I know that perfection can't be rushed, but I can't wait to see this baby finished, Mach!
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I know that perfection can't be rushed, but I can't wait to see this baby finished, Mach!
Oh you have no idea how much I agree! I just need to convince my boss to give me about 6 weeks off. :)
Oh, just ONLY six weeks..... lol
Yeah your right. I haven't even gotten to the monitor, mouse, and keyboard mod yet. Better ask for six and a half weeks. ;)
Singular work as always. You never disappoint. :up:
I have to say, I thought the printed bronze bits were excellent until I saw the photo with them sitting on the retention bracket. When their relative size and purpose came clear it was what has come to be known as "a Mach moment"; one of those things that literally made my eyes widen. The hand-forged brass blocks are obviously a signature component here and fit the spirit of the build as perfectly as anything I've seen, but somehow those tiny little handwheels at the corners of the bracket stand out more. They are the kind of mechanically-useless-but-aesthetically-perfect bits that make a truly unprecedented mod what it is.
Carry on, and unlike the others here (and yourself), I don't care if it ever gets done, if the updates keep coming. ;)
Thanks Blue! :D As long as your watching, I'll keep the updates coming.
Check out this video. How wild is this?
That's pretty awesome! I love "How it's made", so many cool ways of doing things.
Me too! They recently got the whole series on Netflix. I've got the streaming option, so I can watch any of them any time I want. My wife was... less than pleased. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMainMan
We're always watching. This build is too awesome not to. :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mach
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Originally Posted by TheMainMan
Unfotunately I can't justify Netflix but I may "borrow" my parents account. Difference being my wife like those kind of shows almost more than I do.Quote:
Originally Posted by blueonblack
Netflix is terrible up hear, it always pains me to hear what you can get in the States. There's only one plan and unless you're a fan of off-beat, otherwise hard to find documentaries, it's just not worth it in my opinion. My roommate wanted to get it so we signed up for a unlimited cap plan then found out how crappy it was. At least I can watch as many linked videos as people can post in their worklogs :) I love large picture updates too!
To clarify Mokumé-Gane is not a specific metal but a technique, Mokumé can be made with karated gold, fine silver, sterling silver, copper, brass, and many other metals.
I work with this stuff on an almost daily basis and I love it, while I'm not sure as to the capabilities of it for blocks and such it is perfect for accents and decoration (though I would love to see a copper/brass mokume case, not really cost effective to use precious metals on that massive a piece. Pricing wise a 1"x3" piece of silver/copper just this last week from Rio Grande was $101USD)
The part that I love the most is the patterning,using cutting burs, ball burs and a wide variety of other tools you can create intricate designs on the surface of the metal, then you roll it flat to create a level surface that you can then make into jewelry or whatever you want, another interesting pattern is if you take a long rectangle and twist it then cut it down the center you get a nice star pattern(ill see if I can get a photo of this when I'm at the shop).
Here are a few of my own patterns that I've created recently.
Both of these are silver and copper, in the second photo I put a patina on the copper (by the way, a good brown to black patina (depending on how long you leave it on) can be achived using baldwins patina)
For anyone interested in more on mokume you need to buy the book, 'Mokumé-Gane A Comprehensive Study' by a guy named Steve Midgett, this book will tell you how to prepare, fuse and pattern your mokume, however there were so few books printed that they run about $375-425 on amazon (shesh, when they first came out they sold for $30), One of the guest authors is a guy named Bob Coogan one of the kindest gentelmen you will ever meet, he teaches metals at the appalachian center for craft and he taught the guy who taught me, (not to say I don't know Mr. Coogan)
Anyway, if you guys have any interest in this stuff let me know and ill create a seperate post where I can show my stuff.
Very cool stuff. You should definitely post your other work.
^^ I am with him. Let's see it!
Thanks for the explanation DarkScorpion. I too would like to see your work.
Has this been front-page-featured yet?
Yes but it has been going on so long that its been buried :) Jon did a very nice feature on it about a year ago.
I know Mr. Owen did a review on his blog about a year ago, too.
For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone, a custom that remained long after Odin's time.
—The Ynglinga saga
Inscriped with runic script, runestones are monuments erected to mark the death of a warrior or great king. Most were erected between 950-1,100 CE with over 3,000 runestones found scattered across Scandinavia. The highest concentration can be found in Sweden but the Norsemen seeded runestones wherever they went. From the Black Sea to the Isle of Man, the vikings literally made their mark on history.
In recent times, discovery of runestones and runic inscriptions in North America have caused laymen and scholars alike to debate whether the Vikings discovered America before Christopher Columbus.
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Picking up where we left off, so the block I showed last time around developed some funky corrosion that I suspect is the pickle that got in between the layers. Not sure if that means that the join wasn't 100% but why chance it, eh?
To the mod-cave….
This time instead of two sides bolted down, let's try all four.
Bolted down and ready for some night soldering. The more observant may notices that this time the block is one layer thicker (obSpinalTap: this one is one louder). The white paint on the corners is paper correction fluid or White-out. It acts as a solder resist so the solder doesn't flow into the screw holes.
Warming the block up on a turntable fire brick mounted firebrick.
More heat
Getting there
Solder goes in. I'm using an easy flow silver solder this time.
Solder was applied inside and out of the block.
You can see the silver solder wicking nicely up the side of the block.
The solder (65% silver) flows at 1325F (718C). I'm guessing from color that I may have spiked over that.
The color slowly fading.
Once cooled, drilling with a 11.8mm bit.
Then cutting the threads with a G1/4" tap. With the tap in the drill press chuck, I release the head and rest the tap on the brass.
Using a pipe wrench, I turn the drill chuck by hand.
Easy threads. At this point, imagine if you will :), a lot more soldering in my shed during a torrential rain storm so no camera and no pics.
But through the magic of technology, NB block V3. Can you see the layers?
Next up sand blasting, hopefully
Cheescake shot
For next time….
Thanks for looking and many thanks to my sponsors!
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This is so epic. I love it.
Very nice,
Just something to remember, hard solder (compaired to soft lead solder) flows to where it is the hottest, so if you have areas that have slightly lower temps solder might not flow there (from your pics it looked pretty even so I think your fine) though silver solder is a bit more forgiving than gold solder.
DS
Merry Christmas! No update but thought you might like to see a side project.
I outta just +rep every post you have in this thread now....
Having issues adding Rep with the touchscreen. So just imagine that I actually +rep-ed you.
Sorry for the massive necro but what ever happened to this project/Mach as i would really love to see more of his work and the completion of this work of art :D
Oh and i am a MASSIVE Bioshock fan hence the necro of this thread in particular.
Everything starts and ends somewhere. I can't speak to this mod's end so let's talk about where it started....an origins update if you will. As is obvious by now, this mod finds its origin in Bioshock, more specifically in the Hephaestus workshops. If you don't know the game, the best artisans in the world worked there building the undersea city of Rapture.
In the story, Andrew Ryan hired the best craftsmen to build his city using his vast wealth. So the question is, what would they build and how would they make their mark on what they built? Maybe something like this....
The CPU and the NB water blocks are complete including the mounting hardware and engraving.
For reference, this is what the blocks looked like before engraving.
The engraving includes the Ryan Industries logo, sunburst, and the workshop where it might have been made.
The logo is one found in the Art of Bioshock book. The engravings were done using a vinyl resist, weeded using laser etching, and then sand blasted.
The mounting hardware screw heads were 3D printed out of stainless steel power infused with bronze. I found out how hard stainless is to drill using my drill press. I was able to drill them but I over heated them and lost the color on the ones I tried.
If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer. The hammer in this instance was a mini-lathe...drilled like butter. The holes were needed to clear the springs and the screws. The screws are threaded brass rod attached to the handles using silver solder.
Here's the NB prototype. The engraving on the right was sand blasted; the one on the left was done with a mini end mill. I thought I had a better solution instead of sand blasting or acid etching for a deeper engraving.
The sunburst design is repeated on different parts of the mod. Here's the fan cover with a similar design
The final block was sandblasted instead of engraved. I was working with a local shop to do the engraving trying to catch up between business trips. The operator wasn't paying attention and crashed the head into the top. I wound up milling the incomplete engraving off using Techshop's Tormach mill, then soldering the divot using brass color match solder. Rinse and repeat on vinyl, laser, and sand blast. Not as deep as I wanted but its done right.
Its too bad because the mill engraving looks amazing.
Very deep and precise.
The reservoir on the back of the case also got the engraving treatment.
At least the knob did via sand blasting.
Filled in with black enamel.
I wasn't happy with how the meter was mounted. It stuck too far into the case and didn't look right.
I re-did the mount and added a flange with the paint patina. Again the reference to Hephaestus but this time, a different wokshop - Hephaetus Electrical Works.
From the front, note the same logo and Hephaetus reference.
Flush mounting on the inside with the meter and LED wires sleeved.
And that's the progress to date. I'm working on the nixie's off and on but not so much that I'd call it "progress".
So what have I been doing instead of modding? Working mostly so the spare time is at a premium. I've had a job change or two since the last update.
What spare time I've had in the last year went to building a new workshop, and I fell down the rabbit hole of Austin Techshop. That's where I'm using the laser cutters, mills, and lathes. On the plus side, I now have access to a wide range of tools that I never had before.
The downside is that the projects have multiplied. I'm not sure when this will reach an end. I'd like to promise it will be soon but time flies as the saying goes. Looking at the date stamps on the photos, I've got no idea where its flown. I do stop by from time to time to check out the state of modding. TBCS was my own modding origin so I'll be back when I have something else to show.
Simply amazing!
So nice to see more progress on this project :D
Keep up the good work Mach and look forward to your other projects if and when you post them here :D
Its so good to hear from you Mach, and I am so glad to see this project had not been scrapped. I have always admired your attention to the little details, and this mod is just chocked full of them. Thanks for the update!
Mach!!! I have missed following your cryptic and mesmerizing mods! BG is looking amazing, thanks for sharing!
-Jon
Good to hear you're still working on this! This mod is so incredible that I, for one, don't mind waiting as patiently as I can for more updates. Take your time, the results speak for themselves!
Yeah! Progress! Great to see more work on this. Can't wait to see it finished.
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Originally Posted by smilinsniper
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Originally Posted by OvRiDe
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Originally Posted by TheMainMan
Thanks gentlemen! I'll post up more progress when it happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by d_stilgar
So I can have this when it is done, right?
