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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Speechless

I had so much fun tonight, It's difficult to put a title on this blog entry.

When I got off work today there was a box on the front porch. Oh and guess what was in that box. THE PLASMA CUTTER !!! My new Hypertherm powermax 30 was just sitting on the front porch waiting for me to come home. I'm thankful it didn't mysteriously walk away for that couple hours it sat unattended.

So with very little looking at documentation, I set everything up and then realized the 220 plug didn't match the outlet that was just installed. No problem... it's a good excuse to try out 110v mode. Which worked just fine. I cut straight lines, thick steel, thin steel, circles, free form (I spelled my name in steel) and just plain wild cutting bliss. Yes I said it ... cutting bliss. I must be part pyromaniac because I just love creating molten metal pools.

So tonight I used my new tool to sever the wrists of the battle droid so I can pose the hands in more natural angles than the flat look I originally had. After removing the hands, I experimented with the metal brake to create an outside knuckle area of the hands and wrist. The results were very nice so I welded them into place and will probably do something very similar for the upper and lower arms. The dies in the brake are removable so you can just press down on a part of the part you're working on to make ridges.

I played around with the laser circle cutter but came to the conclusion it would be easier in many instances to grab something (non flamable) circular and drag the plasma cutter around it. So I now have two circles for the elbows which are more uniform than the free form ones I cut by hand. I used 14 gauge steel for them which would have been virtually impossible for me to cut with my tools. Not any more though.

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