Rapman Extruder Conduit Clamp

For a very long time now the Rapman's extruder conduit has been attached to the frame with a couple of velcro cable ties:

I decided finally that the cable ties were a bit too crude and set about designing something a little more elagent. Twenty minutes later I designed a clamp:

 Now it was only then I realised that the clamp needed an offset between the threaded rod and the conduit. So I had to throw away the nicely rounded clamp and start again.

Mark two was a little uglier - The part needs at least one flat face with no overhangs. That is, the face which will be laying down on the bed of the printer.

A couple of hours on the printer later and these were the result:

Still not perfect (I misread the protractor in my haste) but it clamps the conduit and the threaded rod OK. Mark three will be the correct angle :-)

If I say so myself this clamp goes pretty well with the first one made for this machine.

Building a Ballet Barre

My Sister has been getting more into her ballet recently, she asked me about the possibility of building her a portable barre.

Not one to do things by half and being rather inclined to build industrial furniture and lighting, there was only one material to build this creation out of...... STEEL!

This will probably be the final use for my pile of 32mm steel pipe and matching Kee Fittings. The stash has seen in previous lives, use in a bed been a scaffolding in a music video and more recently as a frame to support the big scary light.

I set about cutting the steel pipe into the appropriate lengths with my friction cutoff saw,

and assembled the frame:

Presently the frame is sitting on four corner couplers, I intend to make something fancy up involving locking casters and perhaps some 3D printed clamps.

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Some friends of mine and I decided to have a bit of a farm get away weekend recently. One of the things we decided would be fun while away was break the sound barrier... With a really big cannon.

Some of you may be familiar with the pNuke system of air toys which have featured in videos such as Sleepeater... The cannon used here is a more powerful and scary version with a custom built valve and some other trickery.

Modified deluge valve fitted to the air tank.

Fire deluge valve with a 5/2 3/8th inch pilot valve.

The barrel is a 6m length of 40mm scaffolding pipe coupled to the pNuke via some very big rubber hose and Mikalor super heavy duty hose clamps.

Clamps securing the rubber hose to the steel pipe. 

Rubber hose coupled to the deluge valve.

Unfortunately we were unable to achieve supersonic projectiles, I think this is due to the maximum flow through the valve not being high enough or the interior of the barrel is too rough.


Despite this the result is pretty spectacular...

As usual, Glow Sticks are pretty impressive in the dark:

We made a projectile out of rolled up newspaper and gaffer tape... It promptly disintegrated when launched.

An attempt to fire a lemon resulted in a lemonade mist... No pieces of the lemon were found.

Putting the Light Into Proportion

The Silly Light has had it's first opportunity to really shine... Ahem.

As the gig was the first "final" assembly I wasn't 100% sure as to how it was all going to turn out... Jez and myself set about pulling the house apart in order to bolt the Kee gate hanger down.
The ironwork is a mixture of Unistrut brackets and a spare construction plate I had lying around. The end of the scaffolding pipe is inserted into this gate hanger to keep it in place.

The festoon lights were gaffer taped to the pipe just before we put it up.

After the whole thing was assembled, the pipe was propped up on one of my ammunition cases as the shade was hanging a bit low. The rope top stay was tied to the hand railing and it was done :-)

The effect is almost exactly what I wanted to achieve, if the light is assembled again I want to prop the pipe up higher and spread the light further.

Thanks to: Jez, Dave and Joel for helping with the assembly, Will for help with disassembly and anyone else I have been rude enough to leave out.

Part One: Where the idea came from.
Part Two: First testing of the light shade.
Part Three: I try out a mercury vapour light source.
Part Four: Procuring parts like the street light.
Part Five: Test assembling the frame.
Part Six: Going away from the frame idea.

Time for a change of plans.

Things have been a little quiet on the Light With No Sense of Proportion front lately... I've been too busy with my day job, rewiring a friend's house and being crook to work on it.

Anyways I finally hung the streetlight fitting inside the lampshade to try it out: Unfortunately it's not all good news.

The ghostly sodium spirit.

The result looks pretty cool, it's almost getting towards my desired streetlight with christmas lights aesthetic.

The mass of the lampshade and streetlight together is a little greater than expected... As a result the pipe bends a lot more than I would like. 

You may be able to see the bend in the pipe here.

So the use of Plan B is necessary: The pipe will now be cantilevered from the first floor  "balcony" with a top stay to prevent the pipe from drooping. Stay Tuned...

Light With No Sense of Proportion: Sunrise

Nothing much to report other than a quick test of the 150W High Pressure Sodium street light. It's got a decidedly sunrise glow to it. 

Check out my size 12 feet for scale against the lantern...

The lantern hides quite nicely in the lampshade, so with some very minor mods this creation is going to be finished at long last.

Light With No Sense of Proportion: Test Assembly

After a day of exploring tunnels and being disappointed by a monster truck I did some more work on the silly desk lamp.

I did a test fit of the new hanger described in Part Four and hung the lamp shade from it.

About this time I turned my attention to what the pole was going to be supported on. In my collection of big kids meccano there is a stack of galvanised steel pipe and a box of various Kee fittings, left over from my bed and then used for Sleepeater and now to be used for a light stand.

First thoughts centered around the idea of making some form of tripod with the pole slung below the apex with a chain. This proved to be no where near strong enough with the part I had to hand.

The next frame idea was slightly inspired by a trebuchet...

And it supports the pole quite nicely :-) The only addition required was a chain backstay at the back to stop the vertical pipes bending. There are some pretty impressive forces involved in this project.

I then set about hanging the lampshade from the pole and fitting the luminaire for another "how does it look?" test. Anyone who has seen the Get Smart Cone of Silence may well find one of these photos more than a little amusing. It is not staged - I am actually fitting the mercury vapour high bay there.

This way up...