Orgone Research » Art

Lamp Finial

Matt — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:15:34 +0000

For a time, I built and sold lamps for a living. This is a large cubic die that I modified into a finial.

I would thread two 1/4″ fine thread nuts onto a bolt such that they abutted each other, or nearly so. Then I MIG welded the joint together in three spots. Inevitably, the heat of welding would make the threads misalign, so I would run a tap through the newly created coupling nut.

Why use two nuts and not one? Because only one nut would not have enough thread engagement to prevent wobble when the finial was on the harp stud. Two nuts also helped maintain vertical alignment in the die itself.

Then I would drill out a hole in the die big enough for the coupling nut to fit in. I would seal the end of the nut that went into the die with tape to prevent the adhesive from fouling the threads.

The adhesive was a compound of graphite and epoxy. Once the nut was set in place with the adhesive, I would tape the entire face and set the “5″ side of the die down. If things worked out right, the adhesive would flow downward and completely fill the gap between the nut and the die, at least at the face, visible in this photo. Sometimes little bubbles would appear, but this was not a big deal, as this face would not be visible when the finial was on the lamp.

Soundgarden Reunion

Matt — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:31:16 +0000

Unconfirmed rumors are circulating that Soundgarden’s reunion tour is going to be sponsored by Leatherman.

Adventures With Firehose

Matt — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:01:06 +0000

The following is a modification of a post I submitted to my favorite website, Metafilter. I put a bunch of effort into photographing things I had made some time ago, and obviously I had put in a great deal of effort to create the items in the first place. Frankly I haven’t investigated whether or not other people have experimented with firehose for arts and crafts, or functional artifacts. I feel that more can be done with this unique material, but my interests have shifted as of late. But it’s worthwhile to document things, so I thought I would create this page.

When I was in high school, I used a conventional sewing awl to repair a leather belt I owned:

This was a scan of an old ad from Popular Mechanics magazine. This tool has been around for a long time.

I stitched the entire perimeter of the belt, as it was composed of two pieces of leather that had been sewn together in the first place. As I recall, the initial stitching had failed, and so this was a repair.

The amount of labor that went into this project was enormous, and made an impression on me. You still see numerous leather items that are composed of two slats of leather that are stitched together, like this folding knife scabbard for a belt:

Notice how the ends of the two belt loop slits terminate in round holes. This helps reduce the chances that the tear will propagate.

Stitching is not the most robust means of attachment, and so myself and others have sought ways around this design weakness. The venerable Leatherman tool scabbard is one superb example:

It has no stitching at all, and uses only four rivets:

Despite the obvious advantage of rivets, only two kinds of rivets are commonly available to the average consumer; “pop” rivets, and “cutler” rivets. Pop rivets leave a large bump on one side, and are unsightly for an aesthetic craft project. Cutler rivets are nicely flat on both sides, yet are available only in thicknesses appropriate for knife handles, as far as I know. The rivets you see on the Leatherman pouch are obviously a proprietary design. Thus one needs to make peace with the venerable sewing awl, as it’s very hard not to need stitching at least somewhere…

Fast forward many years. In about 2003 I decided to modify the standard sewing awl to become a more functional tool. I flattened and colored one side of the sewing awl to provide visual and tactile cues. When withdrawing the needle from the work, I place my thumb on the wound thimble which enables good control of thread tension. Since the tool is now asymmetrical or “two sided”, I placed the spindle in an “overshot” configuration.

I replaced the flimsy thimble axle with a #10 fine hex-head machine screw. Existing holes were re-tapped for #10 fine threads. A much more robust design, with much less “play” on the thimble:

A short section of 3/8″ fuel line formed an effective scabbard for the sharp needle. It fit over the needle chuck nicely:

I use 130 pound test Spectra fishing line for “thread”. It must be admitted that the enormous tensile strength of such a product is probably overkill, as the stitching is more likely to fail due to abrasion rather than stress and strain. Yet the relatively large diameter of the line has the counterintuitive advantage of being less likely to cut into the base material. Since Spectra is polyethylene, it can be literally welded, which is a much better way to terminate the line of stitching than with just a knot. But to ensure a proper sewn termination, tie the ends off with a knot, then weld the knot. If you do it right, you can flatten the heated polymer to a more aesthetic “button” shape before it cools and hardens. The spool of line seen here is for me most likely a lifetime supply:

Having worn various tools in belt pouches for a number of years, It occurred to me sometime in the early 2000′s that if one started with a material that was tubular to begin with, that no side stitching would be required. Luckily for me, I was able to obtain sections of used firehose at an industrial supplier here in Seattle. Here is a flashlight belt scabbard that I made out of small diameter firehose. Note the inclusion of enlarged holes at the ends of the belt loop incision:

Note that only one end of the scabbard required stitching:

Being that firehose is a composite, with rubber on the inside bonded to a synthetic overbraid, the material’s edges can be heat sealed. Ultimately my flashlight scabbard was a mixed success; despite the heat sealing, the main flap began to pucker and fray:

And one of the belt loop cut-outs began to tear.

Perhaps the material I chose was too intrinsically flimsy. I had better luck with a key pouch made out of firehose:

I’ve used it for several years now, and am happy with the results. Again, note that only one edge of the pouch needs stitching, due to its tubular morphology. Unlike the flashlight pouch, I forgot to truncate the corners! Nevertheless, I’ve never been poked by the stiff corners, and I haven’t had any pockets wear out because of it. Were I to do it again, I hope I’d remember to include that simple feature:

It’s possible to get tubular synthetic firehose overbraid that has no rubber bonded to it:

Being tubular, the ends of a segment can be everted, then sewn shut. This can provide a particularly aesthetic way to terminate an end.

I obtained a long section of some synthetic tubing in 4cm width. I don’t think it’s firehose overbraid though; I suspect it’s used for overhead crane straps:

This width I found very useful, as I’ve made knife scabbards and belts out of it:

As an aside, the yellow material on the knife handle is heat shrink tubing, a unique and valuable material in its own right.

Creating the knife scabbard was simple as pie, and being that the closed end experienced no mechanical stress, I didn’t even stitch it closed, I just heat sealed it:

The belt buckle I welded myself:

The bifurcation you see on the revolute joint is due to it being two steel washers welded to a segment of steel rod. Part of the main body I bent, and part I welded, thus accounting for the differences in the corners. Were I to do it again, I’d probably weld all joints.

Being tubular, the only stitching required on the strapping is what you see just below the buckle. A “tongue” was cut out of the tube, wrapped around the steel buckle, tucked back into the tube, then sewn shut.

The belt buckle holes were formed with a red hot poker (a sharpened machine screw). One could use a needle nosed soldering iron, but that would leave plastic residue on your iron. Over time mechanical stresses will distort the base material, so this is not an ideal, long term solution. But I’ve had this belt buckle for several years now, with no major malfunctions:

The most recent hole is to the far left, as I’ve lost weight recently. As you can see the middle holes have become distorted over time.

I have a strong intuition that firehose and tubular strapping are useful and robust materials for crafts projects, and I simply haven’t been able to think of further applications for it. Perhaps this webpage will act as a useful starting point for others who can see what I can’t. Good luck!

The Duct Tape Wallet

Matt — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:45:33 +0000

I invented the duct tape wallet. Or at least I think I may have. Frankly, I haven’t gone to a lot of trouble to try and figure out the historical truth, and I suspect it would be a very hard thing to prove. Here’s the story:

I was one of the founding members of the Jim Rose Sideshow in the early 1990′s. We toured all around the world, and one of the highlight tours for me was Lollapalooza in 1992. It was a huge ego rush, being able to “hang out” with real live rock stars. Even more fundamentally, other performers appreciated what we did, and we got lots of positive feedback from them. But being a performer puts strange kinks into your lifestyle. One is that you have a great deal of “down time” while you are simply waiting around to perform. You can either do meaningful things with this time or you can waste it. Unfortunately on Lollapalooza, we usually performed in “sheds” or large outdoor performance spaces away from the big cities. You couldn’t just walk to a museum for an afternoon’s edification.

One thing to do to pass the time was arts and crafts. I began to notice that the technicians (don’t call them roadies) used a great deal of duct tape, and would often simply discard the roll before they got to the end and leave a significant amount of tape. I also noticed it wasn’t really duct tape, as the fabric was tightly woven into a crosshatched pattern. In fact I learned it was called “gaffer’s tape”, and indeed was a significantly superior product than ordinary duct tape. It was also available in black, and I think yellow. There was a lot of this stuff just lying around, waiting for something useful to be done with it.

I don’t remember what my inspiration was for my wallet. I recall being on the tour bus, and simply began to cut and fold the tape into a wallet. To do it for the first time is sort of a puzzle, as you have no instructions to go by. I was pleased with my new wallet as it came out rather well. I decided to make another one which I think was yellow. I may have shown my first wallet to Matt Cameron, then the drummer of Soundgarden, as I decided to give him my second one. I replaced my old Nylon wallet with my new duct tape version, and have never looked back. From time to time I would have to make a new one as the old one wore out. If I recall correctly, all this happened before all the duct tape books came out, but the one thing I’m sure of is that I figured it out for myself.

Fast forward to 1996. I had become a big Soundgarden fan, and remained friends with Kim Thayil after the tour was over. Kim was the best man at my wedding in 2000. A Rolling Stone magazine article about Soundgarden’s new record Down on the Upside appeared. The article opens with an intimate description of how Chris Cornell makes a new duct tape wallet each time he records a new Soundgarden album! Looks like Matt Cameron taught Cornell the wallet thing! This got to me enough that I even asked Kim about it, and indeed Kim told Cornell that the idea originally came from me. I suspect, but do not know, that this Rolling Stone article was the real “break” as far as publicity goes for the duct tape wallet. During the late 1990′s I would see duct tape wallets around, and even saw them for sale on the Internet!

In October of 2002, I believe, I “invented” the polypropylene tape wallet. Polypropylene is even superior to the gaffer tape, as the adhesive is stronger, and there is no “grain” or weave to split along. The tape I’m talking about is the kind used in conjunction with Tyvek vapor barrier house wrap. The Polypropylene film is incredibly strong, especially considering how thin it is. It’s much thinner than duct or gaffer tape. The adhesive is an acrylic, and is very “tacky”. This quality is needed to allow it to stick to Tyvek, which is itself quite slick. Tyvek vapor barrier and the associated tape are made by Du Pont, but Lowe’s Home Center makes a house brand that is comparable. Owens Corning makes a pink polypropylene tape. Thankfully, Owens Corning doesn’t insist on plastering their logo on their tape like Du Pont and Lowe’s do. Plain pink is good. Remember the Pink Panther? Look for the Pink Panther logo when buying your polypropylene vapor barrier tape!

This tape can be also be used in conjunction with ordinary Tyvek to make form fitting credit card envelope protectors.

Now, go forth and make your own wallets and credit card protectors!

Lamps

Matt — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:57:59 +0000

For a time I built lamps and sold them at the Fremont Sunday Market here in Seattle. While some artists concentrate on the lamp base, my attention was focused on the lampshade.

The bases were made from square steel tubing. The lampshades were made out of mild steel TIG welding rod and wrapped with a variety of fabrics in the form of filaments. My favorite is Kevlar, as it provides a warmly diffused glow. Other materials I’ve used are Nylon, Dacron polyester, and Nomex.

I double wrapped the lampshades with the filament as a single wrap did not usually offer enough light diffusion. Notice that the lampshade is parallelepipedal, or box shaped. This is because the wrapping material would slide off a shade that did not have parallel sides. The continuous filament stays in place purely through tension, as no adhesives or other attachments were used. The lampshade frame is braced on the inside as the tension of the wrapping would bow the edges in otherwise.

In the case of the Kevlar wrapping, the material is in the form of a “tow” or untwisted parallel fibers. This form of Kevlar is usually used in “filament winding” in aerospace applications. Each individual fiber of Kevlar is very fine, and the resulting texture of the lampshade is surprisingly soft. Many folks believe it to be a natural fiber after touching it, but in fact it’s a result of the chemical genius of a DuPont chemist named Stephanie Kwolek. Kevlar is truly a “space age” material, having been invented in 1965. Note how warm the diffused light is with the Kevlar lampshade, especially considering that it’s synthetic.

I consider my lampshades a veneration of American petrochemical know-how…

I also made my own finials out of dice with two 1/4″ fine thread steel nuts that were welded together then glued into the die with epoxy:

The black color you see on the steel rods of the lampshade frame is a result of Parkerizing. Mild steel TIG welding rods are coated with a thin layer of copper, which I removed using a belt sander and a sandblaster. The welded frame was dipped overnight in the phosphate solution:

I resorted to Parkerizing instead of conventional painting because of difficulties I had in evenly applying paint to the small nooks and crannies of the wire frame. I used conventional Hammerite paint on the lamp bases:

I’m no longer building and selling lamps, but I’m proud of the ones I built.

This is the classic Kevlar lampshade. Note how “warmly” the light is diffused:

The white lampshade is a double wrap of 1/4″ fiberglass lacing tape. Note the large black die finial:

The green lampshade is make of an inner wrap of white Nylon lacing tape and an outer wrap of green polyester lacing tape:

One of my earlier table lamps. Note how the lampshade is slightly skinnier than the others. I widened my later lampshades to allow greater room for one’s hand while turning the switch off and on:

Here is a lampshade I made using a brick red Nomex lacing tape. Note the internal bracing rods:

Here are my lamps for sale at the Fremont Sunday market:

This lampshade is made out of a surprising material: Teflon!