# the Big Blue Marble



## btboone (Oct 22, 2012)

Here's a pendant I made in stainless steel and inlaid with Gibeon Meteorite.  The view is what the Apollo 17 astronauts saw as they returned to Earth.  The Gibeon meteorite landed in the southwest corner of Africa, about 1/6 of the way up.  I used my fiber laser to cut and welding laser to weld the parts in.


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## seamus7227 (Oct 22, 2012)

Very cool Bruce!

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner


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## Russell Eaton (Oct 22, 2012)

Another winner Bruce.


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## Steve Busey (Oct 22, 2012)

Hmm, I wonder if I could do that with my 35W CO2 laser... 

NOT!

Well done again, Bruce!


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## btboone (Oct 22, 2012)

It took a while to dial in the settings enough to get a good cut with minimal slag.  I think I'm as close as I've been to date.


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## el_d (Oct 22, 2012)

so feekin sweet...


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## BRobbins629 (Oct 22, 2012)

Way cool.


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## jttheclockman (Oct 22, 2012)

Well I know you may not get many if any negatives, because of your past work but I am not overwhelmed. Unless you tell people that it is made from special materials which I am sure the price will reflect but that is a generic looking pendent. I am sure the work involved is extreme and up to your normal standards but it needs color or something to make it pop. Maybe if seen in person too it looks better but from a flat screen it is dull to me

Now please do not take my comments as anything other than what I am seeing and I know your work from what you have shown here before. This piece does nothing for me. Not your past rings and things. Sorry.


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## btboone (Oct 22, 2012)

jttheclockman said:


> Well I know you may not get many if any negatives, because of your past work but I am not overwhelmed. Unless you tell people that it is made from special materials which I am sure the price will reflect but that is a generic looking pendent. I am sure the work involved is extreme and up to your normal standards but it needs color or something to make it pop. Maybe if seen in person too it looks better but from a flat screen it is dull to me
> 
> Now please do not take my comments as anything other than what I am seeing and I know your work from what you have shown here before. This piece does nothing for me. Not your past rings and things. Sorry.


 

Yup. The color of stainless is pretty boring.  It would be possible to do the oceans in blue anodized titanium for some contrast.  That might pop more.  It would also be possible to do the land in bronze anodized titanium instead of meteorite, but the "hook" here is the finely carved meteorite.  Nobody else does process it like that, and I think that would be the thing to sell it.  I would agree that it needs more contrast.  This was as much an exercise in dialing in the laser to see if such designs were possible with the different metals.  I was pleasantly pleased with the cut, low dross, and fine kerf.  Now that I know that it works well, I can try more things.


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## alamocdc (Oct 22, 2012)

That is way cool, Bruce!


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## Fishinbo (Oct 23, 2012)

Mesmerizing.  Hypnotizing even.


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## btboone (Oct 23, 2012)

Here's the raw cut.


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## Steve Busey (Oct 24, 2012)

btboone said:


> The view is what the Apollo 17 astronauts saw as they returned to Earth.



Which was quite an unusual trajectory - wouldn't they normally be in more of an equatorial plane?


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## btboone (Oct 24, 2012)

Although that makes sense, the moon is not directly over the equator, although it's close. The Earth is also tilted 23 degrees from the plane that we think of as "flat." I think the main factor is that they took off from Florida, so that skewed the orbit a bit from the ecliptic to begin with. If they took off from the equator and came back that way, I imagine they would be more aligned. Remember the orbit was a big figure 8, so they were probably swung a bit wide in their orbit as the picture was taken. It is definitely strange to see the world in an orientation other than what we think of as "UP".


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## bluwolf (Oct 24, 2012)

Very nice Bruce, love the meteorite. Stands out nicely against the brushed stainless.

Mike


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## Fishinbo (Oct 25, 2012)

It’s not just you.  Pictures can’t be seen at my end, too.


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## wolftat (Oct 25, 2012)

That is pretty cool Bruce, I can't get my laser to do that...LOL


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## btboone (Oct 25, 2012)

Just turn up the power! :tongue:


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## rizaydog (Oct 26, 2012)

Sweet!!!


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## btboone (Oct 31, 2012)

Here's another try at the Big Blue Marble.  I made it in titanium and anodized it a blue fade.  It does bring out the meteorite continents a lot.  Thanks for the constructive feedback.


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