Some photos

35mm panoramic

I shoot photos now and then.  Sometimes I make them into post cards and sometimes I print them to give as gifts.  Usually they sit in a box, awaiting their discovery 40 years from now when they will be cool memories for someone who never met me...

digi

 

digi

35mm panoramic

I will post more photos later.

Chess set

Another class assignment here. We were to make a chess set using an extrusion as the basis of our pieces. This was supposed to teach us about designing parts that had repeatability, rather than the one off masterpieces we usually built for each one of our projects. I think it was also pitched this way to keep the work load down and success attainable. I stayed very diligently on task for this project and I barely finished in the 11 weeks I had.

The first step was deciding on an extrusion. We could make our own or go out and buy something that was readily available and work from that. I know what your thinking, "If you make it Dusty, then how is it an extrusion?". Well it's technically not an extrusion but so long as my professor agreed that what I came up with COULD be extruded then I was allowed to proceed.
So I sketched for a little while and chose my extrusion, got it approved then moved onto sketching my main form for my pieces.

(Pardon the splatters on this sheet, I got a little cutting fluid on them during the manufacturing process.)

 Whipped out some control drawings then it was onto the mill to cut my extrusion on some aluminum bar stock.

After milling the individual pieces were cut to length.
Each piece was then chucked up in the lathe and the profiles that made them unique were cut away.

Then they were taken to the drill press and an array of holes was drilled into the tops, later to be filled with brass rod.
Next the higher ranking pieces were polished, these pieces represent royalty in the game and I thought that their finish should be given a bit more attention.
The board I chose to make was copper rather than wood. I etched grid into the copper by making a sticker out of a piece of vinyl and laser cutting it. I floated the sheet on, peeled out the free blocks and then dipped the whole board into a solution of ferric chloride for a few hours. I like the way metal wears and patinas when it is handled so I didn't clear coat the copper.
As you can see in the picture below some oxidation had already started to occur. Finger prints and smudges, moisture rings. I feel all of the elements add character to the objects that we surround ourselves with and I try to design with that in mind. I designed this set as a piece that would "wear in" rather than wearing out. In the time since I made this set the board has gotten a little bit darker and the pieces are still just as lustrous as the day I polished them.

1966 T-120r street tracker

Shortly after moving to Denver I bought a 66 Triumph off of craigslist, sight unseen. It was sitting in a shop in Maine and I was assured by the proprietor of the shop that it was a strong running ready to go bike. I had an acquaintance of mine go check it out, he also assured me that it was good to go. So I sent the necessary money and had my roommate pick it up whilst out on tour with his band.
Here it is, or rather was. After about 2 hours of kicking (No electric start in 66) and bump start attempts we finally got it to run. . .on one cylinder. It smoked and popped and back-fired and blew copious amounts of oil out of the exhaust. Not ideal and most definitely not a runner.
This is how most any project I take on begins, elbows deep to start with and then over my head before I even know what happened. Turns out the owner was a total liar and the guy that checked the bike out for me was something less than reliable. Lesson learned.


The only thing that was left to do was everything else. So, I tore the motor open to see what I was dealing with. Easier said than done. Triumph's, I quickly learned, take their own special standard of measurement tools called whitworth. Luckily the guy next door to us was a 4th generation mechanic and he, like Spicolli's dad, had an ultimate set of tools. I got the top end off of the bike, labeling and bagging parts all the while. Why? Oh did I forget to mention I had never really dug deep into any sort of engine before, let alone something as finicky as a vintage British motor? So off comes the top end, the pistons both had massive scoring. And the side that wasn't firing? The rings were seized and actually bonded to the piston, a process called brinelling (see? the learning never stops around here).

Nothing to be done for the time being on the engine front since I had to get together a bunch of tools and even more parts (not to mention some kind of knowledge) I immediately tore into the rest of the bike to begin roughing out what i thought I wanted to become of it.

After a brief period of chopperitis I decided that a hard-tailed Triumph was not how I wanted to roll so I put the swing arm back on and figured out what I wanted to do instead of the hideous seat that was on it when it came home to me from Maine.

I got most of the non engine issues with the bike sorted (sorry for the lack of pictures here but I was too consumed to stop and shoot photos) and tore the engine all of the way apart and began the agonizing and nerve wracking, at least for me, process of completely rebuilding one of these motors. At the end of it I had a higher level of confidence, a better grasp of just how an internal combustion motor works, and the many many ways in which it can not work.

After paint (Thanks Biff)After The seat, pin striping several thousand miles and a move to Oregon...
Shooter did the pin striping.
Hand built pipes-me
Hand tooled and formed leather seat-me
Custom tail light from a Turner 44x microphone body-me
Shortened rear sub frame-me
Aluminum seat pan and side cover-me
Hand built Akront drop center wheels with stainless spokes-me
Smoothed fork legs with custom disk brake adapter-me
Modified 49 Ford police car spotlight/headlight-me

Random renderings

Here's a whole mess of renderings of mine. Most are from school, a few were for friends.






I really like the look and feel of engineering/control drawings. They are fun to do in their own right and then once you add a little color and depth to them they just take off.

George Nelson inspired table caddy

This is a George Nelson inspired table caddy for a restaurant. This project was born during a history of design class and came to fruition during a product design and development class.

Mr. Nelson's clock.

My table caddy.

As you can see the shaker stalks pull out of the base. They contain salt or pepper and are fun to use.
Model is vacuum formed over 20lb foam. Wood dowels and drawer knobs for the shakers.

Solid works assembly drawing.

A few earlier sketch refinements that didn't get off the page.

This is a giant coaster I painted for a catering company that hosted Liaka's Holiday party hear in Portland this winter.
It's a 4'x8' sheet of O.S.B. that was positioned by the door for the party goers to place their drinks on while they were outside the party venue smoking.

To aid in keeping track of the drinks I placed numbers on the tops of all of the buildings.

Seat for 1950 Panhead

I was commissioned to recover an old Bates seat for a 1950 Harley Davidson panhead chopper that's being built in Denver Co.
I spoke with my client and suggested we keep the seat classic black and simple, very near to the style that the Bates originally was.

First Off I cut the foam to fit the pan (which had been chromed before it was sent to me). I used a combination of a thicker, softer closed cell foam (the white) and the thinner very dense closed cell foam (black).
After I had the foam roughed out I cut the leather for the top and bottom of the seat and wet molded it to the form of the foam and seat pad.
Next I glued the two halves together prior to stitching the seat up.
The stitch pattern I used was a double whip stitch. The black kangaroo hide lace will age nicely with the oil dyed saddle leather of the seat.
There it is, ready for many miles.