The Steampunk Truck Cab

I was thrilled to be approached by Erin, a truck driver in the USA, who wants to turn her cab into a celebration of all things steampunk. What a fabulous project! The first thing Erin required was some sort of device that would dispense recycled plastic bags. With space at a premium, it had to fit into a predetermined space. After many emails and a Zoom call - it’s so enjoyable chatting with another lover of steampunk - we narrowed it down to this… Erin also required a flickering flame effect and an indicator to show when the plastic bag door was opened - a classic steampunk requirement; have an indicator to state the obvious! It was such a joy constructing the bag holder with all the plumbing fittings and stained woodwork, the mercury tube and the flickering lamp. Then onto the coffee cup lamp shade… another use of the brilliant flickering flame effect LED lamp. But this time  designing something entirely in 3D builder that could be printed with metallic brass filament. It worked so well, embellishments and all. Finally onto the time zone clock. Oh, what a joy to convert the Chronological Engine into a clock that will indicate which US time zone Erin is currently travelling within. It has a ‘map’ of the US timezones; the current one indicated with a flickering LED. It also required a daily alarm that Erin said it should have a visual and audible display. The Audible alarm uses a bellows and flute. The visual alarm uses a flickering LED lamp, housed within my first steampunk creation entirely 3D designed and printed from different coloured filament. How exciting! It was amazing to assemble all the 3D printed parts, and to see how closely the finished item related to the 3D visualization. As space is at a premium, Erin required the area behind the timezone clock to store freezer bags, dog poop bags and a roll of cooking foil - further challenges! It was most enjoyable designing a storage system that would fulfill the requirements, especially the locking mechanism for the drop down storage. A sprung loaded brass knob, that pulls two circular locating pins out of the way on either side. If Erin needs to access her freezer bags, she drops it down one level. If cooking foil is required, she drops it down to the second level. Then, having created the storage system, it was time to mount everything on the front of the unit, including the required 3D printed iris through which the dog poop bags could be retrieved. Finally, having mounted everything on the front panel, I was very pleased with the result. We tested it for several days in our bedroom to ensure the alarm and clock worked perfectly, and they did! We were both awoken each morning at the proscribed time, with the lovely flickering lamp and flute. I sent it off to Erin and was very pleased to receive this lovely email: “WOW.  WOW WOW WOW.  This thing looks amazing!”