Do you like to assemble things?

[Square Wheels]

[Zephyr]

Yes I do..., and sometimes if I add drinking rum to the equation while building, they tend to look like that desk and chair when I am done

[jsharr ★]

[jsharr ★]

[jsharr ★]

[jsharr ★]

[Airehead]

no not at all

[Further]

[Ralphie ★]

I much prefer disassembly. 

[UglyBob]

12 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I much prefer disassembly. 

[maddmaxx ★]

I remember when model airplanes came as a block of wood the size of the box and a piece of paper that said "remove everything that does not look like plane.

[Further]

I used to enjoy assembling engines, a puzzle that made power. Haven't built an engine in years.  

[MickinMD ★]

17 hours ago, jsharr said:

I had the great honor of being one of the scholarship chemistry grad students at IIT to take Plutonium inventor Glenn Seaborg out to dinner in 1975 after he gave a talk - he demanded Chicago pizza.  Over beer and Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Connie's Restaurant, I asked him, "Dr. Seaborg, the letter 'P' is taken by Phosphorus, but there's no 'Pl' in the Periodic Table. So why did you choose "Pu" as the symbol for Plutonium?"

He laughed and would only say, "For obvious reasons."

We took that to mean it was a joke based on the stink exclamation: "Pee Yew."

He also told us that he and his team argued for months as they were trying to make element 94, what they would name it.  They knew elements 92 and 93 were named after the recently discovered planets Uranus (Uranium) and Neptune (Neptunium) so they'd have to name element 94 after Pluto.  But they argued over whether it was "etymologically" correct to name it "Plutium" or "Plutonium."  They never could all agree but they all liked the sound of Plutonium better - so that was picked!

He also told us how they reproduced the German research and made Neptunium from Uranium and then used a trick involving paraffin wax to make Plutonium from Uranium.  Fortunately, none of us tried to reproduce Seaborg's work!

[Ralphie ★]

39 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Plutonium inventor Glenn Seaborg

I thought he invented seaborgium?

[maddmaxx ★]

10 hours ago, Further said:

I used to enjoy assembling engines, a puzzle that made power. Haven't built an engine in years.  

I did too.  I was better at assembling engines than overhauling them.  I suspect that my RC car hobby is my old age version of those halcyon racing years.

 

(submitted to Ralph as a possible word of the day entry)

[maddmaxx ★]

The basic assembly of an RC racing vehicle. (I know it's a bike forum but some mechanically inclined folks might enjoy)

This is a tough plastic chassis plate.  It's lighter than metal.  I would prefer to have one made from carbon filled plastic and may change this one later when the others become available late this year.  Most of the holes pointing up have been tapped for m3 screws as these are for removable parts access to the drive train and will hold up better than self tapping screws that look more like wood screws.  The lower suspension arms have already been mounted to the plate.

This is the basic drive train for the 4 wheel drive.  Note the large gear on the rear shaft.  It's the wrong gear and the one I want is not going to be here before the end of the month so I'm trapped at a certain stage of the assembly because I cannot bolt on the bearing caps and this is the most internal part of the assembly.

Next the front and rear differentials are laid in place.  There is some preliminary shimming of the pinion gears to get best engagement of the ring and pinion on each end.  You would do this in a full sized race car as well using prussian blue dye to see what the gear tooth contact looks like.  This gear train will be lubricated at the time of final assembly with some trick ceramic based lube.  The differentials themselves are limited slip.  The internal gear train is not intended to be limited but would deliver power to the wheel with the least traction except that I fill the housing with various weights of silicon fluid to make the gear train sticky enough to deliver some torque to each wheel.  Part of the science here is to use the right value of sticky.  The front and rear are not the same.  The front unit is so sticky that it almost doesn't have any differential action and behaves more like it's locked.  The rules I race under require a differential so that's how I achieve the near equivalent of a spool or locked unit.

And what it would look like if I could bolt down those covers and bearing caps.  The upper suspension and shock mounts attach to those covers so this is as far as the assembly can go at this time.

 

 

[jsharr ★]

What kind of seal or gasket is between the chassis plate and covers and bearing caps? @maddmaxx

[jsharr ★]

14 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I much prefer disassembly. 

with reassembly as a possibility or an impossibility?

[maddmaxx ★]

49 minutes ago, jsharr said:

What kind of seal or gasket is between the chassis plate and covers and bearing caps? @maddmaxx

On this car, none per design or instructions.  However experience has taught me that a tiny bead of some sort of persistent grease will squash down between the covers to keep fine dust out longer.  The bearings do not get this treatment however.  They are sealed bearings and sit in notches that have some of the sealing properties of labyrinth seals.

[Ralphie ★]

3 hours ago, jsharr said:

with reassembly as a possibility or an impossibility?

That is up to whomever I delegate that task to.

 

[jsharr ★]

3 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

On this car, none per design or instructions.  However experience has taught me that a tiny bead of some sort of persistent grease will squash down between the covers to keep fine dust out longer.  The bearings do not get this treatment however.  They are sealed bearings and sit in notches that have some of the sealing properties of labyrinth seals.

I do not recall a seal in Labyrinth?

[Road Runner]

I enjoyed assembly when I was in school.  Usually just some mind-numbing play or musical performance by the orchestra or the band, but at least it was a break from the mind-numbing classes.  

[maddmaxx ★]

Just so you get to know where this is going............here is the first cousin of the car being built.  This one was built to compete in Vintage Trans Am racing classes and is about 20mm wider at the wheels and a bit heavier with just a skosh more power.  My 1969 Camaro Z-28 Trans Am racer.