Ain’t it always da truth. To build something, you have to make something first. I needed a way to spread the steel apart in a controlled manner to weld up the sculpture. Something that would spread the rebar circle in small increments and keep it apart without having to hold it by hand. So, I went to my trusted source YouTube and input “spreader”. Well, I got a lot of manure spreaders, but I got this idea too. It was from something completely unrelated, but was “mucho inspirational”. Now I need a clamp that works like the spreader only in reverse. Maybe I’ll look in YouTube and find a manure picker upper. Oh, well. Onward and well, onward.
This project was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The outside upright ring is done, I think. I may add some diagonal cross pieces for stability and looks. Now comes the inner ring for the upright piece. With all of the problems with getting the outer ring done, I thought “why not stop here.” I might be getting lazy in my old age, but no, it needs an inner ring. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. If it doesn’t rain. Rain is a big problem. My welding yard sometimes floods. Very problematic when using high voltage welding equipment. Here’s to no rain. You will note that I am not wearing my favorite work hoody. It caught fire while I was using an angle grinder. I thought something smelled funny and looked down and my hoody was on fire. Oh well, its warming up anyway.
Here is a SketchUp model of my sculpture. The person gives a idea of its size. There will be a “mast” that comes from the back of the sculpture and goes up on an angle through the split in the upright circle. I haven’t finished designing the mast yet. The mast should be about 10 feet long.
Finally, I got to bend some rings. After a few tweaks, the ring roller works like it was designed to. I am beginning to lay out the sculpture. Bending the rings to just the right diameter was difficult at first. But after the first two, it worked its self out. Remember when you took Geometry in high school and said, “When am I ever going to use this?”. Well I have used it all through my life and especially in this sculpture. No geometry, no sculpture. I had a great geometry teacher that I would like to thank if I could only remember her name.
The first iteration of the ring worked, but needed tweaking. I needed to fabricate some additional parts. Old exercise machine to the rescue. This is probably the most use this machine has seen. Lots of cutting and grinding. Lots of whacking. I’m heck at whacking. (see the Harrison Ford film Witness)
Ain’t it always the truth? To build something, you have to build something else first. To build my public sculpture, I need a large ring roller. I have bent the rings for other pieces by hand around a wooden circle. This will not produce consistently sized rings. I need the rings to be a very close match in size for the sculpture to work. Hence a ring roller. It began life as an exercise machine that was used the way most exercise machines are used. Sparingly and then to the Biltmore Steel Recycling yard, then to me. I have a better use for it. Voila, maybe. A ring roller. I have included a picture on a “real” store bought one for reference.
Maquette
My welding yard is an roofed shed off the back of my home. I finally got it out on December 30 and tried it out. I had some minor problems and called PrimeWeld. I got someone on the phone right away. They put me in contact with George’s Plasma Cutter And Welder Repair Shop. George walked me through my questions and shazam the plasma torch worked beautifully. The reviews I read about PrimeWeld were true. Great customer service!!
I made my first test cut through stainless steel . Now I just need to design a sculpture and build it. What could go wrong? How hard could it be?
I received my new Multi-process Primeweld CT520D 50A Plasma Cutter/200A Tig/Stick Welder today. It surprisingly only weighs 32lbs (that’s 14.5 kilos). Some assembly required. Yahoo!!
