E-Bike Update and More
Aug. 14th, 2008 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
webfarmerPut the electrical connector crimper and fittings to work today. Took the little plastic platform that has the two spring loaded electrodes that connect up to the two brass dots on the bottom of my battery pack apart and got to work fixing the broken wiring. The wire was okay (except for a break in the insulation that I taped up) but the little fixture with the loop on the end had broken off.
So I fiddled around getting that removed from the wires and a new one of similar size from the fixtures collection connected in its place. After I did the first one I looked closer at the second wire and noted that it was also cracked. Looks like there were some cuts and dents in the metal tang and that may have been the point at which the cracking started.
Putting a cut or divot into any object will cause a stress riser condition. For example, take a piece of paper and cut a V-shaped notch along one surface. Then pull on either end until it starts to rip. The rip will start in that bottom most point of the V-notch. Cut a square notch in it and you have two potential areas for the paper to fail. In each of the 90 degree corners formed at the bottom of the notch.
I learned this lesson the hard way working for Pinson Energy Corporation. They had cut square holes into the blade skins to attach the struts that held the blades in place. When we got one of those early machines back from some hours of operation in the field, you could see these lovely cracks radiating out from each of those corners in the square holes.
Of course, the next day I come into work and find them cutting out yet more square holes for the newest version of the machine. At which point I kind of lost it. Feathers were ruffled and modifications were made to make radiused holes (holes with rounded corners not sharp ones). That was the beginning of the end of my work there.
After the wiring was repaired and the contacter box was re-assembled, I took a closer look at the wobbly rear wheel. That made me decide to call a local used bike shop that I'd had work on my stationary bike for a reasonable fee. So off the newly wired e-bike went and I'll probably get it back sometime next week. An added bit of interesting business that happened with that errand was finding out the bike shop owner's wife had a Zap Zebra electric car parked out back of their shop. It was extremely cool looking. The bike shop owner said he was considering becoming a dealer. Double snaps on that idea!
On the return loop I stopped at B&N to have a tea and read some mags. Ended up liking one so much that I decided to buy it. ImagineFX - Fantasy and Sci-Fi Digital Art. Nifty stuff. Then it was off for a quick bean burrito and taco and a dash down to the monthly Audubon meeting.
Tonight they had speakers on a couple of local Audubon supported projects. One speaker spoke regarding music, children and a special program on cranes that they worked on for a big American Orff-Schulwerk Association conference up in Omaha. Pretty cool. Don't think I'd heard of the Orff Schulwerk educational tradition before. This in spite of my early childhood education training.
The other speaker noted a local effort by a handful of folks interested in the works of Richard Louv and his best selling book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder". It was really an amazing presentation of how much good work these folks had done to date and what they planned on doing in the future.
They brought Louv to speak in Lincoln. They've also started programs to get the kids (and their parents) out into the natural world. One called the Lincoln Safari was particularly interesting.
They had a series of locations for kids and their parents to visit and learn about unique natural experiences right here in Lincoln. At each location they had rubbings that the would do as part of the check off process for that visit. It sounds like lots of folks signed up for the Safari. Now they plan on spreading what they know around to other communities and they've already heard from several towns interested in learning from their experiences.
They are also bringing in Robin C. Moore who is also a leading voice on a more natural experience for kids in parks and playgrounds. They hope to influence the development of some of the new parks currently in the design stage.
Last but not least, a good review of "Cloverfield" in the ImagineFX magazine got me to go to Redbox and spend a buck to view it. We'll see how it goes. I remain a bit skeptical. :)
So I fiddled around getting that removed from the wires and a new one of similar size from the fixtures collection connected in its place. After I did the first one I looked closer at the second wire and noted that it was also cracked. Looks like there were some cuts and dents in the metal tang and that may have been the point at which the cracking started.
Putting a cut or divot into any object will cause a stress riser condition. For example, take a piece of paper and cut a V-shaped notch along one surface. Then pull on either end until it starts to rip. The rip will start in that bottom most point of the V-notch. Cut a square notch in it and you have two potential areas for the paper to fail. In each of the 90 degree corners formed at the bottom of the notch.
I learned this lesson the hard way working for Pinson Energy Corporation. They had cut square holes into the blade skins to attach the struts that held the blades in place. When we got one of those early machines back from some hours of operation in the field, you could see these lovely cracks radiating out from each of those corners in the square holes.
Of course, the next day I come into work and find them cutting out yet more square holes for the newest version of the machine. At which point I kind of lost it. Feathers were ruffled and modifications were made to make radiused holes (holes with rounded corners not sharp ones). That was the beginning of the end of my work there.
After the wiring was repaired and the contacter box was re-assembled, I took a closer look at the wobbly rear wheel. That made me decide to call a local used bike shop that I'd had work on my stationary bike for a reasonable fee. So off the newly wired e-bike went and I'll probably get it back sometime next week. An added bit of interesting business that happened with that errand was finding out the bike shop owner's wife had a Zap Zebra electric car parked out back of their shop. It was extremely cool looking. The bike shop owner said he was considering becoming a dealer. Double snaps on that idea!
On the return loop I stopped at B&N to have a tea and read some mags. Ended up liking one so much that I decided to buy it. ImagineFX - Fantasy and Sci-Fi Digital Art. Nifty stuff. Then it was off for a quick bean burrito and taco and a dash down to the monthly Audubon meeting.
Tonight they had speakers on a couple of local Audubon supported projects. One speaker spoke regarding music, children and a special program on cranes that they worked on for a big American Orff-Schulwerk Association conference up in Omaha. Pretty cool. Don't think I'd heard of the Orff Schulwerk educational tradition before. This in spite of my early childhood education training.
The other speaker noted a local effort by a handful of folks interested in the works of Richard Louv and his best selling book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder". It was really an amazing presentation of how much good work these folks had done to date and what they planned on doing in the future.
They brought Louv to speak in Lincoln. They've also started programs to get the kids (and their parents) out into the natural world. One called the Lincoln Safari was particularly interesting.
They had a series of locations for kids and their parents to visit and learn about unique natural experiences right here in Lincoln. At each location they had rubbings that the would do as part of the check off process for that visit. It sounds like lots of folks signed up for the Safari. Now they plan on spreading what they know around to other communities and they've already heard from several towns interested in learning from their experiences.
They are also bringing in Robin C. Moore who is also a leading voice on a more natural experience for kids in parks and playgrounds. They hope to influence the development of some of the new parks currently in the design stage.
Last but not least, a good review of "Cloverfield" in the ImagineFX magazine got me to go to Redbox and spend a buck to view it. We'll see how it goes. I remain a bit skeptical. :)
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-22 09:52 pm (UTC)I attended a presentation on this earlier this August:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRR1feHqZPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlGIS0b3648
I've always valued it, but the presentation was passionate and really stoked the fire in me. I grew up in the woods. Many children don't get that experience.