Is the driver facing outward than it is a back-loaded horn, if it faces into the box than it is a front-loaded horn.
I just love horn...

As long as you leave our Rhino horn alone.;)

Some of the latest projects......

How did you do the benchtops, Russell?

I did something similar for my son's toolbox but I like yours better. :-)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...enchtop_sm.jpg

The skull is filled with epoxy so the benchtop is much flatter than it appears.

Jeff the 3 Examples there are all done differently. The black one I just spray painted and when over the top with a 120 grit belt sander. The others I just stained carefully.

I should also mention that I use Bar Topper after Im done painting or staining. I/We tried Poly and well the results where horrible. I now tell people to use that or Im not part of the evolution. Just poor and forget. Slow curing and self leveling well worth the money.

Jeff having a contrasting color really helps make it pop. For tight areas I use a syringe and float the areas. The wood usually soaks up everything.

@Russel; VERY nice. Top notch work. I specially like the "In case of emergency.. Break Glass".. Nice!..

Russell,
I am sure you know the tricks, but if you use a heat gun you can get the bubbles to release in the pour if it starts to kick to quick.

I agree with you. Well worth the 300 bucks for a quart of topper.

Nice work Russell. Noticed the super glossy finish straight away.

Ross

I really wish I took more pictures of this box. The new owner really likes Crown Royal. We cut the mini bottle into the top and hung a Small "Elf" off the side of the tool box. In the bottom drawer there was foam cutouts to hold two bottles of crown, a couple of glasses, and a ice pitcher. Oyeah the tool box was Crown Royal Purple as well.



Sean the stuff we are using is about 1/10 the cost of yours. 23.99 for a Quart here. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...&storeId=10051

I have used the heat gun method before and it does work nicely. When at work I use a vacuum pot to pull all the air bubbles out of the coating after mixing. I also try and poor in a nice thin stream. All the methods seem to work out but to be honest there is always one missed air bubble in there somewhere.

Just finished reading all, in a single setting and I am impressed.....my welding techinque is different and less expensive ....use CO2 for gas (Cheaper) and you have to clean all welds for painting any way ....it's just yellow smut ! Plus you get a hotter burn as CO2 is used when welding thick plate with innersheild( fluxcore). In structual welding, continuous welds aren't used that much....I tack on all 4 corners and then weld about a inch space evenly on the say, web of the I-beam, then I would weld an inch on the outer flange ends, top and bottom and then wrap it around the end of the flange toward the web about an inch. if the web is long, then space the 1 inch welds , say with 3 inchs between....Also there is a technique for straightening I-beam ...heat the outside bow of the flange in a V, and cool with a wet rag ....using a string youcan get them real straight. 30 to 50 footers in some of the big buildings in Jacksonville....was a Marine Hull Repairman in the Army. thanks for the posted detail in this build 1

Russell, Unfortunately I don't have a MechMate, YET! but I do have the same sort of problem with the garage door height that you have. I just found your post and I was wondering how it turned out in the end. I am going to try the same sort of thing you did and any tips you have learned since you first implemented this mod would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Keith

Keith,

The system works very well and cannot complain about it. If I was going to do it all over again I would have made my own tube and not purchased the 4" pvc pipe. This way I could have made it a 5" or 6" square tube and eased the bends in a little better and increased airflow.

All in all I am happy with the way it turned out.

Russell

Well figured we would do an update. Not a whole lot of cutting going on. The MM is 600 miles away but that will all change Memorial Day weekend. Once I have it all setup I will be cutting like crazy.

I have close to 30 projects lined up but the first one out the door is for my wife and soon to be son. She would like to turn the nursery into a jungle with cartoon figures all over. I think it will be a fun project.

I will post progress and pictures along the way. But in the mean time here is the latest toolbox lid I did. The plaque, coins and wings are all inlayed into the top. The Mountain Dew logo and Helo are V carved. I didnt do the finish work on this but was told the bar topper didnt come out that good. Reason being is a dummy cleaned it with Alcohol before it set up. New owner is going to poor another layer and shine it up.

Very nice!
Was coloring the logo difficult?

Good choice of 1st project, must make the wife happy :D to ensure more future project ;)

Ken coloring the logo was easy. I use a syringe to place the color into the bottom of the V carve. Take an acid brush dip in the paint and swipe up the sides. Get a clean crisp line and its very quick. Next time I will shoot a video of me doing it so people can see.

Russell:

Outstanding. Thanks for the pics and the inspiration.

Joe

Russell,

Your signs look great, nice work.
The colouring adds another dimension, and nice work on the inlays.

Thanks for sharing.
Tony.

Thanks for the complements guys. Well I was able to spend a few hours cutting out some MDF today. All the Jungle animals will be for my nursery while the Hogs and Airforce Star and Stripes if for another guy.

To give ya an ideal on size the Giraffe is 8ft tall. If you guys dont hear from me in a few weeks its because I am out in the garge sanding and painting.

The first photo is the scene that I want to recreate in the room. I still have to cut out a few monkeys, a snake, and a lot of foliage.

MDF animals
 

Russell those animals look GREAT!!! :) :)

Where ever did you find the files/images?

I wouldn't mind cutting them for my granddaughter.

Nice work Russell,

What was your tool of choice in creating the vectors? I'm guessing Aspire?

Keith, I did a google image search for baby jungle theme. The first photo in the last thread was the actual image. All I did was trace it.

Travis, I dont have Aspire yet but I am using Vcarve. I love how simple it makes everything. I was able to draw and create the tool paths in almost no time.

Very nice cut Russel, the animals are realy cute, my daughter is in love...

Here is the dxf. file for the animals. I changed the file to a zip, so you will have to rename it in properties to a dxf.

Russell

Share the file if you can. They look great.

Nils 1 Post up from yours :D

If anyone is trying to recreate an exact copy, I used 4x8ft MDF 3/4" thick. I used a 60 degree V bit that was plunged in a 1/4. I used this bit "ON" every line. Then I used a 1/4 Endmill on the outside of the all the animials for the cut out.

Finished up the snake and monkeys today. Here a few more photos and I will have a video later today. Just waiting for it to upload to Youtube.

Russell:

Thanks for the photos and file. Great idea. Good work.

Joe

If those pics are copyright then you shouldn't be posting traced copies here. The copyright owner can go after the owner of the MechMate website for hosting downloadable copies of their work.

Gerald and Mike sorry:o

I dont claim to know copy right laws but I did hunt down the image again. You can download the vector files free from this site. The vectors did not work for me and Vcarve but others experience might be different.

http://www.potatoestomatoes.co.uk/la...like-a-jungle/

here is another site.

http://www.vectorpile.com/vector/fun...nimals-vector/

My problem is it kept saying it was an image file.

Here is a video of a monkey getting cut out and a few leaves.

http://youtu.be/PXrjcU9RQEU

Hi Russel, had a look at potatoestomatoes and they don't seem concerned about their copyright at all, so I don't see any problems for MechMate in this case. If that was a Disney scene then it would be a completely different matter.