Back to milling at last

[Sawdust Maker]

Looks like fun
Can I have a turn, pretty please

[wheelinround]

Bob great work all round.

I like your quick release on the band saw for the sliders, the gutter for the waste catch all you need there is a magnetic L or P plate and it'll be less clean up time. Have you done a thread on your BS mods?

[BobL]

Bob great work all round.

I like your quick release on the band saw for the sliders, the gutter for the waste catch all you need there is a magnetic L or P plate and it'll be less clean up time. Have you done a thread on your BS mods?

BS mods are embedded in a thread originally started by oldneweng and are in here https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...=139691&page=4

Yes am using 2 rare-earth mach nets in the gutter and one in the coolant tank but metal dust still gets into the internals of the water feature pump that drives the coolant around. Am in the middle of another pump/tank build using a washing machine pump. Will post some pics once I have made some progress.

[BobL]

It finally stopped raining here so I was game enough to get the gennie and the Arbortech out and finish off a couple of tortoise heads.

Yeah I know, they look nothing like any sort of tortoise, but the Council have given me full artistic licence and they are are happy with what I have done.

The red gum one is the mamma tortoise, the other is supposed to be a juvenile and is made of LSG.
The LSG has very thick bark so when that drops off the head will be quite a bit smaller.
Necks will be cut to length when installed.




I also threw a coat of Linseed and Kero onto the stairs I made and took a couple of photos.

[artme]

It's hardly fair that one bloke gets to have so much fun AND gets paid to boot!!

[Christos]

One of the tortoise heads reminds me of a snake. Could be because they are reptiles. Hope to see the final tortoise once completed.

[BobL]

One of the tortoise heads reminds me of a snake. Could be because they are reptiles. Hope to see the final tortoise once completed.

That was a good observation Christos and is deliberate. The type of tortoise found in the area of the creek/park is the Oblong or Long necked tortoise. It was endangered for a while because a lot of them were killed by motor vehicles. The other cause of death was because they look like snakes.

[Bushmiller]

One of the tortoise heads reminds me of a snake. Could be because they are reptiles. Hope to see the final tortoise once completed.

I'm glad you mentioned that as I thought I could see a bit of Boa in the tortoise, but perhaps I had watched Fire in the Amazon once too often. Mind you, the snake's not the bit I remember best .

I'm pleased Bob could confirm it is a snake necked tortoise, thus exonerating all of us.

The project is amazing. congratulations Bob.

Regards
Paul

[1800TreeDr]

Hi Bob,

Earlier this evening I was looking at chainsaw carving tutorials and came across one for a tortoise. I thought I'd post it just in case it helps you with that job: http://www.chainsawcarve.ca/PATTERNS...Z%20Pieces.pdf

By the way, those are beautiful Eucalyptus trees in the background of your photos. Are they spotted gums?

David.

[BobL]

Hi Bob,

Earlier this evening I was looking at chainsaw carving tutorials and came across one for a tortoise. I thought I'd post it just in case it helps you with that job: http://www.chainsawcarve.ca/PATTERNS...Z%20Pieces.pdf

By the way, those are beautiful Eucalyptus trees in the background of your photos. Are they spotted gums?

David.

Yes they are SG.

The crane came yesterday and all 18 pieces (12 feet, 3 tails and 3 necks/heads) bits were lifted and concreted into place.
The heaviest piece (the big head/neck) was 600 kgs.
I was too busy to take any photos.
Am going back today to clean up so will take some photos.

[BobL]

Well here they are.

This shot shows the whole 3 as we finished up concreting the footings in yesterday.
At this stage the tortoise back was just a mount of road base that will be covered by a layer of playground rubber.
Please bear in mind I diid not design the layout - this was done by a landscape architect and the "idea"of the spaced out elements (feet, back, head) is that kids will clamber from the back of one to the foot to the neck of another etc - not my idea, I was just following instructions


The guy laying the rubber was there later in the day and finished the first layer.
The next layer of rubber will be coloured.

This is the Big Mamma turtle.
The head/neck weights 600 kg and the whole thing is 8.5 m long
Mulch will be spread to about 1/3rd of the way up the feet


This one is kind funny looking but the council guy likes it.



Here is the other little one.

[BobL]

The remaining part of the job was to carve a 50 mm deep x 350 mm diameter "dish" into one of the flat topped logs.

The simple jig I used is pretty self explanatory




It took me ages as I used a 1/2 diameter bit and the 52 mm long one I brought along to do the job was too long at the start as I could not raise it up into the router to get a start so I had to go home and get a shorter one.

Then 8 x 1/4" passes later and couple of 1/8th in passes to finish up and a large round over bit around the edge.
I think it turned out OK.

[Willy Nelson]

Hello Bob
I like the way you did that, and it looks good, but what is the purpose of the dish?
Willy

[BobL]

Hello Bob
I like the way you did that, and it looks good, but what is the purpose of the dish?
Willy

Yes I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.
I was going to whack it onto my lathe but I doubt there's anything around that could handle that size piece of wood in that dimension.

RE: Use
According to the Landscape architect.

"The dish will act as a receptacle for whatever the children, undertaking unstructured play in the playground, desire it to be"
For some it will be a place to play with toys, a swimming pool for a barbie and ken gathering perhaps, am I showing my age?
For others it will be a place to place collections of native flora nuts etc

Unfortunately the most likely outcome I can see is that it will fill up with leaves, sand and water and probably breed a few mozzies.

[Oldneweng]

I also like the artistic carving you did on the side of that log Bob.

Dean