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My brother was pulling the clutch on the Chevelle. That little piece of metal with the teeth and the read paint on it is a tool he made so he could remove the flywheel. It took maybe ten minutes to make the tool, but that was SO much easier than when we tried to do it previously without one. Sometimes the littlest things make a big difference.
Today is a special edition of One-Pic-A-Day where I present you with – four pictures. I do this to surprise and amaze you, not because I’m absorbed in my own project and am a detail fanatic about documenting every step. No, surely not that…
Little legs
You’ve seen a few pictures over the last several days where I was working on some boring-looking flat thing with a hole in it. Well, here’s the wrap on that whole deal, and I thought you might be curious. If not, skip on to tomorrow where there will likely be more pictures of…the same sort of thing. Good luck with that.
Anyway, above are the little legs I cut and bent that will go around the edge of the plate and hold up the guardrail that will keep the marbles corralled so they don’t go spilling all over the floor.
Blocked up
Here I have the plate flipped upside down and held securely in place with my nifty steel blocks. It helps to be positive that things aren’t going to move while you’re welding. I’m a little extreme sometimes, but at least I won’t worry. Maybe.
Woot!
Presto – we’re done! There was a lot more to it, but I apparently got really excited about how well it was going, and I didn’t shoot any pictures between adding the railing and adding the bolts and nut. Those fasteners that I welded in there will just help the marbles bang around a good bit and wander off in all sorts of unpredictable directions. Because of this bit of wackiness, the marbles will never go through the sculpture the same way twice! Unpredictability – I like it.
Don't move!
Yet again the nifty steel blocks prove their usefulness. Not only do they help hold that brace in place, but the sheer weight of the block is enough to allow me to use a rather heavy clamp to hold it upright. I’m not reassuring you that these blocks were a good thing to buy, I’m reassuring me, although if you agree, I’m cool with that.
So, now the randomizer/track splitter is all constructed and awaiting to have the brace welded to it that will attach it to the sculpture itself. Easy enough right? One would think so…
What?!?!?! Tom built an RBS? SHOCKER!
Yet another glimpse at my experience with steel fabrication sculpture at the Indianapolis Art Center. This is a kind of terrible photo, but I imagine you can get an idea of what’s going on here. I was in the process of building this RBS when we had to knock off for the end of the workshop. I busted butt and really did a fair job of getting through things. The parts that I completed actually function all the way to where the track ends, which I consider to be some kind of minor miracle.
I used a MIG welder on this mild steel piece. I was told to come back and now that I’m a member I can get studio time and complete it! Oh, and the red things on there are actually big magnets that are being used to hold things in position while I work. They don’t stay on there. Yet more detail on this to come. Stay tuned – it was SO COOL!
Fire! Mwuahahahahahaha!
This is from my steel sculpture workshop at the Indianapolis Art Center, the pic I figured you’d all want to see the most: sparks and flames! This is what everyone thinks of when they think of welding. It’s actually flamecutting very thick steel, not welding, but who’s to argue? It’s cool! This is not me here, this is Mike, but I got to partake, and I will freely admit, that it is exactly, 100%, absolutely and completely every damn bit as much fun as it looks!
The whole thing was superfab, so more on this later, more pics, more words, and more burnt stuff!