|
Build Log, Day 30 (03.03.2005)
| Today I was planning on working on the drive axles and wheels. It didn't really work out that way, but we'll get to it. These are the oddly-shaped Lexan bits from last build day with a new hole in each one. These were drilled yesterday at school, but I forgot the digital camera so there wasn't any post before now. |
 |
| Now that they've got the hole, I can turn them on a little jig I set up to cut them into nice circles. I was planning on making six of these, and using them to support the inside of the track on the drive axles. That also changed, as we'll see later. |
 |
| A few more minutes and I'd cut another circle, but the jigsaw is starting to act up. It just hadn't been the same since I cut the snowmobile track. |
 |
| Here's the jig I've been using. I cut a slot in the board for the blade, so now it gives me a good flat surface to work on and a place to clamp the bearing. The hole in the Lexan bits gets pegged into the bearing, and then I just turn it a full revolution. What could go wrong? |
 |
| Well, while I wait for the jigsaw to cool down, I'll work a bit on the VIA enclosure. I'm just going to clean up the corners and seams a bit. Hopefully after the saw cools down a bit, it'll behave better. |
 |
| It's messy, but this should take care of all the sharp edges and rough surfaces. Mostly this just makes it look better, but on the gasket faces it'll create a more even surface which should create a better seal. |
 |
| I cut some more Lexan with the cooled off saw, and got this far before it crapped out again. This piece is a loss -- the saw kept bogging down and stalling, the jig vibrated out of alignment, and the radius varies over the entire thing. Looks like two plates per side are going to have to be enough. |
 |
| The cooled saw didn't behave any better, so it's time to have a look at what's going on. There's a lot of grit, dust, grime, and shavings in the mechanism, and most of the gearing and linkages are dry. Looks like the thing just needs some oil. |
 |
| We've come to the end of a six hour build day. Yeah, that's right. I've spent six hours in this garage and gotten virtually nothing done. I put the jigsaw back together and nothing fit. One of the brushes fell out, and the holders only load from the inside. Furthermore, you can't load them from the inside because then the armature doesn't fit and there's no way to hold them out of the way. I had to pry a piece of metal out of the way and load the brushes from the outside, and then bend the metal back. After I did that I found that a plastic bracket had to go under the fan, which was permanently attached to the armature. I had to disassemble the motor and force the brushes in the top again. Then I assembled everything and the thing wouldn't spin up (the motor was seized up and just stalled when I flipped the switch). I had to take it all apart again (including the brushes), move a bushing from the back of the shaft to the other side of the fan, assemble it again, and then it wouldn't even start. I found that one of the brush holders cracked the last time I put it together, so I had to glue it and reassemble again. That time it cranked up, but it only ran for about five minutes before the glue melted (into the motor). It's late, I've wasted all day, and I'm just giving up here. On Saturday I'm going out to buy a new jigsaw, and hopefully I can get back on track then. Today was a total waste. |
 |
| End, Build day #30 (03.03.2005) |
| Progress: |
None |
| Time: |
6 hours |
| Total Time: |
177 hours |
| Next Steps: |
Buy a new god damned jigsaw |
| Status: |
Behind schedule, seven days |
|