Horses Head by Delisle

[northwest]

Well, as @Chillitt correctly identified, I have a set of cutouts of the Delisle Horses Head. It has cost me, including the .dxf files, all in: £80 to have everything I need to get started with the build in 1.5mm stainless. We have a very good Laser profiling place just up the road and it took just a week from sending them the files to getting a call saying the bits were ready.

I was building the Financial Controller "something" and when someone said there was a sculpture by a chap by the name of De Lisle, well for obvious reasons (to me) I was intrigued, I know of a Godfrey De Lisle and I would suspect a relationship somewhere in the family, I will ask.

Anyhow, I have been staring at the bits for a week or so and just decided to make a start, I took the bits off over to my pals place as I knew I would need a bit of help and I was right. There are two build video's on youtube, one by Delisle himself and another, it is not immediately obvious from either video how this all goes together and I would suggest that some of the details are rather lacking, but this is not something Mission Critical and the phrase "Artistic License" springs to mind, I have an Angle Grinder so where's the problem, right? :-)

Purists look away now, I tacked it up with mild steel wire, I will tig the seams later and dig the MS out:



I am a little bit further on than this but not by much and I will get some seams tigged up next then try putting the two bits together. One thing to note, the bits are slightly different to those shown in the Delisle video, especially around the nose so that was a bit of a puzzle.

 

[Fraserb]

Had a look at this, looks like it might be a project that could earn me some brownie points with the Mrs.

Does it come with the files in a format ready for cutting?

 

[northwest]

So, bit further on myself, how are you getting on @Fraserb ?
I need to get this finished so expect some more progress, next week. I think it would have been a bit easier if I had had it cut from 1.6mm instead of 2mm Stainless, I will have to be a little creative with it to make the bits fit.

 

[tom2207]

Think id cut another set of parts by drawing round then on some nice card , then have a play to see how it fits and what needs bent to get it there , lot easier to bend card
Im a huge fan of Cardboard Aided Design ,, CAD is the future.

 

[northwest]

Think id cut another set of parts by drawing round then on some nice card , then have a play to see how it fits and what needs bent to get it there , lot easier to bend card
Im a huge fan of Cardboard Aided Design ,, CAD is the future.

No, it's good. The problem I have is that the stiffness afforded by the 2mm sheet doesn't make the structure very malleable but I have oxy acetylene, an anvil, a couple angle grinders and a few big hammers! Can't see a problem!

 

[Hood]

Yesterday @Tangledfeet brought some 1.5mm steel to me and I cut it up on the plasma for him. It will be easy to work with I think but as you say the 2mm will be a bit more troublesome. Looking forward to see how it turns out and also looking forward to seeing @Tangledfeet ones. Was well impressed with the one @Fraserb did.

 

[Tangledfeet]

Glad you've started a discussion on this as I will be making one for 'Project Management' over the next few weeks, it'll be her Christmas present. She's seen the bits in the workshop but hasn't a clue what they're for.

I'm using 1.6mm cold rolled steel and will be making it at 0.75 scale as they fitted perfectly on the 1000 by 500mm sheets I bought online.

I owe a massive debt of gratitude to @Hood as he offered to do the cutting for me and I paid him a visit yesterday. Spent this afternoon cleaning parts up and then having a play on some of the scrap as I've never done anything with as much shape and form as this.

 

[Tangledfeet]

@Hood I was typing mine as you posted yours!

 

[tom2207]

No, it's good. The problem I have is that the stiffness afforded by the 2mm sheet doesn't make the structure very malleable but I have oxy acetylene, an anvil, a couple angle grinders and a few big hammers! Can't see a problem!

true , but its handy to have a starting point .

 

[northwest]

Well, it's not as easy as it looks and there was some real fighting went on to get the pieces as far as I have them. It's a bit of a guessing game as to where the bits begin and end and I was grateful for the Mig as I tacked the bits together using plain steel wire on stainless.
I have now tigged the bits along the seams and smoothed them with a 40 grit flap wheel. I did think it might be best to leave them until it was all tacked up but it was pretty much well tacked and I just went for it. Next week I will get both halves together and see how that goes.

Whilst I think on, there are a small number of changes to the actual parts and differences to the model that is videoed on youtube that you need to look at carefully or it can catch you out.

 

[Fraserb]

A couple of things I noticed was in the videos they joined the 3 centre sections into one long piece, I did this then ended up cutting it again as it was too long to work with. There was also a couple of bits at the ears needed some attention but there's no 2 horses the same so a little tweaking is neither here or there, I did mine at 1.5 scale and in 1.6mm steel.

 

[northwest]

Went over to my pal's for a coupe of hours to try to beat it into submission using his very substantial workbench. I made some decent progress but I really do think I was being a bit over ambitious using 2mm stainless. Not to worry, I will get there. Eventually.

 

[jack-daniels]

If it's of any interest, Gary Huston put one of these together.

 

[Barking Mat]

Went over to my pal's for a coupe of hours to try to beat it into submission using his very substantial workbench. I made some decent progress but I really do think I was being a bit over ambitious using 2mm stainless. Not to worry, I will get there. Eventually.

View attachment 259572 View attachment 259573

How are you welding that? Arc? Little rods?

 

[northwest]

I am tacking it up with just ordinary .8 mig wire. When I get the bit I am working on finally to my liking I will get it back to my place and Tig it up using 316 rods. I then polish it off using 40 grit flap discs, I am going to need the die grinder in places here. I grind out the ferrous welds and replace with stainless weld as I go along.
In the beginning I thought if I made it from 2mm stainless it would give me terrific latitude as there would be plenty there to grind back if I couldn't line it up right. However, this has become a self fulfilling prophesy. Because it is quite hard to manipulate the 2mm sheet, it doesn't always line up properly! And around and around I go. :-)

 

[Barking Mat]

I am tacking it up with just ordinary .8 mig wire. When I get the bit I am working on finally to my liking I will get it back to my place and Tig it up using 316 rods. I then polish it off using 40 grit flap discs, I am going to need the die grinder in places here. I grind out the ferrous welds and replace with stainless weld as I go along.
In the beginning I thought if I made it from 2mm stainless it would give me terrific latitude as there would be plenty there to grind back if I couldn't line it up right. However, this has become a self fulfilling prophesy. Because it is quite hard to manipulate the 2mm sheet, it doesn't always line up properly! And around and around I go. :-)

Fair play, looking good.

 

[tom2207]

looks great so far

 

[Chillitt]

Im loathe to offer advice on here as there is usually a crowd of people here much better at almost everything than I am, but having made a few similar things to this, (Still haven't got round to one of these, but its on the list) I'd say get the whole thing made and tacked together before welding it up properly. Many's the slip...

 

[northwest]

Im loathe to offer advice on here as there is usually a crowd of people here much better at almost everything than I am, but having made a few similar things to this, (Still haven't got round to one of these, but its on the list) I'd say get the whole thing made and tacked together before welding it up properly. Many's the slip...

Don't be. That is very good valid advice. I did both cheeks because I was happy with them and finished what are two very good identical halves. It is much easier to undo a couple of tacks and try to move the parts than slitting it open and then trying to weld something missing bits. A good deal of this is: Does it look right?
I am no genius, god forbid, but I have done and watched quite a bit of this sort of work so have a good understanding, I just get a bit over-ambitious sometimes:-)

 

[Barking Mat]

You can mig stainless? I assume your using normal steel wire? Or are you well set up, if you know what I mean.

I wouldn't have thought that would work? Then I've never tried.