Archive for October, 2014
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Inspired by the continued existence of a AA consuming toy fan from the 1980's, it was time to build something more efficient with RC parts.
Dumb Blond hottie
You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make a fan. The mane problem was noise, which RC parts aren't designed to avoid, but which is a critical design feature for appliances. The other problem was safety. A prop saver did absolutely nothing. The prop still shattered in an obstruction test. This is 1 area where 3D printing a shroud would be useful. For now, a wire provides some minimal protection from accidentally coming in from the side.
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You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make a fan. The mane problem was noise, which RC parts aren't designed to avoid, but which is a critical design feature for appliances. The other problem was safety. A prop saver did absolutely nothing. The prop still shattered in an obstruction test. This is 1 area where 3D printing a shroud would be useful. For now, a wire provides some minimal protection from accidentally coming in from the side.
...Continue Reading
Anothor 9.0V rover run at rock bottom 9min/mile. Hit 8m16s in the fastest mile. A 90 minute commute doesn't leave any time for hacking, so the balky steering lives on.
The very last rover run was after canned soup, frozen chicken, & a long session of diahrea. At 9.2V, with reduced D gain, the steering was still impossible. The fastest mile was 8m4s. The entire flat section was at 8m49s/mile.
More of the .25 mile graph poked above the 8m mark. The uphill part went faster than the downhill part, so trail condition affected speed more than voltage. It was definitely harder, partly because of lack of exercise & because it was 2 days after the last rover run. The brushless rover never did match the G-buggy in consistency or steering, as bad as the g-buggy was.
It was the last of the intense speed runs. The commute has put an end to the illustrious 4 year running career & the salads. Speed never equaled its peak in Feb. It's interesting to look at the training log & ponder what worked.
For the 1st time in 4 years, was much less hungry in the last week. Felt much less appetite from lack of exercise. 15 hours a week of sitting in a train is pure hell on a body. Looks like the fitness of the last 4 years has come to an end, but these are the sacrifices required to make 1/2 what you did 10 years ago, in the new economy.
It was the 1st clear sky in 7 years, but decided not to make a movie for fear the whole thing wasn't going to be in the dark.
Always amusing to see photos that were impossible just 3 years ago. It's taken for granted now, but only a tick of the clock ago, camera sensors weren't fast enough to get razor sharp, handheld images from an airplane in near total darkness.
We all had the experience of trying to get night shots from airliners. It was completely hopeless for a camera made in 2008.
That took working the proverbial ass off.
Forget about live video of auroras. The only way to see what an aurora looked like in real time before 2012 was to drive 3000 miles. Most of the world could only imagine from timelapses & artist renditions. Now everyone has seen an aurora in real time.
Never build 1 when you can build 2 for twice the price. Everyone knows about Stennis space center, the A-1 test stand where the SSME & F-1 were tested. Lesser known is the even bigger B-1/B-2 test stand where the complete S-IC & shuttle core were test fired.
Little did you know an identical set of test stands was built in Huntsville, in an age long before Stennis. The mighty S1C test stand was built from 1960 - 1964 for $30 million & would test the 1st 4 S-IC stages. You can't even buy a house for $30 million, anymore.
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