How to make Sausage Links

Pipe Links:

Back with my trusty Dremel tool. Love my Dremel. It came with a mini-router attachment. How cool is that!?! What this allows me to do here is 'router' a channel at a perfect 90 degree. It would be impossible to do this by hand. I could, but it'll take forever and it won't be as accurate. Here I have a  rig with a board and a couple clamps.

The steps:

- I make one channel across.

- Stop. 

- Move the board ~3/8" up. 

- Make another channel. 

- Repeat.

Reason I'm making all these channels is so that one side of the foam has less material. This is so I can roll the foam into tubes. I could use the heat gun again. But, it won't be heated up evenly and it'll bend unevenly. It would just be a mess. I think this was the best approach.  Hot glue the ends together.

Made a bunch. Not really sure how many was needed.

Like the 'nostril canister', I beveled the ends on the belt sander.

The placement mockup. I think it'll work. Next, I have to figure out what to use for the inner pipe.

Eye Lens Redux

Eye Lens:

Here we go again! My second (and hopefully FINAL) attempt at making the eye lens for the build. 

To recap my requirements on this sub-project:

- Must not limit my vision, much

- Should have detail

- Tinted yellow

- Must be lit up.

- Lights must not be seen from the outside

- Lights must not be glaring back at MY eyes.

Had put a lot of thought back into this one. Going to start off with a piece of clear lexan plastic. I think this is good approach.

Since I already have the shape of the eye lens from the previous build attempt. I'm going to use it as a template for the curvature. Here I'm laying it down on a piece of 2x4 wood. I needed a shape to put the melting plastic onto. And the wood can handle the heat.

Cutting the shape out with a jigsaw.

I stole this toaster oven from my wife years ago. Started out when I was secretly baking my sculptures in it before. Got caught by the wife.. and said something, something.. and she just gave me the oven! Woohoo!! Score! Anyways, inside the oven is a couple strips of lexan plastic. Warming it up for 5-10 minutes. The moment I can see them droop, I pull them out and put it on my wooden form....

Almost lost this piece. You can see some bubbling at the corners! Luckily, the bubbles are outside and would be cut off.

Cutting them out with my dremel.

Quick test fit. PERFECT!

Now, for the details. I'm thinking of frosting them in. To achieve that, I just mask out a simple design. With my dremel again, I used a steel brush attachment, and just went over the exposed areas.

I could use some fancy window etching solution to frost the details. But, that would mean money. And I rather not spend money if I didn't have to. The return wasn't worth it. Simple economics. hehe

TEST: Can I see out of the new lens? 

Yes! Yes, I can. Even in the frosted areas, I can see vague shapes. So, this is successful.

TEST: Does the detail light up? 

Yes, perfectly!! Success, again!

TEST: Are the lights visible from the outside? 

Nope. Since the lights would be mounted just out of sight. It's perfect again. Another Score!

TEST: Would the lights be glaring back into my eyes/face?

Nope, eventually, I will be mounting the LEDs with hot glue. Then I'll be painting the globs with dark matte paint. The light would only be directed at the lens itself.

PERFECT SCORE!!

The One-Day V-Fin Diet

Weight reduction: 

The v-fins were still heavy. Too heavy to have on comfortably. To alleviate possible neck strain, I'd have to reduce some weight on it. And since I know the resin inside is the major culprit, I'd have to gut it out from the backside. Time to break out the dremel tool again.

Don't want to take away TOO much material. Leaving some behind for structural integrity. Everything seems to be still solid, so, I'll clean her up a bit and close it up.

5-min epoxy to glue the new (plastic) plate over the hole

Contact cemented some Velcro strip to each side. Since the v-fin is still considered heavy, I'm not going to rely on the velcro's default adhesiveness. Didn't think it would be strong enough to not rip off. So, some contact cement will put it on permanently. Strong stuff. The plastic or helmet would rip off first before the velcro now!

Wiring Antennae

While I wait for the mold for the eyes to dry and the paint to dry on the rest of the pieces...

Gonna put in some lights into each of of the antennas. Right at the highest points. But, I don't want any of the wires visible. So, I break out the dremel tool again. and gouge out a tiny channel for the wires.

TIP: Holding down the working piece with a vice makes things go so much smoother.

A little spackle to fill in the gaps. Let dry. Sand. Paint.