I don’t mean the Nickle ... I mean the humor. The stories. Nobody says they laugh anymore. Nobody likes the stories. Don’t forget you come here to get away from the Crap Storm which is daily life now. Try to lighten up and enjoy the visit. Smile.

Gary

This post is about all of the small details on Barnes work. Do you wonder where these domed metals come from? Do they come 100 to a box? 6 to a bag? Have you ever considered what brings them into our physical world? Somebody had an idea. Somebody thought through all of the techniques that would be necessary to make these. How? Why? And what are they worth?

If you bent over and picked them out of the sand in Roswell, you’d start making mental notes. They seem to be some kind of Silvery metal. Nickle Silver? About 1/2” in diameter. With some kind of design on them. And the design stands up in relief above the base metal. How was that done? Obviously a laser zapped away the background material. But, the background is also ornamented with a sort of stardust design and sparkle.

The back is smooth grey. Hummm. They must have squeezed the metal into a die of sorts. Probably some Quantum Shape Shifting Press of a sort. Kinda like a powerful rolling mill. And, they needed a Die Plate. And that had to be Tool Steel and very very tough. But what and who engraved the plate? Tridum Worms from Zagmar 12, no doubt. Kinda like those old guys who used to actually hand carve steel.

Then the domed hollow form had to be raised from flat stock, or cast, or machined from solid. Well, the back is hollow. There seems to be a uniform wall thickness. Sheet stock ... off a Nebullan Trade Cruiser? The analysis says it IS Nickle Silver. Many meteors are Nickle. No doubt.

The pieces are well formed. Uniform. Most likely “they” had another die set to punch the hole. Why not drill it? Have you tried to drill a small round disc without messing it up or cutting your fingers to bloody shreds? No, they used a punch and die set. I’m sure. You can’t hold a spinning shape or apply a spinning tool without enough clamping force to damage detailed work.

Why bother? Yeah, it does look nice. It spreads out the pressure from the rivet. Really plays into the feeling of the piece. They must have been Artists. God help them. Very few people have ever figured out why they do most of the things they do....

Interesting though ...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2018 11:34PM by barnespneumatic.

Surely SOMEbody has a small interest in details still?

I LOVE the details. But, the past 2 weeks at work has kicked my @#$.

Where is everybody? Are they all on vacation?

Scott

Some of us might have been on vacation, I was off for a week...

Details... most people miss the detail and really have no clue how things are made. I am very much like minded with Gary. The simplest item can have a lot of tools behind the scene to manufacture. Take cold heading for example. Complex machines that cut and shape bolts. Simple looking product but a well thought out machine that requires a lot of engineering to make it operate correctly.

If you study a product long enough you find hints as to it was made. Look for form lines, parting lines, machining marks and etc. Experience really does help to determine how something was made as you start to see familiar markings.

Most these days have seen the tv series “how it’s made” but many still have no clue about what it takes to get a custom machine to make a particular product. Let alone the expense.

Thanks for pointing this out Gary.

Pedro