Make Iwata Custom Micron SB Gravity Feed - II

The previous blog entry showed a portrait of an Indian yogi that I sprayed mainly with the Iwata HP-BH which is a gravity feed airbrush. The HP-BH I found to be performing even better than the CM-SB in spraying ultra fine lines. Probably because the HP-BH is gravity fed. There has been a lot of discussion about which system is better - Gravity feed or (side cup) siphon feed. It is possible to combine the best of both worlds. Testor (maker of the Aztek airbrushes) offers a side cup that fits snugly into the CM-SB, as do all separately sold, dirt cheap paint cups from Testor.

Quetzalcoatl snake-guitar

I was born in the year of the Snake in the Water lunar cycle according to the Chinese zodiac. Because of this at some point I wanted to create a guitar that had the shape of a snake. It probably was of some sort of surrogate compensation of me being unable to get some decent sounds out of such an instrument, in spite of many attempts. I never got beyond the plucking of The House of the Rising Sun accords and even then the neighbours called the police to have me arrested. As hardware and software progressed, I used various 3D programs, none of which allowed me to produce the image I had in my head, until Rhinoceros R5 and T-Splines made it possible to approximate my vision.

3D organic shapes

3D programs have evolved over the years at a tremendous pace. Today it is possible in many of them to create realistic organic shapes, somewhat similar to molding clay, which - as opposed to stone carving - allows to remove as well as add material to objects that are being built. In addition to the real life molding process, the software takes care of calculating smooth transitions between adjacent areas while automatically creating a symmetrical half of the object if so desired by the artist. Creating symmetrical shapes is therefore no longer a tedious task that consumes shiploads of the artist's time.

3D design created in Rhinoceros R5 + I-Splines

I conjure texts too! - A poem.

So far I did not feature examples of text creation in this blog. It is time for this to change. Below you see a poem (or at least an attempt to poetry) I wrote, when thinking of science 'discovery' that 97% of human DNA has no function they were able to detect, because it doesn't produce proteins which is why that incited to tempt scientists to call that 97% 'junk DNA'.

Some - mainly spiritually inclined people - suggest that humankind originally had 12 strand DNA instead of the 2 strand of which our bodily tissue consists of now. Supposing such a claim is true, it would mean that we use only 3% of 1/6th of our true potential..., which equals 0.005th of the original DNA structure, assuming extra strands do not just increase perception and skills exponentially.....

Com-Art airbrush paint

After all digital tinkering with DTP and 2D & 3D apps, it's time to pick up the airbrush once more. My mate Geerco van Strien polished the needle of the Iwata Micron and we bought a Com-Art portrait set of paints at Airbrush Services Almere. Initially I tried diluting them with water, but it appeared almost unnecessary. A test of this paint that was new to me you see below.

Com-Art test next to a 20 Euro cent coin

3D printing

3D printing has a great future. The devices are still unaffordable for the average consumer, but as the technique develops it will become within reach of the private people. Larger, complex objects will be printed by specialized companies, but simple constructions will one time soon be printed at home not too far away in the future. As is the case with all consumer goods, the possibility to produce complex objects with 3D printing devices will be increasing rapidly. This will include plastic parts, composite materials, metals (including non-ferro objects). Basically any material needed to produce useful things.

Simple 3D printed ring

Suffer from soccer

This is the Ajax logo - the new one - created in Rhino 3D version 5, mainly using the pipe command. Ajax has started the 2013 - 2014 in a horrendous way. The transfers of Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderwereld were in no way compensated. The technical management failed to anticipate their departure that has been a foreseeable event the entire preceding year. 

Working under pressure

Working under pressure. Negative pressure as you might notice. It requires more than one 3D applications between which objects can be traded using either .dxf or .3ds files. It makes working for the user easier but the computer has to work harder several 3D apps open.

Pressure gauge

High end 3D app filleting

Low end and mid range 3D application commonly struggle with producing proper filleting of curves. Some even mess up in performing such tasks. Even more so when fillets of different radii meet and / or surfaces join at angles other than perpendicular. High end 3D programs however have no trouble handling such matters. See image below where detail is in red circles.