melt metal in your basements?

Hhave you ever wanted to melt and cast metal with the convenient luxury of being able to do so yourself in your own house? well guess what? Now you can! In this week's episode, Thracymacus builds his own foundry! let's pay attention and see how it's done. so, first, using steel duct of about a 14" circumfrance or so, cunstruct 3 sectiones of tubing in the mannor indicated in the first 2 of the accompaniying illustrations. note the fashion with which the handels and legs have been bolted on. theses segments will serve as the shell of the oven, so it is important that they are steel, and that they are fairly durable in nature. one wouldn't want one's foundry to be assosiated with leaky couldran bottom syndrome, would one?

Anyway, this is a pretty serrious piece of equipment made from serrious compnents. inside the steel shell there will be surrounded by a heating coil, a serries of heat bricks - special and holding it all together will be a casing of some sort of super heat insulating cement - forget exactly what, but i can try to find out. anyway, picture 3 is a detail of the heating coil. thracymacus had to do a whole lot of hunting down to get all these specialty parts. the heating bricks came courtesy of an "inside agent", i believe. the steel duct was purchased from a nicer hardware store. and thbricks designed to withstand extreme heat (the oven gets up to about 2000 degrees F or so) - which will house a central chamber and the heating coil, and then insulating the whole thinge heating coil from a kiln-maker. there also wound up being a temperature gauge which came from some oven distribution center and took a lot of looking for (the oven runs at 220 volts and is super high wattage).

In picture 4 the 4 heating bricks which will go inside the middle section of the oven are shown with the groves for the heating coil cut into them. the fire bricks were especialy difficult to cut. in the end, drill and chisel were required to make the appropriate cuts.

The next picture shows the lower segment of the oven. it has been filled with the special concrete and is drying in a wooden jig.

next cut to picture 6 which shows the middle piece drying. note that there are wires coming out of it for the heating coil... i'm sure they must be some super special wires.
anyway, after all the pieces had dried for a couple of days, it's time for final assembly. first, it took quite a while to locate a good switch, like i said earlier. we burnt out one that wasn't powerfull enough. but eventrualls we found one that works. you can see it in the shot of the completed unit. anyway, it was also a little tricky to wire the switch, but we got that too. so, next step, let it cure by plugging it in and running it at a low temperature for a few days. seemed to work pretty well. next step, plug it in at high temperature and see what happens. seems cool. alright, sweet, we have a foundry capable of melting aluminum and bronze and maybe some other soft metals!

oh, so basically we obviously couldn't just build a foundry and then not actualy melt some metal. we had a bunch of wasted bike parts made out of aluminium just laying around, so we put them in our crucible (oh yeah, our crucible was fabricated out of some super thick steel tubing we got somehow), and put the crucible in the oven and fired it up. let's let the remaining pictures tell that story.


i couldn't quite get the order right for the last few so i hope you can bear with it. Liquid Metal!!!

screen printing

lot's of people love to screen print, and it's no wonder why - wearable art has got to be one of the easiest and most practical (i e usable) ways to get exposure for an image/design/idea/whatever. personally, screenprinting is one of my favourite crafts to regularly do. there are tons of resources out there for the budding screen printer (various punkrock/diy books or zines - one particular collection i like is "making stuff and doing things") so i won't get too specific with the technical side of things, just highlight a few specific bits.

The number one thing i'll point out is that this is something you can do with a relatively minimal amount of equipment. here's what i had when i started out: 1 really old screen that i found in a box shomewhere; a portable clamp on light; a 300 watt light bulb; the basic chemical kit that everybody uses (dazo speedball or something like that - any reputable art store should be able to help you get it), a squeegie; and a toothbrush. a couple of further notes on this setup: if you were a pro or want to go all out or read the intructions that come with the kit, it will tell you you need a special full spectrum screenprinting-specific light bulb - you don't actually need this. i've used 250 watts before - it's ok. 300 watts does just fine. blabh blah, also, don't use a toothbrush, get the actual screen printing brush - it's much better (larger, stiffer).
Ok, so the first thing to do is come up with yer design, and then have it printed out on a transparency, or just draw it on the transperancy yourself. next, mix up the photo emulsion and, in a dark room, spread it onto the screen. point a fan at the screen, and let the screen dry out as long as you have patience to wait - hopefully a number of hours, say 4 to 6 or so. now, place your transparency on your screen. next, using carefull, scienctificly determined calculations (read horrible painstaking trial and error) determine the position of your light. then, using the same scientific method, turn the light on and expose the screen for your carefully determined amount of time. it is worth mentioning at this point that for a person new to this craft, there is the verry real, if not definate, likelyhood that after waiting hours and coming so far, you will discover that the light was not placed right or the exposure time was wrong, and you will have to wash the screen out and start all over. if all goes according to plan, however, after exposing the screen you will rinse it with cold water, and be left with a negative image which will work like a stencil through which the ink will be screened - see picture 2 for how your screen may look at this point.

this is the really fun part of the project, and when all your hard work on preparing the screen pays off - now you are ready to print your design. this part is all about the art of aplication and developing a good feel for how to screen different materials - try it and figure it out. if you are screenprinting on to fabric, make sure you throw your goods in the drier for a little bit to cure them after they air dry for a day or so.

anyway, also keep in mind the fact that my main man ralph nader did an still is making the world safer. peace

Tall Bike Workshop

Alright Folks, It's time for a little Mutant Bike Anarchy!!!

So, our bike gang has been kicking out another dingus machine. This time we've opted for a standard tall bike design.

In this first picture we can see the pieces that we've hacked appart from a total of three different frames. The idea behind this particular design is pretty simple: get one bike, put another one on top. I've used a mountain bike on the bottom because it has a relatively long wheel base, which adds stability to the ride, a good thing when you are 6 feet up in the air. the top frame is a tiny ladies step-through, which will make the bike relatively easy to mount.
Picture 2 here is a detail of our lovely steering collumn. This was without question the most technically demanding piece of the bike to fabricate, as it has to be 'perfectly' straight so that it would line up with both steering tubes on the stacked double frame. The particularly ingenious notion with this particular design is that that bottom of this piece was then welded onto an adjustable race for the fork from the bottom bike, allowing the whole piece to be adjusted (or dissasembled) to get an adequite headset adjustment (or overhaul).

With the steering column in place, the parts could be jigged together (picture 4), in preperation for welding. We tacked the frames together where the bottom bracket shell from the top frame meets the top of the down tube (which we slightly cut) from the bottom bike. Then, with left over bits from the rear triangle from the red bike, we cut to shape and then welded in a series of 3 struts, which do the majority of the work of holding the thing together. many other similar tallbike designs lack any sort of serious strut system, meaning that the machine is only welded together in 2 places: i think this one will probably hold together a little better.

Next up we have a picture of the bike after the first test ride. Rides like a dream, feels real safe and sound!!! HAHAHAHA!!! Yeah right. well, much of it felt good, some of it didn't. The frame felt awesome, i doubt it will break. The chain line had some issues, and with no brakes, the bike was what some might call "unsafe." Another note: through a strong tradition of trial and error, others have discovered that a good wheel combination for tallbikes is a 26" wheel in the back, ideally with a coaster brake, and a 24" wheel on the front. This combination makes for best stability. Ok, so at this point we had basically put the bike 95% together, and even though it was almost midnight, i knew i had to finish the bike (and this blog entry),and i was taking the responsibility of installing the bicycle componantry and so - blah blah blah - i get a beer and a coffee and fix the chainline and put a brake and a bell on the bike. i have to use a real crappy side pull single pivot brake because it was the only one that would fit. Also, i put it on upside down so that that cable wouldn't get caught in the chain.
anyway, it's a pretty sweet bike, i heartily recommend making one yourself.

Dingus Gang!!!

Shop Table

So Agent Daedalus has been had at work crafting a stout shop table for using in aiding us in our various crafty undertakings.

i think it's roughly 3 ft. tall, by 4 ft. and 6 ft. on the top. The table is quite sturdy, as the frame design is clearly far from minimal.

Moreover, the frame is held together by a combination of screws and bolts in such a fashion so that hypothetically, the table could at some point be broken down into 4 or so large pieces without having to take the whole thing apart entirely, allowing for easy moving and reassembly.


Finally, the entire thing has been built out of reclaimed scrap wood. Anyway, seems like a really good design to me. It's real sturdy, and big and good for working on lots of projects. someday it may have drawers.

sourdough pancakes

Sourdough Pancakes!!
ok son, listen up. You're about to get hooked up with the info on how to make the tastiest pancakes you will ever eat!1!11 This is an old alaskan recipe for flapjacks that goldminers hiking the yukon would have eaten back in the day, and a recipe which many people still enjoy. Now, you can too! No joke, anyone who has eaten these pancakes quickly converts to the opinion that in fact, sourdough pancakes are the best way to go.





Step One: Starter

this is the most important ingredient for any sourdough baking. you will need some good starter. you can probably get some nice starter at a bakery or something, i don't know. You can also make your own if you want, just leave some flour and water in a bowl for a day or 2 while natural yeasts settle in. Sourdough starter gains a more nuanced flavor the longer it has been going, so if you are lucky, you may have a friend who has some already going, because. if you know a buddy (or store) who has an old batch, get some that way. Not to brag (well actualy, yes, to brag) but my starter has been going since 1897 and was started near Nome, Alaska. Anyway, the better your starter, the better your pancakes (or bread or whatever else). You'll want to keep your starter in a glass jar in the fridge. You'll also want to reuse the same jar, making sure NOT to wash it.

Step Two: The Recipe!
In a large bowl, put starter and 2 cups warm milk (hot watter and canned milk is best), and a large pinch of brown sugar. Beat in 2 cups flour (ideally 1/2 cup wheat or graham). Let mixture stand covered at room temperature overnight (give it 15 hours or so for extra sourness). Will be bubbly (see picture, i actualy let that batch wait to get more bubbly after taking that picture). In morning, beat dough and take out 3 heaping tablespoons and put them in your unwashed starter jar (in this way the starter replenishes itself).

To remainder add, beating with spoon after each addition: 1t salt, 2T sugar, 1 egg, 1/2t baking soda. Double all measurements for feeding family or friends. Fry and enjoy. A note on frying: more so than with any other pancake, sourdough 'cakes fry at a very particular temperature, so pay close attention to how they are coming out so as not to have improperly cooked pancakes. For waffles add melted butter and more eggs. Anyway, yeah, best pancakes of all time. Give it a shot.

launch

here, live and direct, welcome to the launch of the wiggysaurus - your offical source of information for a melange of arts/crafts/trades practiced by a motley assortment of portland d.i.y.ers living in the house of wiggy the dog.