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This is "Ellie", the Spirit of Ecstasy from the front of my car. Note she was gold plated, which is kind of fitting for this site! However, I prefer Ellie to be in her original state, a stainless steel alloy made from steel, chromium and nickel. Took quite a bit of elbow grease to polish the gold off , she looks much better now.
The original "Ellie" was a good sort in her day and the not-so-secret floozy of his Lordship, the Second Baron Montague. The nick name comes from the name of the woman who modelled for the original sculpture of the Spirit of Ecstasy, one Nelly Thornton, a girl of Australian parents who later adopted the name Eleanor (Ellie) Velasco Thornton. The first Rolls-Royce motorcars didn't have a radiator mascot, they just had the familiar Rolls-Royce emblem.
When the good Baron commissioned his friend, sculptor Charles Sykes to sculpt a personal mascot for the bonnet of his 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Sykes chose Eleanor Velasco Thornton as his model. Sykes originally crafted a figurine of her in fluttering robes, having placed one forefinger against her lips – to symbolise the secret of the love affair between Thornton and Montagu. The figurine was named "The Whisper" and is to this day unique to the Montagu family's Rolls-Royces.
Soon after, Rolls Royce approached Sykes to produce a mascot for all Rolls Royce cars and Sykes chose to use Miss Thornton again, modifying The Whisper into the familiar Spirit of Ecstasy. Sykes is quoted as saying at the time that Ellie was, "A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies."
 

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Slowly getting there. It’s been a slow day at work project. Still some grinding to do but thought I’d see how it etched. Not real well but I didn’t think it would after a bit of research. Material used was what was at hand so it is what it is, an experiment so to speak. Got some 1084 and 15n20 on the way so if I get good welds on that it should etch up a lot better.
Been a great learning curve anyway.😁
 
Really nice job PP, well done 👍🏻

Just wondering what you’re powering it with?

What have you got on the internals, chain?

Maybe it is just the photo but it appears to be on an angle. Is that deliberate to allow easier emptying?

Cheers, NE.
 
Hi Northeast it is driven by attaching a power drill too the drive shaft and it is made at an angle to allow the fines to drop out of the bottom where there are slots cut in you put a container under it to catch them, so the only time you have to empty it is when you have finished to clean it, the drill gives you the advantage of when you get a jam which happens sometimes you can put it in reverse this 95% of the time frees it up again , inside is a blade set up not chain the blades are 10mil steel 125 mil Long and 25mil wide ,and are replacable as with all metal they will wear out , all the parts are lazor cut for precition ,it has taken a long time to get the final design but all the test are really good and am happy with the results ,i have a vidio of it running but cant load it on here yet ,not smart enough lol ,will try today . would advise that it be used outside as it is dusty and wear a mask lol .PP
 
Hi Northeast it is driven by attaching a power drill too the drive shaft and it is made at an angle to allow the fines to drop out of the bottom where there are slots cut in you put a container under it to catch them, so the only time you have to empty it is when you have finished to clean it, the drill gives you the advantage of when you get a jam which happens sometimes you can put it in reverse this 95% of the time frees it up again , inside is a blade set up not chain the blades are 10mil steel 125 mil Long and 25mil wide ,and are replacable as with all metal they will wear out , all the parts are lazor cut for precition ,it has taken a long time to get the final design but all the test are really good and am happy with the results ,i have a vidio of it running but cant load it on here yet ,not smart enough lol ,will try today . would advise that it be used outside as it is dusty and wear a mask lol .PP

Sounds really good. I'd like to see the results. I've found the video size very restrictive so it works best if you upload your video to YouTube and then insert the link here. They've changed the toolbar a bit but I guess you use the little chain links above to attach it.
No I just found those three dots in the toolbar show more tools. Now I'm confused too but I'm pretty sure its the one that says Media.

I didn't put a mesh in mine, I just made the rear endplate adjustable from the heavy pipe housing. You can just move the endplate further away for larger particle sizes. It stands vertically in a 20L drum and the radial output just ends up hitting the sides of the drum and falling to the bottom.
 
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Hi Folks,
Had a spare hour or so today so I decided to knock up a wicking bed. Never made one before so this is an experiment. The bed is made from a 205 litre plastic drum that I cut in half. The first step was to insert a drain hole about 160mm up from the bottom of the drum. A hole was drilled and a grommet and 19mm joiner was fitted. A piece of shade cloth was wrapped around the fitting to stop sand from coming through the drain.
D5FE02FB-0FF4-4496-AADB-B99985F9A1C8.jpeg
An old milk crate was then cut down to 120mm and wrapped in shade cloth. This would act as a water reservoir to hold most of the water.
C3B5C833-AD5F-440E-9E27-4E6F0D94F70D.jpeg
A fill pipe and elbow was also added. Course river sand was then added to about 30mm above the drain hole.
B680DD6D-A90D-4FBD-B340-AA07BECBA8CF.jpeg

Water will wick up through this sand into the soil above it. A piece of old shade cloth was the cut to cover the sand.
4176F4EF-2DE4-40B7-8F90-3BBCD0647D85.jpeg
Good, free draining garden soil was then added.
D0F329C1-6819-46C3-8426-FE13686342D4.jpeg
Finally, lettuce was planted and the garden was mulched.
86408E03-69A0-4E0A-8814-153086FFC343.jpeg
The reservoir was filled with water and the seedlings were watered from the top. I will need to continue to water from the top for a couple of weeks until the plants establish themselves. After that, it should only be a once a week job. If the experiment works, I’ll make a few more beds.

cheers

Les
 
Hi Northeast it is driven by attaching a power drill too the drive shaft and it is made at an angle to allow the fines to drop out of the bottom where there are slots cut in you put a container under it to catch them, so the only time you have to empty it is when you have finished to clean it, the drill gives you the advantage of when you get a jam which happens sometimes you can put it in reverse this 95% of the time frees it up again , inside is a blade set up not chain the blades are 10mil steel 125 mil Long and 25mil wide ,and are replacable as with all metal they will wear out , all the parts are lazor cut for precition ,it has taken a long time to get the final design but all the test are really good and am happy with the results ,i have a vidio of it running but cant load it on here yet ,not smart enough lol ,will try today . would advise that it be used outside as it is dusty and wear a mask lol .PP
L
 
Slowly getting there. It’s been a slow day at work project. Still some grinding to do but thought I’d see how it etched. Not real well but I didn’t think it would after a bit of research. Material used was what was at hand so it is what it is, an experiment so to speak. Got some 1084 and 15n20 on the way so if I get good welds on that it should etch up a lot better.
Been a great learning curve anyway.😁
I want to get some 1095 and 15n20 and try making some Damascus pattern steel, it'll be a long while till I can get it to look like this though

Alec Steel.jpg
 

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