[PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting

Sun Oct 6 01:52:25 EDT 2013

Hi, Brian
Re the ‘Prehensor’ – yes, we completed a mechanical version that works quite well (check it out on the Nuytco website) We’ve also done some design work on an electronically controlled ‘Prehensor’ that has some very good potential to be the one we wind up using. We’re currently doing some studies on a lightweight shallower version of the ‘Exosuit’ that could use the much lighter electronic version.  Never a dull moment!
Phil

From: brian 
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 7:44 PM
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion 
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting

It's kind of like a collision of Art and Science !  BTW Phil have you guys made any progress on that bionic hand that you were working on?

Brian Cox

-----Original Message-----
From: "Phil Nuytten" <phil at philnuytten.com>
Sent 10/5/2013 6:59:08 PM
To: "Personal Submersibles General Discussion" <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting

Can't say enough good stuff about Bruce Beasley - he really is is an amazing
friend. His former company, Polymer Engineering, made the acrylic hemis for
our 'Deep Rover' about 30 years ago. Bruce and I discovered quite
accidentally that we both had a passion for northwest coast  first nations
art and knew many native artists who were our mutual friends. Bruce is an
artist who got into acrylics because of his art. I got into the underwater
biz for a similar reason - I apprenticed with a master totem carver during
the summers in the 50's and that led to diving . . .a long story. You can
find it in my book "The Totem Carvers" - now out of print but usually
available -used-, from Amazon - stupid prices sometimes, though!
BTW, our crew just got back from Normandy - filming the sunken 'D' -day
troop carriers and tanks off SWORD, JUNEAU, and OMAHA beaches for a one hour
special due  to air next year for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day
invasion. Even took a 92 year old survivor down in 'Aquarius' to see his
troop transporter, we used AQ and DeepWorker.  AQ is off filming deep
glass-sponge reefs next week, for a conservation group called C-Paws -
google the name and you'll get the skinny.
Phil
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 12:56 PM
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting
Hi Jon & Hank,
Firstly Hank, no I didn't come across any Biber class submarines.
Regarding Bruce; After his success with acrylic he started an acrylic
business, however his partner got out of it & set up his own company. He was
a bit hard done by. At some point he
chose to pursue art rather than a business career. He is a good friend of
Phil Nuytten. They both
have a strong interest in Native American art.
If we had a conference on the West coast you might be able to talk him in to
speaking.
It certainly is an interesting story.
Alan
Sent from my iPad
On 12/10/2013, at 2:59 AM, Jon Wallace <jon.wallace at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Nice job Alan.  I always wondered where he was, he seemed to disappear
> after his work with Stachiw ended.  We should see if he's interested in
> being a guest speaker for a future conference.
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Sat, 10/12/13, Alan <alanlindsayjames at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting
> To: "Personal Submersibles General Discussion"
> <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
> Date: Saturday, October 12, 2013, 1:26 AM
>
> While in San Francisco I looked up
> Bruce Beasley's contact details.
> He is one of Americas pre- eminent sculptures & a
> pioneer in casting thick sectioned acrylic.
> I thought I was heading to his gallery but it ended up being
> his home & studio.
> For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Bruce was
> attracted to acrylic as a sculpting
> medium but no one had cast it more than two inches thick. He
> managed to cast a 4" thick
> model of a proposed 13ft x 4ft art work that he submitted
> for a competition for a State of California public
> sculpture. The judges awarded him the prize & finance to
> built it. Unbeknown
> to them the technology to make it didn't exist.
> Du Pont the acrylic manufacturer told Bruce they couldn't
> offer him technical assistance as he had already exceeded
> what their chemists could achieve, but would supply him the
> raw product free.
> He observed the formation of bubbles in the polymerising
> acrylic through windows in an autoclave & discovered how
> to eliminate them & the cracking, that were the Achilles
> heel of the process. 2 castings later he created The 13ft x
> 4ft casting. He said if he hadn't have made it he could have
> been sued.
> It was at that point that Jerry Stachiw from the U.S. navy
> approached him to make thick acrylic spheres for deep diving
> submersibles. There were several failures before success
> & the price tag on these failures was the equivalent of
> a new VW.
>    Anyway he ushered me in to his living room
> & chatted away. I have a background in art
> so we related well, & he ended up giving me a book which
> was a retrospective of his sculpture,
> including the story of his acrylic sculpture. I think he was
> quite impressed that someone from N.Z.
> knew his story & had tracked him down.
> He still has the secrets to manufacturing large castings if
> anyone wants to purchase the technology.
> So again I've been totally spoilt.
> Alan
>
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
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