Thanks Andy! ... and good luck with the paragliding! I have my heart set on qualifying as a hang glider pilot this year. Total time on that is around 75 hours! ... and I still have maybe 4 or 5 hours of 'sorting' to do, so lets call it 80. Basically it's good but as I mentioned above, there's just 1 or 2 little tack welds that are pretty horrible in hard to reach areas. Also the odd tool mark or bit of smoothing that needs doing on the wrist gauntlets and the head.
Have you considered tig rather than mig for actually joining the pieces, then mig for doing build up work when you need it? If you were closer id have loved to spend a day with you seeing what you do and showing you the tig option in return. Andy.
Great work !, I think TIG would be better for what your doing, one gas for all metals, and it is much more controlable, and you can join metals with out filler in some cases , less splatter and smoke, and clean welds. If I were you I would cover up your arms when welding as the arc gives off intense UV radiation which can damage your skin, also keep the guard on the grinder, if the disk shatters it is capable of penetrating your ribcage. I think if you wanted you could make a living out of your work, you definatly have an artistic tallent.
From first hand experience of building my owl with tig I can tell you now it’s a ball ache. Yes the welding is much neater and cleaner and the prep work after is next to none. However you really do need about 4 hands. It’s just not practical trying to delicately hold the job in position and a piece in place (like feathers) and tack them on with a 2 handed process. I had to get well creative with stuff to do it and it almost certainly doubled the amount of build time as it would if I’d used a point and squirt process
Hard to believe these are your first 'dabblings' ..so, very impressive! As Matrixx has suggested, exploring TIG might be a good idea (I use Tig rather than Mig as it is more prone to 'disappear' in the final piece ...especially autogenous - no filler rod ...remember strength is not an objective). One piece of constructive criticism if I may, anything involving the figure (human or otherwise ;o) it's always better to err on the limbs being overly long (considered 'stylised') rather than a tad shortishish (considered maybe disproportionate). Videos are very 'user friendly' as well ;o)
Hi Matrix, thanks very much for the comment and the positivity re. potential to make a living from it ... Funnily enough I had a go at Tig Welding today for the first time. My mate has an engineering shop so I went to talk to him about how he cleans stuff up etc. His work is of course precision engineering but massively impressive and complex work, art in itself I think! ... anyway ... I watched him do some Tig and it was insane the intricacy he could work with with that tungsten tip, really impressive and surprising, I had no idea that sort of thing was possible. He told me you could join pieces (I think he said) 5 thou thick! Incredible! also I could see that the ability for fine detailed work was SO much more intricate than MIG. So I had a quick go '.. honestly, it was shocking lol! but that's just something I could get with practice I'm sure. Definitely more fiddly though and right now, sorry to say, well out of my price range but for sure I'll consider it at some point. As for protection, I know you are 100% right on all of what you say. I will definitely cover my arms in future, as for hands, I try to always wear gloves but occasionally I just need to feel a piece in my hand to have it stable and where I want it, those thin latex gloves are superb for that but even then sometimes its not enough, I have to be able to feel it. Not ideal! Grinder guard ... scary warning, thank you (not sarcastic thanks)! Again (and trust me I do appreciate the risks I am taking, I'm not being arrogant or 'i know better' here) its about detail. It's very difficult with that guard on to be able to really see what I am doing with the accuracy I want from it. Don't think I am ignoring you're warning, I do genuinely take it seriously and worry about it myself. All I can really say is, I try not to exert much pressure with the tool when I'm doing sculpting with it. I just let the disc do the work rather than excess pressure, generally its quite a fine touch I use with it. Ok, yes I do cut aggressively with it too but I can honestly say there hasn't been a single time I've used that tool and been complacent (yet!). I'm very mindful to cut straight and make sure im not twisting or putting lateral load through the disc. One day it will hurt me, i'm sure of that, I hope its not bad! But ... (easy to say) I think I am being as safe with it as I can be considering i've removed some of the safety features. Certainly wont recommend the way I use it but its a significantly less useful tool with the guard on. Thanks again for the post, I appreciate the time. J
Hello again Robert, thanks very much for the comment. Quite humbling to receive praise from a professional artist!! Yeah ... I know ... I'm surprising myself too!! I definitely stepped it up a level with the Predator, really quite a complex piece, certainly compared to the stuff I've made so far. Very interesting comments on the limbs and 'stylisation' (Is that a word? lol). Basically what I did there was measure distances on Predator pictures, like ankle to knee, knee to hip etc etc, and used all of those to try and get the aesthetics right. Just wrote a reply to Matrix re TIG so not much more to add. I totally get the benefits after todays demonstration, I mean really it was incredible both with and without filler rod! But, as I said above, just out of my budget right now sadly but definitely something I'd like to use in the future. Guess I'll have to sell a few Predators! Thanks again and best wishes J
If I'm ever in Northampton you might just get a call! Thanks! Comments re TIG answered below, but in short, yes TIG looks like something for the future, no doubts. Amazing the levels of accuracy possible, felt like you could draw with it! Well, when my mate did it, not when i did! J
Not a lot of welding involved! but a fun little build - https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=hiOsWk5ueAU
Ok, sorry no more complex Predator builds recently, though I am half way through an X Wing fighter which could turn out nice, in the meantime, some random little cutlery creations ... Regards J
Not much more to report … couple of other videos. Just had my first two public displays which went very well. Still a long way off making it a potential career but the dream lives on. … still abusing H& S guidelines :/
I have the same welding helmet but sadly none of the skill or vision of this genuily talented artist. Simply brilliant.
Recycled plastic chop sticks , stolen from the local Chinese restaurant cum take away . PS. It's hellish using them when you're having soup .
Quadrophenia was scooters, not mopeds. You'll have a lynch mob after you. That is a good representation of a Vespa. That's what straws are for, just don't get chunky soup.
