free figure head

[stoneyreef]

I would like to add a project to my portfolio for my CNC shop. That is, a bow figure carving for your boat.

There are a couple of catches, You would need to provide a digitized STL or OBJ 3d file to be machined. The object is then sliced in the software and pieces are machined and you have to laminate them back together. Lastly you have to buy the materials. The machine time, tooling, and set up I will do for free.

My machine can handle up to 8' in length.

Anyone interested?

[JimConlin]

Tell me again what I don't buy.

[TimH]

setup :)

Of course if you are paying for machine time and tooling I am sure setup is already figured in.

[George Roberts]

Perhaps the reading is:

"Lastly you have to buy the materials."

"The machine time, tooling, and set up I will do for free."

[Bob Cleek]

Except for the guy with "Raw Faith," who already has a figurehead, I doubt if there is anyone in here who owns a boat that would properly carry one. Nothing, absolutely nothing, looks so lubberly and ridiculous as a figurehead on a vessel that shouldn't be carrying one. And besides, any vessel that should carry a figurehead, was launched with one.

[stoneyreef]

You provide the Digital files and the materials.

[tomlarkin]

Nothing, absolutely nothing, looks so lubberly and ridiculous as a figurehead on a vessel that shouldn't be carrying one.

I disagree. This would improve almost any boat :D
http://donutboat.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/pb220035_thumb.jpg

[Flitch]

I disagree too. Preliminary drawings of my figurehead look great on my boat too. Just waiting to get my bowsprit installed...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2930002217_6fa532f497.jpg

[Jim Ledger]

Nice!

Silicone Walnut? :D

[P.L.Lenihan]

Them guys at Dupont sure got the grain right! :)

[mobjack68]

According to my wife...I am the figurehead!!

[johngsandusky]

If I put a figurehead on WS, it would be small, and nonhuman. An eagle or a dolphin maybe.
But she looks so clean with her clipper bow and sprit unadorned.

[Bob Cleek]

I disagree. This would improve almost any boat :D
http://donutboat.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/pb220035_thumb.jpg

Like I said....

THIS is a figurehead properly proportioned to the vessel that carries it.

http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/MoreImages7/FigureheadSailingShipElissa.jpg

The first picture above is kitsch.

[J. Dillon]

Bob , thats got to be the Cutty Sark.

What's this one ?

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9210/nlondonfigurehead1.jpg

[S/V Laura Ellen]

There was a photo of a dolphin figurehead with googly eyes posted a few years ago. That would look good on most boats!:D

[stoneyreef]

Like I said....

THIS is a figurehead properly proportioned to the vessel that carries it.




This is CNC, you can scale the file to any size you want it, so you could have a properly proportioned figure head for a damn 3 foot row boat if you wanted.

[Dave_C]

...
There are a couple of catches, You would need to provide a digitized STL or OBJ 3d file to be machined. The object is then sliced in the software and pieces are machined and you have to laminate them back together. Lastly you have to buy the materials. The machine time, tooling, and set up I will do for free.


Doesn't anyone do anything by hand anymore? Jay Hanna never mentioned anything about no; " digitized STL or OBJ 3d files".

[switters]

Stoneyreef,

Thank you for your offer, although I dont want to put a figure head on any of my small boats at this time. I hope you are not put off by the reception you received on this thread, as I'm sure several of us would like to see images of the finished product if you get the opportunity to make one. That may even change a few minds.

Meanwhile, perhaps someone should start an entirely different thread about the relative merits of figure on small wooden craft instead of screwing this one up which did not solicit any aesthetic opinions.

Good day, and good luck.

[Deadwood]

I would love to see the finished product.

I am building a CNC router for myself right now, and plan to make many carvings and such for the boat I will eventually build.

[Bob Cleek]

This is CNC, you can scale the file to any size you want it, so you could have a properly proportioned figure head for a damn 3 foot row boat if you wanted.

And a figurehead on a 3 foot rowboat would look pretty stupid, wouldn't it?

[Bob Cleek]

Dillon, I haven't a clue on that one. I'd be guessing if I said it was the "King Something-or-other." LOL I'd guess it's a relatively modern built vessel. I've never seen a figurehead with bowsprit stays fastened to the figurehead itself. The old-time figureheads were all designed to be rather easily detachable so they could be dismounted for refinishing, or, sometimes, to be stored below out of harm's way on long voyages.

http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/resources/14/assets/images/historic_photographs/small/Nannie_small.jpg

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/upload/img_400/D4879_2.JPG

I don't know what ship the figurehead photo I used is on. It was just a good looking figurehead I googled up. The above photos are Cutty Sark's figureheads, which are rather famous, actually. They portray the witch "Nanny" ("Cutty Sark" is a reference to the slip she wears), holding Tam O'Shanter's horse's tail, which was all she was able to grab as he avoided her clutches... or something like that. The tail is made from unlayed rope, which was renewed regularly. The original (upper) is perserved in a museum. The ship wears a subsequent interpretation. The differences are subtle, but reflect the times. The earlier model is a bit zoftig, while the newer one is slimmer. The newer one also wears a "witchy" expression, in keeping with the content of the Robert Burns poem.

It's all from a Scottish poem, and I never could figure out Scottish poems. There's a full explanation on the Cutty Sark website. Also, there's a link there to the Cutty Sark Museum's figurehead collection, which is the largest in the world. Some time back, before the fire, I visited Cutty Sark and checked out all the figureheads, which were displayed in the hold. Some were really amazing. It was the nautical equivalent of a cathederal full of statues!

http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.qtbiwnyisuwhrfeb&pageId=223

[MiddleAgesMan]

A one-foot tall figure head on a 3 foot rowboat would look silly but a 1/4 inch one on a 3 foot model of say, Cutty Sark, would probably look just hunky dory.

[almeyer]

Like I said....

THIS is a figurehead properly proportioned to the vessel that carries it.

http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/MoreImages7/FigureheadSailingShipElissa.jpg

The first picture above is kitsch.

Bob, that figurehead is on the Barque Elissa, residing in Galveston. It's iron-hulled, not wood, but still a beautiful ship.
Al

[bob z]

Is the offer still good? If there's still a running I'll try learning a new program and should have something by the weekend. Is there a time limit?

Of course a figurehead will not look good on my craft to most people here, but most people here dislike the Vacationer anyway. To each his own, I'm building this boat to my tastes, and to no one else.

Anyway, I believe we have the software at work to create 3D models and I'd like to try to come up with something unique if it's still open. EVEN if it's for someone else's boat.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4091177161_18388cb361.jpg

[stoneyreef]

Yes, no one has taken me up on the offer yet.

I am assuming you are going to design it in 2.5 dimensions with the bottom being flat for attachment?

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Yes, no one has taken me up on the offer yet.

I am assuming you are going to design it in 2.5 dimensions with the bottom being flat for attachment?

I don't need/want a figurehead, but I would be interested to see the results. Keep us posted.

[Dave_C]

....I've never seen a figurehead with bowsprit stays fastened to the figurehead itself. The old-time figureheads were all designed to be rather easily detachable so they could be dismounted for refinishing, or, sometimes, to be stored below out of harm's way on long voyages.

Same as with billetheads. The USS Constitution Museum has Constitution's "War" billethead on display inside. The ship normally carries her "peace time" billethead. It was evidently the practice of the times to swap them when war broke out. The war billethead is quite striking and I particularly liked the dragons carved on it and was considering making a smaller scale copy. Pictures have proven to be hard to come by online though except for the poor images on this site;

http://www.polkcounty.org/timonier/speaks/book06.html

WIll probably have to sneak a camera into the museum if I want a good photograph.


EDIT****

Nevermind, found one;

http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/Fett713/Boston%20Trip/?action=view&current=DSC00522.jpg