Jonny69's inventing shed: mechanical crushing hand

[Jonny69]

I'm going to a fancy dress party next weekend with a James Bond theme. I couldn't be bothered to hire a tux and pretend to be 007 or wear lycra and paint myself gold, so I decided to go as this guy:







Tee Hee from Live and Let Die, hence the need for fake tan. What a perfect opportunity to make a mechanical crushing hand

I'm going to make it properly so it can actually crush stuff and hurt people. It might not be fully functional by next week, but it'll be close and good enough to give a nasty nip or maybe take off an ear.

I started off by drawing up some templates in paper and cutting them out:



I then drew round them onto some thick steel and started cutting. The radial cuts help get the jigsaw blade round:



Getting there with the cutting. Can you see where this is going yet?



To make sure the two outer parts are identical I tacked them together and finished the shape as a pair:



And this is as far as I've got to today:





The idea is to get it looking something like the end of this by the end of the week:

[Desmo]

Jonny, you are actually insane and I want you as my dad

That is going to be awsome.

[Knipples]

If he's having you as his Dad, can you be my brother?

[Kitten]

yeah me too!

[semi-pro waster]

That is fantastically, brilliantly over the top for a fancy dress party. Good show sir.

[Jonny69]

Lol, thanks folks

Bit of progress because I've been working on this today...

For the sleeve I rolled a piece of sheet steel. An A4 size was ideal, which was convenient as it gave me a template to draw round. I don't have any special kit to do this, I just pulled it round a piece of pipe and welded it:



No excuses for my poor workmanship. I'm in a hurry to get this done so it doesn't have to be immaculate

Try it for size:





Yep, that fits!

It needs an end, again just sheet steel with a slot cut in it for the claw to fit through:



I've skipped a bit now, but I made the end a bit oversize so I can peen the edges over so they're curved. I just beat them roughly in with a hammer and I'll tidy it up when I weld it on. I made up a little mount out of some angle and conveniently found a small clock spring in my box of bits, so the claw springs back by itself:



Slightly less blurry view here and you can see how it all fits together, with that lever at the top operating the claw:



Rargh!

[Jonny69]

Once assembled and working properly I tacked the sleeve to that assembly. No going back now, because there's no access:



Then I fully welded it and ground it back. Lets check it works ok:









Yep, that'll do the trick! Now I can let it sit on the side for the week and rust up a bit for improved effect.



I can't help thinking it looks a bit like a Dodo's head when it's that way up. Might have to chop it up and alter the mechanism after the weekend

[kaiowas]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

Now I can let it sit on the side for the week and rust up a bit for improved effect.

Let it sit? I think you should be spending the next week making videos of it being used to crush beer cans, chop veg and performing various other household tasks.

[Knipples]

When you get a spare minute Jonny, can you come fix my car heater

[Jonny69]

Originally Posted by kaiowas

Let it sit? I think you should be spending the next week making videos of it being used to crush beer cans, chop veg and performing various other household tasks.

Lol, I need to find some way of videoing this in action. I haven't got a massive amount of leverage but it'll have no problem chopping vegetables up