I would like to ET the big welding robot
Project ideas:
- Aluminum exoskeleton components
- Steel and aluminum custom prosthetics
- Steel anvil or swage block
- Steel anvil, hammer, mandril, and punch for making a penny-punching station
- Lost-resin cast aluminum hammer vs welded hammer, from the same CAD model, followed by nondestructive and destructive testing
- Monkeyshines for 2027, or mold for same (or CPTC-specific similar project)
- Something dippable. A structure that can be dipped in concrete, as a replacement for a rebar internal frame?
- Custom bracket/support for natural material like rough-milled wood slab, where the metal can support/fill individual aspects like splits in the wood and knot holes without re-milling it or adding bowties etc
- Structural brackets for constructing geodesic domes
- Structural elements of fence or gate meant to clamp to plasma-cut sheet panels or other fence panels
- Outdoor structures, like a treehouse frame, a gazebo, plant trellises, seating, fire pit
4/22 Notes
From conversation yesterday with Nate:
- My main obsession has been with designing a penny-punching station, but it is complicated
- All of these ideas necessarily have aspects that fall outside the scope of this term, which is fine
- Sees a lot of potential in:
- Steel anvil, especially if it is designed (perhaps using generative design) to be a very unique form
- Steel structure meant to replace rebar in the casting of a concrete form, getting away from a grid restriction
- Structural brackets for constructing unique shapes
My current idea is what I’m calling Vulcan’s Anvil. It is an anvil/metalworking station designed to be used seated, or in a wheelchair. It will be a challenge to figure out the ergonomics, but on the other hand I wonder how standardized the seated height of wheelchairs is, and if that might actually be an accessibility feature compared to needing anvils at different heights in a traditional forge.
It may also be cool to include a clamping mechanism, even if it’s just an integrated vise grip for quick clamping, to use when using chisels, punches, etc when often a standing smith will hold tongs between the legs.
I would like to do some research on other cultures’ metalworking traditions, because many non-western fabrication setups are a lot more seating based in general.
Gene Kemper 