09 May 2012
16 April 2012
Board games table top
Not particularly exciting nor complicated, but I whipped up a fresh boardgames table top this weekend. Pictures below, pretty basic stuff.
A combination of a crazy 2-week sale at Military Simulations, and the Geek and Sundry: Table Top Youtube channel prompted the build. I've backordered a pile of fun lookin' games.
A quick scaled sketchUp plan to get started. I've bought materials to make padded 90mm x 40mm borders, with cup holders in the corners. :-)
Laminated board, both sides...it's about "this" big.
Cut-laminated edges are pretty sharp. A router fixes that problem quite neatly. An impossible sanding job otherwise.
**Jumped ahead** I put green felt on one side. It's actually glued on.
The other side is getting a faux leather vinyl covering. I've used this stuff on a few other builds in the past.
Normally I'd just stretch-tack the vinyl down, but I needed neat (visible) edging, so decided to use a spray adhesive on both sides to make the tacking phase a bazillion times easier.
Spray, roll, burnish. Spray, roll, burnish. Easy peasy.
Fold, tuck, measure, tack. Fold, tuck, measure, tack. Easy peasy.
25 tacks later, one of the short ends is complete.
And before I could finish all four sides, a test game was required!! It may take a while before I get around to the edging, I'm feeling lazy, and the board surfaces are great. :)
A combination of a crazy 2-week sale at Military Simulations, and the Geek and Sundry: Table Top Youtube channel prompted the build. I've backordered a pile of fun lookin' games.
A quick scaled sketchUp plan to get started. I've bought materials to make padded 90mm x 40mm borders, with cup holders in the corners. :-) 
Laminated board, both sides...it's about "this" big.
Cut-laminated edges are pretty sharp. A router fixes that problem quite neatly. An impossible sanding job otherwise.
**Jumped ahead** I put green felt on one side. It's actually glued on.
The other side is getting a faux leather vinyl covering. I've used this stuff on a few other builds in the past.
Normally I'd just stretch-tack the vinyl down, but I needed neat (visible) edging, so decided to use a spray adhesive on both sides to make the tacking phase a bazillion times easier. 
Spray, roll, burnish. Spray, roll, burnish. Easy peasy.
Fold, tuck, measure, tack. Fold, tuck, measure, tack. Easy peasy.
25 tacks later, one of the short ends is complete.
And before I could finish all four sides, a test game was required!! It may take a while before I get around to the edging, I'm feeling lazy, and the board surfaces are great. :) 
10 March 2012
Pushbike engine connection rod rebuild
I had a pushbike engine explosion that did some damage when the connection rod broke as a result of my oil dipper being attached with less than "specification" tension.
I consulted "the boys", who weren't mechanics, nor guys at my experience level in gizmology for their opinions on fixing the problem. I don't know why I did, because I ignored all of them. LOL high fives!! :-)
So, despite one end of the piston housing being damaged, and not having access to cheap parts, I decided to make a new connection rod myself and ignore the damaged housing.
I made a simple plan in sketch-up for the part which included all my dimensions, and selected a piece of aluminium to suit.
I actually made the part at work because all the machines there are somewhat more solid than my hobby tools at home.
The beginning of a piece of engineering takes shape.
Some additional clearance was required which I didn't foresee in my plan. This was odd because I'd actually built a 2D scale model out of paper before I started!! My paper-tolerances weren't quite up to par it seems. A millimeter of orbital movement can make a large change in lateral displacement!!
Looks pretty good.
I don't have any photos or video, but this has all been re-assembled and works fine. I'm pretty pleased. :-)
I consulted "the boys", who weren't mechanics, nor guys at my experience level in gizmology for their opinions on fixing the problem. I don't know why I did, because I ignored all of them. LOL high fives!! :-)
So, despite one end of the piston housing being damaged, and not having access to cheap parts, I decided to make a new connection rod myself and ignore the damaged housing.
I made a simple plan in sketch-up for the part which included all my dimensions, and selected a piece of aluminium to suit.
I actually made the part at work because all the machines there are somewhat more solid than my hobby tools at home.
The beginning of a piece of engineering takes shape.
Some additional clearance was required which I didn't foresee in my plan. This was odd because I'd actually built a 2D scale model out of paper before I started!! My paper-tolerances weren't quite up to par it seems. A millimeter of orbital movement can make a large change in lateral displacement!!
Looks pretty good.
I don't have any photos or video, but this has all been re-assembled and works fine. I'm pretty pleased. :-)
28 February 2012
Critical Thinking
Because there's every chance you need a refresher course, particularly in this age of complete tools still telling me in 2012 that volcanoes are to blame...
These short critical-thinking videos were designed by the Australian Gov't as teaching aids for teachers with year 8-10 students (13-15yr olds). The videos could be viewed as part of virtually any curriculum.
Video 1,2,3 are very basic with singular examples. The remainder (of 6 videos) elaborate and conclude in very clean summaries.
All six linked here.
Or start with number 1 here. (very simple, I promise it gets better from three onward)
These short critical-thinking videos were designed by the Australian Gov't as teaching aids for teachers with year 8-10 students (13-15yr olds). The videos could be viewed as part of virtually any curriculum.
Video 1,2,3 are very basic with singular examples. The remainder (of 6 videos) elaborate and conclude in very clean summaries.
All six linked here.
Or start with number 1 here. (very simple, I promise it gets better from three onward)
06 February 2012
28 December 2011
Pushbike Motor failure
The engine on my pushbike started to make some strange metallic noises, began to retard, then seized up. An autopsy was required. :-(
After the less than desirable job of removing the engine from the bike, I popped the side open and found this little guy sitting in the oil at the bottom. Though I can't find any matching break point here.
The oil pickup gear, and cam-gear seem fine. The pushrods seem fine too...hmmm...
The entire block splits diagonally right through and I really don't want to crack it open if I can avoid it.
Alas everything looks fine under the itty-bitty rocker cover.
I'm going to have to split this thing open. Though I can't get a socket or wrech on this little guy. I've already damaged it with a screwdriver :(
...so I carve away the serves-no-purpose-hopefully housing around the bolt with the dremmel...
...and I can get in there no problems.
It just won't pry apart though. I'm gonna have to get the flywheel off. I've already tried once with a really nasty claw style gear puller and ever so slightly bent the flywheel at the rims already. Blargh!!!
So I made my own gear puller by removing the claws from the cheap puller, and simply drawing up against a piece of scrap metal with some bolts nested in the flywheel. Worked first try, just like a gear puller should !!!
Turned out there were 4 bolts under the flywheel anyhow. So once they were out the sucker split open and found the break point almost immediately. Right at the end of the screwdriver. Turns out the part is an oil dipper-thrower thingamabob and I have no clue how it broke. However it clearly lubricated the big end bearing and piston as both were bone dry, and the engine was seizing up after ~60seconds of running every time.
I found a replacement part online from the States for ~$4, but shipping was ~$18. The local mower place isn't open till early January. So I decided to make my own dipper. Here is the broken one taped together to show its original state. Behind it is an unlucky latch which probably won't be a latch for much longer. I can't vouch for the quality of the steel...but I figure it's worth a try.
So uh...that just happened...
I'd like to order one of those.
Hammer time.
Rough as guts.
Filed down.
A coat of 650C paint. Done. All hail year 7 metal shop and a handful of Kmart tools.
And like a bought one, bolted back onto the engine.
It took me a while to find the alignment marker on the plastic cam gear as I was looking at the other side (from an earlier picture). You can see here I've got it wrong...but that got sorted.
So some silicone gasket sealant on all the seams, and bolt it all back together. Hopefully it should last for at least 10 minutes!!
edit: Everything worked great for ~90 seconds after reassembling the entire job. Then the engine stopped and any ignition attempt resulted in a complete freewheel. I assumed the clamp on the big-end-bearing had come off, and that's exactly what had happened :( Blargh I hope nothing is seriously damaged...
MEDIC !!
Jimmy!! Jimmy!! Speak to me Jimmy !!!
After the less than desirable job of removing the engine from the bike, I popped the side open and found this little guy sitting in the oil at the bottom. Though I can't find any matching break point here. 
The oil pickup gear, and cam-gear seem fine. The pushrods seem fine too...hmmm...
The entire block splits diagonally right through and I really don't want to crack it open if I can avoid it. 
Alas everything looks fine under the itty-bitty rocker cover. 
I'm going to have to split this thing open. Though I can't get a socket or wrech on this little guy. I've already damaged it with a screwdriver :( 
...so I carve away the serves-no-purpose-hopefully housing around the bolt with the dremmel... 
...and I can get in there no problems.
It just won't pry apart though. I'm gonna have to get the flywheel off. I've already tried once with a really nasty claw style gear puller and ever so slightly bent the flywheel at the rims already. Blargh!!!
So I made my own gear puller by removing the claws from the cheap puller, and simply drawing up against a piece of scrap metal with some bolts nested in the flywheel. Worked first try, just like a gear puller should !!!
Turned out there were 4 bolts under the flywheel anyhow. So once they were out the sucker split open and found the break point almost immediately. Right at the end of the screwdriver. Turns out the part is an oil dipper-thrower thingamabob and I have no clue how it broke. However it clearly lubricated the big end bearing and piston as both were bone dry, and the engine was seizing up after ~60seconds of running every time. 
I found a replacement part online from the States for ~$4, but shipping was ~$18. The local mower place isn't open till early January. So I decided to make my own dipper. Here is the broken one taped together to show its original state. Behind it is an unlucky latch which probably won't be a latch for much longer. I can't vouch for the quality of the steel...but I figure it's worth a try.
So uh...that just happened... 
I'd like to order one of those.
Hammer time.
Rough as guts. 
Filed down. 
A coat of 650C paint. Done. All hail year 7 metal shop and a handful of Kmart tools.
And like a bought one, bolted back onto the engine.
It took me a while to find the alignment marker on the plastic cam gear as I was looking at the other side (from an earlier picture). You can see here I've got it wrong...but that got sorted. So some silicone gasket sealant on all the seams, and bolt it all back together. Hopefully it should last for at least 10 minutes!!
edit: Everything worked great for ~90 seconds after reassembling the entire job. Then the engine stopped and any ignition attempt resulted in a complete freewheel. I assumed the clamp on the big-end-bearing had come off, and that's exactly what had happened :( Blargh I hope nothing is seriously damaged... 
MEDIC !!
Jimmy!! Jimmy!! Speak to me Jimmy !!!
25 December 2011
06 October 2011
50cc Pushbike Motor Kit. Part 3
I needed to make some modifications to the motor-pushbike. Previous build info is here (day 1) and here (day 2).
You can see here the clearance for your foot is pretty lean. The gearbox sticks out a ways, and the other side is similar.
The vertical clearance is somewhat lacking...
I'd like to extend the pedal about "this much". You can import pedal-extender-bars, but they're a specialist product, cost about $25-$40 a pair, and only extend about 2cm.
I had a spare set of pedals kicking around (why? because I'm awesome, that's why.) so decided I could modify them to make some sort of super-pedal.
Aluminium cuts like cake. I really need a larger vice. The drill vice isn't really meant for this.
So I broke my last blade. Blargh Bunnings trips in the middle of a build are a pain in the bum.
With any luck I can just bend the leaves around the existing pedal, bolt it, and be done with it.
No such luck, cast-aluminium. Snapped in my hands, didn't even needs tools to break this. :(
So I cut the remaining leaves off, and got started on the other pedal.
Bunnings forced me against my will to buy das-uber-vice. It's a sweeet 150mm bar with who knows how long an extension, with offset clamp. I've actually never used a clamp this beefy before. It weighs 17kgs on its own. For scale, the hacksaw next to it has a 30cm (1 foot) blade.
The clamp is offset, so you can drop large pieces of product down to the floor while locked in the vice, with a full grip unlike most clamps. It has whacky MONSTROUS fins on both jaws to prevent any flex due to the offset grip. The jaw depth is much deeper than a standard vice also. It's huge.
Shelf-brackets have served me well for steel-strip requirements in the past. I'm going to cut these down and use them as splints to extend the modified pedal off cuts.
Aluminium drills so nicely!! I wish every metal work job was like this.
So this pretty much completes the picture of what I'm trying to do. A few bolts should have this job complete in no time.
This whole job was eye-balled. Yep, that looks about right...
They don't look too bad.
Plenty of foot room now.
Left and right, looks fine. Another victory to ad-lib workmanship. Also...I scored a new vice, so it's a double win. :-)
You can see here the clearance for your foot is pretty lean. The gearbox sticks out a ways, and the other side is similar.
The vertical clearance is somewhat lacking...
I'd like to extend the pedal about "this much". You can import pedal-extender-bars, but they're a specialist product, cost about $25-$40 a pair, and only extend about 2cm.
I had a spare set of pedals kicking around (why? because I'm awesome, that's why.) so decided I could modify them to make some sort of super-pedal.
Aluminium cuts like cake. I really need a larger vice. The drill vice isn't really meant for this.
So I broke my last blade. Blargh Bunnings trips in the middle of a build are a pain in the bum.
With any luck I can just bend the leaves around the existing pedal, bolt it, and be done with it.
No such luck, cast-aluminium. Snapped in my hands, didn't even needs tools to break this. :(
So I cut the remaining leaves off, and got started on the other pedal.
Bunnings forced me against my will to buy das-uber-vice. It's a sweeet 150mm bar with who knows how long an extension, with offset clamp. I've actually never used a clamp this beefy before. It weighs 17kgs on its own. For scale, the hacksaw next to it has a 30cm (1 foot) blade.
The clamp is offset, so you can drop large pieces of product down to the floor while locked in the vice, with a full grip unlike most clamps. It has whacky MONSTROUS fins on both jaws to prevent any flex due to the offset grip. The jaw depth is much deeper than a standard vice also. It's huge.
Shelf-brackets have served me well for steel-strip requirements in the past. I'm going to cut these down and use them as splints to extend the modified pedal off cuts.
Aluminium drills so nicely!! I wish every metal work job was like this.
So this pretty much completes the picture of what I'm trying to do. A few bolts should have this job complete in no time.
This whole job was eye-balled. Yep, that looks about right...
They don't look too bad.
Plenty of foot room now.
Left and right, looks fine. Another victory to ad-lib workmanship. Also...I scored a new vice, so it's a double win. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)