A couple of weeks ago I came up with an idea for more stuff to hang on the walls in my office. Just random gears to go along with the hat rack I made awhile back.I made one and it was a pain in the butt so I thought I might try to refine the process a little bit. Of course, if I wasn't so retentive about making things the way I think they should be made, I could have had a dozen of them by now.
Still making them out of scrap plastic laying around my shop. Still making them out of multiple layers so they have that 3-d effect.
And my gol-danged tendinitis is acting up so bad I can hardly even pick up my jigsaw. I'm just nowhere as good with the thing left handed.
I really need to get back to the doctor for another shot. But oooooh! I don't want another shot.
Anyway, I thought I would make four more gears, doing two of them at a time. Just sandwiched two pieces together with some double sided sticky tape and traced out my patterns. I cut the outside edges with the bandsaw and that worked just fine.
But when I tried to cut two of the insides with the jigsaw, everything went wonky. The plastic is too thick and it bends the blade and heats it up really fast so I have to switch blades about every 30 seconds or the plastic will start to melt.The hardest bits are those little holes in the body of the gear itself. I'm going to have to take them apart and do each one separately. What a pain. Ah well, it's a learning process.
I've tried all of the power tools I own to find something that will do those small cuts without melting, but I'm afraid it's no good. Pfui.
Even as I'm writing this I keep pausing because I'm giving myself new ideas on how to do it differently and better... Yeah. Dang. Now I really need to go to the doctor. Gotta get feeling better so I can try this stuff out.
Today was Operating Room Nurse Day. Hmm... Glad I stayed home for that one. And tomorrow is Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day! Take all of those leftovers to work and share them with your co-workers. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
I'm sitting here thinking what tool would be handy to use, and coming up blank. I'm a lot of help, huh?
ReplyDeleteJust Plain Tired- I've burned up a couple of my jigsaw blades and a couple of cutting bits for both the Dremel tool and the RotoZip. The scroll saw is absolutely no good as it just melts the plastic right back together as it goes. I got an idea last night where I might be able to use the band saw for the whole thing. I'll let you know how it went when I get a chance.
ReplyDeleteHow funny! I actually DID clean out my refrigerator today. But I don't think anyone would have wanted to eat the stuff I cleaned out.
ReplyDeleteMisty- You must be tuned in just right. Some parts of the list do make sense once in awhile...
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