Cafe Gus

[Danny Mayes]

LOL,
I have talked to Tim a few times...Hes a young genius to be sure. loves his ellectronics & I miss his abrasive wit on the old metal forum. (most hated kid on the internet LOL) I knew he was planning to make those as "kits" but he went off to colledge & i haven't looked him up for a while.

Classic, what a small world. A kit for that would be great. That would make it within reach.

I been using an old furnace as a kiln for my homeade crucibles & investment burn out....the big issue is temp controll up or down..Just too fast in either direction..also had thoughts of fabbing a down draft kiln just for the purpous...too many projects too little time you know the story.

Nice one on making your own crucibles. Would love to get there eventually. What burner are you using? It took us 18 months to build this furnace, so yeha, don't i know it...

scratching my head here, that's a strange nickname for a girl.
gussandra...
gusseopeia...
i know, gusalina.
does she have a brother name sue?

LOL, no but she does have a brother called Leaf Sun Fairy River Peace.

Her name is Augusta Belle, we didn't see Gus coming when we decided on the name, We thought the short version would be Augie, but no Gus or Gusty. She is such a Gus head, it suits her to a tee.

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Here is the link to the foundry blog for those interested - http://www.perthfoundry.blogspot.com

D

[AussieJester]

She has your eyez Danny...and your hair too erm...i mean lack of hair hehehee... She is a cutee though

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Your right mate. It's weird, she has the exact same hair line as me. Only difference is, hers is gonna grow back. I got about as much chance growing another arm.

D

[Danny Mayes]

Can anyone recommend a good free ware program for compressing and editing video? And whats the story with uploading to you tube? does it apply its own compression? or do i have to compress the video first?

Also Li-ghtcycle, you suggested putting a riser in as per your drawing, what perpose does that serve? I did have a vent that was about 5mm diameter to ensure i got full fill...

Thanks

D

[AussieJester]

Can anyone recommend a good free ware program for compressing and editing video

Can hook you up next time your up with some video editing software ifz you likes Danny... :: wink ::

Windows Movie Maker will get you through till then if you iz desperate mate.


KiM

[Danny Mayes]

OK, thanks mate. Will look into WMM for now.

Cheers

[Hillhater]

Also Li-ghtcycle, you suggested putting a riser in as per your drawing, what perpose does that serve? I did have a vent that was about 5mm diameter to ensure i got full fill...
D

Incase Li-ghtcycle doesnt catch this ...
... Risers will help to quickly vent gasses and float dross out of the mould, but primarily they act to backfill shrinkage as the metal cools..to prevent voids etc.
Especially useful on thin section castings.

[Danny Mayes]

Thanks Hillhater. OK, the backfilling shrinkage part, that i didn't know. Makes perfect sense.

Cheers

[Hillhater]

No prob's .. remember though, risers need to be "big" enough so that they solidify last, or they cannot backfil as the casting solidifies.

[Danny Mayes]

Yeah cool, got that.

This is what i was thinking for my next go. I have got smal 5mm x 5mm vent/risers. They will provide nothing for back fill shrinkage. Maybe i should make them much larger. What do you think?

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Lat time my small runners acted as gates. they seemed to work well. This time my logic is different. here is the gate area.

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May be i should extend the runner to the outer edge? This mold is much thinner than the last but the profile is much more disirable. Again any input very welcome.


D

[Hillhater]

Boy, you do realise you are pushing the limits of gravity casting with this thin section stuff !
I am no expert ,but i do know that those vent holes alone wont be enough. You will need one , possibly more, large risers on that mould if you want to get a complete fill and minimise shrinkage issues.
Also , i believe its risky having multiple fill gates on thin sections, as you may get trapped gas voids , inclusions or "cold joints" where two flows meet .
..but i bow to your & Li ghtcycle's more up to date experience.

[Thud]

Here are my recomondations for casting lost foam in greensand. & i got a lot of this from FranKG btw.

#1- since your molding sand will hold shape, you have the abbility to use standard gating, traps & blind risers to controll solidification....

dont wast a bunch of time with intricate gates & risers in foam. (a mistake i made early on in my learning) they just steal heat from the pour & slow down the fill. Just lightly ram your part in the cope & cut normal runners & gates in the drag.

This works really well with simple patterns with a clean parting line like your pulley. more intricate shapes & really odd stuff you'll have to use some imagination.

I have never understood the foam vents i see guys putting on patterns. a foam rod (or drinking straw) is effectivly a "plug" & has to burn out before metal (or the intended gasses) can flow into it...& once metal is there it is not functioning as a vent

Simply running a wire into the sand to make the vents is far more effective & will actually vent gas traveling through the sand....Use a pc of .5mm wire & poke 100 holes into the top side of the cope to the pattern. Too large a wire will make a porcupine surface on the cast part.

whip up a bunch of simple rings & do a few test pours to develop your style & build confidence.

For 99% of my casting I use propane & a modified reil burner with a blower assist. I have an oil burning set up, but its a hassle & a mess to set up & tear down. the propane is easy,clean & fast. (worth the extra expense for me)

now, less foundry & more bike please

[Danny Mayes]

OK Thanks for the input Hillhater.

dont wast a bunch of time with intricate gates & risers in foam. (a mistake i made early on in my learning) they just steal heat from the pour & slow down the fill.

Got it.

I have never understood the foam vents i see guys putting on patterns. a foam rod (or drinking straw) is effectivly a "plug" & has to burn out before metal (or the intended gasses) can flow into it...& once metal is there it is not functioning as a vent

Self evident now that you mention it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Alot of gold there, cheers.

now, less foundry & more bike please

Roger that. Leave it with me.

D

[Danny Mayes]

One motor arrived yesterday. The other should be around the corner.

The clip-ons arrived a few days before that.

Here is a picture with the motor sitting on the back of Gus for size reference -

I am using a mini bike clamp and 1.2mm chromo tubing for the forks. I want them rigid.

I am thinking of moving the front wheel up a little as per the below drawing. This will decrease my rake a little and i will loose a bit of pedal clearance, but i think it should be OK. I will probably leave the tubes a bit longer so i can play with it a bit.

Also thinking i might make a drop out with a few holes for the front axle, to adjust my trail. With the wheel position where it currently is there is not much but i can gain quite a bit as the axle moves back more, under the tubing...

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I was hesitant to steepen the rake angle but reading Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design, Tony Foale concludes - "Except for the case of minimum offset in 5 (above) , it seems that a non-zero rake angle has no particular advantages. If this is so, why do conventional motorcycles handle and steer as well as they do? The answer lies in the very small steering angles involved in normal riding."

Flattening the bike out more would be nice.

This is completely unfamiliar territory for me. I have no experience with this. Any thought, comments, input?

The mini bike clamps were cheap. They seam OK. They are much wider than i would have liked. I may modify them to be less wide. My brother is boring the bolt that goes through the head tube out to lighten it. They are a little on the heavy side as is... They will be rigid though. Now the weakest link, by far is the head tube.

D

[AussieJester]

Leave it as it is, mount the Recumpence reduction drive I gave you using the motor pictured, so you have a bike to ride while you work on casting all these wonderful things you have drawn up in Auto CAD :-S otherwise this thread will be 100 pages long and be 2013 before your first ebike is going, I thought That was the plan agreed upon when you picked up the frame? Why has it changed? I for one don't won't to be wasting anymore time on this frame modding it for the two speed, I wouldnt like or suggest using this frame for the power and speed you intend it for, its not suitable IMHO...your bike do what you like obviously but I am keen to build the full chromo Ducati inspired frames we spoke about fitted with the V-Twin turnigy 2 speed setup... Jm2cw

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Don't worry AJ, it will be done before 2013.

There is a lot i want to learn before i build the next bike, and this bike is perfect for that. I think 9kw is not too much for this frame. The controllers will only be outputting around 4.5kw each. The set up will be significantly detuned,

[Danny Mayes]

Btw, i am not proposing changing the frame anymore. Just changing the rake by adjusting the length of the forks...

[AussieJester]

If you say so ....good luck getting everything done.

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Here is a little video from just before christmass of where the bike is at...

http://vimeo.com/36128708

D

[Chambers]

Hey man your bike is looking awesome

LOVE that MONSTER pulley set up, reminds me of the old board trackers

Keep the pics coming




Simon

[Hyena]

nice.
With that haircut and sitting in the wheelchair AJ reminds of Sam Worthington's character from Avatar. haha

[Chambers]

Hey Danny,

Any updates? I'm really anxious to see this thing running

Close up pics of that belt drive would be sweet


Simon

[Danny Mayes]

Thanks for the feedback Hyena. He does don't he...

Chambers, I believe i owe you some pictures-

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[Byte]

Hah! So here's the update! Looks very nice Danny! Love those big fat tires

That switch on the pictures, did you get it from Robotmarketplace.com? Is it the Hella power switch? http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-SWHELLA1.html

[Danny Mayes]

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I got her running the other day and cooked the speed controller. I didn't tune in the optical sensor properly. It was late and i was sick of her not running so i slapped things together and got what i got. 10 min of throttle and then a dead controller.

Belt set up is smooth and works well. She is real hard to peddle and I swear I could not peddle her 200 meters, so good thing she aint made for peddling...

Can't wait till i get her going a whole lot faster. She handles real smooth. As per the pics, i am building up 2 controllers and now getting both motors running. With 2 motors dialled in i might just catch AJ.

D