Gone Batty!

While working on the bent laminations for the box lids this weekend, inspiration struck in the form of a five year old with a passion for putting bad guys in their place.  Okay…maybe I like putting bad guys in their place too, but I swear it was all his idea…kinda.

According to Danger Boy the bending form looks a lot like Batman’s boomerang.

While it is bat-like, the aerodynamic form doesn’t look very promising.  A little research revealed many variations of the Batarang.  This one received the approval of the five year old contingent of superhero experts in the house.

After tinkering with various sketches…

…we decided on a final form and got ready to do some cutting.  I stacked six pieces of 1/4 inch Baltic Birch plywood together with double stick tape and attached the template.

First stop was the band saw.

Once all the big chunks were cut away, the scroll saw took care of all the small tight cuts.

Next it was on to the oscillating belt sander.  Have I mentioned how great I think this thing is?  It did a great job cleaning up all of the burrs and saw marks, and smoothing out all the bat-curves.

With all of the super, top-secret manufacturing processes compete, we found ourselves staring at a collection of the keenest, most advanced, bad guy thwarting weapons technology known to man.

They were breathtaking to behold.  The thrill of the call to justice overwhelmed us and we were swept up in visions of glorious battle with super villains bent on wrecking havoc on the helpless innocents of Maplewood, MN.  So focused were our thoughts that we began to plan for all eventualities that evil might throw at us…and then it hit us…”What if we run out of Batarangs?!”

Double production…STAT!

With a healthy supply of the latest Batarangs, it was on to the weapons testing grounds to put these marvels through their paces.

Danger Boy completed several rounds of testing and gave his hearty approval for the design and performance of the latest addition to our arsenal.

You now find yourselves the recipients of a rare treat indeed!  Actual test footage has just been released by the police commissioner for public viewing.  Our hope is that anyone with villainous intent will witness this display and think twice before perpetrating any nefarious action in our fair city of Maplewood.   We now bring you Official Batarang Test Flight #74291-34R.

Now that successful testing has been completed, the latest production run will move on to exterior augmentation, receiving an anti-detection, friction eliminating coating and a protective layer of indestructible polymer shielding…and, maybe some cool looking stripes!

Bad guys, be warned!

Pete