Screwdriver
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Tightened up the knot a bit
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Screwdriver
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Yep. Brilliant program. Would be frustrating for a CAD/3d expert but makes up for it by being simple (and free).
Tangledfeet
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I'm impressed. As a teacher I'm fortunate to have access to all Autodesk software so I'm familiar with (and we teach) using Inventor.
Screwdriver
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Thanks, I trained to be a teacher (CDT) but quit after a few months in London...
Sketchup is difficult for complex items but just about doable. I am slightly obsessed with modelling everything.
Tangledfeet
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That's what I do in Scotland, if you hadn't guessed - I can empathise with quitting. I've been teaching ten years now (I'm 48) and hope to be out of full-time teaching at 55... hopefully!
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Screwdriver
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It will test your accuracy and your skilz. That's one great big long length of material full of joins that needs to meet up after darting off in every dimension.
I guess you could tack it up but getting it welded out might be tricky in such a tight space. With a bit of forethought, you might be able to make it in three big bits if the remaining joins can be exposed. I guess I should try that in Sketchup, I might struggle in the real world!
Now you've pointed it out though, I am quite keen to give it a go.
zx9
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That is interesting to see it modelled in Sketch up, I assume you could also experiment with cutting it into component parts to find the most accessible welds. I say you could because I have only played with Sketch Up for a couple of afternoons, any chance you could pm me a copy of the Sketch Up file or link to it so I can have a play, please.Tightened up the knot a bit
Screwdriver
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Screwdriver
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Hmm. Not sure it this helps really!
Country Joe
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Wish I'd seen this before.
I mean before having spent most of an evening, a couple of days ago, visualising & working out the pieces for one of these!
It took quite a while to work out that there were only 3 basic pieces - I so wish I could CAD like you lot can!
Even then, while turning things around in my head, I couldn't be quite sure if they were identical - in that the mitres were rotated the same way in relation to each end - for each size of piece.
I had a few lengths of one inch square tubing (3mm thick) so made a start.
Came back to it after going out to an appointment, and screwed up the next part!
Spot the mistake!
Not a good photo, but I was quite irritated on noticing this screw-up!
I then had to try to chop it off, but obvoiusly in it's current form it would no longer fit into the bandsaw, so had to try to get a slitting disc in there.
Hopefully I'll get back to it, later on.
Blending in the welds is quite tricky, due to the shape and obstructed access, but now I've started, I'll have to do the same all the way through - so I suspect I'll be cursing myself later!
Anyway, back to the real world for now - Hopefully I'll find some time later on to finish it.
All the Best,
CJ
I mean before having spent most of an evening, a couple of days ago, visualising & working out the pieces for one of these!
It took quite a while to work out that there were only 3 basic pieces - I so wish I could CAD like you lot can!
Even then, while turning things around in my head, I couldn't be quite sure if they were identical - in that the mitres were rotated the same way in relation to each end - for each size of piece.
I had a few lengths of one inch square tubing (3mm thick) so made a start.
Came back to it after going out to an appointment, and screwed up the next part!
Spot the mistake!
Not a good photo, but I was quite irritated on noticing this screw-up!
I then had to try to chop it off, but obvoiusly in it's current form it would no longer fit into the bandsaw, so had to try to get a slitting disc in there.
Hopefully I'll get back to it, later on.
Blending in the welds is quite tricky, due to the shape and obstructed access, but now I've started, I'll have to do the same all the way through - so I suspect I'll be cursing myself later!
Anyway, back to the real world for now - Hopefully I'll find some time later on to finish it.
All the Best,
CJ
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Country Joe
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Tangledfeet
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Nice work! This reminds me that I must clean mine up and spray with clear lacquer.
You did yourself a favour by leaving a larger gap between the 'foils' than I did; and mine also needed some persuasion to close up properly...
Country Joe
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Yes, yours looks much more tightly "tied" than mine does.
Also just downloaded the welder's knot from the last page of this post, and I'm sure it's made from fess (just 10, maybe?) pieces.
@Ruffian mentioned making a small paperweight version out of 20mm tube, earlier on.
I used imperial 1" tubing, which is not much bigger section-wise, and it's come out a fair size.
Even though each piece is only either 3, 5 or 7 inches long, it used up a 5 foot length of steel - and is quite heavy (about 3.5kg ish) but that is partly due to the 3mm thickness.
All the Best,
CJ
Country Joe
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They look like they'd use a fair amount of material, size dependent of course.
You're quite right!
CJ
Tangledfeet
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The PDF plans I'd done in this post? https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/trefoil-plans-wanted.89843/#post-1311485
Yup - nine pieces; three red, three orange and three yellow.
Country Joe
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Ok, nine then!
I swear I did some damage on Monday night trying to mentally turn pieces, sizes & mitre directions in my head.
I even downloaded something called "LibreCAD", but didn't manage to make anything happen in the tortured hour or two that I gave it!
I think I must have been drawn in by all those "Try this CAD pacgage, it's free and easy to learn" posts on here referring to Sketch-up, and the like - so thought in a moment of desperation to try one of them!
Got a bit of a deja-vu going on here too, in that I think I've tried the same thing (but some other "shape-making" software) before & given up!
Maybe it was LibreCAD that did all that damage, after all!
Put it this way, it was harder to visualise it than it was to weld it up - And I even managed to squeeze in a mistake half-way through!
Anyway, when (or should that be "if"?) things return to normal, I'll be able to count to ten, again!
All the Best,
CJ
Tangledfeet
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Exactly!!! It played with my wee mind.
I'm fortunate in that I'm reasonably proficient with 3D Modelling (Autodesk Inventor) as we teach it at school - I'm a CDT teacher.
