Christmas Diamonds

[Ed McDonnell]

Another Christmas themed experiment. This is a triple cast with the red and green being translucent rather than opaque.



The triple cast wasn't the experiment. The experiment was having a "buried" carved detail that would be visible through the translucent resin, reminiscent of what David Oscarson does with enamels on metal. David Oscarson has nothing to fear from my efforts. :biggrin:

The green was my second cast. The color was more pastel like and less bold than what I was going for. The colored resin is only 0.010" thick. I wanted vibrant colors, which meant more pigment (couldn't go thicker). I got a bolder color with the red on the third cast using more pigment. Unfortunately vibrant thin translucent colors are not as translucent as I had hoped. You can't really see the carved detail under the red. :frown:



While the carved detail is clearly visible under the green, you need good eyes and good light to be able to see it. This concept isn't ready for prime time yet.

Another thing I've learned is that I need a much better quality of photo props. Bonus points for anyone who guesses what the prop in the first picture is.

Ed

 

[wood-of-1kind]

ED, you "underestimate" your achievement with this work of yours. A wonderful effect with the "pattern" created especially on the green. White not as pronounced on the red, I can still see the effect on the red.

The background on the photo, I'm guessing that it is a "sprocket". Very nice effort and something to be proud of with your display of a great looking pen.

 

[mredburn]

What was the material that you carved into? A metal base like aluminum might reflect more light back and give you the effect your looking for.

 

[Rangertrek]

Regardless of the experiment, that pen is Spectacular!

 

[Wright]

A very, very nice pen indeed!! Well done.

 

[StephenM]

Bonus points for anyone who guesses what the prop in the first picture is.

Ed

Looks like a differential gear of some sort?

Oh yeah, pen looks nice? I can see the pattern with no problem. Sometimes subtle is nicer than something that knocks you over the head.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

What was the material that you carved into? A metal base like aluminum might reflect more light back and give you the effect your looking for.

Hi Mike - The base material was white PR. Using aluminum is on my list of things to try. I've got to rig up a cooling system on my ornamental lathe first though or I will be burning up engraving bits. I've got all the parts I need, I just need to figure out how to put it all toghether so it works reliably. Maybe early next year.

Ultimately, I would like to be working with silver and enamels. That's just a dream at this point. Maybe some day.....


Ed

 

[skiprat]

That looks great !! :good::good:Are you doing this on CNC or some other system?

I agree with StephenM.....background prop looks like a wrecked diff gear from a live axle perhaps. I'll bet that made a racket when it went!!

 

[BRobbins629]

Wonderful idea - look foward to more experiements.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

That looks great !! :good::good:Are you doing this on CNC or some other system?

I agree with StephenM.....background prop looks like a wrecked diff gear from a live axle perhaps. I'll bet that made a racket when it went!!

I'm using the Digital Ornamental Lathe that I built. It fits into the broad CNC category, but it's not a typical CNC router because it only has 3 axis with one of the axis being rotary. It's not a CNC Lathe because the work is being done by a rotating cutter, not the material rotating against a cutter. Conceptually it is more like a Rose Engine type ornamental lathe. It just uses digital rosettes instead of physical.....and (of course) is infinitely more flexible in what it can do.

I built the DOL to carve on my woodturnings and it can handle work up to 14" diameter. It is pretty much overkill for pens....but it works.

Nobody has gotten close on the prop yet. Here's a hint. It's part of a cutting tool (not one you would use on a pen though....unless it was the world's biggest pen).

Ed

 

[RetiredJake]

Love the pen.

My guess is part of a drilling bit for oil or water wells.

Jake

 

[ironman123]

Ed, would that be part of a drill bit for oil drilling? That is my guess.

By the way, all your work with the DOL is very interesting to me.

Oops. Retiredjake beat me out.

Ray

 

[Ed McDonnell]

DING DING DING!!!

Jake and Ray win! It's a cutter from a Smith Drill bit used for drilling oil and gas back in the early 80s.

Ed

 

[skiprat]

Your DOL sounds cool !! Any chance of a pic please? :biggrin: I'd love to see the set up. Is it anything like the RS3000 attachments?

 

[Donovan]

Spider cutter out of a rock drill
Donovan

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Your DOL sounds cool !! Any chance of a pic please? :biggrin: I'd love to see the set up. Is it anything like the RS3000 attachments?

I had posted a picture and some info a while back, but I can't find the post now. Here's two pictures. I modified an old JET 1442VS lathe. I expected this to just be a proof of concept and used scrap plywood in a lot of places. If it worked I expected to upgrade the structural elements to aluminum at a later date. But the thing has worked so well cutting wood and resins that I haven't bothered to upgrade. I suspect that when I step up to metal cutting it might be a different story. If metal proves too much for DOL 1.0, I'll probably build a much smaller much more rigid DOL 2.0 for metal pens.

Oops! Forgot the pictures!!!

Ed

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Here's the picture :redface:



Ed