Pelican?
The Alembic Albatross?
:-B

[Grandvewe]

Potty mouth pelican :-D

[Sam.]

Copper Hammer Time :D

[Urrazeb]

Pelican the piss pot :laughing-rolling:

[Mfkerg]

Mr Percival :-D

[snapperhead]

Mr Percival

Pelican the piss pot

Copper Hammer Time

Potty mouth pelican

The Pelican Pot still?
Potty the Pelican?
The Alembic Albatross?

Hehehe, awesome ideas, and I was just going to call it Colin or Barry .
Hey thank you all big time, Im just retarded in a way that I just cant/wont do anything normal anymore. I tried being normal for many many years and it made me very un-well, I started seeing chicken flavoured rectangular spots everywhere, and ended up chucking all my cups, teaspoons and plates at the seagulls. (well maybe it was my last bike crash that caused some of that). My body may look and feel 180 years old, but my mind and imagination is still 6 going on 7. I just need to go down the untrod-den path, if given any choice in it. Another example of this, I am casting my own bronze floor tiles and grouting them in with pewter, for the new bathroom, which has a 3000 litre aquarium as 1 of the walls. Im sure I am mad as a balloon, but for now I am still allowed to be outside of the loony bin.

My thoughts on the PC are these so far. Huge, shotgun style but with pyrex glass outer shell, centre tube will be replaced with a sealed light (I have a fibre-optic lighting unit on the shelf collecting dust) mounted on a carved timber stand that resembles an oversized gun butt. Hidden coolant plumbing, and the outlet coming from where the trigger hammer would be. I would like to make the stand incorporate an internal parrot somehow. It will hopefully look like a giant plasma Gatling gun (my steampunk desires get in everywhere)

OK, sun is almost up, so I need to go do something odd
Thanks again peeps, very much appreciated
Peace out

[BackyardBrewer]

Very exotic. Can't wait for some final photos and a report on how she runs.

[snapperhead]

I have had an idea so incredibly genius it can only succeed spectacularly.......... no wait.......the opposite of that.

condenser concept.jpg

I have wanted to build a steampunked gun of some sort for a while now, and here is my chance to make one that does more than just shoot nerf bullets. I wanted to make the exterior shell of the shotgun condenser from glass, but after pricing both glass and acrylic tube at 150mm diameter (omfg), I will make the shell from 3" copper and put some curved plate viewports into it. Will be much easier to build and seal properly than the full clear shell anyway, so win win. There will be a recess in the gun stock to hold a magazine styled parrot, and a diverter in the condenser outlet to pull off the foreshots. The condenser will sit on a stainless tube "gun rack" stand that will incorporate the controls (in an old leather suitcase/toolbox I have)

Kind of along these lines for syling

jklh.jpg

On a side note, NZ's duty free, 3 litre allowance is great, this is a very nice drop, would love to be able to make something similar in the future.

nom nom nom.jpg

[Kimbo]

Thats looking awesome mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Very unique, love the look of it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MacStill]

I'm loving this build, fucken fantastic is all I can think of to say :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[snapperhead]

using a healthy measure of abandon when it comes to common sense, I have jumped in and got some bits roughed out for the shotgun condenser. I am confident I can make it work, and there are heaps of little obstacles to overcome (a good thing for me), but no biggies as I see it, so far. I have found that it adds an element of confusion to people who dont really understand my explanation of what I am building, I am loving every second of this build.
This is how it looks today

Condenser stand progress 3.jpg

Condenser stand progress.jpg

The gun rack and control case are coming along and should give the support hoped for. When finished, I hope the condenser and rack will be a structural support for the whole rig. I would like to take any weight loads away from the expansion chamber section that I can

Condenser stand progress 2.jpg

The magazine parrot case former slips inside the barrel smoothly, and I should be able to easily get the parrots tube work inside the shape. Parrot exit will come out the bottom of the case and take the form of the trigger hammer. The bottom collection jar stand cutout will get a copper liner spill tray and will cradle the collection jars so they have a bit of support if knocked (rough form block just beside base).

To keep as much steam in my punk as I can, the base block on the butt is from an old jarrah railway sleeper, and will be the only bit of real timber that is shown on the stock (rest will be leather, copper, and brass, etc). I will be pouring some lead slugs directly into the jarrah foot to make the condenser, as bottom heavy as possible.

For anyone interested in the stocks construction, its all mdf and flooring particle board offcuts, glued up and then carved to shape, sanded and sealed with a $3 S.C.A primer spray can, easy peasy.

I am now thinking about the boiler case as it sets the final height for the rig. Plans now are to make an aerated concrete inner shell that acts as a hot face around the boiler which should heat the entire boiler and reduce "hotspots" as much as I can. Wrapped in serious insulation and then clad in something decorative. The boiler will be supported around the upper lip and the base will sit on a short column/plinth. I want to try something different with the gas burner setup, and I am opting for having around 6 mini venturi burners coming into the case at even spacings around the circumference, these will be angled to create a vortex flow around the entire boiler, vented out a flue around the top of the case. I see this as a low temperature furnace, a much cooler version of a foundry furnace, I am just moving the decimal point over a place or two.

I also stumbled across a sweet, 50lt staino keg that is now part of my alcoholic adventure park here. I have no idea of its final use, but I have amassed enough 2" copper bends, tee's, and tube to consider a VM/LM combo practice rig. Either that or it can be added to the cellar plan as an aging vessel. A good find all the same.

Hey thanks for the stamp of approval Mac, your work is space shuttle worthy, I am humbled seeing your workmanship and quality builds, so it means a lot. I would feel safe flying in a plane that you built.

Time to relax and watch superbikes
Peace out
Alfie, your local go kart instructor

[Sam.]

This build just gets cooler and cooler :dance: