Albion Dynamo Ocular View Shields

I have finally listed a pair of my steampunk goggles on ebay for sale and to say that I'm nervous would really not cover things very well.  If you follow the link you can check it out for yourself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290638747258?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

I tried to use a similar style to the ones I made for James for the Ren Fest and added another copper coil to the other side.  Hopefully these will do well and hopefully they are packaged good enough not to be damaged during shipping and hopefully the customer will like them and hopefully...  But you get the idea.

Final Cup Style Goggles

So before our day of the Ren Fest arrived I was able to get the two pairs of goggles completed and ready to be worn around in public.  The first pair are the ones I gave to Lauren and I had tried to go for a slightly more classical approach (locks on the sides, a raised almost triangular attachment just above the side vents and plus the two almost flower like raised pieces below the vents.)  I wanted to put some keys on here too but time constraints and all that.  Plus the keys I had ended up just being too big to add the way that I had originally planned.  I did like the post that I added specifically to be able to give the loupes somewhere to grip on these.

The next set are the goggles that I made for James and these had a much more mechanical feel because I added the numbers dial on one of the vents so that it could still be turned as if you were adjusting some setting on the goggles and I put a copper coil just below one of the vents.  There is also a wire screwed in to the other side and the wire actually goes around into the inside of the goggles.  I also really like the big key that I added to the top and got a lot of compliments on this at the festival the next day.

Both goggles have some new ideas piloted on them for the first time like the thin beading wire around the nose piece and the "targeting" lenses.  These were done with a glow in the dark spray paint so you can enjoy a different feature of the goggles at night.  I also did more of drilling small holes to pass things through to attatch more securely.  This included the large key on James' goggles and the copper wiring.  Hope everyone likes these and I can't wait to get started on more projects.

The Ugly Truth About Conducting Coils

I have found out the hard way that there can be way too much tension created by conductor coils.  I made two different sized coils out of beading wire and attached them to various parts on my goggles.  Later I found that these had twisted around enough to break off at least one of the parts they had been attatched to.  I still like the idea of using these on some of my projects but I think it may be best to add them onto things that are either an original permanent part or to find a better way of securing the ends.  Sorry for the screw up but I guess that is what all of this experimentation is all about.

Home Made Conductor Coils

One of the things that may be missing from your steampunk project is a healthy set of highly conductive electric coils.  These would be handy for carrying large amounts of power from the radiant matter accelerator cells over to the parabolic aether wave form nets on your hand held powered weapon.  To that end, you can create your very own coils simply and to your own specific lengths.  Just buy some basic metal beading wire which can be found at a craft store in the jewelery section.  This wire is general designed for making various forms of jewelery such as necklaces but it's tensile strength and flexibility are perfect for electronic parts. 

The wire can be wrapped around a small round form which will help to give it the desired coil shape and can then be attatched to some component on your project to help give more detail and realism.  I chose a smaller coil so the form I used was the plastic straw out of a spray bottle.

I was able to make a coil about 3 or 4 inches long that fits well over the top of my goggles and helps promote the look of some of the other electrical components I am using.