Metal Casting, Aluminum & Aluminum Bronze with Match Plates

DougSteel Boat

Ya just gota love the beauty of pouring molten metal into a mold and watching something form that will last for thousands of years.  It just never grows old.

And we got lots of great assistance from Bart, Richard, Chris, Betsy, Paul, Tom, and Drew Smith who drove over his thermocoupler and even those tourist; Thomas, Jason and Ed that dropped by and were totally cool about hanging out while we were really busy. And our Mazzios Pizza delivery guy who got the cheese bread with jalapenos here while is was still hot. Awesome Weekend. Seeker Crew Rock! Oh! And happy April Fools Day! …that was Betsy’s work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeker LIVE – Apr 1, 2017 – Metal Casting, Plasma Tables, and other stuff

DougSteel Boat

We started off our Saturday 10 am Live Feed with some casting and we got 5 pours done today. Betsy shot a second casting of a bow roller later in the day that is posted on the FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/ohmymy40/videos/10211406922024711/

Thanks to Richard Day, Chris Browning, Paul Hatch, Bart Robinson, and Drew Smith for helping out with the castings today.

Casting Patterns, Flask, Camera Gimbal and Routing Rubber

DougSteel Boat

 

 

 

 

 

With Sean White’s help we are ready to do some casting this weekend as the weather allows.  Scott Rokeby fixed us up with an awesome gyro stabilized camera, and we cut the last of the fuel tank gaskets. We have very much enjoyed your project photos!  And I am all out so send more.  Attach a photo to SVSeeker@ymail.com and put “Project Photo” on the subject line.  Share your creative side and be an inspiration.   –Doug

 

Laser?

DougSteel Boat

We learned while cutting the panels for the Mizzen sail; the really small one, that measuring and cutting the each panel correctly is very important and it takes a long time.  We already have the shapes for each panel in CAD so wouldn’t it be dandy to cut them on the CNC Table.  They are actually too big to cut in one go, so we’ll need to cut part of the panel along with some registration marks and then move it over and finish the cut.   Routing is out, or we think it is.  I’ve not seen anyone try to route cloth, even Sunbrella which is a heavy plastic cloth.  Besides, the edges need to be burned so a hot knife like a soldering iron needs to be used.  I have not seen that either, but I think it would work.  Razor blade drag knifes are used but again that will not burn the edge and keep it from fraying.   So how about a laser.   Yes, it’s the stuff from child hood fantasies which means with have to compensate for the “you’re just doing it with a laser because it’s cool” syndrome.    If we don’t compensate for that we end up owning something like a 3D printer before we have any clue how to use CAD which becomes apparent to our friends when we only print toys from Thingiverse.    So what’s the scoop on these lasers?  Will a Chinese 3 watt laser cut Sunbrella at a reasonable 20 inches per minute.  Will it make it through 70 panels.  Would be better off just letting the CNC Table mark the panels with a sharpie and cut them with our hot knife?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robi Akerley-McKee, one of our viewers sent us a design for a “drag knife” attachment for the CNC Table that holds a pen style soldering iron that can be fitted with a blade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drag knife designs are available on Thingiverse.   Maybe there is an idea there for incorporating a soldering iron with a knife blade tip into a 3D printed holder.

Betsy’s Coffee Cake

BetsyRecipes

Most Saturday mornings when we have crew, Betsy will whip up a coffee cake or muffins.   Here’s her recipe for the coffee cake that tastes as good as it looks.   There are mixes by King Arthur, Krusteaz and Betty Crocker that are similar as well as a recipe on the back of a Bisquick Box.  For the purist, here’s the ingredients.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 3/4 cup milk

FILLING

  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

TOPPING

  • 5 tablespoon butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and egg.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Alternate wet and dry ingredients until combined.  Don’t overmix.
  4. To make filling & topping: in a small bowl, pinch together the softened butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon until soft crumbs form.
  5. To make topping: add the butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until coarse crumbs form.
  6. Grease a 9×9 baking pan  ( I often use a 9″ pie pan). Pour in ½ of cake batter.. Sprinkle the filling over top, then pour in remaining cake batter, and spread carefully across the top, disturbing the filling layer as little as possible.
  7. Sprinkle the topping over the top and press lightly so it adheres.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool to warm before serving.

Seeker LIVE – Casting Patterns, CAD 2D to 3D, and Pepakura

DougSteel Boat

 

 

 

 

 

The ships blacksmith Sean White is back with to show his paper working skills.  And we answer that persistent question about getting a US Coast Guard Certification.  And show some of the casting patterns we are working on.

Metasequoia: http://www.metaseq.net/en/

PepaKura: http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

Tender Davits, CNC Routing and more

DougSteel Boat

Almost done with the davits, getting along cutting patterns for casting our bow rollers. Making plans for adding a 3D printer to our Tormach CNC mill, and still thinking about where to put wheels under the boat. Many thanks to Herb for his help!

 

 

 

 

Betsy’s Banana Bread

BetsyRecipes

Coffee cake and banana bread seems to be favorites among the crewmembers and as I keep misplacing my recipe for banana bread, I’m going to put it on the blog….   now when I say I can’t find it, you can remind me.  🙂

Doug eats lots of bananas.  Tinka eats lots of bananas (yes, seriously.. the Basset loves bananas).   The trouble is, they both prefer not quite ripe bananas.  If there’s any black spots on the peel, Doug won’t touch it.   Ripe bananas (which can get VERY ripe by the time I realize nobody is touching them) get tossed into the freezer in plastic bags.   Whether you peel or leave the banana peel on, they will thaw out as mushy things that you think can’t possibly be any good, but they do just fine for banana bread.

So when the mood hits for banana bread, take a stick of butter out of the fridge and a bag of frozen bananas (3-4 bananas) and let them sit on the counter for an hour or so until they are both soft and mushy.

1⁄2 cup softened butter

1 1⁄4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2eggs

3-4 ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

1⁄4 cup milk

2 cups flour

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

 

Cream butter & sugar. Add bananas, milk, vanilla & eggs. Slowly add the flour, soda and salt and mix just until blended then stir in the nuts. Grease & flour 1 bread pan (I typically do 2 of the smaller loafs .. I think they’re 8×4).   I also put parchment paper on the side/bottom of the pans so I have a sling to pull them out.   This just goes for a better looking loaf that comes out of the pan in one piece.   Bake about 60 minutes at 350 F  or until a knife comes out just clean.

Let them cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then take them out and cool until Doug smells them.  Once he’s spotted fresh, hot banana bread, it’s pretty much history.   This freezes really well.  We keep it in the fridge…  WHEN for some reason Doug hasn’t already eaten it.

 

Gluten Free Tips

Raphael Siebenhofer :  2 weeks ago we made your banana bread, only we had to make it gluten-free because a friend of ours has a serious allergy. In case you ever need to do that: replace the flour with a mix of finely ground up walnuts & almonds and leave out one egg and cut down on the milk (all the fat in the nuts makes the dough too soft otherwise). It was delicous albeit much darker 🙂

Tormach CNC Setup, Bending Pipe, Plasma Cutting and more

DougSteel Boat

We managed to work around the weather that Jim Hensel brought with him from Portland Oregon and got a bunch of work done. The davit pipes are bent, the bow roller plate is cut, the Tormach PCNC 770 has a stand and enclosure, and we have wheels for the boat courtesy of Seven D Trailers, as well as a ships bell and other gifts. We are very grateful for the absolutely fantastic support we are receiving from our little world wide community. And thank you for sharing your project photos. You can send those to me at SVSeeker@ymail.com