Origami style bird

[Thrashsmith]

I've just about finished making an origami style crane sculpture for one of Hitachi's train maintenance depots so I'd thought I'd share some pics of the process.

I'm still pretty low on the ground in terms of equipment but I nonetheless really like this method of folding sheet as it's really controllable. It's just judging how deep to score the fold line. Fill the V with weld and grind to requirement.

I had the fluke of the century when making the model maquette because the sculpture's meant to be 1m tall and the maquette somehow came out at 25cm?! Schwingggg.

It's going to be zinc sprayed & painted then fixed onto a pair of railway track sleepers that I've bolted together.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Any rail-enthusiasts remember when TMDs had plates for the locos which used it as a home base? This is the most comprehensive list I've seen.

http://www.railway-centre.com/uploads/7/2/2/3/7223531/depotlogo.pdf

 

[cumbriasteve]

Like it a lot but painted? I never like to see the skill and manufacturing marks of steel sculptures hidden by paint.

 

[Thrashsmith]

Painted to Japanese crane's white, black and red colouring - which are also the company colours.
Rust is nice enough when it's got texture early on but after a while it just flattens things.

 

[selectedgrub]

Very elegant.
Nice work.

 

[Thrashsmith]

Crane went up yesteday. Hopefully no pigeons do a turd on it before it gets unveiled tomorrow.

 

[steviec_lj]

That looks nice, quite elegant. Good work

 

[StephenMM]

That’s really nice. What tool did you use to score the folds in the sheet metal?

 

[Thrashsmith]

That’s really nice. What tool did you use to score the folds in the sheet metal?

Une grinder de la 5 inch avec un disc de la 1mm.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Une grinder de la 5 inch avec un disc de la 1mm.

Please stick to the English language to avoid posts being removed...Thanks

 

[StephenMM]

I’m sorry my earlier reply had to be deleted but what it said was ‘Thank you very much my good man’ in Monty Pythonesque franglais. A childish attempt at humour which is clearly not tolerated on this forum and for which I humbly apologise.

My kitchen fitter friend once had a carbide tipped saw blade ground to a 45 degree angle and used a festool plunge saw and straight edge guide to make match board style grooves in mdf sheets. I wonder if this would work on mild steel sheet?

 

[cumbriasteve]

I’m sorry my earlier reply had to be deleted but what it said was ‘Thank you very much my good man’ in Monty Pythonesque franglais. A childish attempt at humour which is clearly not tolerated on this forum

Lots of childish humour is tolerated, ignoring a Mod's reminder of the rules is not though, hence the deletion.

 

[Thrashsmith]

My kitchen fitter friend once had a carbide tipped saw blade ground to a 45 degree angle and used a festool plunge saw and straight edge guide to make match board style grooves in mdf sheets. I wonder if this would work on mild steel sheet?

Although I don't know anything about plunge saws I'd guess that any TCT blade that was customized probably wouldn't do well in steel. More than it just dulling I think I'd be most concerned with the thought that a tooth might shear off.
A farrier mate popped in today as he was passing and made positive comments on my PPE; goggles, respirator & ear defenders whilst I was using my abbrasive chop saw. He said he uses a TCT chop saw and just squints to try and avoid a hot razor sharp chip in his eye.