Crimson Dove: Anatomy Art Project: Part 1

I had a very specific vision of how I wanted to draw the cover to my novel in progress. The idea I had for the front cover to my novel involved a picture of a dove as the central focus. I wanted the dove to be very detailed and highly accurate. I imagined the dove to be anatomically correct, to the point where I wished to draw the entire dove from the inside out. I planned on super imposing entire body systems over each other, to ensure a completely accurate image of the full exterior for the front cover. As you open the book, you would periodically see the other bodily systems underneath layer by layer and all accurate from the front and back view as well.

The front cover artwork would represent the overall theme of the novel which shows a symbol of peace tainted in human blood. The background would show the remnants of a world deeply scarred and eaten away from human civilization with much of its resources depleted and waning. The overall image from a distance would look similar to that of a bible, with the help of large very tall space elevator towers specifically placed around the earth's profile. From a distance the overall illustration would form a cross centered around a glowing halo of the Earth's mantel, and the image of the holy spirit at the heart of the overall artistic piece. This gives allusion to the religious references through out the book, from Christian faith and religious practices. 

The overall idea came to me in a dream, and I had no paper or pen on me at the time, so I made a rough sketch using Google draw before the image left me.

Rough sketch of overall idea. A large dove in the middle surrounded by a the earth sliced through the center with large buildings and debris covering the surface and mantle.

Once I had some paper I decided to sketch out the dove more clearly and began to get a more clear picture of how it would turn out.

Early Sketch of the dove

Dove Bird Wing Study

I was considering drawing a dove looking down, wings open, about the take flight with plumage fanned out. Face and feathers and breast blood stained. The features themselves, would be influenced by mathematical design with specific number values such as Fibonacci's sequence and geometric proportions such as the golden ratio.

The outer dimensions of the book should be in the same golden ratio as well as many of the ratios of features such as the eye elliptic ratio, and length of width of other features to make the overall piece very pleasing to the viewer.

To do this overall artwork piece, would take some methodical planning and careful execution, so I split up the tasks based on biology. I decided to draw the dove from the inside out, starting with the foundation of the skeletal system in which the orientation would be dictated by the final rendered image of the exterior outline so I decided to start there at first.

Once I had a rough idea on how the exterior would look, I dove in and started finding high detail images of the skeletal system and overlaid various images over each other to draw both the front and back at the same time.

I decided to separate each component into layers as I drew, so if any changes needed to be done, I could easily alter just one body part at a time. 

I started to draw out the outlines in Auto CAD because I enjoy the ability to organize and be meticulous to detail.

Final sketch of dove skull from the front view

Final Outline drawing of the skull back view

I then imported the Auto CAD outline into Photoshop and started doing some shading

Final shaded image of the dove skull from the front view

Shaded Image as seen from behind of the Dove Skull

I came up with my own technique, on how to utilize the Auto CAD sketches and Photoshop effectively to create accurate depictions of each piece.

Image of the the Auto CAD rendered image of the overall skeletal System

On top of the overall blueprint, I import the individual drawn pieces and place them over the outline.

Garden Drip-line Pump Sizing Exercise

A friend contacted me for help in sizing a pump for a drip irrigation system for an exterior garden cultivation project. The idea was to store water in Rain Barrels to provide some head elevation, and use a pump to provide the additional head needed to adequately sprinkle the water to the specific portions throughout garden.

My friend provided me an aerial view of the planned construction of the distribution system along with some references to the diameter of pipes he was expecting to use.

One of the first things I would need to accurately size everything, is first knowing the final drip rate expected at the end. If an expected amount is really needed a recommended value could be 1/4 inch of water per day found through this Link.

The first thing I was going to do was calculate the major head losses across the system
Calculating the major head loss across the system, can be found using the formula below

$H_L = F * (L/D) * \frac{V^2}{2g}$
Where

• F: Friction factor due to roughness on the interior of the pipe
• L: Length of pipe
• D: Diameter of pipe
• V: Average liquid velocity within the pipe
• g: Acceleration of gravity

Looking off the provided reference guide, I made a table to start calculating the major head losses across all the reported stretches of pipe.

Color Ref.	Pipe Length [ft]	Diameter [inch]	Major Head Loss
Red	15	1	1.40625E-05
Red	18	1	0.000016875
Red	50	1	0.000046875
Red	90	1	0.000084375
Red	50	1	0.000046875
Blue	12	.75	0.000015
Blue	15	.75	0.00001875
Blue	4	.75	0.000005

Some of the missing information I need to accurately finish the rest of the calculations is knowing the vertical information of the case study. In particular, the height of the water surface from the rain barrels to the point where the water exits the system and onto the plants. Here are some of the situations of interest that may arise from these instances

I would want to know if the final exit height will be higher than the water surface, like if the rain barrels were located on a low elevation relative to the final destination of the plants.

If the final drip line height is lower than the rain barrel surface water level height (This would result in needing a small pump if at all needed)

Does the water have to be ejected from the opening out a certain distance to the plants? 

To be continued until I hear back with the necessary information to post the final values. The.barrels are.on.cinder blocks so the water would flow.downwards from an elbow fitting.to.the.inlet of the pump. Approximate drop 6 inches

Then from the tees on the mainline a fitting.for poly-pipe would be attached then from.that line I would poke holes.for 1/4 inch transfer barbs and attach 1/4 inch drip.line to that.

$ \frac{ P_1}{ \rho g } + \frac{ ( V_1 )^2 } {2 g } + Z_1 - H_L + H_P = \frac{ P_2 } { \rho g } \frac{ (V_2)^2 }{ 2 g } + Z_2 $

$ H_P = \frac{(V_2)^2}{2 g} + ( Z_2 - Z_1 ) + \sum\nolimits_{ H_L } $

$H_P = \frac{ (1 ft/s)^2}{ 2 * 32 ft/s^2 } + (1/2 ft) + 2.47 x 10^-4 ft $

My First CNC Machine: Y-Axis Design

This is was originally a linear actuator that moved some oceanic sensor equipment from side to side, I've removed both support rods from the linear bearing housing and put them both to the side

Here is a look at how rusted the support rails are, they are in dire need of sanding and polishing to function properly

These are the Thomson linear bearings held by a custom machined aluminum housing

 I decided to draw each of these salvaged items in AutoCAD Inventor as parts and experiment with assembling them in different configurations later on for analysis

Y-Axis: Acme Screw

Here are some general dimension of the Y-Axis Acme Screw [inches]

This is the linear Bearing Housing

Looking at it a bit closer, there was a measured screw pitch of 20 thread per inch

Here is the final drawing done in Inventor

Fast Pipe Loader Concept for CNC milling

Max Force Loads on Aluminum Pipe Calculations

One of the parameters of interest would be the maximum allowable bending moment of the aluminum pipe through a radial force on the pipe supported on two ends.

Axial bending load geometry parameter set up across Pipe

Cross Section of Pipe showing two areas of integration against stress distribution

$ M = 4 \sigma_y \frac{E}{\sigma_y R} \int_                         0                     ^              \frac{ \sigma_y R }{E}               \!

y ^2 ( \sqrt( r_0 ^2 - y^2 )              -                       \sqrt(r_i ^2 - y^2) \,

\mathrm{d}y + \int_ \frac{ \sigma_y * R }{E})       ^             ( r_i    )                                        \! $

$ y * \sqrt( (r_0)^2 - y^2 ) - \sqrt( (r_i)^2 - y^2 )  \mathrm{d}y$ + $ \int_  {r_i }     ^    {r_0 }\!          y * \sqrt{( (r_0) ^2) - (y^2 )} \mathrm{d}y $

Pipe Holder Project for HASS CNC Machine

The job consisted of designing an apparatus that would hold firmly a set of pipes to allow precise cnc machining of several holes at specific locations along it length. The apparatus would fit inside the tooling dimensions of a HAAS VF2 Vertical CNC Milling Machine.

Picture taken of HAAS CNC machine from the manufacturing client

Utilizing the maximum working dimensions of the machine along with the known dual compressed air ports available on the working platform of the machine, I began to brainstorm. My first series of ideas would be aimed towards sketching some mechanical means to hold the series of pipes in place. 

I came up with the idea of utilizing a type of clamp with can come over the sides of the pipe and hold down it down through some type of vertical linear motion. I came up with a rough idea a type of lever arm with arbitrary parameters to be used to calculate lengths later on. 

Here the lever arm has a pivot point to the left end of of length "L" and the free end is located at (Xr,Yr) from the pivot point as the origin. With the lower point of the lever arm held at a horizontal stature to the vertical datum, the angle $\theta$ 

Here the vertical actuator has moved downwards from the datum point lengthening the lower portion of the arm by a distance $ \Delta L $ 

$ X = R \cos( \arctan( \frac{ \Delta Z } {L} + \theta) $

$ Y = R \sin( \arctan( \frac{ \Delta Z } {L} +\theta ) $

The lever arm dimensions should have a proper radial length to properly reach the top of the pipe when the linear actuator reaches the "Zmin" below the datum, and have a reasonable clearance from the upstroke when the linear actuator reaches "Zmax" from the horizontal datum.

Here is a working virtual prototype of how the clamp would work while connected to a dual hydraulic actuator.


After a cost analysis of the clamp idea, it quickly became apparent that custom manufacturing of such tight tolerance parts of working clamps over time would be very costly. My next series in my brainstorming path would take on the form of vertical clamps.

My first conquest was to design a platform which would be bolted on top of the existing milling table fixture. The platform would be milled completely flat and the series of holes would provide a variety of components to be bolted on, yet allow some flexibility to further any redesigns if necessary.

3D Assembly of Platform case study

View of a 3D rendered view of the platform from the case study.

Here is a picture of the final machined platform fresh from the machine shop.

The platform would then be installed onto the working fixture in the HAAS machine with the help of a forklift.

Platform attached to working fixture of the CNC machine bed with clamped down pipes on the right

Fixing Casement Window

I decided today to try and fix the casement window which is suppose to open a window through a means of cranking a handle. The problem is the actual assembly was missing and the only thing present was the rail on the side of the window.

A casement window is opened through a mechanism where a rigid arm pushes on the window through often some sort of wheel and track system through the rotating force of a lever and gears.

The generic window crank assembly wouldn't have been a quick install since the problem arose in the incompatibility of the wheel on the tip of the arm, and the rail system on the side of the window.

This is the wheel on the tip of the arm that pushed on the window

This is the rail that was original to the window, notice that it has a groove to accommodate a wheel with a very specific cut notch so that the wheel slides snugly and cant slip off the track when sliding across

The window was a bit old and the parts would have to ordered from the manufacturer if they were even in business any more. Nonetheless this would frustrate the typical homeowner, but this just brought me a rush of joy for a chance to solve a new problem.

There were essentially two ways to solve the problem, either you modify the wheel on the generic assembly, or you can make a custom rail to fit around the generic replacement found at your local hardware store.

This is a quick sketch of the two possible solutions. Either modify the wheel, or make a custom rail

I decided to choose the latter because removing that wheel and carving that notch via lathe on that plastic wheel wouldn't have been such a big deal. Even if I had to tap the metal housing to screw in the wheel again it still would have been less work than the rail. I chose to do the rail because, moving that window through simple friction involves a lot of force and friction, and I wasn't really at all confident as to the strength of that plastic wheel. The plastic wheel felt flimsy and I think it would have easily cracked and not withstand the loads once I removed that material and changed its shape.

I got a square block piece of aluminum stock and made sure that the inner square hole length was slightly large than the diameter of the plastic wheel.

I then measured the diameter of the shaft part of the wheel

This measurement would be essential to making the  sliding rail width that the wheel would slide on

Using that measurement I marked off where the rail would be cut on the aluminum square block

Then came another engineering hurdle that I had to overcome, the issue of cutting the rail with only a jig saw, drill, and drill press at hand with simple tools. It was a tricky cut because I had to cut through one side of the square side but not the other.

My first attempt was to see if I could jerry rig something to make the jigsaw work because if I could make it work, it would save me time, and it would be much easier to make a smooth linear cut.

To solve this problem involved some sense of engineering and 2D thinking which I very much enjoyed. I drew out some of the problem solving instances I would need to think about prior to solving the problem and just made up some arbitrary parameters to define the problem.

The way the jigsaw works is, it plunges a blade up and down in a linear fashion through a specific length of stroke. I had to investigate to see if that length of stroke was within clearance distance to cut one side of the aluminum block and not the other.

This is a quick sketch of the jig saw when looking at it head on (cutting blades facing you). I made up some arbitrary lengths that are of importance in this problem. Lo is the length when the jig saw is making the highest stroke into itself or the shortest length the blade relative to the supporting platform.  "S" is the length of the stroke or the largest difference in length the blade makes when cutting. "delta" is some arbitrary length which is a factor of safety buffer distance we can risk later during practice. 

This is the same situation now split into the two extremes of the stroke to better show what these arbitrary distances I came up with actually means. "C" is the overall clearance distance which includes the triangular point of the blade which is very important because it could still plunge into the metal and damage either the aluminum side or the blade itself. 

There are two possible scenarios that could result from this situation, one being beneficial to me, and the other forcing me to find another method. The first situation is that there exists a length that I could hold the jigsaw above the rectangular stock so that the clearance "C" is less than the inner side length "L" and therefore a single cut could be possible.

The first beneficial scenario where the blade clearance length "C" is less than the length of the square block stock making possible a single cut through the stock block.

This is the second scenario where "C" is larger than "L" therefore cutting only one side of the aluminum stock block would not be possible and therefore we would be forced to find another way to cut the aluminum.

After doing some measurements and a little bit of math, and some failed attempts just to make sure the math was right.. It was the second scenario so I was forced to find another way to make the cut.

Since it was already pretty late to try and rent out some tools or bother someone to finish the job, I had to resort to using the other tool I had at my disposal the drill press. The right tool would have been a dremel, or maybe a large aluminum bandsaw with some kind of jig, or maybe a cutting table with a fine metal cutting blade retrofit.

But alas I press on and start to find some drill bits which are slightly smaller than the overall width of the gap.

I started to drill holes as close to each other as I could with my cheap drill press and stay within the lines because I knew you could always remove material but can't add on.

The larger the diameter of the drill, the less I would have to grind down on the sides, but then the holes would have to be dead center all the way down and not have a lot of room for error.

One of the benefits of having a X-Y vice is for these instances where you'd like to drill a series of holes all in a row. 

Therefore to make the next series of holes, you would simply crank the handle and drill.

Before I knew it, I had a series of holes all cut within that small window tolerance of the width of the desired slot size

If you have the holes close enough together, you could easily break the aluminum between the holes with a simple set of needle nose pliers by just bending back until it breaks using the frame as the lever pivot point.

Making some quick work of this brute force slot cut through some crude methods.

This is how the bar looked like after the use of the pliers, no other refinement could be done without some kind of mechanism  to make the parallel cuts.

I decided to call it a night, and the following morning I managed to borrow a angle grinder to do some quick work of the rough edges of the drilled holes.

I clamped the angle grinder down and made sure it was secured in place

I started to grind down the rough edges little by little getting closer to the marked edge to where it needed to be

I also periodically sanded down the inside with a square file to ensure the smooth finish inside and out

To get closer to where the actual edge needs to be, I decided to file the edges to a smooth finish

I inserted a metal bar on the floor of the aluminum car stock so I could file the sides away without scraping the floor of the aluminum  block.

Finally got the groove smooth enough to have the mechanism slide effortlessly

The final step involved drilling a few holes