Website

I am in the process of constructing my website. I am pleased with the right hand side bar, and need to pick a colour and format.

Here are a few screen shots...



and these screen shots show that it is all achieved through HTML code...boy was that a nice surprise!
as i have never done it before, i found a style sheet that decoded HTML and allowed me to make changes, in particular with the menu:

Press Release

This is me taking photos of my product for my press release.

Time dial

To complete the time dial, I laser cut a stencil, stuck it down then spray painted over the top.

Spray Painting

To add an improved finish to the solenoid pistons, I spray painted them a dark grey to almost match the tone of the bark.

Finished Brass Beak

To finish the brass beak, uniform scratches need to be made by following the usual sanding pattern used with wood. I started at 180 and finished on 400. The benefits of this is to identify scratches i did not put there.

My technique is to attach sand paper to a flat piece of MDF so as not loose definition of my beak. A critical eye is needed and a lot of patience as this takes hours.

Beak stand

As my model includes volume control in the form of beaks, I feel a stand is necessary.

I made a few prototypes before settling on the final one. To finish, I oiled it.

Wax Test

Before applying wax to my wooden surfaces, I checked it on a test piece first.

Last month, I did an oil test and found that the end grain absorbs oil differently to the side grain. This meant that the surface went darker. From my test, I learned that the wax does exactly the same...something i didn't think it would happen.

It is still too dark in comparison to the end grain that already has 3 coats. I beginning to question why i am wanting to apply a coat of wax... do i need it?!

The ONE show

The ONE show 13/04/10 episode continues to discuss the importance of sleep in teenagers. They have agreed that teenagers need more sleep than what they are currently getting. The school in Glasgow argues that they should get a better sleep cycle and go to bed earlier where another school has delayed school to 10am so they get more sleep.

The argument is if teenagers have their own body clock that differs to adults or is it just really bad?!

Brass Beak

This is very similar to making the elm beak except instead of using sand paper, I used a file. This beak is almost finished:

The model in progress

The brass beak

Engineering have shaped a brass cone for me to shape, like with the elm beak, into a beak shape.

Push Button

The outside seal has been made from engineering:

Crit Model

My model still needs to completed, but here shows my progress:

The front: push button on top still needs to be added and so does the etching on the time dial:

The side:

The back:here, the elm beak is inserted.

Intergrating

The electronics and brass parts were assembled and fitted into the log. To power the solenoid, I have added batteries together in series to equal 12v. I still unhappy with volume so i will pump in two 9v batteries to equal 16v at another time to increase volume. It does however still work well.

>insert image<

Oiling

The flat edge is the only surface to be oiled. Once dried, the remainding exposed wood will be waxed as well as the wooden beak.


This is to bring out the details in the wood on the side grain. The end grain will absorb and darken differently so is not going to be done.

Beak Insert

I received my final insert from engineering and placed the solenoid inside, positioning it with parts of wood.

PCB

The components needed to be soldered into place and here, i was checking that all worked well before integrating into my final model:

Toggle Switches

To keep with brass components, I had to spray paint my toggle switches to a brass affect.

and left them to dry