Yeah, I think my blog titles suck too.
Looking at the calendar, and a LONG TIME seems to have passed since the last update, but really just a weekend and a half... and two weeks!
Okay, a long time.
Last weekend, I don't even remember exactly what happened, but a new FX volunteer, Matt, came out and did diligent work on the vacuum former's oven -- drilled a zillion holes in a very difficult material, and tested out a couple different configurations of heater coil with me. Initial testing gave us way too high a resistance, so we went with a bunch of shorter coils in parallel -- but then we found that a coil or two had rather lower resistances, giving us uneven heating. A good set of experiments, and tedious, but that's science for you. He then went on to help with the shifting of materials for a bit before escaping the greater oven that is the Lab.
Phil and Yvonne have continued their explorations in dentistry, and are getting better and going deeper into new territory every visit, I'm quite pleased. Brad (right? Darn these names) and Kyle also got to see the results of their previous tooth casting, and do a bit more in the sculpting department.
I've spent a couple of weekday sessions working on Nathan's Elmo, and have pics going online now (link at the bottom). He'll be ready to mold and cast soon, at this rate, which is good, because time is short!
Last weekend I spun up the ring sections for the vortex and today I finished the other two rings for the vortex tunnel's outer layer, and last weekend Debra (not Deborah, as it turns out) helped with that some (if I recall correctly). Events kept her away today, but I suspect we'll see her tomorrow again and I'll put her to work drilling holes for the eye-bolts for the guy wires (unless she reads this and sensibly decides to hide).
Robert and Henry have been continuing in their Blood Pump work and I believe it's ready for mounting and powering now -- though I need to buy another package of my ad-hoc O-Ring material to seal them.
I'm hoping Jean brings the new burner to the Lab soon -- she sent pictures, and the work in progress is lovely -- so I can cook up some water and begin the color work for our custom blood formulation.
While I was waiting for Tall Matt to wrap up his work at the Lab so I could carpool him home, I threw together some concept skulls to see if I could -- I guess I'll be making a variety of skulls to decorate furniture and fireplaces with! I'm thinking vacuum molding forms, so I can make a bunch of 'em cheap.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something or someone... I'll fill in on the next post if I remember!
Elmo on Nathan, work in progress:
http://tinyurl.com/n4eme6
Monstrous fangs, top set painted and modeled:
http://tinyurl.com/mnrey6
Skulls test:
http://tinyurl.com/l8kv3w
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
I did the inventory of acrylic materials that I got from Dr. Carpenter, and it's a good haul! I need to actually TEST the materials to ensure they are good, but I think acrylic is pretty robust. Also I need to test a theory on how to ensure the darned stuff gets poured all the way into the tips of the teeth -- even poured very thin, it tends to not get into the tips. In some cases, I suspect capillary action, but I've also taken steps to avoid that.
Maybe when I review the three books he lent me, I'll find more tips and tricks. Those orthodontists cheat; they start with pre-cast teeth and just do the gums and plate!
Another Wednesday was consumed in meetings, this time a general SCARE meeting, plus board of directors meeting. We are making great progress! Also, we have an amazing trailer video now:
http://tinyurl.com/n4c8xu
Work on the Goblin Systems timing and control modules is working apace; this programming and electronics stuff is very time consuming. Rushing through some of the development, and being done with infinite distractions, has cost me a prototype PCB cycle (oops, bad chip definition!). However, the new PCBs are coming tomorrow, and I also have an upgraded MCU set (added a dollar to double the RAM/ROM) in a box at home waiting for it.
Today's big news on the Goblin front is that I'm sending and receiving complex commands between timing modules now.
Last Saturday, I got a lifecast of my lovely self, and the mold is now sitting on a table waiting for me to pour plaster into it.
Sunday, I did pour plaster into Nathan's mold. Actually, I laid up a shell of burlap and ultracal 30 along the mold, then filled it with giant chunks of foam and THEN poured plaster into it. Trying to alleviate the weight; I only used 75lbs of plaster, instead of 150lbs.
However, the shell phase of the process made a pretty poor outer skin; lots of bubbles. These are on non-critical areas (I cast the face solid), and I will fix them tonight... but still, it lacks perfection.
After doing Nathan up stone solid, I ran over to the Lodge for our Kickoff and Casting event -- good turnout, and I got some great names of people who can do work in the FX area. I'm excited to have new help!
Last night I spent a few hours at the Lab, under my new extended Lab time model, and made the molds for four sets of teeth plus did the first-pass cleanup work on my monster fangs of doom.
Tasks in planning or in process include the vacuum table (Paul's taken the lead on that), the vortex tunnel (parts are there waiting for some structural tests), and the Demon's stilts (plus we have a new, experienced, player in that game, Eric Peterson, to help me and Paul). Exciting!