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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.
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I am at once both ashamed and proud of this photo. I built the bench that these clamps lie on. I have also purchased every single one of these clamps since I took that steel fabrication sculpture class just – what – one month ago? This is but a small sampling of where a large portion of my spare (and not so spare) cash has been going. Yet, I tell you that I need every one of these, and I’m sure at some point in the not too distant future I will find myself in a situation where every single one of them is in use and I’m saying, “If only I had one more!”
I’m a little concerned about these expenditures, but it seems to be what I really want right now. I think this is part of what they call following your muse. I’ll let you know if it starts to get out of hand. More than likely, if it does, you’ll see it here before I realize I’m in it.
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These things are awesome. Very simply, they are blocks of solid steel. I actually paid for these things, odd as that may seem, but when it comes down to it, and a job has to be done, well, these chunks of metal do it well. They’re square and heavy, and sometimes that’s exactly what you (I!) need!
These are going to be every so useful in the future. I can use them to prop things up, hold things down, and as the base for clamping pieces together in a pretty immobile fashion. No more piling up pieces of (flammable) wood and clamping things this way and that. I’ll just prop them together with these things, and I’ll be on my way. Hard to believe a block of metal can actually function as such a valuable tool. It was also vaguely staggering to hear the cost for them. Metal isn’t cheap these days, even if it’s just a plain old block of it. I think a single one of these ran be about 12 or 13 bucks. I was going to get six. Yeah – that plan changed quickly. Four will do good now. You’ll be seeing these in many photos to come, I’m betting.
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I remember about two years ago when I started doing these things I was reading someone’s online account of building rolling ball sculptures. He had a photo up of one part of the process, some copper clamped up in a vise with a bunch of wood, and the accompanying text said something like, “I have built clamps to hold sections of track so that I can solder them appropriately.” I remember thinking, “No way, man, not me. I’m not going to get that involved. That guy is obviously going much further than I’m going to go. That’s kind of ridiculous, all that effort just to solder one joint.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: a photo of me having achieved the ridiculous. (For the record, it worked, and nothing less than this conglomeration of clamps, wood, and wire would have made it possible.)
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You’d think I’d have all kinds of crazy tools and whatnot sitting around to help me make these things, but such is not the case. What you’re looking at are the basics of what I work with throughout the construction process. Those clips with the black bases – those things are very important! It really would be hard to do a lot without them. Those are called “third hands” in the biz. Model makers and crafters use them to basically just hold stuff still while it’s being worked on. You’ll notice a couple of pairs of Vice Grips, which I don’t mind plugging here, because they generally are made of awesome, although here they are performing the rather mundane task of simply being heavy and holding one end of the sculpture still and upright while I goof with other stuff. I use them for their intended purpose quite often, however, when soldering things in place or bending wire. The other tools just amount to various kinds of pliers, a hammer, wire cutters, and some soldering tools, maybe a few large clamps on occasion. Oh, and let’s not forget the all-important Sharpie marker. I use that thing ALL. THE. TIME. I sometimes think it’s one of the most important tools I have. This stuff isn’t fancy by any stretch, but it gets the job done.
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Doubtless you’ll be as breathless and excited over this one as I am. These three seemingly inoccuous blocks of aluminum have tremendous potential, at least they do for me. They’re tools to be used in the making of rolling ball sculpture. These were designed by the sculptor Matthew Gaulden, and constructed in conjunction with his machinist. These hold 1/8″ wire when building an RBS, and Matt says they cut down his construction time by 20%. Building these sorts of sculptures is very time-consuming, so any way to cut down some of that is welcome, particularly when it’s an annoying detail like getting track spacing consistent. Personally, I’d rather spend my time developing some new track element, like a lift that’s shaped like a ferris wheel or something. Track spacing? Not exactly my idea of ultimate creativity.
One side note here: They don’t make copper in 1/8″ diameter. These clamps are to be used with steel wire. This means they have to be welded isntead of soldered. Previously, everything I’ve done has been soldered copper. I have a crappy little welder with which I have cobbled together one or two things. This is effectively a move toward making some construction changes. I don’t know when you’re all going to see some results, but it occurred to me that sitting around thinking about how I didn’t know how to weld my sculptures was not getting me any closer to being able to weld. This, this is a step forward. Stay tuned here for details on how I manage to botch my welding in the future.