Shoot the Moon
April 26, 2007

The more difficult-to-find materials have arrived.

• White bowling ball
• Teflon tape

I still need to choose which pipe to use for the control bars.

Preliminary Plans
May 17, 2007

The plans are almost done, except for details on the legs and the fake two-inch-diameter screwheads that hold the rods.

Plans Completed
May 21, 2007

The plans for Shoot the Moon are complete! PDF

Paying for Millwork
May 26, 2007

It adds only about 20% to the lumber cost to have all of the raw materials cut into their final pieces, based on the plan. And this leaves time for other things. Order placed! I'll pick it up tomorrow. Southern Lumber is great.

Steel
May 27, 2007

I met Corbett Griffith at the Maker Fair. This is the fellow who engineered, among other things, the Temple of Gravity (photos), Colossus (photos), and I.T. (photos). During my conversation with him, I understood that he really likes engineering with steel. By this, I mean, it's strong, it's predictable, and it's cheap (relatively).

So . . . I designed the field connection between the platform and the upright. Using steel.

Progress
May 28, 2007

Whew! Today was a marathon building session. The platform and upright are assembled, and the wood for the cups have been glued and screwed. I still need to weld the field-connection brackets, glue and screw the end block, mill everything, and buy the pipes. Oh, yeah, and I want to build Labyrinth and one love seat, too.

. . . and a few dominos!

Let's see . . . T: minus 34 days, and counting.

tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .

Focus
May 30 & June 2-3, 2007

All wooden parts are assembled except for the big support block. The steel pipes has been bored for their giant "screw" connections. I'm going to use 1/2" steel pipe instead of the giant custom screws for now; there's no time to make the screws before the Desert Test.