Custom Built Hotwheels- The second attempt.

Had so much fun the first time I thought I'd try it one more time.  Got a little overboard with this one though...  you can see a ton more pics here:  http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=880643&page=3

This one I'm entering into a "competition".









Dang purple paint was a royal pain to get off... 




Made some beds,



and got 'em sorta fitting...


 





Sort of how it'll sit.

 




 


   





 




 

Trying out all kinds of new things on this one... The thumbtack air cleaner is probably my favorite so far though.  Have a long ways to go still, and not much time to do it.  I entered this one in a "competition" just for fun.  Not planning on winning anything but I figured it would keep me motivated to finish it.  

Mendelmax 2.0- Updated to the "Birdstruder"

I downloaded and printed my first "thingy" from thingiverse the other day- the "birdstruder".  Noticed my extruder idler was cracking!



It was still working, but occasionally the filament would slip and the print would skip.  Here's where thingiverse comes in- downloaded and printed this little gizmo to replace the Maker Gear plastruder.  The new one is even quick change capable!

Parts freshly printed:
 


Assembly (you can probably see why its called the birdstruder):



Latched,



Open:



Installed, tested, and working!



Pretty happy with it so far, seems to be much better designed and I love the tool-less filament change now. Took a tad bit of dremel-ing to get things to fit perfect but overall it was pretty darn close.Had to buy 2 longer screws and nuts to go with them, for a grand total of something like 78 cents.  Can't argue with that!

Tech 2 has been working on their "big" projects.  Went back and forth with a few different ideas of what they could do but in the end here's what we decided. 

I gave them some real basic guidelines- must have at least 3 different parts, one of which must "move". So far we have 3 Ipone / Ipod cases, a pair of glasses, a boat anchor and winch, 2 lego people, a folding lawn chair, and an airplane. This oughta be interesting...  Hoping to start a batch printing tomorrow, because we've only got a week and a half of school left!!!

Dans's Chariot #4- Axle.

Took me long enough, but I finally got a belt for the lathe so I could run it in the higher RPM range and got the axle turned down. I'm using a Smithy CB1220-XL.  It's pretty beat- lotsa chatter but it works okay.  It's got a weird belt setup for changing the spindle speed- 2 short belts with an idler in the middle for the lower RPM's, or one long belt and remove the idler for higher RPM.  Long belt has been looong gone since before I started teaching here but I managed to find one that fits.  Took forever to get the idler loose enough that it came off the shaft too.  Got it all figured out and we're in business.

The axle started out as "sucker rod"... Not exactly sure what that is but I'm guessing it has something to do with well drilling.



After I hacked off the end and the goofy plastic piece, time to start spinning.




Haven't quite figured out how to change the crossfeed speed... It looks like there are a few gears that interchange but the other gears are missing.  With the spindle spinning about the correct RPM, the cross feed would fly down the metal.  Got a little warm, as you may be able to tell by the chips.



Finally got both sides turned down enough!





Looking good, although I think I may have to unbend a few of the curves to make the tongue higher of the ground. Right now, by my estimates the lowest point is 3-4 inches off the ground.



Picked up some castleated nuts, bushings, and washers so next week it should be a little more permanent.  Need to brush up on my welding and get the joints finished off too, then I can cut out the hitch end, make the seat brackets and mount the seat, and do some testing.  Long ways to go still and not enough time to do it!

Mendelmax 2.0- First batch of Student Projects!

Finally got around to finishing up the wheels for the student cars.  Think they turned out pretty nice!

Started out just running 4 at a time but got to where I did 8 in one fell swoop.







4 down, 33 to go.

Printed wheels of in batches of 100.  Looks like I finally got my bed pretty darn level.



Pile of wheels and my sample with 'em glued on.



And the finished products!













Some of them followed the instructions great, a few didn't and their wheels didn't fit in the wheel wells... Mostly they turned out pretty good! 

My Tech 2 class (Grade 8) has been playing with the printer this week, here are a couple of their "practice" prints.





They drew them up, exported the .stl, repaired it in Netfabb, and a few of them played a bit with Repetier. Couldn't get it to install on all of the computers though so we loaded them all in one file to generate the code.


We started on their big projects- have a couple students attempt ipod / iphone cases, one pair of glasses, an airplane, a couple of "lego" people, a trailer jack (?!?!?), a boat anchor and winch...  The things kids come up with.  Should be fun!

Whatever floats 'yer boat.

A few teachers are working on the Follet Challenge in hopes of winning our school some serious cash to update the library.  The librarian has been working with our ELL teacher and they came up with a "Treasure Island" theme.  As I understand it, Follet is a book / publishing company or something, so they chose a book and are trying to get the entire school involved somehow.  I volunteered to build Raingutter Regatta boats with my Tech class, and we just finished up the unit.

I think it went pretty well, I really wish we would have had more time to tear the boats apart and let them make their own design and go crazy with ideas now that they have a race under their belts and saw what worked and what didn't.  Unfortunately, we only have about 15 good work days left in the school year and have 2 units to try and smash into that time.

Anyways, here are their boats!

Roughing out the hulls.









Primer.



Smoothing out the primer, prepping for paint.



Paint!



Oooooo, shinnnnnyyyyy....



Getting closer.



Two that I made as demo's.



RACE DAY!









Think they had fun and learned a fair bit about boating and some of the design challenges associated with them.  Had a few boats capsize, a few with sail issues, and a few with hulls that just didn't want to float right.  The ELL class came and judged the races for us and also gave out a few awards for different categories. 

Many thanks to Greg of All Seasons Continuous Rain Gutters and Siding for building and donating the "race track"!  If you are in SE Idaho and need gutters or siding, be sure to give him a call-  208-785-2259!

FIFTEEN MORE DAYS.  Am I going to survive this!?