A behind the scenes look at film and television Prop making peppered with everything else creative we do!
When I lent my services to a collegue who was working on a film about 12 years ago, I was introduced to the world of cnc. I remember watching this huge machining centre milling out a slab of mdf and turning it into a fantastic set of gears. I knew that it would have taken me hours to achieve the same thing with traditional power tools. I decided then that I would invest in a cnc router for my own business Oxenham Design. At that time I could turn on a computer, but even to check email seemed like a crazy set of operations. I persevered and learned every piece of relevant software I could get my hands on. I am now fortunate enough to be using Vectric's ASPIREsoftware, and Techno cnc routers, which has helped us to create some amazing projects, both in part, or in full. I thought that this blog would be a great place to share "behind the scenes" adventures with the software, materials and equipment we use, as well as the projects we build.
Monday 3 March 2014
Santa's Bringing a Little Death This Year!
While were working away on our various NDA jobs, we also started a new job for a film.
I do believe the title is "A Christmas Horror Story"
One of the items they need is Santa's crosier. This however will be a gold crosier of death.
I modeled this up in Hex for the art directors approval, based on a couple of quick sketches they supplied me. Notice the Christmas tree spike at the top? That's what I'm talkin' about!
I imported the model into Aspire for machining. I set the model in the center of the working plane, as I plan on machining this side, and a mirror copy for the back. I decided not to double side machine this as one part, as I wasn't quite sure which direction we would be going when it comes to casting them.
Were casting them, as they need a hard version, and a softer rubber-ish one. I'm also going to cast the tree at the top of it separately, which is why it's not included in the Aspire model.
We're cutting this from 3/4" 30lb HDU. I didn't run a roughing pass, even though I was cutting with a 1/16" tapered ball nose cutter, with a 5% stepover. Total time per side was only 22 minutes.
The final pieces fit perfectly, as usual! Tomorrow I'll get it primed and sealed, ready for ripping a mold!
8)
JWO
Wonderful job on the crosier! I enjoyed the movie and loved the design. Looked great in the film.
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