This time it was DONE!

The sextant, although five feet tall was in my view still a bit underwhelming. The table top was a little low. The fix was easy. I quickly built four compass points files in EnRoute and sent them to the MultiCam. While the machine worked in the back room I started fabbing up the plywood box that would provide the structure.

As each point of the compass came off the router I sculpted them into place. I liked it much better already. Everything was coming together nicely.

This time I was truly happy. The sextant now measured more than 6 feet high and was an imposing display piece in the library. After six years of procrastination it was done! Without the use of my MultiCam router it would have taken far, far longer - if it was even possible. With the machine working hard for me the job was relatively quick and easy. It did the hard parts while I concentrated on the creative, fun stuff.

-dan

Finished! ... well not quite.

I was absolutely delighted as the piece neared completion. It was everything I imagined. As soon as the paint was dry I moved it into my library and took a look. It fit like it was made for this very space. (funny thing).

Everyone who came in in the next few days was blown away. They had never seen anything quite like it. But after looking at it for a few days I wasn't nearly as happy as I was a few days earlier. It needed something more. And I knew just what it would be...

-dan

COLOR AT LAST!

The tough part in any project is not the idea or the making of the piece. It's knowing when to stop. After many hours of adding endless barnacles the piece was ready for paint at last.

I started with the Primer. We used a heavy, thick primer. I applied it with a brtush as it was my last chance to add just a little more texture to the piece. It was to look like a sunken treasure which was seeing the light of day for the first time in a long while. It wasn't hard to make it look the part. Then came the base coats of the metallic paint - also applied by hand with a brush. Although it looked pretty fine at this point it was far too bright and shiney. But I'd soon fix that...

Once the base coats were good and dry I flooded the piece with a series of glazes, wiping off the excess with a soft cloth, leaving the dark colors in the recesses and cracks. It looked instantly old.

I worked from the top down so I didn't ruin the areas already done. I was getting happier by the minute for this was looking pretty good. Stay tuned...

-dan

Looking fine

It wasn't long until the MultiCam had machined all the parts I needed. Assembly went just as quick and before I knew it the table sextant was sitting before me. It looked fabulous already but I wanted to include a little more detail before I started the paint process.

I used a sculpting epoxy and sharpened stick to make barnacles which were placed randomly on the surface. I used reference pictures of some submerged wrecks to guide me... While I was at it I added some star fish too.

Things were coming along nicely. It was almost time for paint...

-dan

Progress

As the pieces were finished I started to glue them up. It was a big complicated assembly. I had machine the pieces in the order I would need them. This gave me something to work on while the MultiCam still worked.

I laminated a steel post into the center to provide structural strength to the Precision Board. The entire piece would be built around this.

Visitors to the shop were still scratching their heads for they did not yet have a clue as to what I was building. I could see it clearly. Stay tuned...

-dan

Finding my bearings

Recently I made the switch to a Mac computer at my workstation. Since I had to get up to speed on the slightly different way of doing things, new shortcuts, and slightly different operating system I decided I would pull out the stops and build a complex piece. Learning by doing is always the very best way. There was a bare spot in my library which I had long wanted to create a special display piece for. And I knew just what I was going to create.

It took four hours to create the routing files. The individual pieces filled one and a half sheets of Precision Board but they looked cool - even in the rendering. I worked in EnRoute and when I was done I could hit the render button for a preview of how it would look when done.

I set the MultiCam in motion. This was going to be cool! I could hardly wait for it to be done. The machine was making two passes - one rough pass and then a highly detailed pass with a 1/8" bit and a high overlap. It would take a while but the results would be worth it. Here's a shot as the rough pass was almost done...

While the MultiCam worked in it's special room I was busy in the shop doing other things. The MAGIC would take a little time. Stay tuned...

-dan