To Parody The Dojo Owner in Napoleon Dynamite

"I developed this while spending two hours in the hexagon!"

It actually came out rather well.  I started with the 20.125" diameter aluminum ring, used a protractor to measure 60^o angles, drew lines, then cut them using both the table saw and the bandsaw.  The first try with the bandsaw was disappointing -- it produced a very ragged edge, until the blade broke.  Then I switched to the table saw, which produced a straighter but very rough edge -- and then I went back to the bandsaw, using a wider blade, which produced a much straighter line.  Then I used the belt sander to even out the roughness and get straighter edges.  The points were still out at the old diameter, but I trimmed those to the right diameter with the bandsaw and sanded them smooth and straight.

The holes where the brackets attached were in the wrong place, so I just moved the brackets from positions 1, 3, and 5 to 2, 4, 6 (for those who immediately see benzene molecules when you see a hexagon).  I also used my stamping dies to mark 1 on the corresponding bracket and hexagon locations.

I rolled the interior with flat black paint Wednesday night, and the exterior with the first coat of white gloss paint this evening.

It doesn't look good yet.  After it dries tomorrow, I will sand it with some 400# paper, and apply a second coat.  Depending on how it comes out, I may sand again and apply a third coat, but at that point, if it isn't beautiful, it doesn't matter.  It will be dark most of the time.

All the holes (except for mounting) are drilled; once the final coat dries, it is ready for assembly.  Once assembled, I will determine the balance point, drill four holes for attaching it to the dovetail plate, epoxy in place two pieces of steel rod to prevent rocking on the saddle, and be ready to put it on the mount.

I may even be able to reuse the black flocked material from the existing upper cage for this.  I have gone out of my way to buy as many black oxide bolts and screws where something will be exposed on the inside of the tube.  Even then, I flat black them; the black oxide just means that if paint does scrape off, it is still pretty much black.