I've ramped up my efforts a notch, spending more time on weekends and more time during the week working on SCARE projects.
I'm also just now getting my head into the new stuff in my new group at DAYJOB, and should be starting to be useful there soon too; though; the manager has this weird idea I'll be instantly productive in a new group with new code and new co-workers, even though none of it is particularly well documented. I've been working to disillusion him.
I assembled the high-power mGoblin's power supply and plugged it in... got a spark, some light smoke; very disappointed. I want either dramatic failure or a working device -- and got neither. Now I need to build it up piecewise and figure out what dumb thing I did to this perfectly good vendor circuit.
I got parts and the new PCBs in last week, so I also built up the new version of the sumGoblin (sigmaGoblin) and was able to program it, so that's good! I've got most of the code framework assembled for that as well now, so I hope to be able to monitor the Goblin Net from it soon.
I also took the blinking code and the communication code and put them together into the final form for the uGoblin (microGoblin) device and I'll build up the large-chip versions of that soon for testing.
A lot of code changes all at once means hard, painful testing... but oh well!
I spackled and sanded on Nathan's stone model and then did two coats of Alcote release agent -- which I hope works as well as advertised! I use it a little bit on teeth, but without success (I did it wrong; just one coat), and I've been putting it on all the new tooth models... so we'll see how I like it as things progress.
I didn't start the Demon sculpt on Nathan yet, nor did I do a positive from my mold, but that's okay; the Lab was too busy this weekend to really be able to settle down for the creative work of sculpting. I'll do the rough sculpt this week after work and have a first-pass kibitz this coming weekend on it.
I cast all four of the teeth that have been waiting for casts, and popped them from their plaster positives -- they all came off perfectly , except for Marla's, so I had to make another copy of teeth for her.
I also made the mold and a casting on my Humongous Fangs of Doom -- pictures linked at the bottom! They need cleaning up and painting still, since the gums are tooth colored and they are all ragged around the edges, but you get the idea. They turned out FAR better than I could have hoped, and I can even (mostly) talk in them.
Phil and Yvonne did more tooth molding and I got them up to speed on the plaster work techniques for making the copies, so that's good. While they were doing that, Kyle and Bill also made some alginate molds, and then Phil did the plaster for them. Skills are drifting out into the group, which is very exciting.
Saturday, Robert and his boy (or at least he had a boy in tow) came to the lab and I set them to work on making the second piston/valve assembly for the blood pump; their work is progressing nicely and I look forward to seeing them again next weekend. The big question for the blood pump will be how we want to power it.
Saturday afternoon, Matt, Paul and I chatted about stilts, as a result of this conversation I got a bug up my nose and went back to the lab to whip up a prototype stilt. I taped that monstrosity to my body Sunday morning (when I was fresh and less likely to damage myself) and got some good feedback on the forces involved.
There's a BIG force in only one location (the anchor point for the long toe), and that can be resolved in several ways, and it can be reduced in several other ways. I have hope! We have several plans for the stilts -- I'm poking Plan A right now, which may evolve into Plan B (which is Eric's stilt style), and could even go into Plan C (e.g. painter's stilts and a far clunkier shape for the demon).
Today I got to the Lab early and put the segments for two circles in the Vortex Tunnel into shape -- finalizing their curvature, cutting the flat ends off, cutting the fittings that hold them together, and marking all the drill points.
Deborah showed up in time to help drill stuff out, file it, and then she helped me assembled the test section of the vortex tunnel (one of three, with two of the four rings).
We then used ratcheting cargo straps to tension the section and the result was better than I could have hoped. The tunnel, with no rigid connections, no screws, no bolts, nothing more than some holes and ratchet straps, was strong and amazingly rigid.
I then went through the entire set of straps and made them the correct length, and the tunnel section snapped to square, all clean and tidy.
All in all, a weekend full of successes.
Lifecasting pics: http://tinyurl.com/ms97ha
Monster Fang pics: http://tinyurl.com/mnrey6