Monday, October 16, 2017

The Tin Man Project Is Completed!

I am happy to report that I have finished the Tin Man project in the workshop this afternoon. It has not been a terribly difficult project to design or build which is always good and the end result was worth the effort.  So let me show you how it all turned out. 

As you can see the Tin Man has a great big grin on his face to match the one that is on my face now that the project has been completed.  He stands 30" tall and has over 200 parts.  The body was made out of fiberglass, the arms and legs are PVC pipe, and everything else was 3D printed except for nuts, bolts and a little wood for the axe handle.  In his right hand he is holding his trusty oil can and of course he had to have an axe that is sitting next to him.  

Here all off the parts laid about before I started the final assembly of the Tin Man which took around 2 hours to complete.  The axe is around 12" inches long with a real wooden handle and the head of the axe being 3D printed in ABS plastic.  I am very happy how this turned out.  


Here's a closer look at the axe along with the little oil can for the Tin Man.  I was lucky enough to track down actual photos of the oil can so I could model it in Fusion 360 CAD software and then 3D print it in parts.  I then sanded everything smooth and glued it together and painted it silver. 


The only parts that are glued in place on the Tin man is his big toothy smile and his big red heart.  Lots of planning went into this project so I am happy once again that my efforts worked out the way they did.  This will be a great lawn ornament and I suspect he will look even better once he has been out in the weather for a few months.  It will make him look a lot older but if he every gets to be to worn looking it is an easy matter of taking him apart and repainting him if need be. 

I was happy that I was able to take the photos that you see here in the workshop today.  I was not sure he could stand up on his own. But for use in a yard I have a wooden dowel that would be pounded into the ground to support him by using a receiving tube that runs up the inside of his back that the dowel would slide into.  This will keep him standing even in a very strong wind.  I suspect though that even if the Tin Man fell over in a lawn the worst that would happen is that he might get dirty.  A very sturdy fellow to say the least.  Another project that I can cross off the list of ideas that keep coming up in my head.  Enjoy the photos and have a good day in your shop as well. 

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