Oh gosh I am so slow

So I’ve had a string of bad luck in the shop lately.  I’ve got three or four custom projects going right now, and in the past couple of weeks I’ve had little setbacks on every one of them.  Allow me to take you on a journey of disappointment.

First, and of interest to the most people, is the ever-looming question of sound.  I took one of the toys apart, figured out a parts arrangement that solves the power issue (my current sonics run on 12V, the toys run on three 1.5V button cells).  I got everything together, and somewhere along the line I either damaged the chip or got my wires mixed up, because the particular arrangement pictured here does nothing but emit a few quiet creaks when powered.  If anyone has one of the toys and could compare my layout to one that works, I’d much appreciate it.  The housing is clear, so you wouldn’t have to damage anything.

Next is this super-awesome curvy brass number.  Except for the fact that I’ve been working on it for months and months (its future owner has been inhumanly patient with me), it’s come along really well.  The last thing I have to do is add some windows.  Here’s attempt number one:

Eww, right?  What about number two?

Getting closer, but no.  And the first time I tried to cut that piece it jumped out of the chuck and got completely mangled.  Of course, I didn’t think to buy a spare, so I had to wait another week to try again.

Next is a reproduction of Gary Seven’s Servo from TOS  episode ‘Assignment: Earth’.  I thought it would be simple, and for the most part it was.  First I break a tap, thankfully not putting out either of my eyes, then I find out I may have made the whole thing too small.  Almost everything is done except its little antennae.  I can do the springy metal bits, but I just don’t have room for the balls on the end of them.  I guess I’ve just got to find some smaller balls.  *ahem*

I’ll be making another of the curvy brass sonics, but this one will have a small inlay piece in Gallifreyan.  The overall shape is lovely, but I have yet to find a good way to capture all the small detail.  I can’t do it with a chisel, I can’t do it with a marker, and I can’t do it with paint.  At this point it’s between either my wife hand painting it (she’s the artsy type), or me doing it in several even smaller aluminum pieces.  I have never worked with anything quite this small before.  It’s a ‘learning experience’.

The only good news I have is that I have five standard sonics ready to ship.  Blue LED, clear dome, no sound.  I’ve had a few emails about them (that I really should have replied to sooner, sorry guys) so I wanted to make sure they were ready before I packed up the shop.

Which leads me into the next bit of news:  We’re picking up the keys to our new house tomorrow so a) the shop will be closed for the next few weeks while I move everything from my huge workshop into a little metal shed, and b) HECK YEAH HOMEOWNERS!  

Oh, and on a side note, thanks to my local thrift store having a good few used Nerf guns lately, I’ve started dabbling in repaints.  So, there’s that, for whatever it’s worth.

I hope I don’t sound too disappointed; I’m not.  I just thought I’d try to explain why it’s been five months since my last post and I’ve had nearly nothing finished since then.  Lots of concurrent projects all with their own time-consuming problems.  We’ll get there though.  Thank you everyone for being so patient.