It's been a while since I posted. But I was waiting on my scallop bandsaw blade to cut the foam, and I'm so glad I waited. It was difficult to be patient and wait for the proper tools. I really wanted to start cutting out my joint pucks but I think I would have ruined them with the wood bandsaw blade.
I templated out based on my joint plans which you saw in my last post.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/302/32474277706_bc45d03860.jpg
Again drawing on the book wrapping paper which had a 1/2" grid on it. I made the Knee, Elbow, Ankle and Wrist templates.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/682/32694965466_64b33fd3d7.jpg
Here I'm making sure my 2" mirrors will fit inside the foam cut outs to create the "hollow" effect. Same for all of the joints. I have 2" mirrors for the smaller three and 2.5" mirrors for the knees.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/759/31921263763_23de481673.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/1/294/31921261553_649ef95508.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/1/508/32694962356_d34b830592.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/1/508/31921261233_090d30ff4b.jpg
I traced everything out using silver sharpie on my foam stacks I glued earlier. Each stack is made out of 10mm foam layers joined together with Barge contact cement. By using the templates as a mask All I need to do is remove the silver edge to be right along my cut line.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/735/32355537700_7655b4d1ee.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/1/780/32694962216_abe696bd6a.jpg
Again repeating the process for the wrist, ankle, elbow and knee. The ones I crossed out the middle circle is to remind me not to cut out the inner circle. These are the 40mm blanks that will be trimmed around the spider joint.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/257/31892113804_fa394cc327.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2078/32161193144_73551513ab.jpg
Cutting day is here! I've changed the wood saw blade out for my scallop blade. That was a harrowing event. Always respect your power tools for the moment you don't they will hurt you. I made sure the saw was unplugged and followed the manual exactly to add the blade and calibrate it.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/355/32119437564_9ecca9374a.jpg
Just image its a self-cutting knife on repeat forever! Don't get your fingers near this.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3706/32850928672_d965eb10b6.jpg
This shows the difference between the two bandsaw blades I have. The lower was using the wood blade, the top using the foam scallop blade. Night and Day!
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2094/32808915192_ac36efd2ab.jpg
I cut pucks from 20mm to 50mm, being sure to remove all of the silver mask to make the circles the right diameter. This is two 40mm pucks and they came out great. They look like an 80mm stack cut at the same time!
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3924/32850930942_86106c443c.jpg
And repeat over and over for each one. Here are the wrists.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2244/32964940696_d79d49d2a9.jpg
This is a knee or elbow. They are only 1/2" difference so hard to tell.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2906/32850931372_4e72ba368e.jpg
I live streamed some of my work on Twitch.tv/drscifi. And will continue to do so as the project continues.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2921/32850931012_c582500742.jpg
Now with everything cut out I trimmed the middle out of a few end pieces for tests. I still need to cut 90% of them out but I may drill out some of it. I need to find a balance between the bandsaw and sanding. These are not sanded on the inside yet but I want them to be relatively smooth.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2569/32624448040_808a768b51.jpg
This is the first look at the "hollow" effect I'm going for with the mirrors. I'll still need to see it with the whole arm in place but I think the illusion will work. Or at least look better than solid joints.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/681/32191662673_c38d414dbe.jpg
This is the ankle. You can see the 20mm end caps with the 40mm center blank. I need to work out the angles each joint will move between before I trim the center blank to allow for the movement.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3670/33007035105_ed34a801ca.jpg
I've added a spacer on the knees for this picture as I haven't made the center 40mm blanks for the knees yet. I ran out of 10mm foam so I need to order some more.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3765/32191663033_300bd39968.jpg
Here's the elbow pice placed over the spider joint.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/387/32162056164_ec163393db.jpg
I'm holding the 3 slices together and the middle one is jutting out but you get the idea of how the joint will look. I'm very happy with how these pices came out.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2085/32851661682_33363c82b9.jpg
My next design step is for the control linkages for the hands. I believe I will make these out of mdf or wood. This sketch isn't quite to scale but outlines how the finger tube lines will run from my glove to the hands. I want to keep as much of this hidden inside the arm. I also need to finish/start his hands.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2929/32625193580_188ea39d10.jpg
Tomorrow is a holiday so I'm going to try to get a lot more done on either hand design/construction or getting the feet templated, cut, formed and starting on the legs.
But still, patience. I don't want to rush even though I'm on a deadline. He will get done when he gets done.
I also need to send my 3d head files to my friends with printers to get that moving.
40 days left!
Thanks again everyone for your support of my K-2SO puppet build. Please follow along at
https://www.twitch.tv/drscifi if you want to watch while I work on K2.
-Darren