Previous posts have focused on the rocket that is the center column for our orrery. The one pictured here doesn't have the bottom section with the fins, but our new one does. Now that the rocket has been carved and the holes bored into it to accept the drive tubes, it can be put aside for a bit and we move on to the next section - The arms.

Orrery Model Top and Arms

Back to the arms. They need to be very strong - the piece is going into a college, where no doubt, there will be drunken college students attempting to take Jupiter home with them. A lot of thought and design has gone into this orrery to make it "Student-Proof", as best we can anyway... Since they're pretty thin, we've chosen to make the arms out of carbon fiber (what they make jet fighters out of, and the new SpaceShip One) It's extremely sturdy, and very lightweight. Lightweight matters because the planets themselves, being blown glass, are going to be on the heavy side and we want to make sure all that weight off of one side of the rocket doesn't screw up its ability to spin freely, so wherever we can make something lighter, it's a good thing.

But how do we make an arm from this mystical "Carbon Fiber"? We can get CF in various forms from online stores that sell to homemade airplane makers, or car hobbyists. It comes in rod, tube, tape or a fabric. Hmmm.... Fabric.... I used to work professionally as a costume designer for theatres, and have worked with fabric all my life. I could use my fabric knowledge with this new technique! How hard could it be?

Celesital Winds Carbon Fiber & Blown Glass Mobile

Now here is a closeup of those feather spars before I did the final trim work on them. You can see that it is a cross weave fabric. It's a very thick fabric, and the weave is loose so it tends to wiggle all over the place. It is also highly toxic, so gloves, goggles and a mask are required. I first make a long pattern of what the full piece needs to be and then carefully cut the CF to match.

The feather shape is laid out on plastic in a specially designed mold that will hold it in its "feather" shape until it's set. It is wrapped around a central tube, which gives it stability and also a way for us to pass the wiring needed for each planet, and then soaked with a two part epoxy glue. The plastic is then rolled over the top, sealing the piece inside. I then squeegee out the excess glue and smooth it under the plastic so that there aren't any bubbles or dry spots. I add weights to hold it in the tight curve shape. Then it's just a matter of waiting for the epoxy to set up. I check on it often during the next 12 hours to make sure nothing is coming loose or slipping.

Carbon Fiber Spars for Celestial Winds

That's the plan. We'll see how it goes! How hard could it be?

Peace,
Joy

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2. New Kickstarter Project
3. The Rocket is Complete!

Steampunk Rocket with Fins in Cherry Wood

Anyways, the fins were roughed out with the saws, but then mostly hand carved to shape on a flat belt sander. I often use the end of the sander to do curves and ripples, so used that to get the curve on the underside of each fin to match each other.

They are just loosely propped in place in the photo. I have a lot of work to do on the rocket body before I can finally attach the fins. In fact, since I've taken this photo, the rocket is now cut into its 10 pieces along the guidelines you can see above. Each little piece will then get a slight channel on each end for the bearing that goes between, and then will get a hole bored through the center to accept the guide tube. When they're all cut, the tubes will nest inside each other and rotate on the bearings, hopefully centered on each other .....

I can't yet cut the channels and bore the holes, as my bearings have not yet arrived. So I move on to another section of the project - the motor drive!

Peace,
Joy

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1. A Rocket is Born!
2. Continuing the Rocket for the Orrery
3. Blown Glass Rocket Ship Awards

It's finally stopped storming, so I can continue to work on building my rocket ship today. Why does it matter if it's storming? Some of my equipment (lathe, drill press among other stuff) is out on a covered deck. The covers keep them protected when it rains, but I'm not too good with my hands when it's cold and wet. I have very low blood pressure, so if my hands get cold, they don't work very well, and that's not something you want happening when you're working with a high speed drill press, or have a large gouge aiming at a huge piece of rapidly spinning wood on a lathe.

So when my hands start giving me trouble, I choose warmer, indoor work, which I certainly have enough of.

But I WANT to get this rocket done! And today is warm(er) and dry, so I'm going to take advantage of it!

Turned Rocket & Raw Stock

The rocket and the fins are carved from solid Cherry, a hard and beautiful wood. One of my favorites to work. Once I get the fins carved and fit and make sure that the rocket stands like it's supposed to, I'll start doing more tooling to the rocket body itself, but that's for another post. One thing at a time!

Peace,
Joy

Related Posts

1. Next for the Orrery Project
2. A Rocket is Born!
3. The Rocket is Complete!