bionicarm Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 ok, so, When I was in college, I opened my dumb mouth and said I'd make something and I don't know how and I don't wanna anymore but honor call me to follow through. It is, Navi...from the video game. This fairy tale creature, a fairy herself, is a sphere with wings attached.http://zeldawiki.org/Navi I forged out a ball from half a RR spike with lousy tongs on a piece of RR rail. It was like a 5 hour process. Then I made wings and textured them (it is very important for them to be textured) and had a guy braze them on because I didn't know what I was doing. Anyways, during polish I dropped the durn thing and it broke so I set it aside for a while and I LOST THE DARN BALL!!! Also the wings. So now starting from scratch and knowing how I don't want to do it, any ideas? I was thinking make a ball and drill a hole in it (How to do so safely?), then put a rivet through and rivet the wings on, grinding everything flush and finishing the wings with a brass brush to help cover it up, but that's all the farther I got with that line of thought. I just want something more substantial than the small area of braze with those big lever arms hangin off the thing. P.S. I received in exchange a groovy, hand crocheted sonic the hedgehog ski hat...it's amazing...thus the bound by honor thing. edit: the wings were all one piece, not 4 separate ones like shown in some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Can you forge the ball in the center and the wings on the sides, all from one piece? That way you could keep it solid and no small weld areas. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willway Forge Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 If you are able to drill a hole all the way through, you could use a piece of round stock the same diameter of your drill. An 1/8" drill & piece of wire should do it I assume. Once the wire protrudes the length of the wings on eithet side, you could attach the wing to the wire. You could even carefully flatten the wire on either side. Just a thought.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Well I'd stroll down to the local ornamental iron supply store and pick up a couple of forged mild steel balls for a couple of bucks and then re-work them---how about drilling and tapping and mounting your wings on bolts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicarm Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 ThomasPowers, I was thinking about trying something like that, instead of mounting on a bolt I was thinking over just forging a...uh, thing I could tap for the threads in the ball...I have a little tap and die set that may work... Willway, if the tapping does not work I'll probably try the method you described...Now to make a ball :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 You might think of drilling through the ball and putting a long wire through and forming wings with the same wire. Twist or braze onto itself...braze to the ball and add veins (brazed also ). use steel wire ( to match the steel balls ). If you heat the ball red hot then feed the wire, its easier to not melt the wire while brazing. You can also use a number drill to make the hole tight....when its heated to red/orange it will expand enough to get the wire through, then when it cools it will hold fast with no other method needed, then form the wings with pliers, then braze the veins in, OR...drill a hole...cut with a hacksaw to make an opening about 1/8" , cut a piece of plexi-glass in the shape of the wings you want...fit it through the "slot " and peen the slot over to hold the plexi in place. All these methods work, I've done them all...or I wouldn't recommend them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Maybe the 'sphere' is a disc with a little bit of thickness and soft edges.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker3 Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Forge the "ball" from a spiraled-up bar - much like the nifty snail in your avatar picture. Then stick a bright LED cluster inside it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnnie Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Can you forge a dowel on the ends of the wings, drill a hole where each wing is going heat the ball insert the wing dowel and punch the hole shut? I had a similar problem on a Butterfly's atenna and legs but was easily sorted like this. Nicer than seeing a weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perrin Aybarra Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Well, it seems to me that as long as you're drilling anyway, just drill through, insert a small round piece of stock, then hammer the ends of the stock to wing shape. My humble, not yet blacksmith opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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