Author Archives: Tom Harold

YESSSSS!!!!! Victory!!!!!

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weldmagic

Got it!!! I know this doesn’t look like much. It looks like some grubby little gray sticks, but I assure you that this is some of the most gorgeous crap I have turned out in weeks! It’s not perfect, but, man, it’s MUCH better than it has been for months! And, really, the thing is, although I have made some good welds previously, this time I was able to repeat the process seven times! THAT is progress! And…AND!!! – when I grabbed them and wiggled them in all kinds of directions, and nothing broke off!!! SOLID!!! That is what we want!!!!

That stuff written above the practice piece are the settings on the welder for the amperage and the size of the tungsten electrode that I used to make these welds. I thought I’d never forget it, wouldn’t need to write it down, but then it occurred to me that weeks ago I’d done some welds that looked just as good as these, but hadn’t written anything down, and then I spent weeks trying to get back to this, so, can’t hurt, right?

Anyway, I could bore you with a long story about how I figured all this out, but let’s just say I practice, and practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and in between I asked for a lot of help and did a bunch of research. Now, finally(!!) I can do some solid work of which I will be proud, and which I can use to make decent sculpture. This type of welding right here is the basis upon which all my work is done, so having achieved this I have an excellent starting point from which to grow.

In short, this is really awesome. Really, really, really awesome!!!! Woot, says I.

Pedal to the metal

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weldpedal

Here’s some more practice work from the welding bench. I just stuck a bunch of rods together, because I am still having massive trouble getting things to stick without either making cold, weak welds, or blowing obnoxiously big craters in things and overheating them. These welds are largely of the latter type. As evidence of just how crappy they are, you’ll note that there are several spots along the longest wires where it looks like there are missing “teeth.” Those places used to have short wires welded to them, but the minute I put pressure on them with my hands, they broke off. Doh.

This is not what we want, kids. This is not good. This does not make me the happiest guy on earth. However, it is all part of the learning process, and sooner or later I’ll figure this out.

Oh, and the wires are sitting on top of my brand new foot pedal control (you can switch the welder on and off with it instead of using what is, to me, a clumsy hand control). The pedal helped me get the welds started more easily, but I’m still melting everything like I have a Death Ray instead of fusing things nicely together.

More practice to come. I’ll get the hang of this yet.

Palm heart

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heart

I was over at my sister’s and she showed me this “heart” woven from a palm frond. Her friend at church made it. It is apparently a Philippine practice, where my sister’s friend hails from. When used rather than displayed, the hearts are filled with rice and other food, cooked, and then the palm is peeled away and the food inside is eaten. If you know any more about this, I’d like to hear it. I thought the whole thing was pretty cool. My sister had it displayed with her statue of Mary, as it reminded her of the Sacred Heart.

…My intentions…ooh, weird…

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Rolling Ball Sculpture - looking up

Following yesterday’s questioning of my sanity, this is the part where I go, “Oh yeah – THIS is why I like to do this!”

It was quite a process to get everything lined up and ready to weld, and then the welding itself, well, that’s still a struggle, but I believe I got things going well enough to keep all of this together for at least 24 hours, if not longer! This shot is from below, looking up at the piece. You can see the nifty bracket, right? Behold the niftiness! (Niftiness?? Niftyness…niff-tee-niss…)

Rolling Ball Sculpture

Here’s an above shot.

DSC_0026.NEF

Side view.

And that is our outstandingness for the weekend! Lots of work, lots of crappy welds, lots of frowning and sweating and whatever, but it’s all together! It even sort of works when you roll marbles down it. Who woulda thought??

(Bits of) my creation

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Rolling Ball Sculpture - bracket

Remember that little bracket from a few days ago? Back on the 21st? Well, it was lame, and something had to be done about that. Sure, it would have worked as a plain, flat piece of metal, something you could easily forget, never notice – but what in heaven’s name would be the point in THAT??! I had to throw a little wackiness at it, make it interesting, and after some work with a jig saw, drill, and grinder, we have the magic you see above. Fun, eh? It took a long time, but I think it was worth it. I’d love to create more stuff in this style. I *really* dig it. It reminds me of old Buck Rogers stuff, that fabulous 50s jet-age sort of feel that comic books and advertisements had. I hope more of this shows up here.

DSC_0022

If you’re building one of these things, once you’ve spent way too many hours making fancy little brackets just so they’ll look like fancy little brackets, you finally get to the part where you have to actually, you know, install it. This is where multiple clamps come in handy. Not the steel blocks and clamp supporting the section of 2×4, the two welding clamps at the top of said 2×4 which are delicately balancing the platform to be welded to the sculpture, and the red-handled clips with the pipe that are holding up a long arm of the ball track (not to mention the other steel block that’s holding the lower clamp). These are probably the times where I most often go, “Why do I want to do this again?”

The answer to that question is right around the corner.

Cookies!

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I owe the presence of these in my kitchen to a fabulous human being who believes that, if I’m going to insist on repeatedly eating microwave burritos as if they possessed any actual nutritive value, I at least ought to have a real homemade cookie or two afterward, chocolate chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin – my choice! Thanks, Gen!

Two Kurts

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Kurt one, Kurt two

I was over at mom and dad’s tonight, and there was an old black and white photo on the kitchen table. It was of my dad’s parent’s dachshund, Kurtie. Mom and dad’s current pup is also named Kurtie, in honor of Kurt the First. I had dad hold them up for me so that I could catch them together. On the back of the photo grandma had written, “Our dog Kurt of 12 years. Old age took him.” I hope Kurt the second is with us for a good, long time.

(Note: I have said for several years that I wanted to get a dachshund and name it Kurtie. Apparently, this was a genius idea to the point that my parents stole it!!!)