Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Christmas Ornament - Rubik's Cube

Each year we purchase a new ornament for each of our grandchildren.
We try to choose an ornament that represents that particular year, ie: a sport they participated in, a travel memory, etc. We don't display them on our tree, rather we pack them up, and plan to give them their box full of ornaments for their first Christmas trees in their own first homes/apartment/condo/yurk... who knows what homes will look like in 20 years?
So this year our oldest grandson, who is a teen now, became interested in algorithms. On many occasions, he tried to explain the use of algorithms in solving his Rubik's Cube, but he never got through to us! It was easy to choose his ornament for this year, since each time we saw him he had a Rubik's Cube in his hand.
We searched for a Rubik's Cube ornament without much success, so I turned to my Hammerman. And he did not disappoint!

He used 54 small wooden cubes, glued them together, spray painted the whole thing black and attached adhesive foam to each cube.
We consulted our grandson, about his preference on the design: Did he want the colors all the same on each side (a "solved" cube) or did he prefer an unsolved one? It could have, of course easily designed the other way. Or, all red and green cubes would be cute, too.

I like thinking of our grandson, in the years to come, displaying his Papa's handmade ornament on his own tree.



Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Loft Hardware, Dimensions etc

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPLY TO THE INQUIRY ABOUT DIMENSIONS
I'm not an engineer so all I can tell you is what I used and what worked for my project.
The vertical riser is a standard pine 2 x 12 cut to the appropriate length and angles. I did quarter round (router bit) this board top and bottom for looks and no "sharp" edges.
The steps were cut from a standard pine 2 x 10. My dimensions were 9 3/16" x 7". I did quarter round the top and bottom of the step with a router bit so the edges were not "sharp". The end of the step that was attached to the vertical riser was not rounded with the router, making a more flush fit.
I work for a company that works with galvanized steel so I made my own brackets. To attach the vertical riser to the floor I used 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" 6" long 90 degree angle of 16 gauge with 1/4" x 1 1/2" long lag bolts with anchors.
To attach the steps to the riser I used 3" x 1 1/2" 6" long 90 degree angle of 16 gauge with 1/4" x 3" lag bolts. The 3" part of the angle was attached to the underside of the step with 1" long lag bolts and the 1 1/2" was attached to the riser with the 3" long bolts. In addition to this I used a 1 1/2" x 6" long flat blank to help secure the step to the riser on the opposite side using the 3" long bolts. I think you may be able to see all the brackets and flat blanks in the photos.
I did use lock washers with all bolts. I did pre-drill holes for all bolts to minimize the wood splintering.
I hope this is helpful and good luck with the project. It is always neat when someone comments "Where did you get that?" and you can reply "I made it!"