Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Wow. That Inkscape issue would drive me 100% bat$h|t. At Techshop we have a different laser cutter and we just print straight from Illustrator. I save all my work to my Dropbox, so I can just download it right there at the laser station, set up the print in the printer settings, and off we go. Any changes I make I just save and upload back to my Dropbox. We have Inkscape on the machines there, but now that I've read your post, I'm just not going to bother. Illustrator's worked for me for almost 20 years.

Same idea at the Makerbot, though because they're not hooked up to computers, there's a little SD card-based sneakernet to be dealt with. But I can make my part in Blender, pull it into the Makerbot software on my Mac, slice it, and save it to the SD card, all here at home.

I'm never more frustrated than when I have to fight bad software to get something done. I make stuff to lower my stress...

Agreed! I understand if they use Inkscape because they can't afford a Windows and Illustrator license (which is almost certainly the case), but some people claim genuinely to prefer it. But I can't believe that this is anything other than cognitive dissonance resolution. ;)
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Agreed! I understand if they use Inkscape because they can't afford a Windows and Illustrator license (which is almost certainly the case), but some people claim genuinely to prefer it. But I can't believe that this is anything other than cognitive dissonance resolution. ;)
:lol

This is where I make a snarky but smart-sounding pun about all the type 1 errors surrounding the type 1 phaser. Fill in your favorite here ________________, cuz honestly it's 8:30am and I got nothin.' :p
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Just got home from a long night at the Artisan's Asylum having fun with my new 3M radial abrasive discs and Foredom bench lathe.

The result:

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I'll post better photos later tonight, but I'm very pleased with how this has turned out. :)

A few more work photos:

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Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

As promised, some better photos (also posted in the topical thread). With apologies for my not bothering to wipe off the fingerprints.

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Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Oh yeah, the prop is very nice too.
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Nice depth of field! :)

Oh yeah, the prop is very nice too.

Ha. Thanks! I am a total amateur at both, but I have more experience as a dilettante photographer than as a dilettante prop replicator, so the ordering of your comments was entirely apt.

One thing I realized when I started getting into this prop stuff more seriously late last year was that one of the most important tools I would need would be a macro lens. :) I love the one I ended up getting: a Nikon 105mm/f2.8.
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

I think I'm about to finally invest in a DSLR. Photography on the brain lately. :)
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

The polish on that is amazing! Did you use the simichrome on the resin too? Or a different compound?
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

I think I'm about to finally invest in a DSLR. Photography on the brain lately. :)

I can highly recommend it. Being able to take nice photos comes up (and in handy) surprisingly frequently in life, especially in a world where 99% of photos are from smartphones.

The best investment in photographic equipment I've ever made is a subscription to Lynda.com, by the way. There is so much excellent material on there. I can especially recommend the courses on photography fundamentals by Ben Long (from courses on exposure basics choosing specialty lenses).

- - - Updated - - -

The polish on that is amazing! Did you use the simichrome on the resin too? Or a different compound?

Thanks! :D

Yup! Turns out that it works really well on all kinds of stuff. I have used it to hand-polish and buff out scratches on plastic very well in the past.

The only downside over polishing compound is that it really isn't viscous enough to be used on a wheel, so it flies all over the place when you use the buff. But that's why I rent workspace outside of my apartment. ;)
 
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Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

So much (wet) sanding and polishing....

BEFORE
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AFTER
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Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Those look very beautiful! :)
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

I think I'm about to finally invest in a DSLR. Photography on the brain lately. :)

Nick:
You can't go wrong with a Canon 550D, I've had one for years and bought myself a few lenses, one of the best being the 50mm prime lens.

Ryan:
You've done a brilliant job machining the tips for the TMP medical tool, it looks fantastic.
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Sorry for the few updates lately, but in Boston we've been in the middle of the largest amount of snow in a two-week period we've seen in recorded history. As a result, getting to the workshop has been difficult to impossible, depending on the day.

A few little random updates:

I got hardware and aluminum stock from McMaster for making the ratcheting door for my TNG later-seasons medkit. My aspiration is to make the most accurate replica ever made (most people make the door out of plastic).

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Did some minor prop work on my VOY desktop viewer

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And I got in the mail the components for a VOY Pathfinder desktop viewer—also used in DS9, I believe, but I prefer not to acknowledge non-canon material ;)

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I don't have pics, but most of my time lately has been spent polishing up aluminum on TMP scanners. I have also decided a final step will be a protective layer of carnauba wax to forestall oxidation.

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I also got in molds for the Kurlan Naiskos.

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I cast two of them up just an hour or ago ago and they came out pretty well. After I get them cleaned up, I'll post photos, probably tomorrow. I was astonished by how much resin this thing takes: about $100 worth per casting. I found out that the small figures that go inside were made a little too large (due I think to an error in an auction listing I was using for the dimensions), so I'm going to have to commission the sculptor to make me a smaller one so that all twelve can fit inside.
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Wow! So much going on here! I'm definitely watching this thread!
 
Re: Norbauer's Notebook - adventures in recreational Star Trek (mostly) prop replicat

Today I learned that Foredom Flex Shaft tools are wonderful, wonderful things. Would that my hand had withered ere I had ever touched a Dremel.

Thanks to a sale at Ottofrei.com, I ordered a Foredom LX flex shaft motor, which arrived yesterday.

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I intentionally chose the somewhat rare LX model because it is high torque but low speed, perfect for working with plastics (Foredom flex shafts are more commonly used for polishing among jewelers). The control with the foot pedal is fantastically granular, and the minimum speed on the LX motor is truly a crawl--much, much slower than the lowest setting on even the most expensive variable-speed Dremel tool I've used. I had always avoided fine-work power tools Dremels because they tend to melt plastic and skip all over the place, creating errant paths of destruction that then have to be puttied and sanded over.

I used this today to carve and shape some resin on one of my Kurlan Naiskoses where the mold deformed a bit and gave me a wavy casting. I can't describe to you how great it felt to use the tool for this and how precise the control was compared to any power tool I've used in the past. Hand sanding would have given slightly more control but would have taken forever by comparison.

I also did some vacuum form cutting for my VOY desktop viewer, a task I was previously dreading. Some hand-sanding cleanup work will be required, but it came out surprisingly well, using a plastics cut-off wheel and the Foredom.

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Also, I thought of a cool trick today. I was scoring lines for cutting in the white vacuum formed plastic (it's either styrene or PETG), but they were very hard to see. I decided to try wiping some acrylic paint over the surface and it made my scribing lines very distinct.

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I also finished and shipped off my small run of TMP medical scanners that I've been making for friends from the TrekPropZone (not for sale).

tmp-scanner-round-1-20150219-4.jpgtmp-scanner-round-1-20150219-3.jpgtmp-scanner-round-1-20150219-2.jpgtmp-scanner-round-1-20150219-1.jpg
 
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