Christmas stuff

[pro70z28]

I am involved in the set design for the Christmas program at church. I just purchased Aspire a week or so ago. I'm in the process of making some angel wings. Got the rough cut done tonight. I cut it in 2 passes with a 1/2 " bull nose & 50% step-over. I can't fire it up again until tomorrow afternoon for the finish pass. I made a front half and sliced the back half in 2 pieces. Overall size will be approx. 5'x22''x5.5'' each wing. I've got a few other things to make. I'll post them as soon as I figure them out.
My dust collector is broke, I should build another one but this jury rigged set-up is catching 90% of the chips.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/CNCwings1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/CNCWings2.jpg

[robtown]

They look good. The stepover is a bit high, but I suppose it helps by adding the texture to the wing.

Good Stuff...

[mikeacg]

Fun stuff Gary! What kind of finish will you be putting on the foam?

Mike

[pro70z28]

Rob. that was just the rough pass. The large step over saved me several hours of machine time. I figured since it was just foam anyway I'd opt for the time savings. I took a chance and fired it up before I left this morning. Got back and all is running smoothly. It's about 5.5 hours into the finish pass. About 3-4 hours to go.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Finishpass.jpg

Mike, I'll just be painting them white latex & a little light blue here and there to give them a little more depth. They are just going to be used for 4 nights and then will probably get put in the rafters, so I don't plan to get too detailed. I have to make a camel also. That will go outside for those same 4 nights. That I might make a little more permanent. If I get real ambitious I may make the other nativity characters and have a complete set. That remains to be seen though.

[oddcoach]

Gary what size bit are you using on the final pass. If its one of the long tapered bits you could just do the final pass without the rough one
John

[pro70z28]

I'm using a 1/2" bull nose, about a 1" flute. . I'll have to get some additional bits, but for now it's the only bit I have.
Where can I get tapered bits?


While the router was running this afternoon I made the harness.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/WingHarness1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Wingharness2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/WingHarness3.jpg

[khalid]

Gary..Very nice work.. I will wait for the final finish

[pro70z28]

Thanks Khalid. Tonight I glued the pieces together. To make room for the aluminum mounting tabs, I marked out where they go on the foam & used a heat gun to shrink that area. Then I sprayed great stuff on the mating surfaces & squeegeed it to knock down the foam. Laid the aluminum tabs in place, laid up the parts & carefully weighted them down with cinder blocks.
As Norm Abrams would say.....''I'll let them cook overnight''. lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Wingsgluedtogether.jpg

[oddcoach]

Shopbot sells a 1/8 tapered bit it has an 1 1/2" cut length and a 1/4" shank. MSC has a boatload of tapered bits

[pro70z28]

Thanks John. I'll check them out.

Got the wings done. Next up is the earth model. This is 16'x4'x12'' so a little more involved than the wings. I think I have it set up right. I'll be firing up the router as soon as I get a chance to see how it all works.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/WingsFinished.jpg

[pro70z28]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/WingsFinished.jpg

Having link problems.

[pro70z28]

I got the entrance sign done for the Christmas Program.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/EntranceSignFCC.jpg

I glued a 4'x8' sheet of 2" Styrofoam to a sheet of OSB with great stuff, to support it and to have a way of mounting it to the arch that goes over the entrance to the Church parking lot. Loaded it in the shopbot to machine & did a profile cut through both the foam & OSB.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/DoveFCC.jpg

I cut the letters for the main line out of 1" Styrofoam and also 3-d cut the dove out of the same material.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/EntranceSignFCCFinished.jpg

I sprayed the background colors on the sign & highlighted the dove with blue. I then used a 5'' air angle sander and ground the tops off the "THERE IS & TONIGHT" letters to bring the white back. Then I glued the raised letters & dove over the raised bosses on the sign & it was done.

Got to use the 2 rail sweep function to make the wavy background on this project. I was trying to roughly duplicate the playbook cover laying on the table.

Next up is the 4'x16'x12'' "Earth" project. I have the left side almost cut out.

[andyb]

Gary,
Wowwwww... the christmas sign looks great.

Andy B.

[mikeacg]

Gary,

This is very impressive! Keep up the good work (and keep sharing photos!)

Mike

[gene]

Gary.
You have only had aspire for 2 weeks and you can do all this. very nice work. I have had mine for a long time , since aspire 1 and all i can draw is a square and a circle .

[pro70z28]

Got the earth done. This is a 2 piece model, total size is 16'x4'x12''. It goes center stage at floor level to cover the stairs going up to the stage.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/WorldAssembly.jpg
Gluing up the the layers.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Earthreadyforpaint.jpg
I used drywall compound to smooth it out a little.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/EarthDone.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/EarthDone2.jpg

I used an airless sprayer to paint it & a door jam gun to add the detail.

On to the camel. I have the model built for the left side and have it about 1/2 cut out. I'll post pics. when I get a little further along.

[gene]

I know that you will be the hero of the church play for all the help and hard work that you have done for them. Cant wait to see the camel

[pro70z28]

Thanks everybody for all the encouragement. I've bitten off a pretty big chunk of work. The router is running 24/7. I load a big file at night and by morning It's ready for another layer.
(Wonder what our electric bill will be next month)? eek.

[navigator7]

Gary Spear,
That is Awesome!
If I knew your voltage, amp load and your electrical rate per KWH I could figger out what a 24 hr run time will cost.

745 watts is a HP. Let's say your machine is 2HP.
So 745 x 2 = 1490 watts per hour.
1490 x 24 = 35,760 watts
I divide by 1000 as we are charged .05 per kilowatt or 1000 watt/hrs.
35.76 x .05= $1.78/day
$1.78 x 31 days = $55 per month.

This doesn't include your lights, compressor, heaters, vacuum and coffee maker etc.

Let's say you have a 4 Hp spindle.
The machine won't use all the horsepower until its really hogging into something and maybe not even then? True of a 2 Hp motor as well.


Tell me.....what are you doing with all your foam chips?

Unless they are gone...you might consider packaging them and using it as filler in a concrete "WhatNot" you are going to make some day?
;-)

[pro70z28]

I've got bags of foam chips.

Maybe as a Christmas gag gift I could put a balloon in a box, rig it to pop when the box is opened and then fill the rest of the box with foam chips. (especially the white Styrofoam chips as they are much much fluffier). I could call it....snowstorm in a box. lol.

[navigator7]

Believe it or not, you might be able to sell that stuff on Ebay or Craiglist.

It has a use in ornamental concrete especially water features.

[gene]

Dont do it Gary,
I did a prank simular to that and the wife was NOT happy. Yes i learned to use the vac that day. LOL

[pro70z28]

lol

[pro70z28]

Chuck, I'll have to look into that. By the time I'm done, I'll have a pill of it.

Gene, not to worry, I don't want to get stuck running the vac. lol

Sneak preview of the camel model. First layers off the CNC. I'm happy with the way it is coming along so far. One disappointing thing was I forgot to tip the fringe on the bottom of the blanket, so it hugs the camel body instead of hanging straight down like it should. I'll correct that when I do the right side. This is the side that will face away from the road so it won't been seen close up anyway. More pics to follow.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Camelroughcut.jpg

BTW: One thing I tried with this model that seems to be working, I did a .125'' inset cut on the profile cuts. I found on the other parts I made, especially the upper layers, the edges get to be pretty thin. Then when I glue them together those thin edges like to flake off. With the .125" inside profile cut there's a little more meat around the edges and I have a sharp "V" groove in the joint that will hold filler better. I'll know soon if that theory works.

[mikeacg]

Gary,

Do you never sleep? You're putting stuff up faster than I can reply to your posts! These are great! I hope my church doesn't see this - I am booked until Christmas!!!

Mike

[navigator7]

Gary,
Are you going to insert an armature into your creation?
My next question is...do you have a hot wire cutter?

I'm with Michael!

[pro70z28]

Yes, I'm going to build an armature through the back legs as they will be fragile. The front legs should be O.K. since there is the blanket & treasure chest beefing them up. I'll do something minimal up front just for mounting purposes.

No, I don't have a hot wire cutter. That is something I may pick up. I just planned to cut a V grove in the foam with a pull saw, insert the armature & glue it together with great stuff. Where is a good source for a cutter?

[chiloquinruss]

"Where is a good source for a cutter" - Heres a good website for the foam cutter. Most good hobby shops carry this stuff as lots of model railroaders use foam for scenery these days.

http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/home.php

P.S. I'm really impressed in your 'large' undertakings! Good job!
Russ

[pro70z28]

Thanks Russ, I'll check that out when I get some time.
As of 12-04-09
Got a pretty fair amount of sculpting done on the left side today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Camelasof12-4-09.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Camelrightside12-04-09.jpg

Got the right side glued together today. I have a couple more pieces of the bottom side to cut out yet. The router has been running 24/7. I ground a bull nose end on a 1/2" drill bit so I can cut the 2" foam in a single pass. Some of the larger layers take up to 9 hours to cut. I try to line those up to run at night so I can catch a few hours sleep. It takes 16 layers of 2" foam to make the top half & 9 layers to make the bottom half. Got them all cut out of 12 - 4'x8' sheets. Some of the smaller parts I cut out of the center of the bigger parts, so it's not solid all the way through.

I have a deadline on a large number of banners, so I can't devote all my time to the camel. I feel like the guy that used to spin the plates on the Ed Sullivan show, trying to keep everything going. (yes, I know, I'm old) lol.
More to come later. Time is a wastin'.

[pro70z28]

Saturday I built the armature so ol' Mr. camel can stand on his own 4 feet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Armture.jpg

Fit the armature in the model, filled the voids with great stuff & assembled the whole deal. The foam looks a little odd because it's a piece from last years set. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Armatureembeded.jpg

Filling in the seams between all the layers & removing all the stuff that doesn't look like a camel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/sculpting2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Sculpting1.jpg

[pro70z28]

Quick update. The calendar tells me this is where the detailing has to end. I'll let it dry a couple days & then give it some sealer & paint. I ended up doing the treasure chest by hand. I figured with the time restraint I could do it faster that way since it was just a simple box.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/camel12-101.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Camel12-102.jpg

[bob_s]

Gary
Nice work - I am impressed !!!

[myxpykalix]

Gary that is absolutely amazing. Most people outside this forum may no clue how much work goes into something like that. You should be very proud of your work.

[beacon14]

Unbelievable

[john_l]

Gary.. you're the boss. Very nice.

[mikeacg]

Gary,

I know you have been working way too many hours on this stuff but you did a fantastic job and it looks great! Also, you have inspired me to start working on a really great nativity scene for my yard for next year! If I start now I won't have to run the machine all night long like you did. Thanks so much for sharing - I'd love to see it all painted and in place if you get the chance...
Mike

[pro70z28]

After letting it dry a day I gave it a coat of primer/sealer tonight. Ready for some color tomorrow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/CamelLeftpaintready.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/CamelRightPaintReady.jpg

...As opposed to a white elephant http://skins.hotbar.com/skins/mailskins/em/google_emoticons/emoti_462.gif

[rb99]

Amazing work!

So professional and absolutely world class.

Have you figured the market value yet?

Richard

[pro70z28]

Thanks Richard, & no I haven't. I have no idea because I'm sure I took way longer than if I had some experience. I was hoping I could sound out a few people on the boards to get an idea what something like this goes for. Any guesses?

[mikeacg]

That's a tough one, Gary! I wish I could be of more help. How much of that stuff did you have to design from scratch - were you able to use any canned designs at all? Did they furnish you with any artwork to go by or did you have to do this whole thing from the ground up? How much do you have in materials? I agree that you may have taken longer with the newness of the project but you might be able to rough guesstimate the time just using the program settings (you could substitute the bigger bits that you didn't have just to get a closer idea). With a single nativity set, I'd be a whole lot faster with my automotive clay and fiberglass than designing and cutting the figures with the machine. Assembly time is another factor. What kind of filler did you use? The real beauty of doing this kind of stuff on the Bot is that we can adjust the size of the items to fit the customer's needs or budget.
Mike

[navigator7]

Wow Gary,
I hope you are as jazzed with your work as the rest of us?

I have a few questions I hope you have time to answer:

1. It appears you have a conventional Bot sculpting 2" foam.
Did you provide registration marks or any kind of alignment cones on the back side before doing the carving? Or do the carvings simply lines up well enough layer after layer?

2. Would the 12" gantry riser ShopBot offers for foam been advantageous despite your outstanding results?

3.Do you know...or anybody else: Is the gantry riser interchangeable with the normal gantry? If so...is the process a day job, 6 hours, 30 minutes???

Specifically, if a guy had a 48 buddy and wanted to do foam for a month or so....would the 12" gantry riser be worthwhile or is slicing files the thickness of available foam totally suitable?

TIA

[pro70z28]

Chuck I haven't measured for sure but I think I have about 6" clearance, the problem would be finding a bit that long? That sure would save machining time and filler time too with less layers.
I'm guessing I have about 200 hours in it with machining, assembly, filler & paint. I didn't buy the materials so that doesn't factor in this job. (I think there is roughly $350 - $400 in materials). But, like I say, that 200 hours is not all chargeable as some of it was used to scratch my head?
As far as design I started from scratch using a ceramic camel from a nativity set I did 20 some years ago. There are no pre-made elements. I did do the treasure chest by hand rather than setting it up for the bot. I did a fair amount of relief cutting on the model once it was assembled, maybe 10-15 hours worth.
This won't be a paying job since it's for the church. All they wanted was a cutout but I offered the model just so I could get some time doing a real job with the new software. I was just curious what something like this would be worth had it been a customer request. I don't really see myself doing this on a regular basis. I think Aspire will be used primarily for sign work here. Thanks, any comments appreciated.

[rb99]

I remember a customer of mine with a feed store wanted a model cow and horse on the roof of his building. He found it at a company that sold full size livestock models and I remember they where very expensive. These where from molds.

Perhaps looking for the pre-made models to get an idea of the market?

RIB

[pro70z28]

Thanks for the suggestion Richard. I'll look into that.

[pro70z28]

Just finished painting the camel. I have to let it dry a little (Grass will dry darker) and then spray a coat of flat water based clear over the whole thing to protect the shaded areas. Delivery tomorrow with 2 days to spare. First musical date is this Wednesday.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/FinishedCamelRt.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/PaintedCamelLt.jpg

[mikeacg]

Absolutely beautiful, Gary!

[myxpykalix]

That is so lifelike i thought it was going to spit! Fantastic vibrant colors, great paintjob.

[rb99]

What I said before times 10!

You did the chest by hand?

RIB

[john_l]

Gary, Awesome results just as I expected from you.

Can I ask?... what paint process did you use? and is the gold real gold (leaf)?

Thanks

[navigator7]

Gary,
I thought I read where you would simply throw this art work in the attic after the holidays.
Right.
Richard said world class.
Dittos!

[pro70z28]

Thanks everybody.
Jack funny you should say that. I told them I was thinking of implanting a pump that would squirt dish soap on passers by. lol.
Richard, yes I did the treasure chest by hand. It was quicker than setting it up in 3-d. & I was running out of time.
John, I gave it a coat of Zinsser primer/sealer, then used flat latex to paint. Then I gave it a couple coats of Benjamin Moore Stay Clear acrylic polyurethane. The clear had a little bit of a shine which made the thing look like plastic. (didn't like that look). I was wishing I hadn't clear coated it. Then I tried spraying another coat of clear "dry coat" and that brought it back to nearly a flat as it was before the clearcoat.
Chuck, the camel will be stored in a barn outside town used for storing our props.

Thanks again for following the build. I'll have a couple pics of the camel making the trip to the church. Having a camel in the back of the truck should get some LQQKs. lol

[myxpykalix]

why don't you just hop on and ride it to church? It looks so lifelike!

[khaos]

The moral of this thread is "Its hard to overvalue the humble cinder block"

Gary thanks for the time to put this in a post. I enjoyed seeing the process at least as much as the finished products!

[pro70z28]

Thanks for following along everybody. I have some final pics. Here's the camel loaded up for the trip to the church.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/LoadedCamel1.jpg

Here's a pic. of the camel at the church complete with wise men. We had just enough snow to make things white. The "wise guys" lanterns are empty water putty cans, sprayed gold, drilled full of 1" holes with LED lights inside. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/wisemen.jpg

After the last night of the musical, it was decided to put the camel in the foyer for display. I think it will be used in a skit somehow on Sunday morning. I'll have to wait & see what the drama team has in mind.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/camelinthefoyer.jpg

[mikeacg]

I'll bet you got some funny looks driving over to the church! Thanks for showing me what can be done (and what I should be doing for my church)!
I'm starting to feel Christmasy finally! Up until today I was working on getting everything done and didn't have a chance to think about it. I'm firing up the Christmas music, putting final touches on presents and enjoying the season.
Thanks for sharing, Gary!

[pro70z28]

Hi Everybody, sorry I haven't been here much but it's been very busy for a long time. I thought I'd add this here (another Christmas program to make stuff for).

Still just in the rough cut stage but I hung some chimes to see if it would work. There's 2 of these, this one goes outside & the mirror image of this one goes inside. My son Jeff is working on servos to chime the inside angel. Hope it all works out, I have the CNC running, cutting out stuff for the stage. I'm trying to have it all done by the 10th.

Harp chime angel video >>>>> http://youtu.be/WUjcWlgmVPw

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/chorusofangels.jpg

These still need to be cleaned up & stands built & painted. Deadline is coming fast with a lot of stage props yet to cut out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/stageprops.jpg

[chiloquinruss]

Wow, I can't wait to see your progress pix! I have been busy to but nothing like your wonderful projects.

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/album.php?albumid=50

Russ

[pro70z28]

Thanks Russ. We are having fun. My son Jeff has the day off today & has been playing with the chimes. He now has it mocked up to play chimes digitally. Not only that but when someone gets within 8 ft. it changes to a different tune & another tune again when they get within a few inches, in case someone gets close to check it out.
The CNC is busy today, but tomorrow I'll cut a bracket for the back of the harp to hold the servos & control board on the back nice & solid so the hammers will give the chimes a good clean whack.

I'll post a video when it's done in the next few days.:)

[pro70z28]

Still thrashin' but I have all the stage parts done & will install them later today. Then the crew comes in & does all the final decorating tomorrow so I need to have my stuff done before then.
All that's left is to finish sand the angels & assemble the stands they go on. I got them all cut out & painted yesterday. I have the main Harp Angel ready for Jeff to install the electronics when He gets off work tonight.
The little thing on the inside of the harp frame at the top is a sonar sensor. It can be programed to sense objects at certain distances, pre-set with a laptop. Jeff has it set up so the chimes play a simple note or 2 constantly, then when someone gets within 8 feet it steps up to a more complex note pattern, then when they get real close it plays like crazy. lol. Had I known he was going to do all that I would have taken some time & tuned the tubes & installed a couple more so he would have had a musical scale to work with. Then he could have programed in some actual Christmas tunes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/harpangelreadyforservos.jpg

Back side where everything is hidden. I made a plate for the servos & control board to mount. Added a plate behind the back hand because it's a little fragile & the stand to hold it up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Harpangelsbackservoready.jpg


back to work, see ya.

[Brady Watson]

That's great Gary. Post up some pics when they are all painted & animated.

The work you did on the Camaro is pretty impressive! Man after my own heart. :D

-B

[pro70z28]

Thanks -B.
These are done. Got the sister harp angel done that goes outside. It has very little hand detail added. This one will be a wind chime, with a fan behind it if it's calm out. I did spray some reduced water base clear over them. I wanted to add a little sparkle so I added silver micro sequins & just a few gold flakes of glitter.

All I have left are 14 more angels to assemble. They are just static displays, no moving parts so they will go together fast. The stands are made & painted, just have to do some lite sanding to knock off the edges of the styrofoam, & screw the stands together. I have a little micro sequin clear left over so I may shoot a little on the rest of the angels just to get it used up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/HarpAngelSister.jpg

[cabnet636]

very cool, been watchin all along!!

[pro70z28]

Thanks Jim. Got them all assembled last night & delivered this morning.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Angelgroupfinished.jpg

I'll post some pics when I get a chance. Time to clean the shop now. :eek: