The Institue sign is DONE!

The new shop space wasn't ready for us to start framing in the mezzanine for the new design studio yet. So my Dodge Caravan sits with more lumber in it than Lowe's. That's OK though. It gave me a chance to finish the Institute sign and get some painting done on the Lawyer sign as well.

The Ballast tank got it's finishing paint touches, and the eye was the final piece. I decided not to light the eye, as this would have required running power to 1 LED, and I though it would just get drowned out as we will be positioning a spotlight on it in the studio anyway. I did back-spray the eye lens with a dirty green, and put a piece of chrome mylar behind it to bounce the light back. From certain angles it works crazy good!

I look forward to seeing it hang in the new studio!
Tomorrow we will be framing for sure....................I hope.

8)
JO

Fishing at the Institute.

I spent today at the shop working on almost finishing up the mechanical fish for our Institute sign.

I started with the propeller at the back of the fish. After thinking about how to do it for a bit, I decided on cutting four separate blades and a square block of ren-shape for the hub. I cut four slots at 25 degrees on each side of the block that would let the blades slot in. After a test fit, I spun the block on the disk sander to make it round, and ground a bullet shape tip on it.

I also added some dings so it would look very well used, then made it look like cast brass.

 I cut the mouth out of 1/8" sintra and heat bent it around the mouth opening and added a furniture tack as a hinge pin. This would also go a brass colour.

 Right from the beginning I decided that I wanted a mechanical lever that would come out of the body and attach to the tail fin. Sort of a steering linkage of sorts.

The final bit of detail would be a ballast tank that will mount on the side of the fish. I used ren-shape again on each end of a piece of pvc pipe. I ground the ends to be domed shape and added styrene bands to cover the seam joints.

I bent up some tubing and added the flanges so it looked more functional. These would supply the tank with air for diving and surfacing. I used the I-carver to machine the mounting brackets out of 1/8" sintra again. These brackets don't wrap around the whole tank, so I can "clip" it together after the final painting on the tank.

I painted the tank with rust coloured enamel and added some sand to it for some really nasty corrosion. I'll do the final paint dress when the paint is good and dry.
Tomorrow I'll be framing in the new office/design space at the new shop, so we can start to move equipment in. It's gonna be cool!
8)
JO

More with the Institute

I was able to get into the shop on Saturday and get the final primer on the Lawyer sign done. Now I'm just waiting for the contractor who hired us to go over the colour scheme.
The Institute sign is trucking along o.k. though. I cleaned up and did a final detail to the fish body and by 5 pm it was all primed. I also decided not to 3D machine the bow thruster cap. After spending more time contemplating how to do then it took to make, I decided to cut it from 4 layers of .125" sintra and stack them.
I also cut the 2 layers for the porthole eye frames.

I cut the propeller for the bow thruster at the same time. I cut this from .0625" styrene and bent the blades so they weren't just sitting flat.

I also put in a screen to protect the propeller from debris that might get sucked into the intake :)
The screen will go a dark brass-y colour. This will add a ton of  visual interest to the head area, as "stuff" behind "stuff" always looks complicated!

I had drawn up all the vectors in Aspire for the pectoral fin that will mount to the side of the fish. I can only put one of these on the fish, as there isn't the room on the back side for the other one. These were also cut from .125" and .060" styrene.

 The 2 halves will stay as separate pieces so I can insert the prop after painting, Then I will glue them together forever.

 I also got a lot of painting done on the sign backer for this. The only painting left to do on it is paint the letter tops gloss black, and buff on the polished brass powder!
8)
JO