When All You Have Is A Hammer... 5/3 Final

[HeavyGunner]

I think I'm going to wet myself! Just look at all those fresh casts waiting to be shipped to a new home! I think you've achieved perfection with this one dogwizard. Congrats on finishing all the molds! I sure can't wait to see the whole thing assembled. So are the smaller parts all solid, and the larger ones hollow? Or did you actually cast everything completely solid?

 

[Darkslitter]

I wanna see a whole one together.

 

[DogWizard]

Very very impressive. I have had an assembly line like that before. Lots of work but worth it in the end. Cant wait to ssee more.
Looks like your building enough for a small army.

Thanks! It's actually only 3-4 sets - whenever I mix up a batch of plastic I make sure I have some empty moulds ready for any extra. Trying to keep and waste to an absolute minimum...

Amazing, can't wait to see the first assembled hammer!

Thanks! - Me neither...

Mmmmm.. Tasty, are you going to fill your casts with something? Something like Expanding foam or something.

No need on these - while the head is hollow, I am using a fairly thick layering. I don't want them to be TOO heavy but they are hammers after all and they need to be able to support all of the attachment points...

wow this topic is just beond words. You gonna sell these? A shame you live to far from me to ship

Thanks! - I will be offering a limited run here very shortly. This thing would be a bear to ship internationally - sorry...

Just let me know where to send the $ Wow.

Almost there...almost there...

I think I'm going to wet myself! Just look at all those fresh casts waiting to be shipped to a new home! I think you've achieved perfection with this one dogwizard. Congrats on finishing all the molds! I sure can't wait to see the whole thing assembled. So are the smaller parts all solid, and the larger ones hollow? Or did you actually cast everything completely solid?

Thanks! - I still have a few pieces/moulds to go but I'm starting to get everything wrapped up. I wanted to finalize the attachment of everything and the few remaining "Blade Hardpoints" using an actual cast so that I can experiment and get the final sizing correct.

Everything is solid but the Head - all of the smaller pieces were just easier to do that way. I thought about making the Blade hollow but I decided it was worth the extra plastic to keep it solid for better strength/flexibility.

And now the final updates for the evening...

Hammer Head Mould in action:

1st cast of the Head (untrimmed - these are completely raw):

I had just a little misalignment along the rear seam but everything else lined right up perfectly. I am EXTREMELY pleased with the way it turned out. A little bit of trimming/patching at the seams and she'll be ready to go. The flat surfaces are really, really smooth - I'm glad I took the time up front to over-sand and clearcoat everything. There will be minimal work needed on these, boys and girls...

I'm out of supplies AGAIN and since the Reynolds site has something screwed up with shipping, I had to order from Smooth-On directly so I won't see any more until Thursday/Friday. If I had known what this was going to cost ahead of time...

I hope to begin at least test-assembling the prototype this weekend. More to come...

 

[smick6]

Man I hear ya on the cost. Its like a bill that never goes away. I bet you will recoupe your cost if you do a limited run, as long as that happens its all good. Thats the way I looked at it.
Everything is looking great.

 

[Loess]

You, sir, are a god. That is masterful work.

 

[Privateer]

Quick tip for reynolds if you call them directly and order they will ship immediately. I found out from the very nice office lady the web service takes up to 3 days to send the order to reynolds. And if you have ordered from them before you can leave a message on thier machine and they will bill it to the card you used prveviously and ship next day most times.

Beutifull work man I hope to be swinging one of these in the future.

Cheers!

 

[LeeKegan]

Great work, you have came a long way in just a short time.

Love the Hammer!

 

[DogWizard]

Man I hear ya on the cost. Its like a bill that never goes away. I bet you will recoupe your cost if you do a limited run, as long as that happens its all good. Thats the way I looked at it.
Everything is looking great.

I hope so - with the amount of raw material going into these thing (not even counting the time invested) they are not going to be cheap. I just want to cover my costs but there are a LOT of pieces...

You, sir, are a god. That is masterful work.

Thanks - I'm lovin' the ODST you've got going on as well...

Quick tip for reynolds if you call them directly and order they will ship immediately. I found out from the very nice office lady the web service takes up to 3 days to send the order to reynolds. And if you have ordered from them before you can leave a message on thier machine and they will bill it to the card you used prveviously and ship next day most times.

Beutifull work man I hope to be swinging one of these in the future.

Cheers!

Unfortunately they were closed for Good Friday so I couldn't give them a call. The sad part is that they are in Orlando - less than 2 hours away. When I order from them directly I get it next day, Smooth-On takes a week. I have to pay tax but usually the shiping cost and convenience is worth it... This time around they wanted $24.33 to ship the exact same order that cost $10.17 to ship last week so either their costs just doubled or there is an issue with the shipping calculator... It was almost $20 cheaper to get it from across the country - go figure...

I hope to oblige you - the more people with Hammers, the happier I'll be. I would love to see a whole Grifball team at DCon this year...

Great work, you have came a long way in just a short time.

Love the Hammer!

Thanks! Since you came the entire way in no time whatsoever I appreciate the compliment

Finished the mold for the Butt-Cap last night and I'll have pics up shortly...

 

[SPARTAN II]

[...]

Everything is solid but the Head - all of the smaller pieces were just easier to do that way. I thought about making the Blade hollow but I decided it was worth the extra plastic to keep it solid for better strength/flexibility.

And now the final updates for the evening...

1st cast of the Head (untrimmed - these are completely raw):

I had just a little misalignment along the rear seam but everything else lined right up perfectly. I am EXTREMELY pleased with the way it turned out. A little bit of trimming/patching at the seams and she'll be ready to go. The flat surfaces are really, really smooth - I'm glad I took the time up front to over-sand and clearcoat everything. There will be minimal work needed on these, boys and girls...

[...]

I hope to begin at least test-assembling the prototype this weekend. More to come...

Fan-freakin-tastic work there, DW! I have to admit that's got to be one of the smoothest, cleanest castings I've ever seen. And I've seen many prop castings since I got into this hobby eight years ago, lol.

The small amount of clean-up needed on that will certainly save people a helluva lot of time. Way to plan ahead with the over-sanding and clearcoating, heh.

Definately looking forward to your test-fitting of the prototype, dude. Keep it coming!

 

[xXMILKYCHUNKSXx]

So how much do you think one of these hammers will cost?

 

[timecon]

So how much do you think one of these hammers will cost?

we dont talk prices on the forums, why dont you Pm him

 

[SPARTAN II]

What he said, lol

 

[daftndirekt]

wow its looking pretty amazing so far. i cant wait to see what it looks like all put together.

are you going to put leds in it?

 

[Recon Man]

dude that is freakin awsome

 

[DogWizard]

Fan-freakin-tastic work there, DW! I have to admit that's got to be one of the smoothest, cleanest castings I've ever seen. And I've seen many prop castings since I got into this hobby eight years ago, lol.

The small amount of clean-up needed on that will certainly save people a helluva lot of time. Way to plan ahead with the over-sanding and clearcoating, heh.

Definately looking forward to your test-fitting of the prototype, dude. Keep it coming!

Thanks! I appreciate it when someone takes the time to send me something clean so I will try to do the same. I've also had my fill of sanding so I'd rather do it once and get it out of the way...

So how much do you think one of these hammers will cost?

I will put something in the classifieds as soon as I am ready...

wow its looking pretty amazing so far. i cant wait to see what it looks like all put together.

are you going to put leds in it?

Thanks - the prototype won't have any electronics but they are definately part of the plan for the future...

dude that is freakin awsome

Thanks!

Sorry for the lack of updates but I am in final frenzy mode trying to get this done. I have one Smooth-On order that arrived today and another due on Friday so I should be able to get the final little moulds done. I have already started assembly (as well as putting together instructions with lots o' pics) so it shouldn't be long now. Here are a few to tide you over...

The End Cap - this mold was a real challenge because there are recessed areas on both ends as well as a lot of details all around. I went with an odd 2-piece unsupported pour mould with fill and vent openings on top. It actually worked quite well...

Next to the original piece...

I originally wasn't going to include a "handguard" section - there isn't one on the WETA version - but I decided to just go ahead and build one anyway. The trick is making it strong enough to not snap right off. The key was some 3/4" aluminum square tubing. My plan is to use a reinforcing steel rod section which will be cast into the base attachment piece for strength. The whole assembly will be epoxied and "pinned" in place. I'll take some in-progress pics when I have the mould done...

You can see where I used Apoxie-Sculpt to mimic the contour of the PVC Pipe exactly. I have used this method throughout and it is just an fantastic way to get form-fitting parts for curved surfaces...

I'm going to use the "peg and epoxy" method wherever possible to increase the joint strength...

Thanks for the support and more to come!

 

[LeeKegan]

You are doing an awesome job of design and assembly.

 

[bigd92]

that is one might powerful looking hammer.... (Can you actually beat someone up with that once it's finished? XD *JK*)

 

[M07Marauder]

that is one might powerful looking hammer.... (Can you actually beat someone up with that once it's finished? XD *JK*)

No seriously, can you ?

 

[xXMILKYCHUNKSXx]

we dont talk prices on the forums, why dont you Pm him

Oops... Sorry didn't know. Won't happen again.

 

[DogWizard]

Sorry for the lack of updates - my father had surgery about a week and a half ago and he has been staying with me while on the mend. There has been a lot of progress however...

You are doing an awesome job of design and assembly.

Thanks - coming from you that's quite a compliment. I figure that if I'm going to take the time to build and mould this, it might as well be right the first time. I've actually written a full set of step-by-step illustrated instructions so that everything will be repeatable...

that is one might powerful looking hammer.... (Can you actually beat someone up with that once it's finished? XD *JK*)

As heavy as the Prototype is, it would just about be one-swing-one-kill... very "game accurate"! I have already taken steps to lighten the future pieces for the kits so it should be a lot more manageable. The first one was my "test mule" so I overbuilt everything...

On to the updates...

I used a different type of moulding technique on these two pieces - I suspended the pieces and poured a solid mould around them. I then split the solid mould with a razor knife along the center line. Rubber bands hold it closed for making casts. It actually worked really well...

Here you can see where the steel reinforcing rod will be - all the casts will have this. I don't want the handguard snapping off too easily if it can be avoided...

Attaching the shaft - I used a shorter "stub" and epoxied the "overshaft" in place with a mating angle - much stronger. The shaft is made up of an "upper" and a "lower" section. This a whole lot easier to deal with than the whole thing at once...

And the reinforcing detail piece...

On to the shaft assembly...

The handguard base is also pegged in place...

Details laid out...

And installed...

Additional detailing using pinstriping...

And finally the leather wrapping...

The flash makes the paint look much lighter than it actually is - I'll get some better pics when it's complete. More to come...