Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ankle Cylinder Tutorial part 3

Continuing on from the last update, I have trimmed the excess material off of the cap. I used a utility knife to do so. After a light sanding, the part was smooth with exception of the end of the PVC tube that chipped away when I cut the tube. That will be filled in with glazing putty later on.

I have completed this portion already, but to show you how to cut the tab that is glued to the end of the cylinder, I started with creating a template. I based this again from the blueprints for the cylinder, located in the files section of the R2Builders Yahoo Group. This template will cut 6 pieces. Using 3mm styrene that I had left over from scraps, I cut all 6 pieces, and glued them together in pairs. This gave me a total of 3 tabs. After the glue cured, I sanded the piece smooth in preparation of gluing to the cylinder cap.




Here is the tab glued to the end of the cylinder.

Next up is to cut the semi circles that add detail to the end of the cylinder.  The diameter of the circle is the same size as the glued edge of the tab.

I measured out the width of the tab.  This area needs to be cut out.  The semi circles are then glued in place around the tab.  When dry, a light sanding will prep for the glazing putty.

This is the part after the glazing putty was applied and sanded.  The chips at the end of the PVC have been filled and sanded smooth.

My wire hanger jig.  After final sanding, the part is ready for primer.

Prime coat.

I've learned that very light coats of paint will bring out the most even coloring.  This is after two coats of Rustoleum's aluminum color.  You can still see the primer coat under the paint.


Another two coats later and some drytime overnight, the aluminum color is in place.  I'm going to let the part rest and cure for a couple days and then tape off to repaint the center a metallic blue.

With an even coat of glazing putty, you can't tell that the tab is actually two pieces glued together.


2 comments:

BASSplayerACE said...

wow! The tabs really do look great! Using the putty really to smooth it over and the semi-circles really adds alot. Your attention to detail always was amazing. Good job homie!

Christina Thomas said...

Looks awesome!