Mixed Metals Wall Sculpture for the Hartford Hilton
The many steps to completion
Scan in drawing and resize with Photoshop to 54” high x 72” wideProject onto red paper – trace. Do this twice – normal and reversed, on both sides of the paper.
Lay mylar onto the design – trace out each piece – decide which gets which finish - then cut out
Lay mylar on the metal and plasma cut each piece
Finish all surfaces and edges with grinder, polisher, etc
Check all pieces and redo edges as necessary
Put down a long strip of clean clear mylar onto the traced design
Lay the pieces on top, one at a time and trace onto the mylar
Pull up the mylar and the red paper – flip over the red paper for the reverse tracing and lay down the mylar again – but upside down this time
Decide where the holes and rods are going to go
Mark each piece accordingly – be extra careful not to cut a hole in any top pieces
Cut holes in all pieces that are not getting bent
Mark all the pieces that will be getting bent
Cut some aluminum and bend them accordingly – decide if non-vertical bends will distort the shapes of the pieces too much – may have to stick with vertical bends only
Lay out the bent aluminum and try to line up the pieces above them and find the holes to mark where the nuts will go
Laying out the bent pieces – may need supports under each end and under the middle
How to weld the nuts to the bent pieces – stack a 4” block of wood next to the screw rod – but steel on top – use a 90 degree magnet to hold it in place – weld under and around the nut
Another idea – weld the nut to a hinge! That might actually work
Another idea – easier - weld the nut to a small piece of bronze – then weld the nut-bronze ensemble to the steel – then bend the bronze by hand to create the correct right angle finally mig some wire under the bent bronze to hold it in place
Another idea – you might have to reverse the order – instead of cutting the holes first, weld the nuts on first, since those will make the bent pieces shift dimensionally. Then, cut some aluminum or plexi to locate the holes and then use that as a substitute in the design for the bent piece – then locate the holes for the other pieces and proceed as normally
Key thought – the copper pipe risers must be angle-cut to work with the angle of the bent metal
Key thought – must be sure to keep the depth under 4”, including the wood and the EZ Bar.
Do final finishing of all parts – use fresh media for each metal – flame color the sanded bronze - blast off with air and then lacquer the backs first - dry for at least two hours - after all nuts are welded and holes are cut and the structure has been pre assembled at least once
Then clean, polish and lacquer the fronts of all the pieces – dry two more hours – put a heater on them to speed up the process
The copper risers must also all be lacquered
When doing final assembly, use thread locker
After final assembly – wax top coat
Photograph
Comments
I wish I had cut those bolts before boxing it up. I left them on thinking that I might have to change out the spacers or use a straw or a small tube as a spacer to push a piece of metal into a flatter plane.
I wish I had wire brushed the Aluminum mounting structure to improve the visual esthetic.
Sanded surfaces were difficult to get looking good. Because of the texture, the impulse is to go for ‘perfect’. They were very susceptible to scratching
A better surface would have been a hydraulically-pressed surface, such as a ball peen pattern or some other pattern. This would have
Hid brazing or welding marks better
Would have impeded warpage
Strengthened the thin metal – the .050 copper particularly needed to be rigidified
Other patterns – lines, mini-rectangles,
I should have used flux to braze bronze to bronze and bronze to copper. I also should have used the Harris torch – it gets hotter than the Meco
The si-bronze probably will stick to copper if I get the heat/trim higher
Maybe I over-did the MiGing – I could have just down 4 tacks and that should have been enough
I wish I had waxed each piece, then wrapped it in Saran wrap, then taped on mylar
How else could I have constructed the piece? I could have used a more elaborate skeleton, perhaps a decorative skeleton that was also occasionally visible from the front.
I could have used the Hydraulic press to flatten out the convexities in the #3 copper piece, as well as the warpage in the SS pieces
Thoughts about soldering – that should work. But how could I have kept both metals flat and parallel? Brazing would feel safer to me.
What ultimately worked for me with the bent pieces and the risers was to support a 48” level on blocks 3” above the piece. Then I could accurately measure how high a riser should be. I had to allow about 1.75” – 2” for the bent –1 pieces touching the table, then everything else came up from there. That worked, though I should have put a block of wood under the bend of the 7-1 piece. That would have brought down the outside edge and given a bigger bend in the middle. As it is, the outside edge of the 7-1 piece is probably touching the wall.
For the hinge strips, I ended up using 1” wide 24 gauge stainless steel strips, folded in two to make the double thick, then given a 3/8” hole with the plasma cutter for the nuts and thread rod.
For a really professional appearance, I should have finished and lacquered the backs as well.
I waxed the copper risers – hopefully this will keep them from turning color. I should have cleaned and fine-sanded them all first, before cutting
The aluminum channel worked great for the back. I had to cut off quite a bit with the table saw. That requires gloves and a face shield. Gluing in the wood was brilliant – this allowed me to screw on the cleats.
I wish I had written my name on the 8-2 piece with the plasma gouger
I never used thread locker – I’m confident that the lock washers will do the job
That Kamar varnish was very unsatisfactory. Krylon is better. Incralac is probably best.
More Comments
I wish I hadn’t used Kamar Varnish – the Renaissance Wax actually strips off the Kamar if it is allowed to sit on it too long! (The Ron Young wax isn’t so bad.) I used Kamar because my tests showed that it had better adhesion to copper than did the Crystal Clear. But that must be because it is a softer, more open film. The Crystal Clear is harder, more solvent and abrasion resistant, but also less flexible. I wonder if I could do Kamar as the undercoat, let it dry half an hour, and then spray the Crystal Clear on top.The MIG welding really dented and distorted the front surfaces. I shouldn’t have done it for such duration in one place on that thin metal. I should have done 1-2 seconds, then let it cool. I did use the 98 power setting but perhaps the Trim level was too high (1.0). I need to experiment with other settings. I did successfully braze the bronze strips to one stainless steel piece, but none held on the second piece – was the heat on the stainless steel too low?
The brazing distorted the surface of the thin copper. I should have bought some thicker .062 copper, and then ground back the distortions
The 180 sanded surface really shows all the imperfections. The Roloc 80 surface would have hid all the imperfections. A grinder or wire-brushed surface would have hid the imperfections better also.
I learned that I had to protect the fronts of the pieces that touched the mylar as I assembled the wall sculpture – otherwise they get scuffed up. Taping on t-shirt material solved the problem.
I wish I hadn’t torched the bronze #7 piece so extensively, the second time around. It looked like I was getting some great blues, but after it was sprayed, they all turned black. Over-torching lost the beautiful light blues and caused the metal to really warp and distort.
I should have allowed myself 10-12 days to do the complete project. 7 was not enough, especially with my not knowing how to solve all the problems and the unexpected problems inherent in the learning curve.
Good ideas – the cleat idea works great. A 70 lb. Wall sculpture is supported by 18 screws, which is 4 lbs per screws.
The thin bronze hinges worked well!
The struts connecting the two mounting boards added necessary rigidity.
Mounting the wall sculpture on the board made it easy to handle and move around. Putting the handles and door stops on the board make it easier to carry.
The double sheet of mylar worked well – one for the front and one for the back. The registration holes in the four corners helped as well. Setting up the 60” x 98” table worked very well too. The red paper background worked well.
I protected the fronts of the bent pieces with mylar while doing the bending – that worked well.
The mixed metal look is a good one.
Next time, I should really consider mounting everything to a metal skeleton will detachable legs. These wall sculptures need to be inherently rigid.
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