Meet Cornelius

[GrahamGKD]

This is my latest effort - based on the male fiddler crab, hence one really large claw and one tiny one. I found him a bit of a challenge and I'm still not sure whether I'm pleased with him or whether he falls into the 'too difficult' category. An 'ordinary' crab with two normal claws would be easier! The eyes were fun and I'm quite pleased with the way the legs have come out. If there is a next one I will dome the top of the shell slightly since dishing the bottom wasn't as hard as I had expected.

Graham.

P.S. It's bleak down on the beach this afternoon - by the time I had made some space on the memory card and changed the camera battery the sun had gone in!!


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[Jammy James]

could you tell me what metal it is and how diffecult it was to weld

P.S. he is very cool

 

[Park_monkey]

I like it, it looks great.

 

[GrahamGKD]

He's all mild steel James - I guess I'd better spray him with WD40 after taking him down the beach.

Legs are made from solid bar (feet a smaller size).
Small claw is made from tube (3/4 inch, I think).
Large claw and arm is formed from 1.5mm sheet.
Body is made from a piece of thick sheet (2.5mm ish) on top with a dished piece of 1.5mm plate seem welded onto it.
Eyes are bits of sheet TIG brazed to bits of rod - mouthparts are rod TIG brazed in place (I tried doing them with MIG beads but couldn't get them even enough so ground those ones off).

The actual welding was easy enough - it was the other bits I found more taxing - quite a bit of looking at pictures and mulling it over. Forming the shapes in the sheet was hard for me as I'm not really set up for that. I need to buy or make some dollys for forming bits over (rather than hunting around for something to improvise with).

Graham.

 

[chunkolini]

Fantastic.
You have got an eye for this stuff, and have got the hang of the dissection process where you break an idea down into a series of operations.
Love the way there are no visible welds on the arms.
Plug welds with inserts?
hey, I thought you couldn't do 'art'.

chunko'.

 

[pedrobedro]

Put him a dicky bow on and he could be a dressed crab Nice one.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Fantastic.
You have got an eye for this stuff, and have got the hang of the dissection process where you break an idea down into a series of operations.
Love the way there are no visible welds on the arms.
Plug welds with inserts?
hey, I thought you couldn't do 'art'.

chunko'.

Thanks Chunko - the arms are made with a piece of flat up the inside - I then slit the arm itself half way along each section and welded through to fuse it well and truly to the flat inside. Finally filled over the slit with more weld and ground it nice and flat so you don't see it.
Graham.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Put him a dicky bow on and he could be a dressed crab Nice one.

Great idea pedrobedro - a joke picture for the website when I get it together maybe!
Graham.

 

[magnet]

Thats great. well done!!

 

[Sphinx]

That looks great! very creative and skillfully done too.

 

[strube1369]

I really like him! Very creative.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Thanks for all of the feedback and encouragement everyone - much appreciated.
Graham.

 

[RichardM]

Cool Crab - very nice

 

[badersbus]

Very cool Graham . You have an eye for this

 

[candygt]

Awesome!!!

Have a cookie

 

[kat.rawlings]

Again, I love it