Sure, it's Black Tie... That's all you need.... Just make sure you wear a long enough tie....
I don't care what you wear, just don't post photos of you. Only post photos of the build.
Now, if you have a beautiful girl hanging around, she can pose with the build...
BUT, still not nude.
Those shots of her, you can send to my private email address.
Justin, please remember we ARE talking about Steve here…and beauty is in the eye of the beholder…are you sure you’d want those pics?
Last year I made Marvin the Martians ray gun. Maybe a Borg light would be suitable. You know, outside the “cube”. One of those eyepiece thingies.
Funny you should mention that. My son was saying I should build a ray gun. I proceeded to show him your build and after he had finished reading about it he looked at me and said in a matter of fact way, dad, you could never build anything like that, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. You are the guru on all things odd.
They say familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe you should ignore the little rat bundle of joy.
The rats twenty and bigger than me. You gotta love the honesty. He was super impressed with what you did.
You gotta love it true. Doesn’t mean you gotta like it. Tell him thanks for me will ya. He seems to have good taste.
A lot of it wasn’t round so not really a lathe project anyway. Maybe TexasLumens could 3D something. Never would have attempted it without the long run up and build period. I thought I had most of it figured out before we started… and then we started and reality set in. “Oh Sh!t” was so common I thought a parrot had moved in. If not for the inspiration and imagination of the other builds I’m not sure I would have finished. It still blows me away that no 2 builds we’re even close to being similar and all were we’ll done. I really do hope people are thinking about this and looking for or picking up the odd bits to work with. It’s not fun like surfing or skiing but it sure is rewarding.
You guys were all awe inspiring, a bit like the old guy that started this thread. :heart_eyes:
Will the categories be the same this year?
Last year it seemed that there was too much of a difference. Basically, if you didn't have a lathe, you had to go with hand made unless you wanted to compete against the big boys. It seems that there should be lathe class and then everyone else.
It sounds like OL has secured a number of sponsors so there might be some changes but I don’t quite understand your post. It was the lathes for one and everyone else for the other.
I thought the hand builds could not use drill presses, etc.
If you wanted to use electrical equipment, you had to compete against folks with lathes. Let's be honest, lathes break away from everything else by a huge margin. If you want to unleash a whole new level of creativity in this year's contest, let us non-lathe owners use are drills, drill presses, etc.
I haven't laughed out loud reading a forum in a long time. That was a classic. Well done Rufusbduck :)
Sorry MRsDNF lol.
As I remember, that was true, some folks had a drill press and did not use it because of the rules.
I would not mind a category in which my drill press, electric sander, and my small bandsaw are allowed. The builds that can be done with them are no different from complete handwork, and it saves a lot of time if you do not have all the time in the world for the hobby ( but then, perhaps you are not worthy entering this mighty contest if you do not have all the time in the world 
).
The use of stationary power tools definitely saves time and I spent a rediculous amount without them but I don’t think they affect creativity. I do think we might get more participation by allowing them but it should be in a third catagory since there are many who lack those tools. I thought one of the best parts of the contest was what the limitations forced people to consider. A salad bowl? Really? That was awesome. The cast resin multi emitter Jenga whatsit light. A can of coke. A .50 cal bullet. A plumbers triple. That thread is a must read as far as I’m concerned and not for any obvious reason. Still, I agree that allowing a wider range of tools would be a good thing.
And to add to RBDs post, a stunning ray gun.
3 Classes sounds good. Lathes, Machines (excluding lathes), hand made. To me, that would more closely reflect the natural division of modders here at BLF. You can get a small drill press at HF for about $50. So the price of for the machine class isn't very steep. I think it would be the largest class by far. But for those that don't have such tools yet or for those that want the extra challenge, the Hand Made class would be available.
OMG, next y'all will want inside plumbing!
On March First, when I post the contest sign up thread, all will be revealed and then y'all can decide for yourselves. K?
The original idea was hand made. I do realize that many cannot do hand made work, but that was the idea. Weed out the ones that could not, from the ones that could. A straight hole can be done with a hand drill. A straight cut can be done with a hand saw. How do you think the old world craftsmen did things? Whichcraft? I know, I'm being sarcastic, I apologize, it is my nature, especially at 3AM.
As far as hand made versus lathes, I will say that the hand made lights were 10 times better than any lathe made light, just because they were made by hand. Machines reduce a person's ingenuity to the ability of the machine, not the ability of the person. Hand work allows a person to use all their ingenuity and ability. As I said, it's not for everyone and it wasn't intended to be...
but the new contest will possibly have new rules, thought out way in advance of this.
I think we all accept that what we want and what we get are different things. Just sharing thoughts that you may or may not incorporate as you see fit and as constraints allow. Didn't mean to rub you the wrong way. No matter what rules you have, I appreciate and applaud what you're doing here.
Like I said, 3AM and feeling crappy anyhow, does not make for a nice and coherent reply. I wasn’t really chapped, I was just being a smart ass and a grump, as usual.
When I first thought of a contest, I was going to only have the hand made category. Machine made was an after thought. My reasoning was that we have lost the self-pride, in this nation, that comes from self made. Imagine the pride that used to come from people making things by hand and how much we have lost of ourselves, to machines. Those are my feelings and I thought since it's a contest I started... Well, enough said of the reasons, but when I was thinking about this year's contest, back a couple months ago, I pretty much figured out what you just said about using other tools. I don't necessarily like it, but then again, it's not really my contest is it, not any more. So, the rules for this year are different from last year and I don't plan on posting them till the first.
O-L wrote:
My reasoning was that we have lost the self-pride, in this nation, that comes from self made. Imagine the pride that used to come from people making things by hand and how much we have lost of ourselves, to machines.
+1 True that. Thanks for trying to bring it back.