CASEJUNKIES LIVE --- NKCM --- 1st PLACE TROPHY RESERVOIR
So yea. I was kinda,.... hiding this from everyone. I got an email from Thadeez asking if I would sponsor the competition by creating some kind of custom reservoir that could be doubled as a trophy that one could just place on a shelf or whatever. So I said yes:) So that very night while at work I got started drawing up what this thing should look like. When I got off work I immediately went to the studio and got started.
May-31-2007 (sPI9000z)
I had discussions with the company a while back about standard reservoir sizes. I think I said 4 and 7" at the the time but I think I changed that sizing around a bit. Anyways,... I also mentioned having 10 or 12" reservoirs. Speciality reservoirs, limited edition kind of stuff. So I thought this would be the perfect opertunity to make a speciality 12 inch reservoir! This [email protected]#$%^ is huge! LOL.
Here is what will be the inside "thing" or effect.
After playing around with some chipboard mockups, I came up with this shape.
Here I heated and wrapped the uv blue acrylic around a pipe. I bought some paper mask and applied a strip of tape to it. I used it as a strap. I made several of these and basically heated and strapped my way from one end to the other. Once I had it fully wrapped I went back to do it again checking for uneven areas.
When done I ended up with this.
Bing.
After it was completely cool I put it back on the pipe and traced the shape onto the pipe so I would have something to follow for when i go to do the next one. I lined the pipe with paper mask too. You can see here how I heat then tape it off as I go,...
When done,... two identical spirals.
Cool ehh?
I knifed the edges so the sprials looked fluid like and round. I sand out all the imperfections from heating and taping on the outside of the spiral. I also sanded down the inside too.
When I was done the spirals were water clear. So beautiful. It was at this point I though to myself,... I dont want to give it to them!!!! LOL.
A little UV light,...
Look how water clear it is,... it's like a spiraled trail of water or something,...
So pretty.
I totally destroyed the shop. LOL.
So hot.
A lot more work needs to be done. But I got all this done in several hours worth of work. Not bad.
Here's the new and improved bubble chamber. It is new and improved but I am trying to phase this whole bubble chamber out. I dont think I need it any more. Anyways,... few bubble holes and in the middle this time. Why? Because the bubbles sit mostly around the inside parameter. Makes sense to put the holes in the cetner. The inner tube thing to see there is a bypass tube for filling. No more pouring in a little water and waiting or tapping it to get the water to go through the holes. I was actually filling past reservoirs through the barbs and topping off through the top of the reservoir. For this reservoir,... you just fill through the top. That fill tube I left a bit long. You'll see why later.
Here's the bottom piece. Actually this isnt the bottom piece. I changed the design of this thing. It's so much better now. I'll explain later.
Here im making the bottom blades that will help get this thing turning and keep it turning. I'm drilling with a 1/4" hole bit at an angle, the very edge. I will glue this blade and 4 others to the 1/4" tubing that I use as a shaft. The idea is that you want each piece to have as much contact as possible for strength.
Crappy camera cant get a close up but you see the groove I cut?
WHAM. You see what I mean:) Thats $%^[email protected]# is strong too!!
Perfect little fan.
Making the arms that will hold the spiral to the shafts. Same thing, 1/4" hole bit except straight down this time. This is so the arms are on the shaft straight.
I trimmed some slack off the bttom of the spirals so it fits the reservoir body.
So cool. It like super snug on that pipe. It's so cool.
Here's what is going to hold the spiral together. Notice there are pieces instead of a whole shaft. I believe that having a whole shaft especially this long,... would have a lot of unwanted friction while turning. So by having less shaft, less friction. Only thing though,... i have to remember for next time,... to put one of these at the very top or make sure theres one at the very bottom and one at the very top. The highest one is just above half way. The spiral has a slight shimmy while turning. Not too noticable but it can be prevented. so yea.
Look at that [email protected]#$!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So cool. What I did was put the spirals back on the pipes and spaced then evenly apart then I taped them down so they couldnt move. Thats how I held them in place while gluing. I left the area that I was gluing hanging off the end of the pipe. It worked very well.
You see the gradient effect on the edges? Thats the knifing I was talking about. So cool.
yum.
Almost done. Cashews anyone?
Here the fill tube being to long. Now,... When I put the top on,... evrything has to have contact. If it doesnt it wont seal. So what I did was put the reservoir on the mitre saw and I trimmed the whole top so evrything was perfectly even. Worked so damn good.
Done. Well,... kinda.
There's more,... I hope I'm not overwhelming you guyz:)
OH YEA! Before I continue,... notice the HKCM. Thats my bad. I thought it was Holland something something something. I didnt notice the [email protected]#$ up until I had well gone and shipped the damn thing to them! Can you believe that $%^[email protected]#! I was at work all chilled and relieved that it was done and shipped. Thats when I started browsing around and checking this whole contest out. Thats when I saw it and when I did,... you know that taste you get in the back of your throat when you are REALLY $%^[email protected]# your pants? Well,... thats what I had going on. I was absolutely furious! I went and checked my emails to and from thadeez to see if the was a mispelling and there wasnt,... it was me. I couldnt believe it. I still cant believe it. Deez really didnt care because it was beautiful as hell and holland, netherlands,.... same thing. Oh well.
Preview.
Some blue tape behind the text to help me picture what it would look like.
UV blue text backings. Knifed and water clear like the spirals.
Getting hot.
Smokin!
Here's the shield after being shaped. I totally forgot to take pictues of the process. But I pretty much used a rubber hammer over the usual pipes I use. The trick was to not rush! Take your time. Small steps, pretty much striking the same area over and over. Try not to bend it all the way the first time around. You take steps. Bending it more and more each time until you have the shape you want.
Look at that shape! My god that came out good! You see how it sits flush on the table too! Not crooked!
I reopened the bottom of the reservoir to etch what you see in the pic. I also fixed a problem I was having with the bottom piece. I'll explain that later on down the road.
All done. I think its done? Yea its done. I forgot to take pics of the support bracket I made too. To keep the strips of aluminum with the text from flexing. I have pics of it in the next update.
