It’s time! I’ve got the St Nicholas carving almost ready for delivery and ready for sharing. This is a great start to what I hope is a very busy build thread! In the video you’ll see a quick glimpse of build #2 almost finished up (4:22) - it’s a ski rack for us to park our skis in when we get home from the slopes. Fits nicely into a boot mat thing to catch all the water. Need to insert it’s dividers and then waterproof it.
Next task for the MPCNC? Just wait until Saturday and you’ll see…it’s been a long time coming!
Wow! That’s cool! It is such a creative idea. Kelly did you design it as well. The idea of using the magnetic replaceable panels is cool! It looks amazing as well.
Thanks guys. My original design plan was for six removeable panels, each pictorially depicting the things he was known for - the patron saint of sailors, the patron saint of repentant thieves, a few others (can’t recall off the top of my head) and that whole gifts to children thing. They were just going to slide in and out in a t-rail setup of some sort, behind which would have been just plain wood.
Thankfully the school decided on the character traits instead. I had told them about the relief carving capabilities of the MPCNC but I have yet to figure out a good system for doing that with photographs! In any case the plan was for the MPCNC all along - and they knew I was still working out the processes so were very patient with me. However tomorrow is the day they celebrate St Nicholas (the school’s chosen saint), so the timing couldn’t have been closer…
Depends what your after. Typically it’s left or packed back in but if the customer wants colour you need it cleared out. Which in this case must be done as it’s cutting. The bit makes just enough heat to make the snow sticky and if you don’t blow it as it’s cutting it seems to stick in there pretty hard. But the blown out clean cuts - oh my goodness! They’re PERFECT. This machine is DEFINITELY paying for itself this winter!
YouTube link forthcoming but here are some pics of the finished product. Ice naturally clears over the course of the day so I’m going to go back tomorrow and get some pics once it’s all shined up. If you think this is something just wait till you see pics from tomorrow!
Oh…and I have one other project I’ll post this evening. I think you’ll like it
That look awesome. I’m going to say the same thing tomorrow.
I really love that you’ve made this work of art. This beatiful sign to tell people something, but it’s not going to sit in a landfill for the next 1000 years, and it has to be enjoyed now, and then it’s only a memory. There’s a real significance to that, even if it’s someone’s logo.
I started ice carving in 1999 and have always marvelled at the temporary nature of it all. In fact I often joke with onlookers that my favourite part of it is that if I make a mistake it doesn’t matter because soon enough nobody would ever know. The reality with the ice is that it’s inherently beautiful. All I need to do it give it the right shape - kinda link soapstone. It just needs to be shaped and shined.
When I started wood carving (four years ago) I was somehow sobered when I realized for the first time that unlike ice carving, these creations could well be there forever. That was profound to me. And made me give serious thought to my attitude towards mistakes. Hahaha
For you Ryan! Thanks for all things V1 Engineering and giving me the confidence to build these machines with the help from you and this entire community of helpful sorts! I’d mail this to you but I think there are some inherent issues with that…
Damn near perfect but in my excitement to get this posted I accidentally got water on the backside of the last “G” and it soaked into the snow. Darn! But still awesome considering this was 30 minutes start to finish (less freezing time of course…)
