SAW Spiral Pump Proposal

SAW is revamping its ceramics program. They have wheels, kilns and space to expand. The only problem is that there is no water up at Barn 2. As part of my work exchange I will be building this spiral pump:

Spiral pumps utilize a series of airlocks to pressurize water from the stream and pump it upwards of 80ft above the waterline. Check out http://lurkertech.com/water/pump/tailer/ to learn more about spiral pumps and the science behind them.

Casting Complete!

I got lucky, there's not too much clean up.

First US/UK '12 Iron Pour Complete Success!

Week 3 at SAW

Here is a simple 3D model of what I will be creating while here at SAW. The piece on the left is phase one. After the swing set has proven itself I will cut it up and reassemble it as pictured on the right.

These are the end caps for top bar of the swing.

Here are the finished sand molds.

I'm starting to get anxious to see them in iron!

Now that the molds are all ready I had a chance to drive out to the scrapyard in Rutland, Vermont. After three hours on the brink of heat exhaustion I came home with these:

Two electric forklift motors and a hydraulic pump!

The small one will be the power source for this:

This is a basic 3D model of the traveling sculpture yet to be titled.

The big motor will be put into this guy:

A '68 double cab that hopefully will make an amusing and practical electric vehicle to cruise around Detroit.

Preparing to pour some iron.

This time next week we will be in the middle of the first of two iron pours scheduled for the US/UK Iron Symposium. My molds are all packed. All that's left is to add the gates and vents. Here are some pictures:

Patterns for swing set brackets.

From scrap to dust collector in 5 hours.

Looking down on Salem

This is the highest point at SAW.

SAW CNC's first 3D Cuts!

Working on something for the US/UK Iron Symposium while taking advantage of the CNC router here at SAW. Also a great exercise for creating tool paths.  Not too much clean up to do.

Rusty Relics

Here are some pictures of things that sparked some interest around campus and the local (hour away) scrapyard.

SAW

Scrapyard

Iron furnace cathedral at the scrapyard.

Salem Art Works!

Well, I made it out to Salem Art Works (SAW).  I'll be here for most of the summer on a work exchange program.  I'll be spending 20hrs a week making SAW a better place, while spending the rest of the week working on my own work.  I'll be posting more pictures shortly, until then here are my quarters for the upcoming months.