These are the pieces of steel which will make the body of my prototype. They are 8mm steel plate and were cut by a laser cutter to the measurements I provided.
Laser cutting is a precise way of cutting all sorts of different material, here is a link for some more info on laser cutting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cutting
I have tack welded the pieces to the pipe which will form the rounded edges, then I need to fill the rest of the join in with weld.
This is quite a long process to weld and grind these joins, so I put on my iPod with some earmuffs over the top, put on a podcast and then go for it!
I found out later that this really annoyed my neighbour! What I have made is like an amplifier or megaphone and it was pointed towards her place while I was grinding away.
She thought the end of the world had arrived!
Sorry Marilyn, it's all in the pursuit of art!
After a few hours work it looks like this!