# I wish I was this good



## daveinvegas (Nov 6, 2011)

I once worked with a guy who didn't believe in throwing anything out as long as it was still usable. One day he broke a broom handle at work. Instead of getting another one he took it home and applied a bit of glue to the broken handle to temporarily hold the two pieces together. Then he wrapped the handle above the break down to a similar distance below the break with cord; wrapped it really tight. Then he placed Turk's head knots at both ends of the cord and drew all that cord up nice and tight. He then applied a little varnish to the cord completing the repair on the broom handle.

So, one day, the company was tossing something out, some kind of spool/holder for large spools of paper or something. I asked if I could have it and was told yeah, get it out of here. 

This holder was supposed to have a knob on each end of the spool but they were missing. This guy I mentioned above decided it wasn't right for me to have an incomplete whatever is was so he made a couple of knobs for the thing.

I had to lose the whatever it was during a move but I couldn't bring myself to part with the knobs. Here they are.


















































































He glued up a bunch of small pieces of wood and segmented them and turned the wood to make the knobs. Pretty, ain't they?

I truly wish I could turn something like that.

But I can draw almost anything.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Dave, I would agree with you 100% - he certainly did a nice-looking job with those! As I told another fellow member recently - I rarely make things without corners, but I certainly admire those who do. This (as you stated) is most definitely made in segments. I have a segmented bowl at home that my wife purchased from a local guy and I truly admire the tedious attention to detail that is exhibited in that piece of work. You mentioned you can draw "almost anything", I am curious if you know how to create an AutoCAD 3d solid of a helical object, because this alludes me; and I need a very specific design for one to use on a project of mine. Please PM me if you can do this. Thanks,


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

It seems to me, after living for 74 years, that God just puts men, like your friend, in among us every now and then. They are blessed with some sort of genius that most of us, the ones like myself, just watch in absolute amazment. We need these people, and we benefit greatly from their ability to create and give back to us that are, shall I say, just plain folk.

Jerry
Colorrado City, TX


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

That guy not only has skills but lots of patience.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

He did a great job on them. I have did a few segmented pieces and it takes a lot of patience to do it.


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## daveinvegas (Nov 6, 2011)

OPG3 said:


> Dave, I would agree with you 100% - he certainly did a nice-looking job with those! As I told another fellow member recently - I rarely make things without corners, but I certainly admire those who do. This (as you stated) is most definitely made in segments. I have a segmented bowl at home that my wife purchased from a local guy and I truly admire the tedious attention to detail that is exhibited in that piece of work. You mentioned you can draw "almost anything", I am curious if you know how to create an AutoCAD 3d solid of a helical object, because this alludes me; and I need a very specific design for one to use on a project of mine. Please PM me if you can do this. Thanks,


For the helical you need an add on application. Works nice. I haven't used in a while and I don't know where it is after a couple of moves. It's on a disk someplace. But the good news is it was a free download. Let's google it and see if we can find it.

OK, I googled helix.

Apparently, more recent versions of Autocad (more recent than I have) have a helix command. What version do you have?


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Dave, Thanks very much for looking into that for me. To answer your question: I am using an older version, as well...AutoCAD 2002. Thus far I've been able to customize features on an as-needed basis, except for drawing a helix evades me. On AutoCAD a few "releases" ago, they went to a "subscription basis" on their software - which to me meant the user no longer owns the software; but rather only rents it. I started using AutoCAD in 1988 when I was doing structural engineering documentation on a daily basis. In 2001, I semi-retired and began working with manufacturing - taking care of the daily duties as a Director of Product Development - but since it was a product line that I invented, my income was 100% royalties from the product sales. I am still a bit involved with that product line, but as my deal with that manufacturer is soon to expire - I will be moving into other new products. I plan to work everyday as long as possible and I have several patents pending - but I am not attempting to invent any more construction products, as that economy is like a roller-coaster.


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