Metal Shop: Day 5

I got to campus around 10 this morning, the time when Flemming and Hee said they would be getting there. I didn't need help all day, which I consider a sign that I'm learning a lot and starting to become confident in my skills in the shop. I started off by building another complicated jig to help me attach my two 20mm "spines" to the main 25mm structure. I spent about 4 hours total on the jig, cutting the pieces up in wood shop, measuring, drilling, more measuring, and a whole lot of tinkering.

When it was all complete, it was then time to start working on fitting the "spines" into the jig. When I designed the chair, I didn't think too terribly much about the angles that I was putting on the different elements, or about "true views," meaning that a particular element of the drawing is parallel to the viewer. This is important so that you can hold a physical piece up to the drawing and it will match exactly. And the angles, oh my god, the angles! The two spines not only dip down 5 degrees, at a seat angle of 102 degrees (the average lounge seat angle), but it angles inward 16 degrees and dies into angled and curved 25mm tubes! I pretty much spent the rest of the night grinding a millimeter, then assessing. Grinding another millimeter. Assessing. Then rasping and filing like a madwoman. I ran back-and-forth a lot, and finally got done with one of the spines by 5:15. The second spine took a fraction of the time, and I was done by 6pm, just in time for Hee to shoo us out of shop.

This is the final product of all that grinding and filing:



Here it is, all ready for welding tomorrow:



I worked hard today on keeping hydrated. The past few days in shop, I've just been trying to squeeze work into every possible minute, so lunch and breaks have been skipped, and I think that's why I've been seizing up. Hopefully, that will keep the cramping down.

So, I passed the halfway mark today. And when I look at what I've learned and accomplished in the past 5 days, I'm sort of amazed. I keep thinking about all the stuff I want to build when I get back to Manhattan and about how much quicker I'll be able to complete my designs.

So now there are four days left. I should be able to get the welding done fairly quickly tomorrow as long as there's not a long line for the TIG welder. Then it's onto the INSANE steel rod seating element. Woo.