Building Giant Articulated Hands (carved From Wood for Social Distancing)
Introduction: Building Giant Articulated Hands (carved From Wood for Social Distancing)
So I know we’re all going through a lot right now. This whole distancing thing is really starting to wear on us and that’ll never be truer than during this holiday season. That’s why I invented these. Stay 6’ away from your friends and family while doing all the activities just like you used to. It’s almost like they’re not even there!
Step 1: Notable Tools
Inventables
► X-Carve Pro CNC https://bit.ly/3pwLKQo
► 1/4" Upcut Bit https://bit.ly/3kBUEZ4
Arbortech power carving tools (code "JackmanHands" gets you 20% off)
► Mini Carver https://bit.ly/2IMRTqu
► Power Carving Unit (NEW!) https://bit.ly/3pzNrfQ
► Turbo Plane https://bit.ly/3lFCqr9
► Power Chisel https://bit.ly/3nuLoIb
TotalBoat epoxy, varnish, etc. (code "Jackman15" gets you 15% off)
► Thixo Epoxy Adhesive (fast cure) https://bit.ly/2IEWQSa
► Halcyon Clear https://bit.ly/3psBXL3
ISOtunes bluetooth hearing protection (code "Jackman10" gets you $10 off every pair!)
► https://bit.ly/3kvodLJ (XTRA 2.0 shown in this video, available for preorder now)
Step 2: Preparing the Materials
The build all starts by planing down a bunch of basswood lumber that was reclaimed from a friend of mine. I chose basswood specifically for this project because of it's light weight and also because the grain is very even and straight, which makes it easier to carve. Each of these boards gets planed down and then sanded with the drum sander to exactly an inch thick.
Step 3: Cutting Out the Parts
These are my pile of "prototypical fingers", which is still seems like an uncomfortable phrase to use for some reason. 181
It took a little while to work out the best design to make the finger function both by letting me collapse it down by pulling a string and then using a bungee cord to return it straight again. Luckily, the CNC router is perfect for something like this because I can tweak the design and cut fingers until I get a working prototype. But now that I've mentioned CNC, feel free to skip the rest of the album because the officially means this is no longer a real woodworking project any more.
With that figured out, I'm able to design all 5 fingers using the original pointer finger as a guide. I also separated out the holes that are the pivot points and cut those out first so that I could utilize those holes to insert screws to hold the board to the table while the CNC cut out the pieces.
Then I just let it cut out the fingers x10. The basswood is an easy cut on the X-Carve, it just frays a little bit, but that'll be easy to clean up later. You can also see the channel now where the string and bungee will live to operate each finger, which will both be almost entirely hidden from view when it's done.
Each board was good for one finger, so I cut down 10 boards, clean up the mess that my robot slave leaves behind, and then cut the tabs with a router that are holding all of the pieces together.
Step 4: Cleaning Up the Parts
I organize all of the pieces into each finger and keep them in place temporarily with some carriage bolts through the pivot point holes.
The edges of all of the pieces are smoothed out using the bench top belt sander. This removes the frizz from the CNC, but also smooths out the surface so that things will slide smoothly later. I figure this is easier to do now instead of after the glue-up when some of these edges will no longer be accessible.
Step 5: Assembling the Fingers
For each finger, I line the lower slot with a thin copper pipe. This pipe gives me a smooth tube for the paracord to slide down later to reduce the friction as much as possible.
Then the top slot in each finger gets a bungee cord. 599