It seems excruciatingly slow, but I have made some progress on my ultralight. I was finally able to attach the wings. It was a sad looking mess with the inboard end attached and the wingtips lying on the ground. So, borrowing from the mechanic next door, I set the wing tips on six foot ladders. I then undertook the insertion of the compression struts. After struggling for a couple of days, during which time I spent two hours inserting a single bolt, I went home and built a couple of tools specific for the job. After that things went much smoother. In the process I managed to block my hanger mate such that he was unable get his gyrocopter out of the hanger. I'm sure he wasn't very happy about that...
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The next step was attaching the support cables to the king post. Lifting both wings simultaneously and anchoring the cable ends in the center while standing of the top of a six foot ladder and reaching out slightly further than arms length was a bit of a trick for this old man, but you don't make it this far over the hill without acquiring a bit of chicanery and I finally made it work. It just took time...
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The next step was inserting the ribs that give the wing it's shape. Since this involved cutting (or more accurately, melting) holes in the fabric, this was a task I approached with some apprehension. Dave Ellis volunteered to help and, with his moral support, I plugged in the soldering gun. We were more than half finished before we finally figured out the easy way to accomplish the task. One of the ribs was missing a piece so I need to purchase a replacement. With that exception, the rest are in place.
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I discovered that my ipad will take "selfies." With a countenance like that, who needs a halloween mask?
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Our "uniform" rectangular pieces (think ends for bolo ties) finally came out of the polishing cycle. Many, perhaps even most, broke but there are still many that will make paired sets. I wasn't very impressed with the final polish, but perhaps it is just this particular rock. At some point in the not too distant future I plan to introduce of couple of them to the polishing equipment in the rabbit house and see if that makes a difference.
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I may be retired, but I still remember being a chemist and experimentation is deeply ingrained. Thinking to duplicate the Krackle candy bar, I took some expanded rice cereal and combined it with homemade fudge (the sweetened condensed milk and milk chocolate chips kind). It was a great idea, but it didn't work very well. The rice cereal became a bit soggy and almost difficult to chew (it still tasted good). Some time later, I tried to duplicate Twixt candy bars in an analogous way using sugar wafers and the results were almost identical. In retrospect, the liquid from the milk was probably responsible for the lack of crunch. Perhaps I should try it again using melted chocolate chips in place of fudge (or maybe even dipping chocolate). What do you think?
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I don't know what controls sprouting of arms on a saguaro, but it appears this one got out of control. I'm sorry Ameilia, but unusual things in nature are of interest to me and I therefore assume they will interest others.
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 At the BYU hobby shop where I first played with lapidary, they had (in addition to their coarse and fine grinding wheels) three cloth buffing wheels, a brown one (cerium oxide) a green one (chromium oxide) and a red one (jewelers rouge). Attempting to duplicate that setup, I built the above pictured little piece piece of equipment. A number of years ago, Mylinda gave me a grinder. I wore it out in a few years, and it has functioned as a shop ornament since that time. So, I removed the abrasive wheels and electrical components, fitted a pulley to the shaft (not trivial since it was a non-standard size), and cut a slot in the casing to admit a belt driven by a old cooler motor. When the tapered spindles and muslim wheels arrive (think ebay), I'll have the equivalent of the equipment I started with.
So maybe I made a mistake, but at least it was a fun way to spend a couple of days. |
It seems intuitively obvious that building things from spare parts should be less expensive than buying new equipment, but it doesn't always work out that way. On my masterpiece above I spent:
I experienced another "first" recently. One of the medications my specialist has me on is delivered via a transdermal patch. The advantage is supposed to be that it continuously supplies a low level of the therapeutic agent, thus avoiding the spikes and valleys associated with taking multiple tablets. I mistakenly applied the patch to an area of skin that occasionally flexed. During the day, part of the patch came loose and folded over on itself. The end result was roughly equivalent to not applying a patch. I didn't sense any difference during the day, but that night, I did not sleep at all. I did, however, dream and if I'm not mistaken, dreaming without sleeping is called hallucinating. Laying awake all night was unpleasant, but the hard part was that I had to teach Sunday School the next morning.
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And speaking of teaching, I was released from that calling last Sunday. Now I don't have any excuse when the financial records are messed up... Well, this epistle is short, but when you find yourself blathering on about maladies and medications, it is time to find a new avocation. |