Spirited Away boiler token
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AKA Pablo
Jr Member
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
Assuming Kaonashi's hands were roughly human-sized at that stage of his corruption my scaling of that shot led me to about 28mm for the medallion. Overall dimensions are 70 x 175 x 12. I milled the recesses at about 2mm deep and the inlay pocket about 4mm into that.
Precision is obviously not critical. If I hadn't been feeding an SVG into a fancy router I woulda just eyeballed it.
Precision is obviously not critical. If I hadn't been feeding an SVG into a fancy router I woulda just eyeballed it.
So....what is "Yu" and would I put that on the brass diamond shapes also ? Or something else ?
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
Yu adorns the entrance to the bath house and is the first syllable of its proprietor's "name," "baba" being a somewhat derogatory term for an older woman (婆 - Jisho.org). If you were going to translate her name literally it would be something like "Hot water hag." Whether or not you want to put it anywhere is entirely up to you.
Really well executed. The brass "coin" adds a feeling of age and value to it.
Nice tool post on your Sherline. Is that an after market item? Or does Sherline make that style now?
Nice tool post on your Sherline. Is that an after market item? Or does Sherline make that style now?
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
Ah, that's an Aloris "MXA" I modified to fit because I really didn't like Sherline's posts.
Aloris Miniature Ultra-Precision MXA Quick Change Tool Post 6 to 9" Swing USA | eBay
NEW Miniature Ultra-Precision Design 70% of the size of the Aloris AXA series. Aloris is the original manufacturer of quick change tooling and is proudly made in the USA. Heat treated, hardened and ground alloy steel components.
www.ebay.com
Doesn't take a ton of effort. You just have to cut the bolt a little shorter then bore out and tap a 10-32 hole for a set screw that will fit into one of Sherline's T-nuts and you're off to the races. Just be really, really careful not to tighten it down too much; it's super easy to rip the T-nut apart. I've destroyed two so far.
You could also just drill straight into the cross slide if you wanted to. I might resort to that eventually but so far it's working out for me.
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I might leave it off mine. Since I will likely do several different bath tokens, and only a couple have brass, I would assume the specific coloration is what orients it to that specific bath house. The same way different sports teams use specific color combos. It looks great, but the Yu should then be on all the tokens, or none. (or at least that's my choice of perception. 
)
)
Ah, that's an Aloris "MXA" I modified to fit because I really didn't like Sherline's posts.
Aloris Miniature Ultra-Precision MXA Quick Change Tool Post 6 to 9" Swing USA | eBay
NEW Miniature Ultra-Precision Design 70% of the size of the Aloris AXA series. Aloris is the original manufacturer of quick change tooling and is proudly made in the USA. Heat treated, hardened and ground alloy steel components.www.ebay.com
Doesn't take a ton of effort. You just have to cut the bolt a little shorter then bore out and tap a 10-32 hole for a set screw that will fit into one of Sherline's T-bolts then you're off to the races. Just be really, really careful not to tighten it down too much; it's super easy to rip the T-bolt apart. I've destroyed two so far.
You could also just drill straight into the cross slide if you wanted to. I might resort to that eventually but so far it's working out for me.
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View attachment 1034719
Awesome! Thanks for the lead.
I have used those quick-change Aloris style tool posts on larger machines, and always wished I could have one on my Sherline.
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
While I intentionally set out to retain the concentric tool marks in my first draft, I felt like I had plateaued in what I was capable of imparting to the brass with exclusively additive processes and switched to using a liquid resist (honestly, just the Dykem I already had sitting out) during etching rather than vinyl in order to both produce slightly less perfect borders and some believable pitting as the lacquer breaks down in the high voltage and harsh chemistry. I was pretty happy with the fact that the Dykem holds up for about 15 minutes and then slowly starts to flake off--gives me a nice, deep etch for the character and a super shallow etch for the Xreox-y pits that show up. I can also dial in the damage by mucking with the film at any stage of the big dunk. It's kind of funny because they look a bit like HDR photos even when you're holding them right in your hand.
Coated in a thin layer of peanut oil, scorched till it polymerized, and then scuffed most of it back. There shall be no adhesion issues with those dark areas
I also tested 464 naval brass (left) vs the much friendlier 360 (right) and found that the 464 is better able to take a polish without completely erasing all the tiny scuffs and scrapes that sell the story. I think this is the route I'm going to go from now on even though it's nigh impossible to part off on a Sherline.
Silver splotches on the sides are bits of solder that dribbled when I was detaching the sacrificial electrodes.
Coated in a thin layer of peanut oil, scorched till it polymerized, and then scuffed most of it back. There shall be no adhesion issues with those dark areas
I also tested 464 naval brass (left) vs the much friendlier 360 (right) and found that the 464 is better able to take a polish without completely erasing all the tiny scuffs and scrapes that sell the story. I think this is the route I'm going to go from now on even though it's nigh impossible to part off on a Sherline.
Silver splotches on the sides are bits of solder that dribbled when I was detaching the sacrificial electrodes.
While I intentionally set out to retain the concentric tool marks in my first draft, I felt like I had plateaued in what I was capable of imparting to the brass with exclusively additive processes and switched to using a liquid resist (honestly, just the Dykem I already had sitting out) during etching rather than vinyl in order to both produce slightly less perfect borders and some believable pitting as the lacquer breaks down in the high voltage and harsh chemistry. I was pretty happy with the fact that the Dykem holds up for about 15 minutes and then slowly starts to flake off--gives me a nice, deep etch for the character and a super shallow etch for the Xreox-y pits that show up. I can also dial in the damage by mucking with the film at any stage of the big dunk. It's kind of funny because they look a bit like HDR photos even when you're holding them right in your hand.
Coated in a thin layer of peanut oil, scorched till it polymerized, and then scuffed most of it back. There shall be no adhesion issues with those dark areas
I also tested 464 naval brass (left) vs the much friendlier 360 (right) and found that the 464 is better able to take a polish without completely erasing all the tiny scuffs and scrapes that sell the story. I think this is the route I'm going to go from now on even though it's nigh impossible to part off on a Sherline.
Silver splotches on the sides are bits of solder that dribbled when I was detaching the sacrificial electrodes.
View attachment 1039162
My version is progressing slowly because I'm also working on other projects. But I like the one on the right more, without the circles in it. Personal preference, but the circles are a bit distracting.
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
The circles are immaterial. This was a materials and process test.
lululandia
Active Member
Absolutely lovely! The weathering is phenomenal, almost feels like I need to wash my hands after looking at them.
AKA Pablo
Jr Member
The most consistently random and believable process I've arrived at for the 464 brass so far:
Mounting the cutoff tool upside down and on the back of the Sherline crosslide also makes parting off this lead-free stuff at least possible, but it still isn't fun. There's a lot of horrible shrieking no matter how much cutting fluid I use.
- Polish the surface to about 400 grit, degrease and mask with a generous coat of Dykem.
- Etch in copper sulfate with constant agitation at 25 volts 3 amps for 15 minutes
- Remove and re-polish to about 400 grit
- Spritz lightly with cheap hairspray and let dry
- With NO mask of any kind, airbrush on a thin coat of waterborne acrylic (I'm using Vallejo because I like it) and let dry. If you want some big chunks taken out, chip up the paint as you see fit.
- Re-etch with constant agitation at 25 volts and 1 amp for 5 minutes
- Re-polish and slather on a mixture of water soluble brazing flux and water. Let it sit a few minutes and then torch it to a crisp.
- Re-polish yet again, dab on a thin layer of peanut oil and torch it. Repeat until you have something you like.
- Hand finish details with abrasive implements (I like smacking them with a stainless steel door hinge)
- Smear some oil paint on, smear most of it off, then (car) polish on a flat surface
Mounting the cutoff tool upside down and on the back of the Sherline crosslide also makes parting off this lead-free stuff at least possible, but it still isn't fun. There's a lot of horrible shrieking no matter how much cutting fluid I use.
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