Home made magnetic easel

M

Madbrush

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Before I continue with this I should probably explain why there is so much going on in my new studio, just before Christmas last year I found from my doctor the there is a very good chance I could lose my right leg due to artery problems, I have medicine which I have to take for one year and the deal was to see what it does, although it stops further problems it does not cure the existing one, the year is almost up and there is no change, I still have difficulty walking and although an operation will take place before any decision is made to amputate I have been told to accept the fact that the chance is very real and great.

I don't wish for sympathy or well wishing, I just want make it clear why I'm spending so much time getting my studio straight, it's a simple case of "while I still can", if it comes to it, my flying hobby will have to stop, so I will spend more time airbrushing or or doing some kind of art instead, I spent the first part of this year feeling sorry for myself and generally being an arse, but now it's time to just get on with it, there are many suffering a lot worse than me and still smiling, so why not me? LOL

Anyway, as most know I have made a lot of changes to my studio, the main reason as some will guess after this bombshell is that normally I stand at a magnetic white board to do my paintings but obviously if I want to continue I need to do it sitting, I always loved my white board and the freedom it gave and I wanted all the positives in a "desk top easel" so I designed and built my own and here is a run down on what I did.

The first thing I did was to go to Ikea and pick up this cake stand;

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This cost only €7 and the reason I bought it was to cannibalise it and retrieve this part;

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This is the rotation bearing mechanism, as you see it here, it is already attached to my main working board or front of the easel, it is fixed to a backplate later which is part of the angle adjustment plate connected to the base.

This photo is the back of the finished easel, I used the original under base of the cake stand and screwed my back plate to that you can see the four screws at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, I made the angle adjustment arm from two pieces of aluminium pipe, one fits snugly inside the other, I drilled some holes at 15 mm intervals which allow working angles ranging from 90 degrees from the table to around 45 degrees, I also used two pieces of "U" profile aluminium to make the securing brackets , the black screw you can see in the photo allows me to lock the board in portrait or landscape mode, I can leave the lock off so that the whole board can rotate a full 360 degrees which I find handy for scratching and dagger strokes and such, the base of the easel is the original top of the cake stand with a piece choped off the front so that it is in line with the front of my desk, I have made two small brackets and screwed these to that part to stop the easel sliding backwards if I have to lean on it;

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Here is the finished easel from the front, to make the front I butchered my original white board by cutting it in half, it was originally 120 cm X 90 cm, it is now 90 cm X 60 cm and I carefully replaced all the trim and corner pieces so that it looks just as it did when it was new, the main surface of the white board is a wafer thin sheet of steel on top of cardboard with a similar thickness galvanised sheet behind, I removed everything from the back leaving the white sheet and glued this to my board by means of contact adhesive (evostick) smeared onto to both surfaces and attached when almost dry;

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And here are some photos of the easel with the magnets in use and in portrait landscape and somewhere in between, as I said, I can rotate a full 360 degrees, this gives all the freedom and pleasue i had from my white board but allows me now to work sitting down, I thought about height adjustment but since my chair is adjustable this wasn't necessary.

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Really cool indeed. If you did not put the foot on, you could have put it on a desktop easel and you can then move it up and down.
 
Really cool indeed. If you did not put the foot on, you could have put it on a desktop easel and you can then move it up and down.

Thanks Andre, the height is ideal in either mode and the chair I have in the studio now seems to have a lot more travel than the one I have at my computer, with this and the chair combined it's perfect I've had a couple of dummy runs trying out all kinds of scenarios and and it seems to lack nothing.

I didn't have a desktop easel to start with and I find the cost of them ridiculous, my huge white board cost less than a third of the cost of a small desktop easel.

My total outlay for this was only what I paid for the cake stand, I already had everything else, I'm bit of hoarder and I have all sorts of materials I used for building my models.

I forgot to mention that what's left of the original white board will be situated on my desk behind this so I can place my references there.

You can take the man out of model building, but you can't take model building out of the man, lol

Two things in life I really love to do, solve problems and build/make stuff, my studio/hobby room/work area is such now that I can do literally everything sitting down, since rearranging the the studio all my paint boxes and comp are at the same level as my desktop so I can reach it all from out my chair, I've never been a boy scout but I admire their principles, lol
 
Great idea MB. Hope all go's well for you mate

I'll be fine Matty, got to think positive, being the tight arsed Scottish git that I am all I'm thinking about now is the money I'll save in socks, and when I need to get a leg over there will be no more hesitation trying to decide which, lol

Seriously, I've been practising trying to get around the house on one leg, and to be honest, although it's not easy, it certainly isn't as hard as I would have thought, I saw a guy on youtube with no arms playing guitar with his feet and when I see that there is always hope, I suppose it's just like airbrushing, you've got to make do with what you've got.
 
I'll be fine Matty, got to think positive, being the tight arsed Scottish git that I am all I'm thinking about now is the money I'll save in socks, and when I need to get a leg over there will be no more hesitation trying to decide which, lol

Seriously, I've been practising trying to get around the house on one leg, and to be honest, although it's not easy, it certainly isn't as hard as I would have thought, I saw a guy on youtube with no arms playing guitar with his feet and when I see that there is always hope, I suppose it's just like airbrushing, you've got to make do with what you've got.

lmao outstanding attitude and way to look at it mate. As you say if life throws ya lemons then make some lemonade and your right mate there is some inspirational people out there with problems that make ours seem like nothing.
Ride the storm my friend
 
Looks great MadBrush, maybe missing an edge or two should you wish to paint on canvas. But awesome work you sure are good with your hands. Sorry to hear for your leg problem, sending positive waves your way. :)
 
Looks great MadBrush, maybe missing an edge or two should you wish to paint on canvas. But awesome work you sure are good with your hands. Sorry to hear for your leg problem, sending positive waves your way. :)

Thanks WK, I don't like canvas, but if I have to use it, I just tape the magnets to the frame at the back and that works fine, that's how I started with the full size white board, but now I love the schoelershammer paper.
 
Great idea, MB, now I remember where I got the idea from to face my work surface with thin metal and use magnets :). This recent innovation of yours has got me thinking again.. brilliant idea.

I now only use the schoelershammer G4 paper but tend to refer to it as G4 as I can never spell schoelershammer :)

Fingers crossed everything goes okay health wise..
 
Great idea, MB, now I remember where I got the idea from to face my work surface with thin metal and use magnets :). This recent innovation of yours has got me thinking again.. brilliant idea.

I now only use the schoelershammer G4 paper but tend to refer to it as G4 as I can never spell schoelershammer :)

Fingers crossed everything goes okay health wise..

LOL, that's a good idea too calling the paper G4, saves wrestling with the auto spell check;):)
 
That is sooo weirdy, Twilight Zone funny Madbrush because I have only this week been thinking of making a rig to be able to easily rotate my board when painting :)

The reason being that when I want to do blends or fades in an upward direction, the airbrush is tilted back and the paint falls away from the airbrush head. So I was thinking of a very similar rotating system where I can swivel the picture around and spray from any suitable angle. I've since realised that I don't need to build a rig because I can fairly easily turn my board with one hand using your wonderful idea of taping magnets to the back of my 4G board. Major thanks for that one :D

You have done a fabulous job on your rotating easel. Really cool :thumbsup:
Cheers Mel
 
Great job and good idea madbrush, I feel ya on the artery problem...I have 3 stents in my right leg which are almost closed now and severe nerve pain due to diabetes. The original doctor I seen wanted to take the leg, that was 10 years ago.... thank goodness for 2nd opinions. I know I will lose it eventually but for now im content to laff in the face of old grimy...lol
 
MadBrush thats something you should pat. as it has alot of uses in painting and looks like it will work great,btw my brother has been in a wheelchair
from the age of 19 hes 52 now and has restored a 1969 camaro from the ground up so I know you won't have any prob. if thats what has to happen.
 
That looks sweet Mr Mad, my hubs has been talking about making me a turntable too. Sucks about the the leg, I really hope it all ends up ok, but if not then maybe you could get in some pirate shenanigans. You've got the Johnny Depp brand of handsome anyway right?
 
Just saw this post, I may have to use this idea, I started sitting last year when I developed a foot problem. I added on a tilt table to my wall mounted easel and it adjusts for height, and is easily removable to do large pieces. If I want to rotate, I'll tape my substrate to a board and move that, but I like this method so much more. Wonder how I can incorporate it into my current set up.

Keep on painting MB, you may not be able to get around as well, but your spirits sound just fine.
 
Awesome idea Madbrush. I may have to incorporate that into a desk im designing (just in my head atm). My only question is regarding the Rotation Bearing Mechanism, how is the rigidity of it when you have it at an angle (like in the last picture)? Seems like it would'nt stay in place. Hope you understand my horrible way of describing my question (long day at work).
 
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