Posts Tagged Wood Working

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

Upright Bass continued

Jul 7

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

The work on the upright bass continued today.

The next step was to attach the neck and the bottom support to the bass. These were glued and clamped to the back of the bass. They were centered on the center-line of the back. The bottom will be used to hold the endpin of the bass. A 1/4″ hole was drilled into the bottom. An 1/4″ aluminum rod will be used as the endpin of the base.

Gluing Neck and Bottom

The next step was to glue up the left side. The top curve was glued to it’s lower support.

Gluing Top Side to Support

The bottom curve glued to its upper and lower support.

Gluing Bottom Curve to Support

Once the upper and lower curves were glued to their supports, the center curve was glued to the upper and lower curves. All three curves were now connected.

When the curves were all glued together, they were then attached to the neck, the bottom, and the back of the bass.

Gluing Left Side to the back.

Tomorrow the right side of the bass will be glued onto the back, and then the front will be glued on.

Still to do

Attach the right side of the bass
Glue the front of the bass onto the neck, bottom and sides.
Determine if any wood putty is required
Final Sand
Stain the bass
Seal the bass
Attach the finger board (Color with India Ink)
Attach the tailpiece (Color with India Ink)
Cut and attach the endpin
String the bass.

Lots to do.

Tags: puppet, Wood Working

Upright Bass continued

Jul 6

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

I ended up getting some 1/16″ inch Bass wood for the body sides at Michael’s. The 1/4″ boards were too thick to shape easily. I boiled it for about 20 minutes to soften it up enough to bend easily. Then each piece of wood was pressed into one of the three curve molds. It is sad to say, but I learned something from Dexter that helped with this process, plastic wrap is useful for holding things down. Since the shapes were not always easy to clamp due to the curves, I used the plastic wrap to hold the wood against the mold where the clamps would not work.

Upper Curve

The center curve held in place with plastic wrap.

Center Curve

The lower curve drying against the mold.

Lower Curve

The curves were then laid out for basic shape fitting. The wooden blocks are going to be used hold the curves in place. The left side of the bass is shown. The other side is still drying. Tomorrow, the gluing will begin.

Curves and Supports on Plans

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.