Royal Mile flagpoles - cont.

Fabrication is finished on the flagpoles for the Royal Mile. The painters' scaffolding wasn't up on Thursday, so installation is going to have to wait until next Thursday or Friday. The gloss black powder with fizz can sprayed gold finials turned out pretty sweet....I think.

Oxy-acetylene cart

I finished up my oxy-acetylene cart today. Heavy duty - this one's built to last.

Royal Mile flagpoles

Here's some fabrication pics of four flagpoles headed for the Royal Mile on 4th St. in downtown Des Moines. Hutch wanted a ball finial on each pole, so I sacrificed a few ornamental ball caps. The actual poles themselves are simply electrical EMT. It was chosen for being light, but still relatively strong and a modest galvanized finish to reduce the onset of oxidation. A few chain links were cut in half and welded to the poles as attachment clips for the flags. Another link was welded down by the bottom that will have a safety cable fished through it and then fastened to an additional fish-eye anchor on the exterior wall.

The flanges are 6" x 8" 1/4" mild steel with 1/2" holes spaced to be on center of the bricks' mortar joints. A hole was drilled into the tube that accepts the poles. A bolt and nut will then be run through the holes to keep the poles from coming out. There's really no such thing as over-engineering when fixtures all overhead of public right-of-way areas.

The poles are being shot gloss black powder with a fizz can painted gold finial. Install should happen in the next day.

Bike frame stool

Here is another repurposed use of a bike frame...this time, into a stool. After cutting off the seatstays and chainstays, the remainder of the frame was stood up on its seat tube. A 2" was inserted in the crank housing to stabilize the frame as it now stands. A cope was put on the handlebars and welded to the front of the head tube while an upholstered seat is suspended between the bars. At the request of the client, a footrest was created using a discarded seatpost. Designed by Dan Koenig of Ichi Bike.

To check this, and all of the other bike sculpture done by Factor II Fabrication, out in person, head down to Ichi Bike in the East Village of Des Moines on October 16 for their big grand opening in the much-needed bigger space. 311 East Walnut St. right next to Subsect Skateshop.