Wine Angels

this is in a limo…

]]> http://distributionbizwiz.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/really-cool-bar-stuff-made-with-acrylic/feed/ 5 ShawnC http://distributionbizwiz.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/acrylic-waterwall-directory/ http://distributionbizwiz.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/acrylic-waterwall-directory/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:51:09 +0000 ShawnC http://distributionbizwiz.wordpress.com/?p=415 Continue reading →]]> Another project from Michael…

Here’s a shot of a waterwall I built for the Toronto Reference library down on Yonge St. The hardest thing about it was getting the water to flow properly over the acrylic. The problem was the thing was 11’ high and getting the water up there, and flowing evenly was a chore. The worst thing about the whole project was that after months of adjusting to get the water to flow properly, the library personnel didn’t want to fill the water reservoir every week. You see, the water evaporated rapidly because it was so dry in the library! They eventually took it down after only a few months of operation…..

Cochrane Custom Cabinets and Carpentry michaelcochrane@rogers.com

Stylish… modern… easy maintenance… nice job, Michael!

From Michael:

The mullions and frames are constructed of poplar which is a good wood to use as it is harder and more stable than pine, but not as expensive as maple. This will allow for long straight pieces without fear of breakage. It also is lighter than other hardwoods making for a reasonable strength to weight ratio. I knew since the client was requesting they be painted black that the expense of better hardwood would be a waste. They can be produced using different species but I would only go that route if they were going to be stained, not painted.

To make production of the mullion strips easier, I purchased 1 x 6 D4S poplar then ripped them to the correct thickness using a really sharp, fine ripping blade. I also painted the 1 x 6’s prior to ripping which meant that I wouldn’t have to paint the narrow sides of each mullion. After ripping I only had to do 2 sides of each narrow piece instead of 4. If I did this again I would certainly have sprayed the mullions, it would have been so much faster than rolling. The reason I used a roller is because to spray such a narrow piece there would have been a tremendous amount of overspray and a waste of paint but looking back, the wastage would have offset the time it took to roller each piece. As it was I ganged up pieces together but it still took a good 2 days to paint all the pieces.

As for how to do it: I kept it simple in the design stage. The left and right panels are exactly the same, and the doors are both the same. For strength I planned on dadoing each mullion where they crossed over. This makes for an extremely rigid frame. By keeping the pieces similar in size all the dadoes on the verticals are identical, and there’s only two sizes of horizontal pieces. If you add them up there’s over 500 dadoes in total. To do them all I set up a jig on my table saw using a dado blade and a block set to the desired spacing. I then sat there all day running pieces through it. One thing that I would do differently is to buy over sized stock. It worked out that the dado blade cuts 1/32” over ¾” and the poplar is exactly ¾” thick. 1/32” isn’t a lot but after cutting 7, that’s almost ¼” difference, quite a big difference on the last one. After running a few test pieces through, I adjusted the spacing so the last dado to be cut was only 1/8” out. Not a big visual difference.

Another thing I did was make sure the frosted acrylic panels were slightly smaller than the frames they were being mounted to. I knew the location they were to be mounted to wasn’t plumb or level ((3” out of level over 15 feet) so if there was any deflection in the frame, I couldn’t install the acrylic. So when I installed the acrylic panels I just shimmed them (semi) square and attached the mullion assembly on the back side.

One thing that made the job a whole lot easier was the fact that the panels are made up of complete 5 ‘ x 80” acrylic panels with mullion assemblies front and back. The customer originally wanted individual acrylic pieces which would have been even more tedious to build and install. Plus the cost of producing the mullions etc would be astronomical and 5 times their budget. One draw back to this is if they ever damage one area, it will be hard to replace. So I advised the customer to NOT damage it and to only clean it with a swiffer duster.

I used KN Crowder track to handle the sliding doors. They are easy to install, easy to adjust and are light but very sturdy. Plus very smooth operating.

Cochrane Custom Cabinets and Carpentry michaelcochrane@rogers.com

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Feel free to send in pictures and how-to-articles about your projects, even it’s just to share the trials and tribulations of learning to work with plastic. We’ll publish your business information too if you sell plastic products or do custom work.

http://www.superglideskating.com/installation.asp 

How do you reduce the wear and tear on your dump trucks and trailer, when the only thing between your load and your profit eventually corrodes and wears away?

Simple, use UHMW in high wear applications…

By Ross McShane and Jeff Haarstick

In high wear applications, UHMW-PE, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene, stands alone. UHMW-PE reduces abrasion, increases release, and helps absorb impact all in one. At only a fraction of the weight and cost of steel and aluminum, UHMW-PE can outwear steel two times and aluminum four times. UHMW-PE is commonly produced in sheets by compression molding. Single sheets can be up to 33 feet/10 meters in length; however, average presses are much smaller, typically 4 by 10 feet/1.21 by 3.04 meters. With a butt fusion welder, these sheets can be seamlessly welded together into any length. Additives can also be added to UHMW-PE in premium and specialty grades. Silicone reduces friction, increases slip and lessens noise. Glass spheres increase hardness and abrasion resistance. Ultra violet inhibitors (UVI) can increase the life of UHMW-PE from about a year to five years when continuously exposed to direct sunlight. Other additives include heat stabilization, color, and anti-static. Combining the reduced weight, lower cost, increased wear, and greater flexibility, UHMW-PE becomes the apparent choice when compared to other high wear substitutes.

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For 25 years, Horn Plastics, Inc. has been known in the heavy construction and agricultural industries as an expert group of honest hardworking salespeople who callback in a timely fashion, are knowledgeable of installation advice and dedicated to friendly service. Super-Slide is a non-stick, high wear, premium engineered plastics that can be cut into small wear strips or welded into rolls of any length. For more information on UHMW-PE and Super-Slide products go to www.superslide.com.

In routing around the Net I happened upon John Palmisano’s site, TheSocietyOfRobots.com

 John offered me these thoughts on getting started and what’s available on his site:

Robots today are no longer only made out of traditional tin and steal.
Instead, an ever increasing number of robots consists of large
quantities of plastics – not just for aesthetic casings but also as
main structural components. Societyofrobots.com covers all aspects on
building your own robot, including materials and structural
construction methods.

John
societyofrobots.com

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So, Plasticguy says check’m out!

Artist THOMAS BROOMÉ as created a life size sculpture (called THE LOW RES MAN) in painted acrylic glass, of a man built up with 1x1x1 cm cubes (pixels). The man has a innerlight which makes him seem like he just stepped out of the screen-based world into ours.

 A couple of the fab and design gize sat around and we came up with a figure that, if this was actually hand crafted from off-the-skid cast acrylic, you’d be into between $10k and $15k of work and material…  those end posts would probably be 6″ optically perfect cast pieces that were milled down to the various thicknesses and tapers and then polished. The headboard – wow – you’d probably break a few pieces perfecting the curves.