Wednesday, March 2, 2011

How to Make Asteroids, Part Two

(Part one is here.)

Step Seven: Drill holes in each end of your asteroid for future stringing on wire.

Step Eight: Saw each asteroid in half.


Step Nine: Hollow out each asteroid to make it as light as a lead feather.



Step Ten: Add back in small wax tabs so the asteroid halves won't slide around when trying to solder them back together.

Now all that's left is some fine tuning of the waxes before they're cast, and to build the necklace they will be strung on. To that end I practiced how the three wires will be joined to the ingot with some 10 gauge copper wire and a rod.


What's going on here is that I borrowed a copper rod from one classmate and drilled the end to insert and solder in three wires at the suggestion of another person. The next bit its to hammer the rod around the connection point so what metal that surrounds the wires is pushed over them, making the transition from rod to wire smoother, less abrupt, and more organic. After all this aggravation however I'm ready for a break, perhaps by getting a jump on the next project?

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