Coen Van Wyk and his beautiful wife Shahnaz are in from South Africa and Tom Carroll from Chicago. I spend the day at the office, but they spent the day moving thousands of pounds of lead for the keels. Coen and Shahnaz are also building a boat and keeping a blog: To dream of the ocean
Shahnaz Van Wyk
Coen Van Wyk, Pretoria, South Africa
Tom Collins, Chicago Illinois
Another 2500 pounds of lead in the keel.
There are some amazingly talented people in this world and SV Seeker is fortunate to reach so many who want to share their skills. We often have folks sketch of a design for a part and then we adapt the design and go to work building it. So when I saw a design for a 
ships wheel offered up by David Collins, my thoughts where, that’s really cool, but that’s a lot of work. And then I learned that David was not offering the design; he was offing to create the complex pieces as well.
So I got busy working on the mount and David went to work sculpting the dragons.
Now we need your help. The wood ring provides a location for an inscription, and we are looking for suggestions. The inscription must reflect the boat. Inspirational, positive, adventurous, and sense of the community that has come together for this project. Please use the comments section below for your suggestions. THANKS! We have 7 we really like. You can vote for them here: We have picked 7 quotes! Vote for your favorite here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/svseeker/ And still add new ones.
David has created a 1/4 scale wheel and once the dragon is completed to his satisfaction he will create a 3D scan, enlarge the scan and cut the final piece on a CNC.
Completed 1/4 scale dragon.
The top rim has some bad voids, but nothing that can not be fixed with welding. The next one will get two risers attached to the top rim. Many thanks to Paul Walter who has been a great crew member to have around these last couple of weeks. We learned a lot of good lessons.
A fantastic improvement was the addition of a PID that held the temperature of the burnout kiln at 1000F plus or minus 20 degrees.
The PID triggers a Solid State Relay and the powers a solenoid valve that simply added more gas to the burner as needed.
With only one small crack in the mold we bought our 70 pounds of NiBrAl to pouring temperature.
The kiln was removed. A metal barrel placed around the mold and sand added to keep any breaks in the mold from escaping.
There was almost no off gassing when the 2600F NiBrAl was poured into the mold, meaning that after 32 hours of burnout the wax was completely gone.
With the part so well insulated, the breakout will have to wait till tomorrow, but I’ll bet you that a usable part is inside.
Happier than a puppy with two peters. 🙂
It’s unfortunate that we give the word Failure such a negative context. Because if you are not failing at something you are either doing nothing or you are only copying the steps that someone else created. Willingness to fail is key to creativity and innovation and successful life. LIVE Celebrate Life. All of it. –Doug
When a toddler stumbles and falls for the fourth time. No body says, “Just give up. You’re a failure”. But by the time we get to high school it’s common. Failure is synonymous with looser, flunkies, stupid, retard. The whole idea of failing at anything is abhorrent. So most of us rightfully avoid failure, and in doing so avoid trying new things altogether. The jock, stays a jock, and may never tries to play an instrument or sculpt. And we carry it on into adulthood. We seek for “the way” something is done rather than “our way” by exploring, investigating, or using our creative ability.
CNC cutting an EPS foam pattern
I have the pleasure of working again with Seeker crew member Paul Walter from Rochester New York. Paul is a software developer that also has a goal of not just sculpting but also casting his sculptures in metal. My goal is to develop casting processes that can easily be replicated almost any harbor in the world by using commonly available materials where ever possible. Together we are building on more than a dozen casting failures with foam, candle wax and plaster. We now have built and tested a temporary burn out furnace, built another pattern and invested it inside of 180 pounds of sand and plaster. Tomorrow we get a night off, and then on thursday we start the 36 hour burn out process that leads up to pouring 70 pounds of bronze on Saturday.
It may not work. It may fail. But the greater failure would not be trying. It makes me wonder how many potential Nikola Tesla’s, Thomas Edison’s, Mark Twain’s and Wright Brothers’s there are out they that we will never see succeed because we taught them to never fail.
So don’t be afraid to fail. –LIVE.
Dipping the foam pattern in wax to smooth the surface.
Investing the pattern in Hydrocal and silica sand.
Testing the burn out furnace with a failed investment piece.
We say goodbye to Marc Hofmann our new crew member from Vienna Austria who is continuing his tour of the USA. He wisely picked Fort Lauderdale, Florida as his next port of call. I love this project because I get to meet and be inspired by people like Marc. I wish more young people had Marc’s insight into the world, and the adventurous spirit that makes you get on a plane and fly to New York city with no planning. Just take it one moment at a time and let it unfold; LIVE. However, a word of advice from Marc. When the immigration officer ask where you are planing on staying, do not say “I don’t know”. That apparently is enough to raise a neurotic red flag with immigration enforcement types and it will land you in a small room for an hour or so. Welcome to the land of the free.
Meet Alan Demsher. Ok, well just his hand but Alan has offered his extensive artistic experience to create mermaids for Seeker’s bows.
About LEAD — Comments about how DEADLY lead is will be ignored. Seeker is about assessing facts and making our choices.
Rational Precautions for Working with Lead
— It is most dangerous to the developing brain, so women who may become pregnant and children are the most susceptible.
— Transfer is commonly through dust ingestion. So have no food or drink. And avoid cutting or grinding or other activity that will create dust.
— Do not smoke as it will vaporize any dust and lead vapor will easy be absorbed in the lungs.
— Keep the molten lead below 900F/482C. It melts just over 600F/315C so just turn off the heat once the last ingot is melted.
— Control the contaminated area so it does not spread to food, water or others.
— When done, remove your work clothes and bag them.
— Take a shower before you do anything else in the house.
— Wash your work clothes with no other items.
More About Lead: http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/lead/gl_lead_4.php
Bottom line is that lead is much safer than driving a car or eating a diet of junk food. So if you don’t panic in a car or when the doctor looks at your weight, then you have no reason to panic about working with lead. Think. Don’t let fears run your life. LIVE! You are going to die, but it is extremely unlikely that lead will have anything to do with it.
