With the Lid complete The Next step was to get the Arms in place.
The arms are PVC water pipe. The upper arm is 1 3/4" the lower arm is 3/4". The Elbow and Wrist joints are 1/2" and 3/8" socket universals.
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I welded some washers on the ends of 3/8" steel Rod. The other end of the rod was beveled with a grinder and cross drilled for a cotter pin. These Rods go through the 3/4" wood vertical, trough matching holes in the PVC Pipes, and back through the second vertical. This allows the arms to move up and down. A couple of washer and the cotter pin keep the rods from working their way out.
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While I was welding the Rods I also fabricated the hands. I wanted Cl4P-TP to be able to grip things. So I start with a steel spring clamp, an old 3/8" drive Socket (I think it was a 10 or 12mm one). The socket was welded to the back of the Clamp. this allows the hand to be disconnected and repositioned on the end of the arm in more ways than could be done with just the universal alone.
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Once the Socket was welded on The Shields were welded in place. The shields are to give Cl4p-TP's hands the correct look from the game.
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Both hands fully welded.
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CL4P-TP also has Some Sheet metal Shoulder pads and a Steel Eye bill.
I cut the Base parts of these out of 16 gauge Sheet steel and the details were made from 20 Gauge sheet steel.
My Trusty Cordless Jigsaw made short work of the 16 Gauge steel. Tinsnips were needed for the 20 Gauge steel.
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All these parts have a dimpled cover. To make the covers I laid out a staggered grid pattern on the back of the part. On every intersecting line I made a dent with a custom ground cold chisel and a ball-pion hammer.
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Once complete the part was flipped over and you can see how nice and smooth the dimples are.
[img]http://www.Dogh2omods.com/LanImages/ClapTrap/Thm/shoulder detail_THM.JPG[/img]
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The Shoulder pads are made of two parts the larger base and the smaller dimpled detail. They run around the edge of the lid so there is an angled bend that needs to be made so they sit flush, both the base and detail have to match on another and the lid.
To do this we used a bending break.
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Here is a look at the Eye Bill all the pieces are setting together before they get welded fast.
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I had to come up with a way to attach the metal parts to the wooden lid. My solution was to weld bolts to the base pieces and use washers and nuts to hold them tight. To do this I cut the heads off some long machine screws. Then I drilled holes the same size as the bolts into the base plates. The bolts were welded from the top, and ground down flush.
Here's how the looked from the bottom.
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The Details were then welded to cover the holes in the base.
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So I've been welding allot on this Project. What am I using? It's a little 110V Lincoln Electric MIG.
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To Mount the Radiator In the Lid hump I needed some Straps. So I settled on some simple T Straps made from Angle aluminum and some flat Aluminum. In typical Hillbilly Fashion... I left the camera in the car for the cutting and welding only pulled it out when things were cooling...oops
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Once the Rad was bolted to the angles The Flats were marked, cut to size and screwed down.
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The Front Eye Detail is made from a cereal bowl found at a dollar store. I cut part of it off on the band saw so it would fit correctly, Then Painted it with Black Fusion for plastics.
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The bowl needed an extension so a 2" PVC pipe Coupler joined perfectly to extend the Eye. A bit of Zap a gap to hold it all together.
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To bring everything together A little color. All the Gray and Black Parts are masked off and a base of white primer (2-3 coats), two coats of white paint, followed up with 3 coats of Clap Trap Yellow.
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Paint!!!
The painting Process started with 4-5 coats of Gray Primer that were sanded back and 2-3 more coats were added. Then I attempted to spray the yellow over the gray.... Two coats in Cl4P-TP was a blotchy nasty greenish color. So I hit it with 3-4 coats of white primer. Sanded it back, and covered it with 2-3 coats of flat white paint. Then the Whole thing was painted with 3-4 Coats of Yellow.
After the yellow dried (2 days) I masked off everything but the gray areas on the top and back. This area was given 3 coats of Gray primer.
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Once the primer dried it was masked off too, and I started with the White stripe. I masked of random spots of random shapes and Sizes. This is to give you the illusion of places the stripe paint has worn through and the base coat is showing. This masking was done with torn blue painters tape.
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Here's a shot of the hinged metal plates that hang down and cover the arm to body joint.
[url=http://www.Dogh2omods.com/LanImages/ClapTrap/Shooulder_flap_gray_BIG.JPG[/url]
So do you want to see the "Final" Pics ???
CBB