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Old 08-28-2013, 05:43 PM   #28 (permalink)
aerohead
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canopy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic View Post
I keep forgetting my camera, might have to ride up there this week and take some pictures. The rear upper structure framework is fabbed in aluminum. Working on the front now, might see if I can form a lexan canopy with compound curves. Lowes has 3X6 sheets of .092 inch thickness for under $100 a sheet.

I weighed it using my bathroom scale, which maxes out at 270 pounds. It was 265 for each front wheel and 330 for the rear wheel, which is beyond the scales designed capacity but seemed fairly close. That's 860 pounds right now, so it should be around 1000 or so finished as long as we focus on minimal weight from here on.

Cripple Rooster, I plan on eventually using my design, either driving the rear wheel or in the wheel itself. I figured it's like "Wwhich came first the chicken or the egg? A drive without a vehicle is less useful than a vehicle without a drive. When I put the patented drive in this vehicle, I might put the diesel-harley setup in a bike, but will probably use the same diesel engine. Who knows, if things go well I might just make it electric with a battery and low pressure switch, where the electric motor recharges the accumulator.

regards
Mech
You may have already blown plastic before,but if not, we used to have a local skylight manufacturing plant in Denton with a clever (simple) process.
The plastic was clamped atop an airtight frame which defined the base perimeter.
After reaching 'sag' in an electric pizza oven it was sealed to the table top by quick-clamping air clamps.
A light source/photo-cell was set at the desired height of the bubble which would open-circuit the air tables supply valve.
As the bubble rose,when it reached the set elevation,the photo-cell cut the air.If the bubble 'sank',pressure was restored,and this process repeated until the plastic cooled enough to set.Really elegant engineering.
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