Refined Machine

As promised, I have been working on refining the mechanisms that I developed last year.

At best, what I made last year was a proof of concept. If you will recall the Primary Run, I managed to get the thing to work, and that is in many ways an accomplishment. But the mechanism itself lacked any elegance. At it's core was a good concept, but I never got it refined to it's base: a working model with everything removed to it's essential part. That may be tough to grasp, but let's look at an example.

Remember this guy? This is the core of the mechanism- which I termed my gear box- and it is pretty much four gears, a freewheel, some bearings and a flywheel (at this point I hadn't added that). It worked, but it is too big, weighs too much, and is a pain to work with (the chains need to be perfectly aligned and I ended up adding tension gears with springs to keep the chains from skipping). I can eliminate most of the mass, while adding function, precision, and adjustability (eliminating the tension gears altogether) by using this:

What we're looking at is an internally geared hub from Shimano. One one side is a freewheel gear. The other is a disk brake flange fixed to the hub. Essentially the same thing I built except the hub in this case is not one-to-one with the gear. If, instead of a disk brake, I installed a gear and placed my flywheel around the hub's body, I would have the same mechanical effect that I made preciously while gaining the ability to shift gears and cutting it's size by more than half. The frame in this instance wouldn't be wood, but rather a tubular steel... very much like a bike frame, you might say.

It's good to have clarity of mind back.
There are eight months (give or take) before the next race.
The target remains.

something else to look at

check this out

Kind of an interesting project.  I'm not ready to try it out just yet (not at $800 anyway) but I think it's pretty cool.

Won't be fooled again

As I move ahead with this project- shoulder to the wheel and all of that- it occurred to me that one of the major reasons for my failure last year was that I lost who I was. Somewhere in the mess of emotional trouble (which ended and restarted so often it now reminds me of a bad used car: at one point, you have to wonder what you are doing in it) and the race schedules, I forgot that I am a designer.
Want to know how this happened to come to my attention?

I knew you would.

We are, in many ways, defined by what we do.  We might intend a lot of things, but it is what we do that really counts.  It's so rare that our thoughts make any difference, while our words can do so much. And so, with our actions.  There is a story about this in the Bible where Jesus relates people to trees, essentially saying we can know trees (people) by their fruit (actions). I'm not going to delve into a long discussion of theology and so on, so don't worry. I just wanted to use it to illustrate the idea that our actions are a product of what we are. So, if I am a designer, I should have done what designers do. The fact that I did not, or, more accurately, did not adhere to my discipline fully, I ignored what I am to be something else.

Unfortunately, that something else was a failure. I suspect that is what will come of all of us who neglect who we are... but that is another digression.

So, to get to the point: I have been designing my new hull. Not just with a sort of general sense, but in the proper scientific method of design.

The forward model in this picture is the same design as the last post, only I managed to eliminate the flat bottom and keep the lines. Not a bad boat for a solo paddler at 14', but not a proper hull for Fenrir. The aft model is the same lines with the same 'v' bottom, but scaled in length to around 16'. I also managed to maintain the beam from the original, and I think it has a pretty nice line.

I think it has too much rock, and I haven't resolved the decking, but I think the basics are here. And, more importantly: it feels good to be doing what I do.

I believe the next step will be to take out most of the rock from the rear stem. The decking will become more  canoe-like, and then I will make a scale wooden model to test it in the water. Should it go well, I will build this hull for paddling, and then continue to adapt it as a model to house the refined pedal drive.

I will talk about the refined mechanical parts next post.
Have a good Thanksgiving everyone... unless you are not in the U.S. Then, I guess, enjoy the weekend and I will post again soon.