Archive for category Woodworking

Puppet Stage nearing completion

Jul 17

Posted by admintg in Partnership for a Czar Free America, Puppets, Sets, Woodworking | Comments off

I put the second support in place for the squares today. Thirteen squares will be used for the first scene in the show.

Squares laid out for first set

Under the stage I put in a monitor on a swing arm. The swing arm is supported by a vertical 2″ x 4″ support.

Monitor mounted under the stage.

From the other side.

Alternative View of Monitor

Two 8′-0″ 2″ x 4″ vertical supports were installed in the rear of the stage. The vertical supports will hold a green screen that will be sewn to fit the space.

Upright for backdrop

A scrap piece of carpet was was cut and the desk was placed on top of the stage.

Stage with Desk

A stand was positioned so that the camera person can be positioned in a way that will have a good view of the stage.

Stage and Stand

The last step in the construction of the stage will be to install the green screen.

Tags: puppet, Set, Wood Working

Revised Puppet Stage Design

Jul 16

Posted by admintg in Partnership for a Czar Free America, Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

I decided that the welding was going to take too long to master. I want to get going with filming so I decided to redesign how the stage would work. It is still based on using the 18″ x 18″ stage squares.

The stage is supported by four 1 inch metal square tubes. At the base the square tubes are supported by 2″ x 6″ boards. At the top the square tubes are supported by 2″ x 4″ boards.

All of the bolts are 4″ long 1/4″ hex bolts. 1/4″ washers are used on both sides, and a 1/4″ hex nut is used.

The frame is designed to support three rows of five 18″ squares wide. The overall frame size is 7′ – 6″ wide (side) and 4′ – 6″ deep (end).

The four square tubes were lined up and clamped together to layout the drill holes.

Four Posts Clamped Together

The bottom holes for the end were set in 1 1/2″ inches. The holes for the side were set in 1″ inch.

Bottom End and Sides Laid Out

The top holes for the end were set in 1 1/8″ inches. The holes for the side were set in 3/4″ inch.

Top End and Sides Laid Out

The top holes were drilled with a 1/4″ bit. Cutting oil was used to protect the drill bit.

Bottom Drilled

The top holes were drilled with a 1/4″ bit. Cutting oil was used to protect the drill bit.

Top Drilled

Cut List

Two 2″ x 4″ boards were cut to 4′ – 6″ (54 inches). These are the top boards for the ends.
Two 2″ x 6″ boards were cut to 4′ – 6″ (54 inches). These are the bottom boards for the ends.
Two 2″ x 4″ boards were cut to 7′ – 6″ (90 inches). These are the top boards for the sides.
Two 2″ x 6″ boards were cut to 7′ – 6″ (90 inches). These are the bottom boards for the sides.
Two 2″ x 4″ boards were cut to 7′ – 6″ (90 inches). These are for center support of the 18″ squares.

The boards were then cut using a chop saw.

Using the holes in the square tubing holes were drilled through the wood.

The holes for the bolts on the side were drilled flush to the edge of the boards. The holes in the end were set in 2″ to provide additional lateral support in the wood.

Bolted Up From Outside

Here is a shot of the same corner from the inside of the frame.

Bolted Up from Inside

One of the central supporting 2″ x 4″ boards was then installed. I was one 2″ x 4″ short and will pick that up tomorrow to complete the frame.

Frame Mostly Done

The first row of stage squares was placed on top to test the size.

5 Squares in First Row

I will install the second 2″ x 4″ support tomorrow and will place all of the stage squares so the initial set can be constructed on top of it.

Tags: puppet, Wood Working

Progress on Upright Bass

Jul 5

Posted by admintg in Partnership for a Czar Free America, Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

The next step in fabrication of the Upright Bass for the Beat Poem scene with Leon was to layout the patterns that will be used to bend the wood. The sides of the bass will be made from 1/4″ thick, 1 ” wide poplar. The poplar boards will need to be bent into shape and then glued to the front and the back boards for the bass.

The wood is a little thicker than desired, and I may need to rip down boards to 1/8″. The initial tests I did with bending the 1/4″ wood today was successful, so it may work out. I will know better after some additional work tomorrow.

I used a piece of the 1/4″ poplar to layout the offset for the wood bending patterns.

Laying out the bending patterns

Once the width of the wood was recorded on the paper I connected the dots to get the shape of the curves for the wood that will be the sides of the bass.

Connecting the dots

One side of the bass was laid out in this manner. The sides will each be made up from three curves. The top, the middle, and the lower sections each require their own pattern.

Layout

The basic shapes of the patterns for bending were then transferred to separate paper patterns that could be used for cutting a 2×4 board to function as the pattern.

Patterns for Bending

I also designed the tail piece and the bridge.

Tailpiece

Bridge

At work cutting out the 2×4″ patterns.

Cutting the pieces

The front board with the sound ports cut out.

Front

The back board of the bass.

Back

The tail piece and bridge laid out on the front face of the bass.

Front Layout

The next step is to sand the boards for bending the patterns. Then on to bending and clamping the boards into place.

Tags: Jig Saw, puppet, Wood Working

Puppet Tree almost finished.

Jan 12

Posted by admintg in Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

Today the glued up trunk had had 48 hours to dry so it was time to plane it down. My concern was to make sure it was totally dry before removing the clamps, since I am going to have to drill holes for the branches into the seams. I decided to go with 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ rather than 2″ x 2″. Just seemed like less work. The extra 1/4″ of wood came in handy when it came time to put on the legs.

Planing down to 2 1/4 " square.

The holes for the branches are going to be drilled at a 30 degree angle into the trunk. So I adjusted the bed of the drill press and clamped up a jig to allow the trunk to slide up and down but to hold the trunk side to side.

Drill Press Jig

The holes are laid out in a spiral pattern wrapping around the trunk 2″ lower at each side. The top hole is 2″ below the top of the trunk. The holes are drilled approximately 1 3/4 inches through the boards so that the glued in branches will help hold together the seam of the two glued up boards.

Drilling the holes

Rather than screw in the legs (four 14″ pieces of the original 2×3), I decided to dowel them in with 5/8″ dowels

Dowel Holes drilled for legs

The dowels were then glued and clamped in place to dry.

Dowels glued and clamped

Once completely dry I will use a Japanese style saw to cut the dowels to the surface.

The branches were then glued into the trunk, and the balls were glued on the end of the branches.

Tree almost done

I believe that I will leave the wood pine colored, but think that I will poly urethane it so that the sap doesn’t damage the puppets. Hopefully the urethane won’t.

Tags: puppet

Work begins on Puppet Tree

Jan 10

Posted by admintg in Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

I have started work on my puppet tree. It is going to hold 20 hand puppets when complete. The design is to have a square 2″ x 2″ central trunk with 5 branches on each side of the trunk.

Gluing up the trunk

The trunk is glued together from 2 pieces of 2″ x 3″ (1 1/2″ by 2 1/2″) purchased from Home Depot. I planed down one surface on each board and glued them together with wood glue. The final trunk will be further planed down to exactly 2″ x 2″. The trunk will be 5′ – 6″ tall when finished.

For the branches I am using 3/4″ dowels with a 1 1/2″ sphere on the end to protect the puppets.

Balls for the ends of the branch

The wooden balls were purchased from Michaels and are listed as Doll Head/ Knob.

To hold the balls so that I could drill into them a 3/4″ hole for the dowels to fit into, I had to build a clamping tool out of a 2 x 4 and two bolts.

1 1/2" Ball Clamp

To build the clamp, I first drilled a 1 1/2″ hole most of the way through the 2 x 4. Then I rough cut with a chop saw down the center of the 2 x 4. I then cross cut one side of the 2 x 4 off to allow it to move. I then drilled two 5/16″ holes through the sides of the 2 x 4. It probably would have made more sense to do this first, but I didn’t have a long enough drill bit. I then inserted the 5/16″ bolts through through the holes and put on washers and nuts.

Clamp with Ball

I then inserted the ball and tightened the nuts to hold the ball secure. I then drilled the whole with a 3/4 ” paddle bit approximately 1/2″ into the balls.

Ball after drilling

The balls now are ready for gluing onto the dowels.

Ball on dowel

The next steps will be to glue the balls on the dowels, and drill the holes in the trunk for the dowels.

Tags: puppet

Playing with my new drill press lathe.

Jan 9

Posted by admintg in Woodworking | Comments off

I didn’t really have room for a true full size lathe, or really money for a small one right now. But I still wanted to be able to do small projects, so I found a nice alternative from Grizzly which is a drill press lathe attachment. It was only about $20.00 plus shipping. So a really affordable option.

I just turned down my first square into a cylinder. Not advanced stuff yet, but worked well. I will post some photos later.

Tags: Lathe

Tree Gecko

Projects in process.