New Project

I have made a start on a new project and just completed the first stage.It is going to be quite a bit of work and I will do a WIP as I go for anybody that is interested.

I am trying to use up materials that I have had about for a long time.The 3/8 Ply is left over from another project and the piece of Hardwood on the right was salvaged from the Pier at Weston super Mare after the big fire.I bought the Hardwood (I think it is Sapele) from a local salvage yard thinking I would make a load of pens and sell them as souvenirs. It was part of one of the outside seats.

 The Hardwood had quite a bow and twist in it so as I needed it to be strait I straightened it on the planer

 Here we can see evidence of the Big fire a scorched area

 I have cut the board into roughly lengths that are needed and flattened and planed a face side and face edge

 The boards are now flat on both side and edge ready to thickness.

 Thicknessed

 I needed four strips about an inch deep so they have been Bandsawed of the outer edges because they have been thicknessed flat

 Planer and Thicknesser put away .You need to keep everything tidy and in its place if you have restricted workspace

 One pass through the Drum sander on all four sides as this needs to be to a good finish

 Face side marked this is important because everything will be worked from this side

 The Ply had a bit of a bow in it so a couple of turns through the Drum sander has sorted it near enough for what I need

 I will be making a frame around the ply with a quarter of an inch up stand.To make it easier for gluing up and to create a bigger glue area a recess has been created on the Router table,

 Router table and Drum sander put away to create more floor space.Nearly everything in my workshop is on Wheels.

 Mitres cut on the Bandsaw.But first dummy cuts to make sure the cut is 45%

 All glued up ready for the next stage .The frame has an up stand of 1/4 of an inch.

Got a bit more done today

Today I am making Molds and casting Pewter in them .The molds are turned from Mdf which seems to be the best material for the Job.

Having cut rounds in the MDF I am making a chucking recess much safer than a spigot on MDF

 Circles get marked out in in the sizes I want for my rings

 To safe time and material I am making several recesses in each piece of MDF This piece will have three.These moulds are worth keeping for another day.

 13 Rings ready to fill with Pewter

 Very important to have the mold dead level before pouring or the pewter will not flow to a level finish

 Here we go ready to make a start

 Using up swarf from the last pewter Project always worth catching as much as you can when turning Pewter because it is not cheap

 First pour and all went well.

 This is taking a lot of Pewter but some of it will be turned off later and saved this is the best part of £200  00 worth of Pewter

 That's it for today 13 rings poured

I am doing this in stages not because it takes a long time I find it more enjoyable if I do a bit at a time not so much of a chore.Please stick with it I will finish in a day or two.

I am almost at the giving up stage on this project it is not as easy as I anticipated

Mounted in the lathe and because of the weight I have brought the tailstop up for safety

 I found a scraper was the best for flatening these off but still far from easy

 With one side reasonably flat I am putting them through the Drum sander on both sides

The problem I am having is getting them all the same thickness the sander only takes off a very small amount at a time and some need as much as a few mm off. .They have to be the same or it just won't work I have been on these all day and I am getting through lots of abrasive .
Not sure it is going to look good enough to warrant all the work.

I have had more problems with this but I am now back on track.
I rolled on a coat of black paint to the inside let it dry then went over it with spray paint and there was a reaction it all pickled up.This meant I had to remove all the paint and start again so I only used spray paint and it is OK.
I want a good finish on the black base because I will only lightly colour the resin because I want to create depth.

The outside of the rings were rough from the mold so I smoothed the off on the belt sander

The inside is smoothed on the Bobbin sander

The Pewter rings are now glued to the base and the next job will be to pour the Resin when the paint is totally dry then it will be sanded and polished

Teaching today but found time this evening to do the Resin pour.
The important thing is to keep it all dead level as the Resin is very thin and will run over the edge
As you can see I have added some purple colouring this should give a nice effect on top of the Black Base.