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acrylic, circuits, halloween, howto, painting, steampunk

Steampunk Cane, Part 4
Or, how to craft a keyed flux channel for your aetheric jumpship.
(This is part four of a how-to series. Start at Part 1!)

The Wooden Cane

Now we're back to some rather mundane crafting. For the cane itself, I didn't have the time or resources to get a piece of wood properly turned. Since it's just a costume piece, I picked up a 39" poplar banister pole from Home Depot. It does have extra detail that we don't really want, but:

• It's cheap
• It's readily available
• It's long enough
• It has a nice square block at the top that's just a bit too large to fit in the black pipe

That last one's important. I considered buying a cheap cane and taking it apart, but that would have left me with no way to mount it to the pipe. To make the square peg fit in the round hole, I just went to town with some 60 grit sandpaper. Poplar is soft, and the area being shaped on is going to be inside a metal tube, so you just have to make it fit. I messed up one of my measurements and made the top too small, but I was saved. I hadn't quite gotten everything round yet, so I really had a square with rounded corners. The corners made pretty good contact still, but I was really close to junking the cane and having to start over. There's a welding bead running down one side of the black pipe, though, so I could get it in there sort of snug, then twist until the corners jammed into the bead and held it securely. Since this was just at test fitting, I did everything gently, but enough to know that it would work. The wood will be the base that the batteries sit on, so keep that in mind when deciding how much of it will go into the pipe. Leave enough room so that both batteries fit, but not so much that they don't have a solid base to rest on. Cut off the excess.

Pull it out and paint! I chose a glossy black lacquer, because it seemed like the right thing. I didn't know exactly how it'd turn out, but I thought it would not be too glossy, but really be a hard coating—and that's pretty much exactly what I got. Give yourself a few days to really do it right. I had two, and it was enough to be acceptable. The lacquer takes 24 hours to dry fully, and the first coating was pretty much a disaster. The wood sucked up tons of lacquer as it dried. I had enough on there that I was afraid it was going to run (it didn't), but the next day, I could still see wood grain. It also had a really rough, kind of hairy finish. I was pretty much terrified, actually, since by the time I was working on it again, I had less than 24 hours to the party.

Ideally, I would've done 3-4 coating sessions, allowing the lacquer to dry fully between sessions, and sanding it smooth. I had two evenings available, barely, so I grabbed some 600 grit sandpaper (much more fine than I would've used between coats, ordinarily) and fixed up that first coat. I wet sanded for consistency, then dried it off with a paper towel to not only get the water off, but the dust from the sanding. The little hairs and such immediately came off, and the cane really felt good. Looked like heck, but felt good. I hung it back up and put about 4 more coats on, waiting ~15-30 minutes between coats. The end result was a nice light gloss and solid black color, not silky smooth, but not remotely rough.

Not So Black Pipe

By this time, I was getting pretty rushed, so forgive me for the sparseness of the photos. This work is pretty straightforward, though. The tube that holds the batteries and dimmer knob is made of 1 1/4" black pipe. While it's maybe a bit too large, I chose this because the batteries fit (even with the dimmer installed, which is important), black pipe is cheap, it comes threaded, and you can get it cut to size. I wish I had a bit more time to spend working on the pipe, actually. When they cut it down to 8" for me, the pipe clamp bit deeply into the tube, and I would have liked to sand it down a bit more to hide those marks, or fill them with some sort of filler or something. I didn't have the time to do that (or likely even the resources for keeping it rather circular as I sanded), so I just did a quick once over.

First, using that rough sanding cylinder at a higher speed (1700 rpm, I think), I deburred the end of the pipe. When that was smooth enough to not readily scratch up the cane as I mated the two pieces, I put a quick rounded edge on the outside, too. It's a little feature (you can see it on the 'sanded pipe' photo, if you look), but I think it's a nice touch. I tried lots of little things to make this look as little like actual black pipe as possible.

Next, there are a few holes to drill. Do the drilling before the sanding, so you don't have to go over it again after putting your nice, sanded metal back on a hard cast steel drill press table. The first hole is a 1/4" hole just a bit below the threads. This is where the dimmer goes. 1/4" was appropriate for the shaft of my potentiometer, your mileage may vary. Also, this is probably the best place to point out that I had to modify the body of the pot a little bit. It originally had some aluminum prongs for spacing it in a panel, but these put the pot too far back when accounting for the rounded pipe. I bent them back and cut them off closely. I double-checked that doing so would still offset the little circuit board away from the metal of the pipe, just to avoid any shorts. It's a good idea to test your fit before painting, so you don't have to worry about scratching the finish.

Now drill 4-5 small holes near the non-threaded end of the pipe, so that we can tap some brads through to the wooden cane. I say four or five because I intended to put five on the base, but ended up with four due to late night maths. I put mine an inch in from the end, since the wood extends 2-2.5" into the pipe. Find a brad you like and either grab a set of calipers to measure the actual size of the shank or drill a test hole in a piece of scrap metal (not wood - you want to test the fit through something that won't give). The brad should not be sloppy in the hole for a good fit. I chose a little flower-shaped upholstery brad. I think we see these infrequently enough that their intended use doesn't pop instantly into mind, but they add a nice Victorian flair.

Using 220 grit sand paper, followed by 320 (or 400?), I quickly sanded off the black oxide coating. The coating is rough, and oily, and it would not have taken paint well. This also let me get rid of the sharp bits around the teeth marks, though it was not enough to eliminate them completely. Be certain to also sand inside the pipe, around the drill holes, to remove the burrs. I masked off the threads for the first coat, but the metallic paint I was using was so thin that I ended up not even bothering for subsequent coats. Place the pipe threads-down on paper or some other protective surface, and paint light coats 15 minutes apart. Every metallic paint I've used has run if you look at it funny, and this was no exception. Even doing my best to keep the coats as thin as possible, I still ended up with a couple minor runs.

Finishing Touches

While coats are drying, do some of the little things that will really make the cane pop. I polished up the union to a nice shine, figured out how to best use the O-ring (on top of the bulb flare, rather than under the acrylic base), and put a plastic chair foot on the bottom of the cane so that I wouldn't scratch anyone's floor. Had I time to experiment more, a metal band or foot on the bottom would have looked really nice. Perhaps some sort of leather sleeve to cover the threads below the union. We're almost done, so it's embellishment time.

Final Assembly

Carefully slip the pipe onto the cane from the bottom. When the position was right, I gave it a twist to lock it against the welding in the pipe. If your sanding is more accurate than mine, you might not need that step. With the wood locked in place, tap the brads through the holes in the bottom, and make the join permanent. I probably should have used some glue here;It was a few hours before this cane had to be usable, and I was not feeling so bold.

Find a large flat surface somewhere that will hold the cane and the bulb assembly. Slip the potentiometer in the pipe, pop the knob through the 1/4" hole, and secure with its nut. I skipped the included lock washer, but in retrospect getting a brass washer to replace it, and bending it to the curve of the pipe would have been a good idea. As it is, I was lucky, and the nut didn't scratch the paint. Attach your batteries (careful, remember there's no backwards voltage protection) and slip them into the pipe behind the body of the pot. Test the circuit to make sure nothing got loose or damaged. Tip up the bulb and start threading the union on. Be sure to hold the bulb steady as you tighten the union, because as the fit gets tighter, it will want to grab the bulb and turn it around. You want to keep the rails and solder from scratching the inside of the tube.

The End Result

Glamour Shots:


For those who stuck around for the how-to, thanks! I hope you enjoyed seeing it come together, and maybe found a little inspiration.