Only a few days left before the show and I while I’m constantly coming up with new ideas and additions I’m resisting the urge to keep tinkering so I can get it all slick and finished looking for Friday. I’m still not sure if I’m going to paint it. My orginal idea was to paint all the steel parts black. That includes the base, the tray, the central band and all the bowl bands. The blakc pain would give it a very finished look and create some nice contrast with the shiny brass and copper bits. However, the more I stare at it the more I like the polished steel look. Also by not painting it I leave my self room to add a few more things after the show.
Well, I finnaly figure out how and where I’m going to mount the first widget. I made some very small brackets. I started with a 0.5″ length of ~1/16″ thick, 2″ square tube stock. I then drilled the holes for the widgets and the bolts while it was still a square and then cut the brackets out.
I made a minor but pleasant discover while doing this. If you cut the brackets out using a hand saw but don’t cut all the way through the metal you can bend it at these thin spots and create some nice shapes (seen below). I could then lay dow a tiny weld bead along (or even just at the top) of the seam and file it back to make it appear solid. This, by itself is not a new idea and is done regularly to bend objects. But combining this with drilled holes that can be tapped and angled cuts can make some really precise but complex brackets.
Here is how the brackets attach to the widget.
The brackets are then bolted to the bowl with some very adorable and tiny brass bolts and nuts.
Here is a close shot of the terminal mounts. These brass terminals are going to have copper wire running between them. I had gotten so into the idea of making all these tiny custom parts that when I decided to have these brass terminals screw into little mounts I started to make these little mounts myself. I was about an hour into laying them out and drilling them when I realized I was making square nuts which I could buy at store. So I did. I then welded them on and then filed the back so the look like like they are part of the bands They still need a bit of finishing.
While not the most flattering photo of the piece you can see how the terminal mounts look on the bands.
Also, I had it hooked up the the steam engine the other night. Here, in so much as a photo can capture a bit of motion, you can see the bowls spinning.
