Sputnick From The Cold War Era 18 July 2015
This should be a fast build, but as it is me doing it, it won't. I'm swapping in the 3" stainless balls from the thermal detonator project to make a pair of Sputniks. I recall well the furvour when Sputnik was launched - actually, I don't... I was about 18 months old. However, everyone I knew heard about Sputnik as we grew up, or in my case, just got old. Sputnik was the most beautiful of all the satellites; spherical, shiny and elegant.
Here is the beginning of my model. The only real work is machining the antenna mounts and screwing them onto the sphere. I think I will refrain from machining in the center band and various ports.
16 June 2018
Sputnik is done and hanging in my partially complete library. I plan on completing one last version as most of the parts are machined.
16 June 2018
Sputnik is done and hanging in my partially complete library. I plan on completing one last version as most of the parts are machined.
24 July 2015
I tapered the 1/8" steel rods for the antennae and machined one of the antenna mounts as well as partially three more. The rods are 11" long and tapering them is quite a challenge, so I threw standard machining techniques out the window and tapered them on the belt sander using an electric drill motor and a sanding block to guide the taper. The antenna mounts are machined out of 3/16" key stock on the lathe. The only issue with the blocks is getting the arc cut accurately. I used my die filer to do this and followed up with a drum sander.
I tapered the 1/8" steel rods for the antennae and machined one of the antenna mounts as well as partially three more. The rods are 11" long and tapering them is quite a challenge, so I threw standard machining techniques out the window and tapered them on the belt sander using an electric drill motor and a sanding block to guide the taper. The antenna mounts are machined out of 3/16" key stock on the lathe. The only issue with the blocks is getting the arc cut accurately. I used my die filer to do this and followed up with a drum sander.
6 August 2015
With the antenna mounts and antenna machined, all that needs to be done is to drill screws to secure the mounts to the ball. I made a plexiglass template and marked it to indicate the four antenna screws about 3/8" above the equator of the sphere. I'll use cobalt drills as the ball is stainless. The hole goes at the scratch in the blue marking dye.
With the antenna mounts and antenna machined, all that needs to be done is to drill screws to secure the mounts to the ball. I made a plexiglass template and marked it to indicate the four antenna screws about 3/8" above the equator of the sphere. I'll use cobalt drills as the ball is stainless. The hole goes at the scratch in the blue marking dye.
7 August 2015
The mounts are dry assembled to see how it all comes together. So far so good. I'll need to permanently attach the mounts and grind the screws flush. Then paint the round end of the mounts black.
The mounts are dry assembled to see how it all comes together. So far so good. I'll need to permanently attach the mounts and grind the screws flush. Then paint the round end of the mounts black.