tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86040427769428323692012-02-03T04:16:13.996-08:00Going's on of Otto's PastimesA collection of comments and descriptions of the things that I am doing...Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-36845234509649706902012-01-26T23:12:00.000-08:002012-01-26T23:16:04.199-08:002012-01-26T23:16:04.199-08:00Update On What I have Been Up To<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It must be obvious by now that I have not been updating my Blog for a couple of weeks (maybe more?!). In the past I have been pretty regular with my posts publishing about one a week. Recently that steady stream has stopped because I have not had any spare time to mess around since Christmas. I have been busy with other things and have not had the time to do any projects or experiment in the garage :-(</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I do have some projects that I was working on and I have received some emails asking me to add more detail and explain some of the things that I have done. I'm going to answer those emails with new Blog posts and finish the projects that are in the works - stay tuned!! I'll have some new info soon!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check back and you will be surprised... :-)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading my Blog and continuing to read it!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - Otto Belden</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-3684523450964970690?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9XmlJP6HyTP4w9sOwALhbCgje_8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9XmlJP6HyTP4w9sOwALhbCgje_8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/3-n6trm9ApU" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2012/01/update-on-what-i-have-been-up-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-42874990901934620312012-01-08T21:23:00.000-08:002012-01-08T21:23:55.613-08:002012-01-08T21:23:55.613-08:00Toyota Highlander Door Panel Lights<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was driving the other night down a dark road and I tried to adjust the mirrors of my Toyota Highlander. I couldn't see the mirror adjust switch, I know more or less where it was but it was so dark I couldn't find the switch. A similar experience happened to me after I got in my car in a parking lot and wanted to lock the doors, I couldn't see the door lock rocker switch and although I knew where it was and I pressed it I wasn't sure if I had locked or unlocked the doors. The Toyota Highlander switches aren't lighted! Today I fixed that by adding a couple of small lights to illuminate the dash area to the left of the Toyota steering column and the drivers side door panel. This little project was a pretty straight forward thing to do and it turned out pretty nice. I only wish that Toyota had added lights to these switches on the base model so I didn't have to do this.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first thing that I did was lift up the switch panel in the drivers door using a guitar pick to pry up the panel. A guitar pick (or a the corner of a credit card) works nicely to lift up car trim because it won't mark of mess up the plastic panels. The switch panel lifts up and unsnaps from the rear.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTnutQIXdp0/Twpri_m7RsI/AAAAAAAAA7A/zI-Sv064eHU/s1600/Toyota+Highlander+Switches.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTnutQIXdp0/Twpri_m7RsI/AAAAAAAAA7A/zI-Sv064eHU/s400/Toyota+Highlander+Switches.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2009 Toyota Highlander Drivers Switch Panel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once I had the switch panel lifted up I removed it and released the harness from a plastic retainer inside the door. Releasing the harness didn't disconnect it from the switch panel, it just freed up some slack in the wired so I could pull the panel out. The switch panel has a bunch of wires of various gauges going into it and I probed around with my meter to find a couple that had power when the engine was running.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2012/01/toyota-highlander-door-panel-lights.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4287499090193462031?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/4jBJ6N8UvBWLpQVWDIQKDEJpW90/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/4jBJ6N8UvBWLpQVWDIQKDEJpW90/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/J7QTk9Qvb-k" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com3http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2012/01/toyota-highlander-door-panel-lights.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-58103642402205130482011-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:002011-12-30T16:50:03.910-08:002011-12-30T16:50:03.910-08:00Happy New Year (Merry Christmas too)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have not posted here in a couple of weeks because I have been really busy with the holidays and working. Those two things have prevented me from doing any experiments, projects or writing new posts. This weekend is of course New Years and Last weekend Christmas so I just want to say Happy To You for both those events. I'll have something new next week, so check back then!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Meanwhile you can always read about some of the other things that I have built by clicking <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/p/various-projects.html">HERE</a>. Enjoy!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - Otto</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-5810364240220513048?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GVFds8ltaxPSWzfejPGMmWW4WGg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GVFds8ltaxPSWzfejPGMmWW4WGg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/RTlvQNGRk_E" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-new-year-merry-christmas-too.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-55230205029927298492011-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:002011-12-18T16:01:35.906-08:002011-12-18T16:01:35.906-08:00GD&T Concentricity, Is It Round?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want to write about several simple Geometric Dimensioning concepts that I have seen misused, misunderstood and misapplied over the years. It all boils down to things that are supposed to be round. Concentricity, Roundness, Cylindricity, Axis as a Datum and the list goes on and on... Is it round? I think that a lot of folks get these concepts wrong because "round" seems so simple on the surface but when you get into the details it's not that straight forward... or is it? Actually it is pretty simple if you slow down and think about it. The first idea is: Where is the axis of something that is round? Take a look at the picture below and let me know if this makes sense.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_VwGYK7zRSo/Tu5usJJpqUI/AAAAAAAAA6g/MstG42Bypms/s1600/GD%2526T+Rotation+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_VwGYK7zRSo/Tu5usJJpqUI/AAAAAAAAA6g/MstG42Bypms/s400/GD%2526T+Rotation+1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Right and Wrong way To Establish A Datum<br>
(Click on the image for a bigger view!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the top of the picture there is Datum A that is placed <u>incorrectly</u> on the axis of the part. I have seen this done so many times and it makes no sense! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the lower picture the datum is placed on a diameter. Why is it wrong to place the Datum on the axis? In the real world there is no ONE center axis of any part with multiple diameters and there is no 'Datum Axis' in this case. Which axis is the datum? In the lower part of the picture above it is clear which axis is the Datum because the Datum is on a round surface. That surface is creating the Datum axis. Because there are several surfaces on this part there is no way to know which axis is the datum in the top picture. Have a look at the picture below to see what I mean.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/gd-concentricity-is-it-round.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-5523020502992729849?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LCsKEz4VEbUC7BQQQ2x0NwT1b1k/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LCsKEz4VEbUC7BQQQ2x0NwT1b1k/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/v21q3T6ZlPA" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com2http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/gd-concentricity-is-it-round.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-39521307263688301652011-12-11T16:30:00.000-08:002011-12-11T16:30:55.739-08:002011-12-11T16:30:55.739-08:00Eucalyptus Walking Stick With Epoxy<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I spent a lot of time this week doing things other than working on my projects so I'm going to write a brief post about a walking stick that I made not too long ago. This is a stick that my son and I found while walking around a creek near our house. There are a lot of eucalyptus trees in the area and also a lot of sticks naturally. This stick is about an inch in diameter (more or less) and about 4 feet long. The end that eventually became the handle was "crackled" and dark as if it had been used as a poker in a fire.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My son and I thought that it looked neat and we walked around with it all day. Since there are so many sticks around the creek area there we figured that taking one home wouldn't be a problem. Once we got it home we sanded it smooth and got all the loose bark off of it.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jmFWJVIKZ_A/TuVIv2UtKVI/AAAAAAAAA54/OxWJFxlaVk4/s1600/Walking+Stick.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jmFWJVIKZ_A/TuVIv2UtKVI/AAAAAAAAA54/OxWJFxlaVk4/s400/Walking+Stick.JPG" width="372"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking Stick With Epoxy Back Fill</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once we got all the loose stuff off with rough sanding and a stiff wire brush we did a bit more smooth sanding with #200 grit sandpaper. There are a lot of neat little crackled features (and a few big cracks) in the stick that made it a bit rough ever after the sanding. To fill those in we mixed up some grey two part epoxy and smeared it all over the wood, working it into the cracks and leaving it as smooth as we could leave it with gloved hands.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click the jump below to read a little bit more and for a close up picture of the handle end of the stick.</span></div><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/eucalyptus-walking-stick-with-epoxy.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-3952130726368830165?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zwSJgLwyWtJaDE6GB77pBbMNpqA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zwSJgLwyWtJaDE6GB77pBbMNpqA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/JL-9YmRpB44" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/eucalyptus-walking-stick-with-epoxy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-64831822914244977282011-12-04T22:44:00.000-08:002011-12-05T09:40:26.863-08:002011-12-05T09:40:26.863-08:00Homemade Lab Jack (Part 2)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have almost finished the Lab Jack that I started recently, actually it is done and it works! I wrote a <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-lab-jack-part-1.html">PART 1</a> post about his project and I recommend that you read it if you are interested in how this got going and why I built it. I decided to build this after I looked around for commercially available products and decided that they were too expensive or not big enough for what I wanted. Besides, if you build it yourself it is exactly what you want! Below is a picture of the completed lab jack extended to over 12 inches in height.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F321v90R0Jg/TtxNCtvF7eI/AAAAAAAAA4c/-23XrAN5DDE/s1600/Homemade+Lab+Jack+Raised.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F321v90R0Jg/TtxNCtvF7eI/AAAAAAAAA4c/-23XrAN5DDE/s400/Homemade+Lab+Jack+Raised.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Home Built Lab Jack</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can it go higher than twelve inches? Yes it can but it gets really unstable due to the 'play' in the hinges. I'm going to fix that and I'll write a post about how I fixed it soon. This project worked out better than I expected. It's very easy to raise the height by turning the adjustment knob (detailed below) from the lowest height of 2-1/4" all the way up to where you see it in the picture. The only problem is in the 'slop' in the hinges that I used to make it. Being the first Lab Jack that I have built I have to call this a success.</span></div> <br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check out <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/p/various-projects.html">THIS LINK</a> to see some of the other stuff I have built.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/homemade-lab-jack-part-2.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-6483182291424497728?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fQYODjS88udDfPWFNzdjAjZy46s/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fQYODjS88udDfPWFNzdjAjZy46s/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fQYODjS88udDfPWFNzdjAjZy46s/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fQYODjS88udDfPWFNzdjAjZy46s/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/a0mq5w2_aw4" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/12/homemade-lab-jack-part-2.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-42044710382196256282011-11-27T19:26:00.000-08:002011-11-27T19:26:54.188-08:002011-11-27T19:26:54.188-08:00Homemade Lab Jack (Part 1)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a rather ambitious project and by ambitious I mean it might not work. On many occasions I have needed to adjust the height of something, usually a camera, in very fine increments. A tripod works really good for that and I have one... but a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&q=lab+jack&um=1&hl=en&biw=1290&bih=626&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi">lab jack</a> would be much better so I decided to build one. Also a lab jack is a nice thing to have!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are three industry standard approaches to designing a lab jack. One is <a href="http://www.scientificsonline.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/3/1/3108200_1.jpg">THIS</a> where there is a scissor lift that has to slide in a track relative to the platforms. One disadvantage is that it becomes less stable as the height grows. Another design is the Dual Pantograph like <a href="http://www.thorlabs.com/images/GuideImages/1_L490_SGL.jpg">THIS</a> that is a bit more stable but requires a lot more linkage's. A much more stable design uses three linkage hinge's in <a href="http://search.newport.com/?q=*&x2=sku&q2=281">THIS</a> type of configuration. With this one there are two opposing linkages and a third to add stability. This last configuration is what I decided to build.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_BQ40uJhg3Q/TtLwddnnn3I/AAAAAAAAA3I/u758ghQE0IU/s1600/Base+Assembly+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_BQ40uJhg3Q/TtLwddnnn3I/AAAAAAAAA3I/u758ghQE0IU/s400/Base+Assembly+.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade Lab Jack</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The above picture shows how much progress I have made at this point. Not much! You can see the opposing hinge systems and the location of where the third will be. The wood that I am using is Baltic Birch plywood, the same wood that I used in <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/homemade-wood-clock-test-run.html">my clock</a>. There is a 1/4-20 all thread bolt running through the hinges and that was the tricky part of this project.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-lab-jack-part-1.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4204471038219625628?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jG0Rbs233yvYvTjVKrtsEC7HB-4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jG0Rbs233yvYvTjVKrtsEC7HB-4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/BNZ65U8smVU" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com4http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-lab-jack-part-1.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-42693397676210638062011-11-20T15:11:00.000-08:002011-11-20T15:11:34.848-08:002011-11-20T15:11:34.848-08:00Wind Tunnel Smoke Generator<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the details of my home made wind tunnel and I wanted to add some recent modifications I made to the smoke generator system. The smoke generator that I am using is a Halloween fog generator and I modified it by attaching a hose to the outlet (and rewired it!). There are some details about that in <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/wind-tunnel-details.html">THIS</a> post. I had a problem with that setup because the smoke (or fog if you want to call it that) coming out of the generator was hot and it melted the plastic tubing that I had attached to the generator. Check out the post above that I linked to for details. A second problem was that the smoke was being blasted right through the wind tunnel in bursts. I only had a few seconds to make an observation with smoke! Another problem that I had was the liquid that is used to make the fog was condensing in the tube that I attached to the output and that condensed liquid was filling the tube and creating back pressure. The tube was essentially being blocked by the condensed liquid, getting hot and finally burst. I decided that I wasn't going to run this smoke system any longer without addressing those issues (and cleaning up my garage).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5756Drc_J4/TsmFANbAtvI/AAAAAAAAA2w/BdL2UMBt-Ec/s1600/Smoke+Accumulator.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5756Drc_J4/TsmFANbAtvI/AAAAAAAAA2w/BdL2UMBt-Ec/s400/Smoke+Accumulator.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smoke Generator Accumulator Tank</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I came up with is shown in the picture above. I got a 3 gallon plastic paint bucket and attached a couple of barb fittings to the lid. On one of the barb fittings I ran some 3/8" fuel line hose from the smoke generator and on the other fitting the plastic hose feeds the wind tunnel. You can see the wind tunnel in the lower right corner of the above picture.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/wind-tunnel-smoke-generator.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4269339767621063806?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iAj0KXNu6-NRndpuHHhbCq1HaKg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iAj0KXNu6-NRndpuHHhbCq1HaKg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/BxVOZ2azGJs" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/wind-tunnel-smoke-generator.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-67286507123718893612011-11-12T13:39:00.000-08:002011-11-12T13:39:58.721-08:002011-11-12T13:39:58.721-08:00Electric Bike Design<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wrote a post <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/interbike-2011-bike-show-and-e-moto.html">HERE</a> in September about a electric bike that I designed, the <a href="http://www.emotoev.com/">E-Moto</a> Monterey Electric Bike. There were a couple of pictures from the Las Vegas Interbike trade show that looked nice but didn't really highlight the unique features that this bike has. Below are some better shots of the finished product and some comparisons to the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design">CAD</a> design that I did using <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/">SolidWorks</a>.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xay2kJtwOk/Tr7icEllwoI/AAAAAAAAA10/Wo79aa_2Tgg/s1600/Electric+Bike+side+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xay2kJtwOk/Tr7icEllwoI/AAAAAAAAA10/Wo79aa_2Tgg/s400/Electric+Bike+side+view.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Monterey Electric Bike (real photo!)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ldIohwq1rt0/Tr7it_7O7fI/AAAAAAAAA18/gxp-uW2y5eU/s1600/Electric+Bike+Side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ldIohwq1rt0/Tr7it_7O7fI/AAAAAAAAA18/gxp-uW2y5eU/s400/Electric+Bike+Side.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Monterey Electric Bike (CAD Model)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can see some differences if you look really close between the CAD model design and the finished product. In case you can't see the differences I have more closeup pictures below!</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/electric-bike-design.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-6728650712371889361?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9yjkgLOqrA7wvYBcV5nidvxnLZ8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9yjkgLOqrA7wvYBcV5nidvxnLZ8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/77VllOcTbMw" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/electric-bike-design.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-49656583467832009042011-11-06T23:08:00.000-08:002011-11-06T23:08:13.240-08:002011-11-06T23:08:13.240-08:00Wind Tunnel Details<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sick with the flu this week so I didn't get very much done. I really wanted to do some more experiments with the Plasma Actuator that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/plasma-actuator-airfoil-wind-tunnel.html">HERE</a> but due to the illness and the cold spell we have had recently I stayed out of the garage. Because of several emails that I have received asking about the wind tunnel, I decided to write a little about the wind tunnel that I built and used for those tests. <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-wind-tunnel-for-plasma.html">HERE</a> is the original post that I wrote about building the wind tunnel that has most of the construction details. Below is a picture of the results that I got with the tunnel.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trhAhisIivg/Trd0572a_zI/AAAAAAAAA0w/HFdXxK9CeIo/s1600/Plasma+Actuator+Wing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trhAhisIivg/Trd0572a_zI/AAAAAAAAA0w/HFdXxK9CeIo/s400/Plasma+Actuator+Wing.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airfoil Plasma Actuator in my Wind Tunnel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order to see the airflow I added smoke (fog) to the airstream using a Gemmy Fog Machine. <a href="http://www.gemmy.com/halloween/fog/item/fog/fog-machine-wremote-400w-mini-silver-wm-62264">HERE</a> is a link to their website for the model that I picked up at WalMart for about $25.00. The Fog Machine heats up and sprays a mist of glycol and water for about 60 seconds into a heating tube and the result is fog. As the mist is sprayed into the heating tube the tube cools down and the machine stops spraying until the tube can heat up again. I didn't like that so I took the Fog Machine apart and modified it so that it produces fog when I press the button and stops when I release the button. It's always fun to take apart brand new stuff!</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/wind-tunnel-details.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4965658346783200904?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XCO19GrniXWaZGMarhprxs-g3do/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XCO19GrniXWaZGMarhprxs-g3do/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/nLTRTyhIM5A" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/11/wind-tunnel-details.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-50041790474721272842011-10-30T15:59:00.000-07:002011-10-30T15:59:48.827-07:002011-10-30T15:59:48.827-07:00GD&T: Multiple Datum's Referenced, More Than One Datum?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Datums referenced on a drawing using Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing can be really confusing, even on simple parts! When you get right down to it Datums are not that difficult to understand when you consider what they are used for. I have received several questions about Datums, why and how they are used and why use more than one. I'm going to answer those questions using a simple part that has one hole and has three Datums referenced. But before I go into the explanation about multiple Datums I recommend that you read <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/06/gd-maximum-and-least-material-condition.html#more">THIS</a> post I wrote about a parts size and how the dimensions tolerances determine what a part can actually look like. For a quick review there are <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/search/label/Design%20Related">THESE</a> posts that I wrote about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_dimensioning_and_tolerancing">Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing</a> Basic concepts. This post is a quick overview of the basic concepts of using multiple Datums. There is a lot more to Datums than what I'm writing about here and I'll get into those more complicated concepts later!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lets start with a simple drawing of a part that has one hole in it and the hole is positioned in relation to three Datums.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVvuG8C-qZc/Tq2dcdBG0kI/AAAAAAAAAzo/fZdwThN2wzU/s1600/3+Datum+Part+Drawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVvuG8C-qZc/Tq2dcdBG0kI/AAAAAAAAAzo/fZdwThN2wzU/s400/3+Datum+Part+Drawing.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simple Part with Multiple Datums</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The drawing above has a hole in it that is True Position to three Datums in this order: A B C. The reference to Datum A is holding the location and orientation of the center axis of the hole to Datum A (bottom surface). Take a look at <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FBdjdaBQI9M/Tgdob6_7dEI/AAAAAAAAAlY/d6-FimNyE1U/s1600/Position+Controlling+Perpendicularity.JPG">THIS</a> picture from an <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/06/gd-basics-true-position-and-tolerances.html">old post</a> if that doesn't make sense. Another way to look at this is Datum A is the surface that someone is going to measure the perpendicularity of the hole to. So Datum A in this case is a place to start taking measurements. We'll start taking measurements with Datum A because it's the first Datum and we will continue measuring the part with the remaining two Datums in order from left to right. The Datums don't have to go in alphabetical order, they are in used in the order that you reference them when you measure the part. The important thing to remember is <u>Datums are used to measure a part</u>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what are the other two Datums doing? I'll explain the below... ;-)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br>
</div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/gd-multiple-datums-referenced-more-than.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-5004179047472127284?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TOeD21VEaf1bL9ypQ3Fc5nOOuRw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TOeD21VEaf1bL9ypQ3Fc5nOOuRw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/6Cq5OK3v16w" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/gd-multiple-datums-referenced-more-than.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-30634211229902060932011-10-23T19:50:00.000-07:002011-10-23T20:02:24.330-07:002011-10-23T20:02:24.330-07:00Plasma Actuator Airfoil Wind Tunnel Testing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week I built a Plasma Actuator in the shape of a crude airfoil and tested it in my <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-wind-tunnel-for-plasma.html">Homemade Wind Tunnel</a>. <a href="http://www.jameswgregory.com/plasma.html">Plasma Actuators</a> are research devices that use an electric field to change the characteristics of gas flow near a surface. In this experiment I was trying to get the airflow over the top of the airfoil (wing) to adhere to the surface of the airfoil when it normally wouldn't. Separation of the airflow over the top of a wing causes the lift generated by the wing to be reduced resulting in a stall. Before I talk more about what I built let me put a couple of pictures that I took from my experiment to help explain what I'm writing about.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_kwEjLZ-ED4/TqSr71AsfsI/AAAAAAAAAwk/EvlXgV_VjnE/s1600/Plasma+Actuator+Wing+Stall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_kwEjLZ-ED4/TqSr71AsfsI/AAAAAAAAAwk/EvlXgV_VjnE/s400/Plasma+Actuator+Wing+Stall.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airfoil in Wind Tunnel Plasma Actuator Off</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SLXBqwOM-bI/TqSr-5oD9vI/AAAAAAAAAws/TzHOlgeRs5w/s1600/Plasma+Actuator+Wing+ON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SLXBqwOM-bI/TqSr-5oD9vI/AAAAAAAAAws/TzHOlgeRs5w/s400/Plasma+Actuator+Wing+ON.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airfoil in Wind Tunnel Plasma Actuator On</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The above pictures were taken one after the other with the same airflow, the only difference between the two is in the lower picture the Plasma Actuator is turned on. In the lower picture the flow over the top of the wing is much smoother than in the top picture and is adhering to the top of the wing. Read more below for some details about the Plasma Actuator that I built and a video of it running.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/plasma-actuator-airfoil-wind-tunnel.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-3063421122990206093?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kbNCvACEW6AhrTCPVCNWZKIk-dA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kbNCvACEW6AhrTCPVCNWZKIk-dA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/Ai1K6Ycam8w" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com4http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/plasma-actuator-airfoil-wind-tunnel.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-14517833974882246412011-10-16T21:10:00.000-07:002011-10-16T21:10:43.500-07:002011-10-16T21:10:43.500-07:00Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing: Position, Zero Tolerance and Material Condition<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have written a few posts about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) basics and I want to write another one about a topic that is probably the most often question asked of me: Zero Tolerance dimensions. The name Zero Tolerance is confusing to some folks because as we all know "every dimension must have a tolerance" so what is a Zero Tolerance dimension? Does that mean that the part has to be perfect? Why would anyone put a Zero Tolerance on a drawing? I'm going to try and answer those questions in simple steps starting with a quick review of Material Conditions because you can't have a Zero Tolerance on a drawing without specifying a Material Condition. If you haven't read my other posts about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing I suggest that you do by clicking <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/search/label/Design%20Related">HERE</a> and reading the posts related to GD&T. At a minimum read the posts about Material Condition and True Position. One thing I want to mention is my intent here is to explain the concepts in simple terms and avoid all the esoteric 'advanced concepts' that you will find in other places on the net. I get questions from friends and colleagues who are not familiar with GD&T and I try to answer those questions as simply as I can. Once someone understands the basics the more complex concepts are easier to get. If you are not familiar with a Zero Tolerance here is a drawing that is using it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-gy568Djis/Tptrv3PDA2I/AAAAAAAAAuQ/HlHgwz4M09k/s1600/GD%2526T+Zero+Tolerance+Position+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-gy568Djis/Tptrv3PDA2I/AAAAAAAAAuQ/HlHgwz4M09k/s640/GD%2526T+Zero+Tolerance+Position+1.jpg" width="363"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing With Zero Tolerance</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before I start talking about Zero Tolerances I want to talk briefly about Material Condition because the concept of material condition is key in understanding Zero Tolerances. I'm going to go fast so if you want a better and more detailed explanation of Material Conditions read <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/06/gd-maximum-and-least-material-condition.html">THIS</a> post that I did awhile ago. Here we go! The Material Condition concept is a fancy way to think about how big or small a particular Feature of a part is. There are three material conditions and two types of Features. The three Material Conditions are: Maximum Material Condition or MMC, Least Material Condition or LMC and Regardless of Feature Size or RFS. The two types of Features are: Internal (like a hole) and External (like a block). When considering Zero Tolerances the only Material Conditions that are important and MMC and LMC so I'll skip RFS here.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/geometric-dimensioning-and-tolerancing.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-1451783397488224641?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lNNLB264Gj0oKHO74QtGUgZeJSA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lNNLB264Gj0oKHO74QtGUgZeJSA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/dNpeMxEtweg" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/geometric-dimensioning-and-tolerancing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-68621865144691268362011-10-09T23:07:00.000-07:002011-10-09T23:07:53.076-07:002011-10-09T23:07:53.076-07:00San Francisco Fleet Week<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like airplanes, ships and <strike>standing in long lines</strike> fun day trips and I got my fill this weekend. So I went to the 2011 San Francisco Fleet Week on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures, I'm going to put a few of the good ones here. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Carl_Vinson_(CVN-70)">USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(LHD-6)">USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)</a> were two of the most notable ships there as well as the <a href="http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/">Blue Angles</a> and many other aircraft. There are tons of pictures, news articles and info. about San Francisco Fleet week on line so I'm not going to put a lot of that here. If you want to know more about SF Fleet Week Google it. Because this Blog is about the things that I am doing I'll stick to what I did. BTW: I am still working on the <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-wind-tunnel-for-plasma.html">wind tunnel that I wrote about last week</a> but I don't have a lot of progress to write about.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To get to San Francisco we took the <a href="http://www.eastbayferry.com/">East Bay Ferry</a> from Oakland to San Francisco. This is the way to go to avoid traffic and standing on <a href="http://www.bart.gov/">BART</a>. We left Oakland and went straight to San Francisco. On the return trip I took the picture below of a crane on the Alameda waterfront. I thought it looked neat with the moon right off the end of the crane boom.</span></div><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHmbQ305F6A/TpJ5-OX7dTI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/7LrqYAtIHQ0/s1600/Pier+Crain.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHmbQ305F6A/TpJ5-OX7dTI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/7LrqYAtIHQ0/s400/Pier+Crain.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alameda Pier Crane</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Old mechanical stuff like that looks neat and I really like the picture so I put this one first. It's rusted and looks like it's about to fall over but it appears to be in service. The Ferry leaves from the post of Oakland and I have only one interesting picture of the ship that is right next to the ferry.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/san-francisco-fleet-week.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-6862186514469126836?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wjE9nd1lrPAkdnqZ4Ek_op0cdHU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wjE9nd1lrPAkdnqZ4Ek_op0cdHU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/oZETs83YPxw" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/san-francisco-fleet-week.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-13690136988726617312011-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:002011-10-02T13:28:00.096-07:002011-10-02T13:28:00.096-07:00Homemade Wind Tunnel for Plasma Actuator Testing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I finally got around to putting the wind tunnel together, well actually it's a breeze tunnel. There isn't much of a wind blowing through it! After looking at the performance of the <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/bladeless-fan-construction.html">Bladeless Fan I built</a> I decided that it was going to create a higher airflow than I need for the <a href="http://www.pa.uky.edu/~rplebeau/cfd/plasma_webpage/plasma.htm">Plasma Actuator</a> experiments that I want to do, so I decided to slow it down a bit and use a small DC fan. The DC fan is easier to use because I can control the speed of the air with a variable power supply and the airflow from the Bladeless fan just dropped off all together when I lowered the input air. This wind tunnel is only to do some experiments with the <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-do-schlieren-photography-at-home.html">Schlieren setup I built</a> and <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-long-week-and-little-time-to.html">High Voltage</a> and a low velocity and variable airflow is what I need. Before I built this wind tunnel I did a lot of reading on line and found some plans from a <a href="http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/shortt.html">NASA</a> wind tunnel site describing a <a href="http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/tunsmoke.html">small classroom wind tunnel</a> for students to build as well as a lot of very technical information about <a href="http://www-htgl.stanford.edu/bradshaw/tunnel/">"real" wind tunnel design</a>. As I mentioned above my wind tunnel is more of a breeze tunnel so I didn't need a lot of the flow control, settling areas and velocity constrictions. I just need something to provide a smooth flow of air past a viewing area. Below is what I came up with.</span></div><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NCaQwfRmWXI/ToU9gwTe3oI/AAAAAAAAAr4/-z_bVy8oq3k/s1600/DIY+Wind+Tunnel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NCaQwfRmWXI/ToU9gwTe3oI/AAAAAAAAAr4/-z_bVy8oq3k/s400/DIY+Wind+Tunnel.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade "Suck Down" Wind Tunnel</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the picture above the airflow is right to left, the fan is on the left, the view area is in the middle where the glass windows are and the inlet air goes into the right side. Because the fan is downstream of the test area this is considered to be a "suck down" tunnel. One advantage of a "suck down" tunnel is the turbulence and chopped up air created by the fan isn't blowing over the test area. Smooth air is sucked past the viewing area. Click below to read more!</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-wind-tunnel-for-plasma.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-1369013698872661731?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IRIjjszMRXMfAvNOcgnoJ6sm4hQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IRIjjszMRXMfAvNOcgnoJ6sm4hQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/03fK84grdVA" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com4http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-wind-tunnel-for-plasma.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-41074074338643806252011-09-25T09:44:00.000-07:002011-09-25T09:47:52.401-07:002011-09-25T09:47:52.401-07:00Interbike 2011 Bike Show and the E-Moto Monterrey Bike that I designed<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Las Vegas <a href="http://www.interbike.com/">Interbike</a> trade show happened on September 14-16 at the Sands Expo and Convention center. One of the (best) electric bikes shown there was the <a href="http://www.emotoev.com/">e-Moto</a> Monterey electric bike that I co-designed in SolidWorks with a friend of mine. Although I wasn't able to go to the show I thought that I would write a blog post about the bike since I had a hand in creating it. Have a look at the pictures below of the <a href="http://www.interbike.com/">Interbike</a> show bike and the CAD model that I made to design the bike.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pl1P-FnYftA/Tn6iCxzldRI/AAAAAAAAArQ/b-mAp9Iat2E/s1600/e-Moto+Monterey_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pl1P-FnYftA/Tn6iCxzldRI/AAAAAAAAArQ/b-mAp9Iat2E/s400/e-Moto+Monterey_1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">e-Moto Monterrey at the Interbike 2011 show<br>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KO35Kv_yRoM/Tn6iF1QGXTI/AAAAAAAAArU/JhjGZCUZzBE/s1600/Electric+Bike+CAD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KO35Kv_yRoM/Tn6iF1QGXTI/AAAAAAAAArU/JhjGZCUZzBE/s400/Electric+Bike+CAD.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SolidWorks CAD model of the e-Moto Monterey bike</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Details of the bike and all it's features are below. I did the entire design in SolidWorks 2009. A friend of mine who is familiar with the bike industry and trends was advising and critiquing along the way.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/interbike-2011-bike-show-and-e-moto.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4107407433864380625?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G60wH0Kri7pKRz7ynhubD68uyto/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G60wH0Kri7pKRz7ynhubD68uyto/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/pruMqZMHD50" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/interbike-2011-bike-show-and-e-moto.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-82510650082017096062011-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:002011-09-18T21:56:52.726-07:002011-09-18T21:56:52.726-07:00Bladeless fan construction<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes I am building a wind tunnel... and the biggest problem in doing so is getting rid of turbulence from the air source, in this case a fan. So to do that I am building a fan (air source) that should have a limited amount of disturbed air. What I want is a smooth airflow into the test area and a bladeless fan seems to be the obvious choice..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I built a fan like this before <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/08/homemade-bladless-fan-construction-and.html">HERE</a> but didn't provide too many details of the construction. This time I built a slightly bigger fan and have provided all the details in a neat video.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enjoy!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4q4PZpl59GU?hl=en&fs=1" width="425"></iframe></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Email me with questions or leave a comment... There is a lot more to come on this topic so stay tuned...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-8251065008201709606?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtK9WA0JozTo3VOXXjDMPPER7SU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtK9WA0JozTo3VOXXjDMPPER7SU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/Mxc6zYFJMRY" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com6http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/bladeless-fan-construction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-56800680457200054432011-09-11T21:27:00.000-07:002011-09-11T21:27:01.132-07:002011-09-11T21:27:01.132-07:00Latest project, wind tunnel and a plasma actuator<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm building a wind tunnel in my garage. Doesn't that sound neat? My interest in this is probably obvious because of several posts that I have dome thus far related to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=plasma+actuators&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sIRtTtG7IITViALEtZHBDg&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=1211&bih=629">Plasma Actuators</a>. The experiments that I was doing with my homemade <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/search/label/Schlieren%20Photography">Schlieren</a> setup and specifically the high voltage experiments <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-long-week-and-little-time-to.html">HERE</a> and <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/05/high-voltage-electrode-schlieren-images.html#more">HERE</a> among others.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The idea is to build a wind tunnel and place a plasma actuator inside it and watch what happens as the air is passing over the actuator. Comparing it in the 'on' and 'off ' states and various voltages. The wind tunnel has two windows so I can put the Schlieren setup on each side. Additionally I want to use a smoke generator and lasers to visualize the airflow. Check out <a href="http://youtu.be/EpczquVH1O4">THIS</a> video to see what I mean about the lasers and smoke.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What does all this mean? I ask myself that question frequently, hourly sometimes but the answer is "I don't know!" That is why I am taking the time to build this setup and because it's a rather complicated project I don't have any neat pictures and videos to post yet but stay tuned they are on their way. The wind tunnel by itself is a significant amount of work and of course the plasma actuators are too. A lot of work and the devil is in the details so I'm paying attention to them (more or less).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After having read everything that I can about both wind tunnels and plasma actuators I have some specific things that I want to try. I'll detail each of those in the next week or two and post some neat pictures and videos.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-5680068045720005443?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xdx_QqGr_Vp74Cn2U-oEJKf1Qnc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xdx_QqGr_Vp74Cn2U-oEJKf1Qnc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/VszLmhi602M" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/latest-project-wind-tunnel-and-plasma.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-41427709335269871392011-09-05T11:39:00.000-07:002011-09-05T11:39:19.619-07:002011-09-05T11:39:19.619-07:00My New Phone a Samsung Replenish<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week has been busy for me and I haven't had a lot of time to play in the garage. One thing that I did manage to do was get a new phone, a <a href="http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SPH-M580ZKASPR?cid=ppc_mob_goo_C-Replenish_General_replenish+mobile&K_CLICKID=104cdd5d-cfe5-4ac9-cb2b-00005f52e974&kmed=ppc">Samsung Replenish</a> and mess around with it and the <a href="http://www.appinventorbeta.com/about/">Google App Inventor for Android</a>. My old phone was a Palm and I loved it but it was really old and time to retire it to the box of phones and chargers that I have in the closet. I'm new to the Smart Phone craze and having a phone that is smarter than I am is a new experience for me. Should we really even call these things phones? It's interesting that it is called a phone but when you start to type a phone number it immediately does a web search for the number and not dial the person who you are trying to call. I think this is more like a hand held computer that also makes phone calls.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KeUwFuGGl_U/TmUKC5Gy4lI/AAAAAAAAArE/igGkeNBaKGQ/s1600/Samsung+Replenish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KeUwFuGGl_U/TmUKC5Gy4lI/AAAAAAAAArE/igGkeNBaKGQ/s320/Samsung+Replenish.JPG" width="293"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Samsung Replenish</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My first impression of the phone was how tricky the touch screen is to operate. As I mentioned I'm new to this but having to 'flick' my finger on the screen to move around isn't easy. I find myself selecting things rather than moving them especially when the screen is listing a bunch of options. I want to scroll down to see more options but instead I select one of them while trying to move. I'm getting better at it but it isn't intuitive and requires a lot of practice. The good think about the Replenish is there are arrow keys on the keyboard that let you move around without having to touch the screen. I can't imaging having to operate the phone without a keyboard.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-new-phone-samsung-replenish.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4142770933526987139?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gQy_7OUEdKIYpDHK60sOFcMdOD8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gQy_7OUEdKIYpDHK60sOFcMdOD8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/AEK0b-95FEM" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com4http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-new-phone-samsung-replenish.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-15680592475136714412011-08-28T21:50:00.000-07:002011-08-28T21:50:33.193-07:002011-08-28T21:50:33.193-07:00Homemade Wood Clock Test Run<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is going to be a short post... well maybe not. As I start to write this it's Sunday, it's late and I am tired! What I wanted to put up was the test video of the clock running. Anyone following my blog knows about the wood clock that I am making and if not you can check out the earlier posts in the <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/search/label/Woodworking">Woodworking Label</a>. Without further adieu here it is - enjoy!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gVYgjJ-hQ4E" width="420"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a couple of things that I would like to point out about what is going on in the video. The first thing is again this is a test. The clock motor is running a lot faster than it normally does to keep time. The second thing that I think I should point out it the hour hand. If you look really closely at it you might notice that it is a wood "q-tip" with a pointed cotton end! That is because I didn't have time today to make a hour hand so I stuck that on there in it's place. The more I look at it the more I think I will keep it actually.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/homemade-wood-clock-test-run.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-1568059247513671441?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/96x6FkdlSEVEKu0B743MxTwvKog/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/96x6FkdlSEVEKu0B743MxTwvKog/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/VTkqbkw73xA" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/homemade-wood-clock-test-run.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-28993838266308983182011-08-21T22:06:00.000-07:002011-08-21T22:06:53.284-07:002011-08-21T22:06:53.284-07:00More Progress on the Homemade Clock<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was another busy week for me and I didn't get as much done on the clock as I would have liked to but... I did get some things done. In case you are not familiar with what I am doing you can read these posts <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/gear-runout-and-my-wood-clock.html">HERE</a> and <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-wood-clock-design.html">HERE</a> and <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/06/roman-numeral-clock-iv-or-i-what-time.html">HERE</a> to get an idea. The short description is that I am making a clock that has a stationary hour hand pointing straight up. The face of the clock turns counterclockwise to line the correct and current time up with the hour hand and the minute hand rotates clockwise to indicate the minutes. <a href="http://youtu.be/uaDE2KfD6g0">HERE</a> is a video that I made of the CAD model for this clock running and it shows pretty much how it's going to work. Seems simple enough!</span></div> <br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I got done this week is I made the small discs that the numbers will be attached to by cutting slices of 1-1/4" oak dowel. Obviously I made 12 good ones and a bunch of bad ones that were either too thick or too thin. You can see there in the blue tote bin in the picture below. You can also see in the picture that each disc has a Woodruff key glued to it. The idea is the the Woodruff key will add some weight and keep the numbers on the face of the clock upright because the discs will be allowed to spin relative to the clock face.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mblDix8JnW0/TlHbq3nDb8I/AAAAAAAAAqk/hPBDDzeSfCM/s1600/Clock+Parts.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mblDix8JnW0/TlHbq3nDb8I/AAAAAAAAAqk/hPBDDzeSfCM/s400/Clock+Parts.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clock Parts, Oak discs with Woodruff keys glued to them</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also in the above picture right below the blue tote is a gearbox and a motor. It's to the left of the wood gear on the back plate for the clock. That is another Tamiya gearbox that I got and used in another clock that I built some time ago. Check out <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/04/clock-movement-with-pendulum-egg.html">THIS</a> post for details of the gearbox. I picked up several of these gearboxes at a hobby shop that was going out of business so I got them at half price and figured that I would use them at some point. You can never have enough gearboxes I always say!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-progress-on-homemade-clock.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-2899383826630898318?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9srA3T-89_3gsAbcBuBQ93NMS4I/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9srA3T-89_3gsAbcBuBQ93NMS4I/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/01Vhxj4TdzI" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-progress-on-homemade-clock.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-82239724912182016102011-08-14T14:14:00.000-07:002011-08-14T14:14:48.681-07:002011-08-14T14:14:48.681-07:00Significant and/or Insignificant Part Number Systems?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Part Numbers can be funny and frustrating things when really they should be inconsequential. Over many years of working as an employee or a consultant to various companies in many different industries I have been amazed at the Part Number 'systems' that companies have tried to use. Part Numbers within a company are used to assign a unique 'identity' to different items tracked within the company. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_number">HERE</a> is a Wikipedia talking about Part Numbers if you want to know more about what they are generally. The reason that I am bringing this up is because I have seen P/N's become a source of money wasting time and confusion and I want to put my opinion out there with some examples of what I have seen. I am only going to address the topic of Part Numbers in this post and not the Descriptions. Part Descriptions is an entire topic all by itself.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Significant vs. Insignificant Part Numbers</span></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first schism in the Part Number philosophy/religion debate is over how P/N's should be assigned to things. Some folks believe that a Part Number should have some unique significance built into it - or intelligence - to describe what the thing is that has the Part Number. In other words by looking at the P/N one should be able to have an idea of what the item is. In this case the P/N really becomes the description of the particular part (or assembly) and usually each digit in the Part Number has a particular meaning. On the other side of the battle field is the army of people that say that a Part Number should just be a number, any number, that is just unique to an item and doesn't tell you anything about what the part is. These two approaches are usually referred to as Significant Part Numbers and Insignificant Part Numbers. Part Numbers are assigned to things as unique identifiers for tracking purposes and referencing records etc... The only stipulation when giving something a part number is that it be unique and never reused.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bwyg54TNfI/Tkg6BRZvUhI/AAAAAAAAApE/PuoyRx6OAkE/s1600/Part+Number.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bwyg54TNfI/Tkg6BRZvUhI/AAAAAAAAApE/PuoyRx6OAkE/s400/Part+Number.jpg" width="400"></a></div><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Insignificant Part Number Systems</span></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everything has a name and a number associated with it within a company, even the employees. Have you ever cared what the employee number is of a co-worker? Probably not, you are more likely to care about their name. The same logic follows when talking about part numbers in an Insignificant Part Numbering System. The number a particular part has isn't important in an Insignificant Part numbering system, but the description (or name) is. That's the thinking with non significant part numbers.</span></div><br>
<a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/significant-andor-insignificant-part.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-8223972491218201610?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xN7wRcYyUxRaLeZIH5GW197K7Po/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xN7wRcYyUxRaLeZIH5GW197K7Po/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/QcZAadUMcFE" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/significant-andor-insignificant-part.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-40580303086716517952011-08-07T19:42:00.000-07:002011-08-07T19:45:54.626-07:002011-08-07T19:45:54.626-07:00Gear Runout and my Wood Clock<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am still working on the clock movement (or gear train) for my wood clock that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago and the gear runout is a slight problem. This isn't turning out to be one of those projects that I can just "cut and glue" and be finished, it's requiring a lot of adjustments and finesse. Getting the hole in the center of the gear (or runout) has turned out to be a little more trouble than I thought... So I used a dial indicator and a couple of C-Clamps to check and adjust the runout by drilling an undersized hole for the shaft then filing it appropriately until the gears turned without much indicator movement. If you have not read the previous posts about the clock <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-wood-clock-design.html">HERE</a> and <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-wood-clock-construction.html">HERE</a> are the first two. Check them out so you can see what I am trying to build.</span></div><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_PiKYwCaoP8/Tj8BuY2PJWI/AAAAAAAAAoc/flRLKgXRelI/s1600/Checking+Gear+Runout.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_PiKYwCaoP8/Tj8BuY2PJWI/AAAAAAAAAoc/flRLKgXRelI/s400/Checking+Gear+Runout.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Checking Gear Runout on a Clock Gear</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the above picture you can see what I am talking about. On the right hand side of the picture there is a dial indicator sitting on a base that is C-Clamped to the bench. To the left is a piece of scrap wood with a hole in it that the brass tube fits snugly in. So with this setup I can spin the gear and place the dial indicator tip on the gear tooth crests and valleys to see how centered the hole is relative to the gear teeth, that's runout.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order to get the the point where I could check the gear with the 'real' brass tube shaft the I am going to use in the clock I had to get the hole made to the right size and in the right place. To do that I started out by drilling a small hole in what should be the center of the gear and I put a straight finishing nail in it. The scrap wood under the gear in the picture above has a hole in it that the finishing nail fits snugly into and with that I could initially check the runout by spinning the gear on the finishing nail. Out of all the gears I made all except one had the finishing nail hole a bit off center, by about 0.03". To remedy that I drilled another hole again, slightly undersized to the brass tube shaft, and compensated for the runout that I saw with the finishing nail hole. By compensated I mean that I moved the drill off the finishing nail hole just a bit. This hole is also undersized a bit from what the final hole will be and I have a shaft that will fit in this undersized hole just like the finishing nails did. Again I can check the runout of the gear with this slightly smaller hole and a slightly smaller shaft and if my "compensation" drilling isn't quite right I can make up for it by enlarging this hole to the final size with a small rat-tail file.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br>
</div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/gear-runout-and-my-wood-clock.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-4058030308671651795?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1dQErt5OlY0c1rTcye8cr1sUKAg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1dQErt5OlY0c1rTcye8cr1sUKAg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/RZgfJT-O-qk" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com0http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/08/gear-runout-and-my-wood-clock.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-22296352200616832682011-07-31T18:32:00.000-07:002011-07-31T18:32:14.309-07:002011-07-31T18:32:14.309-07:00Another Battery Powered LED Light Tree<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was in a store in Monterrey CA that sells these really nice 'light trees' last year and I thought that it would be fun to try and make one myself. The first one I made one from scratch, buying all the parts at a hobby store along with LED Christmas Lights, and I wrote about it <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-make-led-christmas-light-tree.html#more">HERE</a>, (an exciting video of how I made it is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEVY4v3weOc">HERE</a>). Anyway I was asked to make another LED Light Tree because the first one that I made turned out really nice ;-) When I went to the hobby store again to buy the parts I noticed that they are now selling LED Branch Lights pre-made! This is great because the majority of the effort in making the first LED Branch Light was making the branch itself with all the LED Christmas lights added into it. Check out the above link to see how I did it (or watch the video). I didn't have to do that this time but there were some other interesting things that I discovered while making this one with the pre-made LED branch.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rqfRdyo6FDg/ThJYZREKe1I/AAAAAAAAAlc/Vs4Ikdob7TE/s1600/Ornamental+LED+Light+Tree.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rqfRdyo6FDg/ThJYZREKe1I/AAAAAAAAAlc/Vs4Ikdob7TE/s400/Ornamental+LED+Light+Tree.JPG" width="362"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade LED Branch Light Tree</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Above is a picture of how this LED Light tree turned out. Looks nice doesn't it? Click on the READ MORE link below to see the parts list and how I built this as well as something interesting I noticed in the battery pack for the LED Branch Light.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/another-battery-powered-led-light-tree.html#more">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ->></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8604042776942832369-2229635220061683268?l=ottobelden.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YqX74vgtscRhewnzDMQYnXDv2VM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YqX74vgtscRhewnzDMQYnXDv2VM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoingsOnOfOttosPastimes/~4/nk1X4xHV4UE" height="1" width="1"/>Otto Beldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01216660670383308620noreply@blogger.com4http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/another-battery-powered-led-light-tree.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604042776942832369.post-55083085678368519272011-07-24T21:09:00.000-07:002011-07-24T21:09:22.142-07:002011-07-24T21:09:22.142-07:00Homemade Wood Clock Construction<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week I wrote about a homemade wood clock that I was designing in Solidworks. If you are curious there is a link to that post <a href="http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-wood-clock-design.html">HERE</a>, there are details about how it is going to work. If you don't want to read that post, the homemade wood clock design is as follows: I decided to make a clock that has an hour hand that stays upright, pointing straight up all the time and the face of the clock moves to tell the hour. Because the face is moving to meet the hour hand (instead of the other way around) the minute hand has to turn at a different ratio than in a 'normal' clock. To get that to work I designed a wood gear clock movement (gearbox) that has a 11:1 ratio with the face of the clock turning counterclockwise and the minute hand turning clockwise. Although I didn't make as much progress on this wood clock project as I wanted, I did manage to get some work done. I got all the gears done, the 'spindle bearing' figured out and the support structure made. Be sure to have a look at that last post I linked to above to see what I am trying to do.</span></div> <br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hTztfRkAoWc/Tiy-6rgz9VI/AAAAAAAAAn0/GhXBs_H-pR0/s1600/Homemade+Wood+Gears.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hTztfRkAoWc/Tiy-6rgz9VI/AAAAAAAAAn0/GhXBs_H-pR0/s400/Homemade+Wood+Gears.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood, Gears, Glue and Tools for the Clock</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a few things that I got worked out in the design since last week and a couple of problems solved. One issue: I have never cut gears from wood before so this was a bit of a learning experience for me. To make the gear patterns I used an online <a href="http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html">Gear Template Generator</a> from a site that I link to in the "Sites I Like" bar in the sidebar of my blog. Cutting the gear teeth started with printing out the gear pattern from the online generator above and gluing the template to Baltic Burch plywood. The Baltic Birch has a tight grain and the layers in the plywood are very thin making is good stable wood to work with. After getting the pattern on the wood I rough cut the gear out with a band saw then finished the teeth with a scroll saw and sanding. Getting the hole right in the middle of the gear was a challenge but I managed to do it. If anyone has any advice about making gears from wood I would like to hear it!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br>
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