Turns out, I'm very low on propane, and obviously the man at the propane shop has gone home to eat mince pies.

How will I get through the festive season without melting anything ?

Cogs!
Steam!
Melies!
Automata!
Gratuitous Frenchness!
Christopher Lee!

What's not to like ? Apart from a slightly mawkish family-friendly plot, which is best ignored.

I have misplaced a hammer. Specifically, an iron-headed carver's dummy. Bah.

I have discovered a new thing:

When drilling through two bits of thin brass, holding them together to make sure the holes line up properly, one should not have any of the holding fingers under where the drill is going to come out.

Even when that is on the far side of the wooden benchpeg, up at the end where the drill will go through it in half a second and continue into unresisting fingertip.

( Via: )

Repeat after me, one million times:

! is not bitwise NOT. ! is not bitwise NOT. ! is not bitwise NOT.

This has been a public service message from the Bit Twiddler's Association. Thank you for your time.

If you're in Bristol and feeling feckless this afternoon, you might want to come by 100 Stoke's Croft.

Dorkbot and Draw have the use of an empty shop. There will be drawing robots and drawing workshops. In the usual Dorkbot style, some of the robotics is not quite finished, but there's still 4 hours before opening time, so I'm sure it will be fine.

There will be more of the same going on on the 27th - possibly with more working machinery - but I won't be there for that one.

Hours are 12-4, at 100 Stokes Croft, BS1 3RJ. Look for the Jackson Autos sign:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=100+stokes+croft,+bristol&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=100+Stokes+Croft,+Bristol,+Avon+BS1+3RJ,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ei=aCLQTNbCEsf_4Aby9tDsBg&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA&ll=51.462163,-2.587495&spn=0.010548,0.018003&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.463524,-2.589786&panoid=lJCRBd1EczlXrAHKV3FgBw&cbp=12,81.52,,0,5.16

This was an experiment to see if I could take a 3D print from a Makerbot (thanks, Mike!), in ABS, and treat it as a master for lost-wax casting.

The answer would seem to be yes (though my casting technique is still a bit rubbish, and needs work) :

From 100923_lost_abs_casting

So, forwards in all directions!

In today's lesson, we learn that silver/copper, 50/50, comes out looking remarkably similar to tin/copper, 10/90.

In this way, an expensive metal can be used to simulate the appearance of a cheap one. Ho hum.

Far too many pictures of rivets:

From 100830_transporter_bridge

Couldn't ask for a better day for it, either. All the life of Newport spread out below you.

From 100403_glassblowing

Donna cleverly arranged for us to spend Saturday at the Liquid Glass Centre near Bath, doing a glassblowing course. Which turns out to be tremendous fun. There's nothing quite like massaging a kilo of molten glass with a more-or-less bare hand under a little pad of wet newspaper.

Our product (one paperweight, one vaselike object each) has to anneal before it gets posted back to us. More pictures in a week.

From 100201_oxford_steampunk

Copper and smiting. Need to try it with something thicker next time.

Apple wood from my parent's garden, bronze head. Hope it turns out to be a useful weight for chasing.

From 091229_snow

From 091211_theeyestheeyes

Well, that was fun. A bit of last-minute tinkering on Saturday morning got the eye running nicely, then we abandoned it on the Arnolfini's reception desk to stare at passers-by.



Construction notes (currently rather sketchy) and source code are here, if you're interested:
http://code.google.com/p/theeyestheeyes/wiki/constructionnotes

Today was fun, showing off the eye thing and generally having a natter, but I think one day was enough, so I won't be there tomorrow.

I'm helping with a little Dorkbot thing at Uncraftivism in the Arnolfini tomorrow. Plans are a little on the vague side, but I expect we'll fetch up at 11ish and be there on-and-off for much of the day (and Sunday too).

If you're in the vicinity, come and say hello.