jarkman

A grand day out

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:34:15 GMT

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

Not Sunday.

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:36:48 GMT

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.

For those of you in the Bristol area

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:54:01 GMT

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.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:17:50 GMT

I hereby accept the 24 hour mobile phone photo challenge.

One:

All electrostatic demonstrations require a cat and a Perspex rod.

Two:

See how my knuckles are not crushed ?

Three:

Well, duh.

Four:

Need a bit more imagination than the other three.

Suzy Smash!

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:21:50 GMT

Only a week behind with my posting. Relatively punctual.

Holidays in the sun (part 1 of 3)

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:57:47 GMT

Donna had a conference in Lisbon to go to. I had the painful duty of carrying the suitcases and amusing myself in the city for a few days.

I took a few pictures. Lisbon seems to be a splendid place, a curious little city with lots of history and lots of its own ideas. I recommend it to you all.

From Lisbon, September 09

Happiness is a well-planished spork

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:22:24 GMT

This is only medium-well planished. But, camping next week, shame not to take a spork...

10g of 0.6mm Ti sheet, hammers. Fork tines came out a little graceless, but close enough for jazz.

There are so many, I don't know where to start:

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:27:00 GMT

Most of the records of that expedition were destroyed.

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:59:32 GMT

Who says engraving is hard ?

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:42:43 GMT

All my forays into engraving have been rather troublesome, using push gravers or hammer & chisel.

A couple of weeks ago, I got myself a Magnagraver , and that has transformed the process. At least, the process of making lines is easier. Making the lines look like anything in particular is obviously still hard.

Anyhow, here is my first testpiece, on a bit of 15mm wide mild steel. As you can see, it is a traditional hunting scene:

From The Noble Moose

Live from the 1800s

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:01:22 GMT

Last week included a trip to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. They have many fabulous things, and I suggest you all go there at once.

Here are a few highlights, from Babbage to Google:

From Computer History Museum, 2009

Summer's here.

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:53:24 GMT

I have, therefore, waxed my coat.

That should fool it.

More nunome-zogan experiments

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:34:15 GMT

This time, using a peroxide browning process on the steel:

More details here. I think I over-planished this one a bit, so the silver looks squishy. Must try harder.

Data recovery might be an issue

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:00:14 GMT

These each held thirty gigabytes, before I got at them with my hammers:

Suprisingly stretchy stuff. The coating is much more durable than I was expecting, too. Nothing fell off or went flaky.

Nunome-zogan experiements

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:07:22 GMT

Here's my Saturday afternoon experiment, sticking silver to steel by the nunome-zogan process:

More pictures, and a bit of a writeup, are here:
http://www.jarkman.co.uk/catalog/jewel/nunome.htm.

I'm frankly amazed that this process works as well as it does when done as badly as this. Now I just need to work out what to make with it that isn't just a test...

I made a hat! A hat with a compass in!

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:34:31 GMT

Dorkbot Bristol had a hat-hacking contest yesterday.

There was much entertainment of the usual sort, technical chitchat and swearing at computers, and a bit of actual constructional work. I made (well, half-made) a computerised hat with a compass sensor. None of the work was really very technical, just a lot of fiddly wiring-up of stuff.

It's kind-of finished now, and the full writeup is here, for those of you that enjoy masses of tangled wires:
http://jarkman.co.uk/catalog/fripperies/compasshat.htm

What ?

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:19:24 GMT

The Militant Guild Of Rural Tailors Research Group

Obviously, I am in favour. But still perplexed.

Fun with Bronzclay

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:01:45 GMT

Yesterday, we played with the BronzClay(tm) that I gave D for Christmas. And today we fired it, with suprisingly good results (click for the album):

From Fun with bronzclay

Working with it really is like working with ill-tempered Plasticine. You can squish it & roll it & generally shove it about, and then suddenly it is too dry and cracks in two. It was made to be worked by the swamp-men of Venus, with their steamy atmosphere and glabrous fingers. But humans can manage if they are persistent.

The astute reader will spot the textures of ray-skin and sea-urchin and machined Perspex in some of these pieces. Oh, and the shiny things are 5mm steel ball bearings which were fired in.

Firing is a bit long-winded - bury in charcoal, ramp at 250C/hour to 840C, hold for 2 hours, then cool. These bits have all been tumbled for half an hour to burnish up the surface a bit.

Festive gleaming

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:25:31 GMT

Well, we've spent most of the time since Christmas in bed, and not in a good way. As the upstairs heating broke on Christmas Eve, staying in bed has required two duvets and the occasional hat.

But the pall of plague is starting to dissipate now, and normal life is slowly resuming. By way of celebration, here's some of our festive manufacturing to feast your eyes on:

Machined silver & enamels:

Serpentine - my first venture into stone-cutting - set in silver:

Creased titanium, in the by-now familiar manner (sorry for the crappy photo):

More machined silver with enamel :

And glass, fused then sawn up & fire-polished :

We did have a bit of a frenzy. There's all the stuff Donna made as well - more machined silver, and a lot of fused glass. Pictures to follow....

Har Har Har

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:08:43 GMT

From What The Hack, 2005

So, who is coming this time ?

West Usk Lighthouse

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:26:19 GMT

From Lighthouse!

It's a B&B in a lighthouse with a Dalek. Who could ask for more ?

Cornwall

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:16:01 GMT

From Cornwall, 1108

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:13:52 GMT

Donna has Handed In.

Feel free to cheer and caper about.

All your facets are belong to us

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:57:37 GMT

I seem to be signed up for the Shapeways 3d-printing beta (www.shapeways.com).

Which means, I can send any old 3d file (STL, Collada, X3D) off to a nice man in Holland, and it'll come back in white plastic for two bucks per CC.

If it's hollow, the volume inside doesn't count, so it isn't even ruinously expensive.

Clearly, we are now living in the future. I wonder what it's for ?

And, who knows about 3d design software ? The stuff I've tried in the past has always seemed rather intractable.

Today's competition...

richard@jarkman.co.uk — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:16:22 GMT

Is

The difference (as should be obvious to the most careless observer) is that when the car went to the garage - the staid, conservative Volvo dealership - for some trivial fixing, they took the liberty of re-flashing the gearbox with the latest release. It's significantly perkier now. I'm a bit flabberghasted. I'm used to reflashing phones and routers and maybe even cameras, but I somehow had never imagined anyone doing it to a car.

I guess I thought that cars were meant to be finished when they rolled out the factory door...