April 26, 2007 : Shoot the Moon
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.
May 17, 2007: Preliminary Plans
The plans are almost done, except for details on the legs and the fake two-inch-diameter screwheads that hold the rods.
May 21, 2007: Plans Completed
The plans for Shoot the Moon are complete! PDF
May 26, 2007: Paying for Millwork
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.
May 27, 2007: Steel
I met Corbett Griffith at the Maker Fair. This is the fellow who engineered, among other things, the Temple of Gravity, Colossus, and I.T. 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.
May 28, 2007: Progress
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 . . .
May 30 & June 2-3, 2007: Focus
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.