CONQUERGOOD CREATIVE
  • Home
  • Automata Blog
  • Automata Gallery
    • The Balsam Lake Elevator Co. >
      • A Tour of the Hoist Room
      • The Key BLEC Employees
    • DJ's Bee Bop Palooza >
      • Roles of Bees in a Hive
      • The Bee Bop Characters
    • Swimming With The Dolphins
    • Tubing The River Styx
    • A Boat, A Boy, And A Dog
    • Parking Lot Wars
    • The Invisible Audiophile
    • Black Bear Bliss
    • The Chase
    • Baa Baa Bad Sheep! >
      • Baa Baa Bad Sheep Photo Gallery
    • The Penguins' Revenge
    • Cirque de Poulet
    • I'm Thinking & Laura
    • The Bipolar Brain
    • Tempest in a Teacup
    • Inner Demon
    • Sewer Rat Symphony >
      • Musican Profiles
    • The Captive
    • Bored Out of My Skin
    • Waiting at the Clinic
    • The Diagnosis
    • Snowbirds
    • The Not So Early Bird - The Common Sleptin
    • 1 HP Heart Pump
    • The Trojan Cat
    • 7-1/2 Horsepower
    • Howdy!
    • The Bus Stop
    • Rhinoceros Racing
    • It's an Uphill Battle
    • When an MRI Goes Badly
    • A Moment of Silence
    • Who Slew the Chicken?
    • The Dentist's Office
    • Owl Hijinx
    • Horse of a Different Colour >
      • Horse of a Different Colour Features & Specs
      • Horse of a Different Colour Photo Gallery
    • March of the Penguins
    • The Extraction >
      • The Extraction Media Gallery
    • Poultry in Motion
    • School's Out!
    • Pond Life >
      • Pond Life Photo Gallery
    • Rat Co. >
      • Rat Co. Employee Profiles
      • Rat Co. Photo Gallery
    • Happy Birthday Daddy! >
      • Happy Features & Specs
      • Happy Birthday Photo Gallery
    • The Raving Fans
    • The Waiting Room >
      • Waiting Room Photo Gallery
    • Cottage Cabernet
    • Neighbourhood Watch
    • Check Please!
    • Fishing >
      • Fishing Photo Gallery
      • The Mechanism
      • Brutus the Catfish
      • Crawford the Crayfish
      • Bigmouth the Largemouth Bass
      • Buddy the Chocolate Lab
      • Gertrude and Heathcliff
    • Ian's African Lion Safari
    • Call Before You Dig >
      • Features & Specs
    • Crossing The Mara >
      • Features & Specs
    • Migrating Caribou >
      • Features & Specs
    • Rocket Pack Raccoon
    • Urban Terrorists >
      • Exploring the Urban Terrorists
      • Features & Specs
    • Top Gun
    • Miss Communication
    • Hula Hoop Girl
    • Java Jane
    • The Cranky Caterpillar
    • A Case in Point...
    • The Leafs Score!
    • Enough With The Fish!
  • Learning Centre
  • Automata Store
  • Workshop Tour!
    • Sanding
    • Drilling
    • Cutting
    • Measurement
    • Carving Tools
    • Hand Tools
    • Working With Brass
    • Work & Assembly Areas
  • Mechanisms, Tip & Tricks
    • The Why and How Of It!
  • Who Am I?
    • Making Automata
  • Contact Me
  • In The News
  • Links
  • The South Bay Railway
    • Murray's Mill
    • Rivers, Creeks & Ponds
    • Early Days Photo Gallery
    • Layout Photo Gallery
    • Layout
  • Totems
  • Some Other Small Projects
    • Misc Projects
  • Driving Home for Christmas
    • Designing the Float
    • A Penguin Prototype
    • The Human Flock
    • The Float Penguins
    • The Float Video
  • Members Page

Al's Automata Blog

Get a Handle On It!

4/27/2013

0 Comments

 
I selected a handle design and set in to build it today. The result is a muskellunge, Mishe-Nahma, whose name is taken from the song of Hiawatha. Here is the finished photo. Tomorrow it will get glued on to the input shaft and the Fishing automata will be virtually complete.
Picture
0 Comments

So Close Now!

4/25/2013

0 Comments

 
Finally I am getting close to completion. I have a few jobs left, feet for the gulls, a little interference fitting to solve, the fishing line and bobber to complete, and a handle to design. Right now I am leaning toward a fish for the handle. I took a video of the mechanism working before I put the dock on top so I could describe how it works. I will post on my website when edited and I have completed the whole thing.  Hopefully I'll get back into the shop and finish up this week.
Picture
0 Comments

Gull Darn It!

4/25/2013

0 Comments

 
If you follow the blog you might remember that I posted a photo on February 16th of a seagull. It was one of the first components I build for the "Fishing" automata to see if I could build a small enough working mechanism to fit inside. Here it is two months later and the second gull is the last character I have made for the piece. Here is a short video clip of Gertrude and Heathcliff standing on the dock. I have yet to add feet.
0 Comments

Boy O' Boy

4/20/2013

0 Comments

 
Hopefully I have put the last of the details on Billy the fishing boy. All the mechanical linkages have been test fitted for the upper characters. You may see the follower for the eye movement and shaft to turn Billy's head inside the glass on the right side. On the left is the follower to make his right arm rise and fall.  His left arm is attached to the dock. It moves side to side.

There has been a lot more fitting of this piece than expected. In an effort to keep things compact in the piece I have not left much room for error, let alone fat fingers.

P.S. The shoes are Converse, like the ones I had as a kid.

Picture
0 Comments

Final Assembly of Fishing!

4/15/2013

0 Comments

 
Getting around to the final assembly after cutting a new case for the automata. Unfortunately the new box was not quite an exact replica of the previous one so some adjustments were needed. There is likely a lesson learned here! As a result I have had to add a few 1/32" shims under a few of the pedestals to make the mechanism run freely. You can see one of them being fitted under the centre pedestal in the photo.
Picture
0 Comments

He's Alive!

4/15/2013

0 Comments

 
The face finally got some paint, so I am posting a shot of the head of my recent automata project so you can see the eye movement since the eyeballs are painted. I Made a simple mouth only because I felt more detail would not be in balance with the  rest of the head details.

Trying to put a push on this week to finish!
0 Comments

Meanwhile on the Railroad...

4/10/2013

0 Comments

 
It seems we are paying for a few mild winters with a late spring this year around here. As you can see the South Bay Railway is still buried under some ice and snow. I usually like to get out early and pick up some of the millions of cedar droppings that find their way onto the layout in the fall and winter before the ground completely thaws, but it is still too early. Still 10" of ice on the lake! 

Cedar leaves/needles are tough to rake so believe it or not I use a vacuum to suck them up, being careful not to suck up ballast as I go. I have found a blower can be pretty destructive if not handled carefully!

Forecast ice pellets, snow and freezing rain for the next few days! Generally not weather conducive to garden railroading.  Oh well one day soon...
Picture
0 Comments

Still at it!

4/10/2013

0 Comments

 
No shop time this week, so there is not much new to show you. when I was last at work I was tuning up all the mechanism actions, adding counter weights and linkages in the prototype before I moved the guts into the final case. Its getting a little crowded in a couple of areas, in particular in the area where Bigmouth the bass resides. But I think things are getting worked out. I'll be back at it on Saturday!
Picture
0 Comments

A Few Days of Miscelleany

4/3/2013

1 Comment

 
I've been spending a few days in the shop crunching away on the final prototype of the "Fishing" automata piece. Most of the time has been spent finishing the fisherman including the active components inside the body that make his arms move.

Here's a photo from the shop with the figure mostly completed. Perhaps a little more detail carving to go. He is not placed in hid final position in the photo.
Automata construction fisherman conquergood creative
The fishing rod is a product of the last few days. It is made partly from wood and partly from brass rod. The eyes for the line were made from soldering smaller brass wires bent in circles onto the rod pole. It is perhaps a little short for scale but I wanted to keep the weight down and have it not stick out to much. 
Automata fishing rod
The fingers of his right hand have a brass tube inserted so that the fishing line that passes through the hand will not cut into the basswood fingers. You can see the insert in the photo below.
Picture
1 Comment

    Why Automata?

    Automata is a creative blend of my life interests , engineering, art  and woodworking. 

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    July 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    Automata
    Call Before You Dig
    Construction
    Fish
    Folk Art
    Garden
    Mechanism
    Puzzles
    Raccoon
    Railway
    Urban Terrorists
    Using Counterweights

    RSS Feed

Conquergood Creative
Home     Contact    About   
  • Home
  • Automata Blog
  • Automata Gallery
    • The Balsam Lake Elevator Co. >
      • A Tour of the Hoist Room
      • The Key BLEC Employees
    • DJ's Bee Bop Palooza >
      • Roles of Bees in a Hive
      • The Bee Bop Characters
    • Swimming With The Dolphins
    • Tubing The River Styx
    • A Boat, A Boy, And A Dog
    • Parking Lot Wars
    • The Invisible Audiophile
    • Black Bear Bliss
    • The Chase
    • Baa Baa Bad Sheep! >
      • Baa Baa Bad Sheep Photo Gallery
    • The Penguins' Revenge
    • Cirque de Poulet
    • I'm Thinking & Laura
    • The Bipolar Brain
    • Tempest in a Teacup
    • Inner Demon
    • Sewer Rat Symphony >
      • Musican Profiles
    • The Captive
    • Bored Out of My Skin
    • Waiting at the Clinic
    • The Diagnosis
    • Snowbirds
    • The Not So Early Bird - The Common Sleptin
    • 1 HP Heart Pump
    • The Trojan Cat
    • 7-1/2 Horsepower
    • Howdy!
    • The Bus Stop
    • Rhinoceros Racing
    • It's an Uphill Battle
    • When an MRI Goes Badly
    • A Moment of Silence
    • Who Slew the Chicken?
    • The Dentist's Office
    • Owl Hijinx
    • Horse of a Different Colour >
      • Horse of a Different Colour Features & Specs
      • Horse of a Different Colour Photo Gallery
    • March of the Penguins
    • The Extraction >
      • The Extraction Media Gallery
    • Poultry in Motion
    • School's Out!
    • Pond Life >
      • Pond Life Photo Gallery
    • Rat Co. >
      • Rat Co. Employee Profiles
      • Rat Co. Photo Gallery
    • Happy Birthday Daddy! >
      • Happy Features & Specs
      • Happy Birthday Photo Gallery
    • The Raving Fans
    • The Waiting Room >
      • Waiting Room Photo Gallery
    • Cottage Cabernet
    • Neighbourhood Watch
    • Check Please!
    • Fishing >
      • Fishing Photo Gallery
      • The Mechanism
      • Brutus the Catfish
      • Crawford the Crayfish
      • Bigmouth the Largemouth Bass
      • Buddy the Chocolate Lab
      • Gertrude and Heathcliff
    • Ian's African Lion Safari
    • Call Before You Dig >
      • Features & Specs
    • Crossing The Mara >
      • Features & Specs
    • Migrating Caribou >
      • Features & Specs
    • Rocket Pack Raccoon
    • Urban Terrorists >
      • Exploring the Urban Terrorists
      • Features & Specs
    • Top Gun
    • Miss Communication
    • Hula Hoop Girl
    • Java Jane
    • The Cranky Caterpillar
    • A Case in Point...
    • The Leafs Score!
    • Enough With The Fish!
  • Learning Centre
  • Automata Store
  • Workshop Tour!
    • Sanding
    • Drilling
    • Cutting
    • Measurement
    • Carving Tools
    • Hand Tools
    • Working With Brass
    • Work & Assembly Areas
  • Mechanisms, Tip & Tricks
    • The Why and How Of It!
  • Who Am I?
    • Making Automata
  • Contact Me
  • In The News
  • Links
  • The South Bay Railway
    • Murray's Mill
    • Rivers, Creeks & Ponds
    • Early Days Photo Gallery
    • Layout Photo Gallery
    • Layout
  • Totems
  • Some Other Small Projects
    • Misc Projects
  • Driving Home for Christmas
    • Designing the Float
    • A Penguin Prototype
    • The Human Flock
    • The Float Penguins
    • The Float Video
  • Members Page