Final Plaster project

For the final project i my goal was to make a plaque of the eagle, globe and anchor which is the symbol of the Marine Corps, the material being plaster. First i had to make the shapes of the base and the symbol, both of which came out pretty well.


Next i had to vacuum form the 2 pieces in order to create the molds i would need to shape the plaster. The molds actually formed pretty well, considering the fact that i used 20 mil styrene, which stretched to the point where it was very thin in some areas.

After pouring the plaster and letting it sit, the base actually came out pretty well, sturdy and with no bubbles of any kind. The symbol was a different story. My first 3 attempts were all failures, breaking before or right after they came out of the mold. My fourth mold came out the best, however, once i started carving in details it began to break in different areas, along where the plaster was thinner. I was left with a disaster, the final was broken in at least 4 or 5 different places. What i concluded from this mess was that if you want to mold plaster, do NOT make less than at least 1" thick, otherwise its probability of crumbling or breaking apart is greatly increased. To conclude, i wasn't really happy with how the final came out, but it would have looked pretty good if it hadnt broken all over. I probably won't be working again with plaster any time in the near future.

Yellowfoam flashlight

I thought it would be cool to make a flashlight modeled after a rifle scope, so i cut out a 9x2x2 block of yellowfoam and formed the shape out on the lathe. Once the lathing was done i sanded it until it was as smooth as i could get it, covered it in spot putty, sanded, more putty, sanded it again, and finally painted it matte black. The two knobs on the top and the side i painted separately, gloss black, and one of those would act as the on/off button. Then i placed the lense in.

I also made a stand/charger(?) for the flashlight that i thought helped make it look more like a scope. This was relatively easy to make, i used the bandsaw to get the shape, sanded down the edges, primed it, and painted it gloss black.

Overall I am happy with the way the flashlight came out.

Final Project Chavant

So I did my experiments and decided that each hardness of chavant is best for there own uses and has a lot to do with the scale you are working in. Skin-so-soft is good if you aren't going to paint the chavant after. You can paint directly on chavant without primer, but primer will help smooth out flaws in the surface. Automotive paint gives a great finish on chavant (expected). Water can be used to smooth chavant and you can paint it after using water. Smoothing the surface of chavant does take time and a good amount of effort. I decided to make a video game controller for my final. The first photo is my experiments and the second my final.

Yellow Foam Flashlight

The yellow foam flashlight was shaped on the lath first. Then i smoothed the surface with spackle. I put a lot of time into the finish and decided to keep the color to black (gloss and flat). The design included a ring of LED's in the wider area and a regular flashlight bulb in the very front. In reality i would have liked the flashlight to be totally controlled by twisting the front, so i did not include a button.

Blue Foam Project

For the blue (we used pink, same thing) foam project me and Kev decided to make headphones. The only real problem run into was making such delicate parts out of this material. When it came time to spackle these parts were very fragile which created problems when sanding. In the end i feel like the headphones could have been better and smoother, but given the material they came out pretty decent.

Final CAT

Here are some process photos and final photos of my backhoe loader. Working with cardboard was pretty simple. The hardest part was creating small parts. I also made most of the model moving which was difficult with some parts but pretty simple. I also used found rims to give it a little flare and an interesting appearance.

Finished Final Project: Wood Veneer Lamp

This is my finished lamp. When I applied the acrylic varnish to the front piece, the moisture caused the veneer to curl up quite a bit. It wouldn't have been to difficult to straighten out if I added a tiny bit of support to the side seams and some "Eco Glue" (which is like a super strong and very tacky white glue, I found it to be very useful.), but when I positioned the back piece which did not have any varnish on it, I realized that it made a nice design. So I decided to abandon the side pieces and leave the back piece unvarnished so that it would keep its shape.

This is the lamp turned on.

The shadow of the base does show, but it depends on the surrounding light. I am glad that it does not give off a very strong contrast. I also cut one of the knots into the shape of a water droplet and put a piece of fabric behind it. Madrone burl is very easy to cut by hand with a pen knife, but I could never manage this on other kinds of wood, such as walnut, as that cracks very easily. This was a really fun project, and I don't know if I ever would have gotten around to working with veneers if the requirement had not been that we have to work with something that is new to us.

final top

                                                                                                     i finished my final project and i got a really smooth finish on the surface by taping on the mold as i was pourting insted of taping after it was all in the mold. i also tried different kinds of material for the little rod in the top but i found that the wood worked the best because it didnt alter the weight of the top but i tried in 4 different ones and could not get a perfectly straight rod in there. also when i painted the top with the spray paint it didnt work because i didn't try to paint once i mixed the morder with the cement compound so the spray paint just like slided of so i painted the top with acrylic paint and it turned out even better.

Final Bowl

My final bowl is complete and I am really happy with the way it turned out. This was the first time using the lathe and even though there were some things that I wish I did differently overall I am happy. First I started by stacking four pieces of plywood together in a square glued down with elmers wood glue I let that cure overnight. The next day I traced a circle ontop of the squares and cut out the circle on the band saw. From there I placed the circle on the lathe and made it into a perfect cirle. Once I knew the circle was perfect I started to take out the center. This was one of the hardest parts of the project because I kept getting a kickback from the machine so it was tough taking out the whole inside. Once that was complete I took three different sand paper grits to it till it was really smooth. From there I put a pre-conditioner on the whole bowl so the stain finish would be evenly applied. Once that dried I applied the stain finish. After the stain was dry I sprayed the whole bowl in a waterproof sealer. The last thing I did was when the waterproof sealer was done I lightly sanded the bowl again with 1000 grit sandpaper to make it smooth again.

Jordan_Cork_Final

This is my final cork seat. I am still searching for the appropriate eco- friendly/ non hardening/ clear protectant for the seat.

Jordan_Cork_Process

After aligning the strips I attached them to the metal seat using hot glue. From there I added a third layer of cork to for additional comfort. I left a 15mm gap in the middle of the top layer to accommodate the seat-bone dimension. Next, I applied more hot glue and supper 77 I added plastic shrink wrap to resist abrasion. The shrink wrap looked hideous so I removed it.

Carolyn's Completed Project

Above are the pictures of my final stained glass candle holder. To make this I first drafted out the plans for the candle holder, drawing each individual piece. This allowed me to then place the glass directly onto the drawings and cut then out knowing they will all match up. Once the first piece of one of the sides was cut I would place it on the plans and put the next piece up against it and draw and cut the piece from there to know they lined up right. After all the pieces were cut I used copper foil tape and rapped all the edges. I then used a ruler and ran it along the tape on each side to make sure the tape stuck down completely. I cut the pieces so the corners joined at 90 degree angles. I then soldered all the glass together with 60,40 lead solder and a 120 watt soldering iron which is key. I then let it cool, and cleaned off all grime from soldering off so I would see the ruff areas and then went back to touch it up. In the end I went back and covered the tops of the candle holder with solder so that it is less sharp and better to handle. Overall I’m very pleased with the outcome.

Mike Hummel's final post

I am very pleased with the final results in my synth rack. It works well, supports my synth and interface and keeps my synth leveled. My experiments of bending, welding and grinding proved to be very useful in constructing my rack. Some before and after pictures of my keyboard and synth set up are below. The only thing missing from these pictures are the red end caps.

FINAL PROJECT IS DONE!!!!!!!!

Finished this thing today. went to the concrete shop and broke away the mold, then got the remaining spackle off. I then gap filled the holes and applied a sealant.

Final Project Process 2: Wood Veneer Lamp

After much deliberation, I ordered a piece of Madrone burl because it looked like water and I would like for this lamp to resemble a wooden bucket of water. The website said this species is not great for beginners to work with, but it was perfect for the design, and I figured I'd work with it, whatever happened. I don't regret it. This is what it looked like when it came in the mail in normal light.

This is what it looks light with light behind it. I think the holes in the knots may be considered flaws, but I was hoping they would be there so that the light would shine through them.

I fine sanded the surface of the veneers before I applied then, which is not normally when it is done, but for this design it would not be possible to do so after because most of the sheet would not have a substrate to support it.


This is what the back veneer sheet looked like after I applied color and iron on veneer glue. The holes in the knots had to be taped so that the paint and glue would not seep through and ruin the surface. The paint seeped through a tiny bit, but I am glad it did because it looks like water dripping through the holes. Additionally, I tried painting a test piece with watered down acrylic, and found that it went right through to the other side, which looked awful. So I did another test piece where it was thinned with flexible gloss varnish, and that did not seep through at all. It did, however, seep through the good pieces, but in just the right amount that looks like water in the veneer, so I was very fortunate.

This is the inside of the lamp from behind before I applied the back piece. The veneer was taped flat while the glue dried, because the water in the glue causes the wood to curl up on itself.