The Making of a Masterpiece: A Maker's Journey to Replicate the Le Grand K

As I stand here in my workshop, surrounded by various tools and projects, I feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. Today, I'm embarking on a journey to replicate the Le Grand K, a prop replica that has been eluding me for quite some time. The idea of creating something magnificent is always thrilling, but this project holds a special place in my heart.

As I begin, I take a moment to appreciate the fact that I won't be the first person to attempt to replicate this object. In fact, multiple museums already have their own versions of the Le Grand K, which is both humbling and reassuring. Nevertheless, I'm eager to put my own spin on the project, and my research has yielded some fascinating insights into the world of metrology. Who knew that there were so many Greco-Roman weights and measures in existence? My French accent may be a bit off, but I'm determined to do justice to this ancient subject.

The first step in bringing the Le Grand K to life is to create the base material. I've decided to use a combination of Richlite and plastic to achieve the desired weight and durability. The process of cutting and shaping the material on my band saw proves to be a bit more challenging than anticipated, but I'm thrilled with the results so far. With the base material in place, I can now focus on adding the finishing touches.

One of the most significant hurdles I face is creating the kilogram pieces that will make up the Le Grand K. This requires some careful measuring and cutting to ensure that each piece fits together perfectly. After several iterations, I'm pleased with the progress I've made. Next, I need to assemble all the components, including attaching the legs and adding any additional details.

As I work on the project, I take a moment to appreciate one of my favorite weights and measures sets, which I acquired from Craigslist for an unbeatable price. The 10-pound weight is particularly striking, with its elegant design and precise craftsmanship. It's a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the makers who created it.

The final stages of the project require some delicate attention to detail. I've added a special sealant to ensure that the Le Grand K remains secure, while also making it removable for easy cleaning and maintenance. The result is nothing short of stunning – a beautiful, intricate replica that showcases my craftsmanship and dedication to precision.

And so, as I present this magnificent creation to you, I want to acknowledge the imperfections and mishaps that inevitably occur during the making process. These are not mistakes, but rather an integral part of the journey, and I'm proud to share them with you. From touching up paint jobs to losing tiny screws, these setbacks have taught me valuable lessons about perseverance and creativity.

In conclusion, creating a replica of the Le Grand K has been a truly enriching experience that has pushed me to new heights of craftsmanship and dedication. I hope that this journey has inspired you to take on your own creative projects, no matter how daunting they may seem. And remember, as we say in the maker community, "measure once, curse twice" – it's all part of the process!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody Adam Savage in my cave with a deep nerd cut of a prop replica I know the camera's bouncing around here sorry over Co I became obsessed with chasing zeros on my machine tools and that led to an interest in Metrology that led to uh a video about my thoughts on Metrology which uh link is in the description about the fact that there's no such thing as a measurement that measurements are not sacran facts but they are levels of agreement between humans and they have their limits uh and their limits are far shorter than we thought they were it turns out it turns out that uh those of us who find safety and faith in the numbers all this time it's been feeling faith and safety in each other in collaboration but one of the best artifacts within the history of Metrology is Fran's kilogram now the French word the early I believe the earliest country to attempt to codify a measurement that could be used as a national resource and they called it l gr the grand kilogram and it is a beautiful object it is a surpassingly lovely thing there it is the cylinder inside of two vacuum sealed Bell jars now the reason they're vacuum sealed is to prevent any oxidation or any change in the atomic structure of any part of the kilogram I believe it's padium and platinum but I can't quite remember suffice to say we have stopped using lron K as our reference standard for the kilogram because all materials change over time and they can't be Frozen at a specific measurement um and so the kilogram like all of our weights and measures has now been based upon a cosmological constant like the speed of light I'm pretty sure I'm correct in all of that so this is no longer a necessity this this object there's pictures of it here there's here's a drawing of it for a long time I've had myself a um I've had myself a gram weight scale set this is pretty accurate and when you want to go looking for a really nice kilogram well you find a lot like this now the problem with this one is it's meant to be handled by people and so it's got this you can put a fork in and go put it on something I wanted a a different kind of kilogram and so first I found this one I'm not going to touch it with my hands first I found this one here which is pretty good that one's pretty good I like that but then aesthetically I'm much more pleased with yeah that sorry I don't mean to yell I apologize but that is a beautiful object this is um highly calibrated traceable to it looks like three zos and a n9ine so uh uh just uh wait oh no weight 1,000 gram traceable to National Bureau of Standards tolerances so that has an actual number value I don't know what it is but it is traceable I have also found I found two perfect Bell jars that really match the origin and so now I am in the process of making the stand for them sorry the uh this part and I'm actually going to make my stand a little bit thicker because I want it to be a little more magnificent here we go here's here's a version yeah so I was going to say this is like this has to be the first time anyone's done this prop replica but what's really funny is as I've been doing research on l gron k what I find is multiple museums with a version of it in their Museum and so I think I am not the first to have replicated this beautiful object I believe within the teaching and the dissemination of the science of Metrology many Gres have been built gr um my apologies to French people everywhere for my accent but we are going to be turning that out of Rich light and that's happening on the other l so let's go there right now n okay I am now going to uh try and do some of the cutting of this on the band saw because I can't get all the way through through with the spit that I have all right I have successfully cut away this on the band saw it was not easy but now I'm going to smooth it up and I'm going to do almost all my work in terms of holding on to these guys terms of holding on to kilogram and its pieces with this piece of Rich light so if I want 5.6 I just go down to that see if that works there we go excellent yeah I'm very pleased um I am going to make some Legs for This which means I'm putting it on the rotary table uh but for right now I want to drill the hole for the kilo and it is of a certain size so hold on its diameter is 1.86 in sh is what it's a little tight we'll need to crack it open on the outside oh tiny bit narrower okay good I'm just going to do a test fit of all the systems here for a sec because I'd like to so oh come on Lego okay here we go and then the first Bell jar and the second Bell jar oh that is beautiful all right we're going to cut three legs into this and that's going to require us to grab this from the inside at 90° that's not a problem time to take this down put the vice back up go go all right ladies and G I'm going to wash my hands and do a final assembly of this guy okay here comes our grand K this will make it sticky but removable this is a b7000 all right now all right that'll also provide a little extra security awesome all right I know I always say I don't love glue but this isn't glue this is um this is just a little extra extra secure help oh come on there we go there you go now you're seated excellent actually I don't like the look of that let's get rid of that excellent okay now that is held I'm going to let that sit for a minute all right we are going to let that sit and I'm going to do some cleaning up oh I uh actually hold on I thought you should see one of my favorite kilograms so that's my weights and measure set um that there uh this is my 20 oh yeah look at oh 10 10 20 lbs oh look at that isn't that sweet I picked this up on Craigslist for like 50 bucks or something was great um all right so this going live here I'm very very happy um I have wanted this object I've wanted this object for a long time I've coveted this subject for a long time uh it is going to get a label that says Lon that is a little chain that hangs around its neck and that will be um I believe that's actually going to be a separate a separate one day build because I'm going to do some eching for that thank you guys for joining me for this remember uh measure once curse twice yeah that's our demerit badge see you guys next time one of the things I love about this channel is that we don't make how to videos so much as we make what happened videos and what almost always happens are mistakes and screw-ups in fact they're completely integral to making and honestly to being a person and to celebrate this tested has a new batch of Dem merit badges for the screw-ups you will encounter in the shop from left to right we have touching your paint job assembling things backwards losing a tiny screw or part gluing your fingers together and smashing your thumb and frankly if you haven't done both of these even if you're not a maker I just don't feel like you've experienced enough of the world I'm not saying get out of hammer and smash your thumb but I will tell you that the black are your fingernail after the injury the less it's going to hurt in the long run I almost forgot these make excellent additions to your shop apron and they are available at tested Dash store.comhey everybody Adam Savage in my cave with a deep nerd cut of a prop replica I know the camera's bouncing around here sorry over Co I became obsessed with chasing zeros on my machine tools and that led to an interest in Metrology that led to uh a video about my thoughts on Metrology which uh link is in the description about the fact that there's no such thing as a measurement that measurements are not sacran facts but they are levels of agreement between humans and they have their limits uh and their limits are far shorter than we thought they were it turns out it turns out that uh those of us who find safety and faith in the numbers all this time it's been feeling faith and safety in each other in collaboration but one of the best artifacts within the history of Metrology is Fran's kilogram now the French word the early I believe the earliest country to attempt to codify a measurement that could be used as a national resource and they called it l gr the grand kilogram and it is a beautiful object it is a surpassingly lovely thing there it is the cylinder inside of two vacuum sealed Bell jars now the reason they're vacuum sealed is to prevent any oxidation or any change in the atomic structure of any part of the kilogram I believe it's padium and platinum but I can't quite remember suffice to say we have stopped using lron K as our reference standard for the kilogram because all materials change over time and they can't be Frozen at a specific measurement um and so the kilogram like all of our weights and measures has now been based upon a cosmological constant like the speed of light I'm pretty sure I'm correct in all of that so this is no longer a necessity this this object there's pictures of it here there's here's a drawing of it for a long time I've had myself a um I've had myself a gram weight scale set this is pretty accurate and when you want to go looking for a really nice kilogram well you find a lot like this now the problem with this one is it's meant to be handled by people and so it's got this you can put a fork in and go put it on something I wanted a a different kind of kilogram and so first I found this one I'm not going to touch it with my hands first I found this one here which is pretty good that one's pretty good I like that but then aesthetically I'm much more pleased with yeah that sorry I don't mean to yell I apologize but that is a beautiful object this is um highly calibrated traceable to it looks like three zos and a n9ine so uh uh just uh wait oh no weight 1,000 gram traceable to National Bureau of Standards tolerances so that has an actual number value I don't know what it is but it is traceable I have also found I found two perfect Bell jars that really match the origin and so now I am in the process of making the stand for them sorry the uh this part and I'm actually going to make my stand a little bit thicker because I want it to be a little more magnificent here we go here's here's a version yeah so I was going to say this is like this has to be the first time anyone's done this prop replica but what's really funny is as I've been doing research on l gron k what I find is multiple museums with a version of it in their Museum and so I think I am not the first to have replicated this beautiful object I believe within the teaching and the dissemination of the science of Metrology many Gres have been built gr um my apologies to French people everywhere for my accent but we are going to be turning that out of Rich light and that's happening on the other l so let's go there right now n okay I am now going to uh try and do some of the cutting of this on the band saw because I can't get all the way through through with the spit that I have all right I have successfully cut away this on the band saw it was not easy but now I'm going to smooth it up and I'm going to do almost all my work in terms of holding on to these guys terms of holding on to kilogram and its pieces with this piece of Rich light so if I want 5.6 I just go down to that see if that works there we go excellent yeah I'm very pleased um I am going to make some Legs for This which means I'm putting it on the rotary table uh but for right now I want to drill the hole for the kilo and it is of a certain size so hold on its diameter is 1.86 in sh is what it's a little tight we'll need to crack it open on the outside oh tiny bit narrower okay good I'm just going to do a test fit of all the systems here for a sec because I'd like to so oh come on Lego okay here we go and then the first Bell jar and the second Bell jar oh that is beautiful all right we're going to cut three legs into this and that's going to require us to grab this from the inside at 90° that's not a problem time to take this down put the vice back up go go all right ladies and G I'm going to wash my hands and do a final assembly of this guy okay here comes our grand K this will make it sticky but removable this is a b7000 all right now all right that'll also provide a little extra security awesome all right I know I always say I don't love glue but this isn't glue this is um this is just a little extra extra secure help oh come on there we go there you go now you're seated excellent actually I don't like the look of that let's get rid of that excellent okay now that is held I'm going to let that sit for a minute all right we are going to let that sit and I'm going to do some cleaning up oh I uh actually hold on I thought you should see one of my favorite kilograms so that's my weights and measure set um that there uh this is my 20 oh yeah look at oh 10 10 20 lbs oh look at that isn't that sweet I picked this up on Craigslist for like 50 bucks or something was great um all right so this going live here I'm very very happy um I have wanted this object I've wanted this object for a long time I've coveted this subject for a long time uh it is going to get a label that says Lon that is a little chain that hangs around its neck and that will be um I believe that's actually going to be a separate a separate one day build because I'm going to do some eching for that thank you guys for joining me for this remember uh measure once curse twice yeah that's our demerit badge see you guys next time one of the things I love about this channel is that we don't make how to videos so much as we make what happened videos and what almost always happens are mistakes and screw-ups in fact they're completely integral to making and honestly to being a person and to celebrate this tested has a new batch of Dem merit badges for the screw-ups you will encounter in the shop from left to right we have touching your paint job assembling things backwards losing a tiny screw or part gluing your fingers together and smashing your thumb and frankly if you haven't done both of these even if you're not a maker I just don't feel like you've experienced enough of the world I'm not saying get out of hammer and smash your thumb but I will tell you that the black are your fingernail after the injury the less it's going to hurt in the long run I almost forgot these make excellent additions to your shop apron and they are available at tested Dash store.com\n"