New studio, limited editions and preparing for Penland

It's been a bit crazy around here but I wanted to share an update about the new studio, the limited editions before it gets too close to leaving for Penland.

The almost completed studio... well, almost completed on the outside, anyway. The last of the windows, which will go along the top of the north wall (backside of studio) will be put in next week, along with the last of the siding.

The next step is waiting for an estimate for our electrician to run a couple of lines out to the studio so that I can put in outlets. Then it's time for insulation and osb board (or something similar) for the wall surface.

I've also been getting some work done on the limited editions in between administrative work and prepping for Penland. Below are some process shots.

 I decided to silver solder the two parts together and just trim the wider part on the lathe. I'm sure a machinist would roll his/her eyes at this but it works for me.

 Trimming off the excess before heading to the lathe.

 All dressed up and drilled. Now, it's a proper shaft bearing!

 Start components - end result.

 I also took advantage of a slow day and powder coated all the aluminum plates for both the limited edition brooch and wiggly mustache machine. The above image shows three plates getting the powder coat baked on. I love that I can just use a toaster oven for this. Make sure to have ventilation though!

 This is our setup at school. We use the Eastwood powder coat gun system.

There they are! All ready to have decals applied and baked on.

So, on top of everything, I'm also in the midst of preparing to teach my first ever class at Penland. The class is titled, "Mechanical Playthings." The following videos are of recent samples to add to my growing collection of mechanism examples.

The sample shows both a set of pin wheel gears and a set of spur gears.

 

The sample shows how to create intermittent motion and an example use for a bell crank.

 

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in all the fancy mechanisms that we forget to address more basic decisions - how to keep a lever-follower in contact with a surface (a cam for example).