Against my the advice of many of my peers and friends, I decided last month to embark upon the adventure of 'No-Shave-November'. I was going to grow a beard. A manly beard. What I wound up with was an oddly red mustache, half a goatee and some fuzz on my cheeks. And, as is fast becoming a tradition on this blog, I made an embarrassing video to display. I'll try and come up with something equally horrific for next month, but no promises.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Son of Patch Jacket!
Okay, this is one final hurrah before the big one. I got two patches for the project I work on, so I put them on! I only managed to stick myself a few times with the needle, so I guess that's an improvement?
And on the actual jacket!
And on the actual jacket!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Glider! Okay, the propeller just fell off.
I decided to make a plane, but this time with actual airfoils instead of crappy balsa-wood flat wings. I sketched out a pretty simple design, square wings and rear stabilizers, and set up a little assembly line.
Then I put the wings onto the previous plane I'd built, and gave it a try, and it turned out that it had a little too much lift, and would stall out really quickly. So I stripped those wings off, made some smaller ones for the rear stabilizers, and before I put it all together, I figured I may as well use them as canards to prevent the stalling problem. And it actually did stop it from stalling! It did not, however, prevent it from flying like a rock. Seriously, this thing followed a pretty newtonian curve, it was like high school physics all over again. And since I'd gotten impatient and used hot glue to attach the wings, I could not now remove them, and thus I was about ready to scrap it when the propeller fell off, and it turned out to be a pretty fair glider. Observe!
I'm planning to do this again with larger canards and a little bit more math backing me up. Then again, I think I always say that.
Then I put the wings onto the previous plane I'd built, and gave it a try, and it turned out that it had a little too much lift, and would stall out really quickly. So I stripped those wings off, made some smaller ones for the rear stabilizers, and before I put it all together, I figured I may as well use them as canards to prevent the stalling problem. And it actually did stop it from stalling! It did not, however, prevent it from flying like a rock. Seriously, this thing followed a pretty newtonian curve, it was like high school physics all over again. And since I'd gotten impatient and used hot glue to attach the wings, I could not now remove them, and thus I was about ready to scrap it when the propeller fell off, and it turned out to be a pretty fair glider. Observe!
I'm planning to do this again with larger canards and a little bit more math backing me up. Then again, I think I always say that.
Monday, November 17, 2008
UCSD Rocket Project
This is the launch of my senior-class project at UCSD. It was a hybrid rocket, burning nitrous oxide and a rubber grain. It was supposed to measure pressure as it went up, or something like that, I don't recall. I do remember that the nose cone only ejected because the engine shut off and it started decelerating at two gees, instead of our incredibly reliable ejection charge. This was the only class in college with which I got to play with explosives. Go aerospace engineering!
I'd like to note that this is actually filler, but I've got three things going on at once right now, and they'll all be up shortly. I hope.
I'd like to note that this is actually filler, but I've got three things going on at once right now, and they'll all be up shortly. I hope.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween Costume: The Finale
Halloween has come and past, and I managed to wear the costume a couple times (and also slept in it, but that's a separate matter). I also managed to get the sonic screwdriver working, after I figured out that I couldn't actually make the sound thing work (it turns out that capacitors don't work as I'd thought), and I also couldn't use AAA batteries, so I had to make use of some smaller batteries I had in a flashlight. But it worked! I used a cigar tube for the main body, glued on a washer on top, a quartz crystal on top of that, and put a blue high-powered LED inside, with a push switch on the bottom. I also put on some paint black strips of balsa wood to break up the silver tube, and give it a little grip.
This is the whole get up:
And this is the embarrassing video I promised:
This is the whole get up:
And this is the embarrassing video I promised:
Monday, October 27, 2008
Rockets!
I'd like to start by admitting that this is filler. It's awesome filler, but filler nonetheless. But this project has been sidelined by a couple of things, and is probably a little over-ambitious on my part, so be patient. I promise a HILARIOUS, and undoubtedly embarrassing video.
In the news lately, Armadillo Aerospace just won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize! I'd explain it, but this video does it better:
Apparently, in the second phase of the test, it crashed and burned. Which is actually pretty funny. But this is really awesome, a success for a small-scale space entrepreneur. Between that and the success of SpaceX's Falcon 1 late last month, the independent space industry is beginning to take off, which is super exciting.
In awesome news that I didn't know about beforehand, it looks like NASA is gearing up to launch another awesome rover to Mars! It's called the Mars Science Laboratory, and it's the size of an SUV, nuclear powered, and is expected to operate for a solid martian year (687 terrestrial days, 669 Martian days/sols). Which, given that the last ones were designed to last ninety sols, and are currently operating seventeen hundred sols later, so it's safe to expect that this bad boy will last until we're walking around on Mars to take over.
In the news lately, Armadillo Aerospace just won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize! I'd explain it, but this video does it better:
Apparently, in the second phase of the test, it crashed and burned. Which is actually pretty funny. But this is really awesome, a success for a small-scale space entrepreneur. Between that and the success of SpaceX's Falcon 1 late last month, the independent space industry is beginning to take off, which is super exciting.
In awesome news that I didn't know about beforehand, it looks like NASA is gearing up to launch another awesome rover to Mars! It's called the Mars Science Laboratory, and it's the size of an SUV, nuclear powered, and is expected to operate for a solid martian year (687 terrestrial days, 669 Martian days/sols). Which, given that the last ones were designed to last ninety sols, and are currently operating seventeen hundred sols later, so it's safe to expect that this bad boy will last until we're walking around on Mars to take over.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Halloween Costume: The beginning
Halloween is just around the corner, and I've been looking forward to putting together a costume for a little while now. I actually had to make myself hold off on working on it until October. So for this Halloween, I decided to be the Doctor. From Doctor Who. It's a British sci-fi show, look, it's not important. So come October, I started hitting up thrift stores for a trench coat and a suit, and also got a pair of converse knock-offs, which make up most of the costume. The final item is a sonic screwdriver, which, for my purposes, is a cylindrical object that lights up and makes a ululating sound when it's switched on.
So I bought some LEDs, capacitors, a buzzer and a breadboard, and started to put it together based on a rough idea of how it should work. It turns out that the ululating buzzer is going to take some more work, but I was able to get the LEDs working. Which is actually not very impressive, but hey, it's a start.
So I bought some LEDs, capacitors, a buzzer and a breadboard, and started to put it together based on a rough idea of how it should work. It turns out that the ululating buzzer is going to take some more work, but I was able to get the LEDs working. Which is actually not very impressive, but hey, it's a start.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Black Hole (redux)
This is something I wrote back in January for another blog, but I figure it's something that deserves mention.
From January 4th, 2008:
"The other day, Jon, Travis and I wandered up to Los Alamos to check out the infamous Black Hole, that repository of weird crap and awesome stuff that has attracted us so many times. We made our usual rounds, checked out all sorts of stuff, the geiger counters, oscilloscopes, welding masks, PA systems, vacuum tubes, fabrication equipment, coolant piping, and more junk than I can honestly remember. Then, after we selected our purchases (I bought five patches and two mildly radioactive marbles, and Travis bought a length of climbing rope), old man Grothus points to two model obelisks on his counter, and says that he's got the full size versions outside. I'm somewhat doubtful about this, but we go and take a look. Just a sketch of Ed Grothus, he's an eighty three year old anti-nuclear activist living in Los Alamos. Every time I've seen him, he's worn a pair of purple camouflage pants, a white shirt with a turquoise bolo and an assortment of pins. In this bitterly cold winter, he was wearing a jacket and gloves, and the gloves were torn along several of the fingers, leaving them flapping open.
So he lead us outside to show us these obelisks. He opened up a shipping container, and there they were. They're white granite obelisks, ten meters long (thirty two feet) with black granite bases and black granite spheres to top them, representing the explosive core of nuclear weapons. They were disassembled, with the obelisks lying on their sides, but they were remarkably impressive to me (I won't speak for Travis or Jon) because they were the work of a single man. Most projects like this would take years of a city council's or similar organization's time to organize, purchase, politically wrangle, and finish. But this man did that work out of his own pocket. I found the entire thing to be a demonstration of the dedication that this guy, and probably most men, are capable of.
On the base, there is a message inscribed in fifteen different languages, seven on one, eight on the other. The message reads:
Welcome to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the United States of America, the city of fire. Our fires are brighter than a thousand suns. It was once believed that only God could destroy the world, but scientists working in Los Alamos first harnessed the power of the atom. The power released through fission and fusion gives many men the ability to commence the destruction of all life on Earth. The first atomic bomb was designed and built here. It was at Trinity Site (33 degrees, 44 minutes, 38 seconds North latitude and 106 degrees, 28 minutes, 29 seconds West longitude) on July 16 1945, at 5:29:45 AM that the first nuclear bomb was detonated. Trinity Site is 2 degrees, 8 minutes, and 29 seconds and 153.2 miles southwest of Los Alamos. Two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by single atomic bombs on August 6th and 9th, 1945 bringing an end to World War II. Now 62 years later, Los Alamos, obedient to the almighty Pentagon, carries on its awesome, assigned mission to assure continuing nuclear capability. Nuclear bombs cannot be used rationally and dreams for safe and useful nuclear power may never be realized. It is only in Los Alamos that the potentials for unimagined, fantastic good and demonstrated, horrendous evil are proximate. There is no assurance that man will pass safely through the Nuclear Age to a benign Solar-Hydrogen Age.
On each face of each obelisk there is a peace sign surrounded by the latin motto "Semper Fabricate Numquam Consumite," which roughly translates as "Always Build, Never Destroy." Underneath this is Grothus' more recognizable motto, "One Bomb Is Too Many," and on the side, "No One Is Secure Unless Everyone Is Secure." He also has the name of Albert Einstein, his famous equation and birth and death years. So this whole thing is essentially eighty tons of granite, conceived of, funded, and brought into being by one man as an anti-nuclear protest.
I've personally never felt a great empathy with the anti-nuclear group. Their reasoning has always seemed a bit specious to me, and the majority of them seem to be luddites, terrified of something of which they have no understanding. Truthfully, I find a lot of their protests have only served to actually make nuclear technology less safe, especially with regards to the disposal of byproducts. They complain that nuclear technology creates a lot of dangerous waste (which is true), and then protest the creation of facilities in which to safely (as much as possible) dispose of said waste. And while Mr. Grothus is opposed to nuclear technology in its entirety, I find myself sympathizing with him more and more on the topic of disarmament, and find his comment that "one bomb is too many" makes a lot of sense. To turn back the clock entirely on nuclear power is not only impossible, it's probably not a very good idea. But the use of nuclear weapons can never be justified in today's world. It's almost impossible to use against a solely military target, and the corresponding environmental and collateral damage is nigh unjustifiable. So I find that the idea of nuclear disarmament makes a lot of sense, I just can't really see any practical means of achieving it."
It's worth noting that Esquire actually did a much more in depth and quality interview and profile of this topic.
Also, this is totally not filler. I swear.
From January 4th, 2008:
"The other day, Jon, Travis and I wandered up to Los Alamos to check out the infamous Black Hole, that repository of weird crap and awesome stuff that has attracted us so many times. We made our usual rounds, checked out all sorts of stuff, the geiger counters, oscilloscopes, welding masks, PA systems, vacuum tubes, fabrication equipment, coolant piping, and more junk than I can honestly remember. Then, after we selected our purchases (I bought five patches and two mildly radioactive marbles, and Travis bought a length of climbing rope), old man Grothus points to two model obelisks on his counter, and says that he's got the full size versions outside. I'm somewhat doubtful about this, but we go and take a look. Just a sketch of Ed Grothus, he's an eighty three year old anti-nuclear activist living in Los Alamos. Every time I've seen him, he's worn a pair of purple camouflage pants, a white shirt with a turquoise bolo and an assortment of pins. In this bitterly cold winter, he was wearing a jacket and gloves, and the gloves were torn along several of the fingers, leaving them flapping open.
So he lead us outside to show us these obelisks. He opened up a shipping container, and there they were. They're white granite obelisks, ten meters long (thirty two feet) with black granite bases and black granite spheres to top them, representing the explosive core of nuclear weapons. They were disassembled, with the obelisks lying on their sides, but they were remarkably impressive to me (I won't speak for Travis or Jon) because they were the work of a single man. Most projects like this would take years of a city council's or similar organization's time to organize, purchase, politically wrangle, and finish. But this man did that work out of his own pocket. I found the entire thing to be a demonstration of the dedication that this guy, and probably most men, are capable of.
On the base, there is a message inscribed in fifteen different languages, seven on one, eight on the other. The message reads:
Welcome to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the United States of America, the city of fire. Our fires are brighter than a thousand suns. It was once believed that only God could destroy the world, but scientists working in Los Alamos first harnessed the power of the atom. The power released through fission and fusion gives many men the ability to commence the destruction of all life on Earth. The first atomic bomb was designed and built here. It was at Trinity Site (33 degrees, 44 minutes, 38 seconds North latitude and 106 degrees, 28 minutes, 29 seconds West longitude) on July 16 1945, at 5:29:45 AM that the first nuclear bomb was detonated. Trinity Site is 2 degrees, 8 minutes, and 29 seconds and 153.2 miles southwest of Los Alamos. Two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by single atomic bombs on August 6th and 9th, 1945 bringing an end to World War II. Now 62 years later, Los Alamos, obedient to the almighty Pentagon, carries on its awesome, assigned mission to assure continuing nuclear capability. Nuclear bombs cannot be used rationally and dreams for safe and useful nuclear power may never be realized. It is only in Los Alamos that the potentials for unimagined, fantastic good and demonstrated, horrendous evil are proximate. There is no assurance that man will pass safely through the Nuclear Age to a benign Solar-Hydrogen Age.
On each face of each obelisk there is a peace sign surrounded by the latin motto "Semper Fabricate Numquam Consumite," which roughly translates as "Always Build, Never Destroy." Underneath this is Grothus' more recognizable motto, "One Bomb Is Too Many," and on the side, "No One Is Secure Unless Everyone Is Secure." He also has the name of Albert Einstein, his famous equation and birth and death years. So this whole thing is essentially eighty tons of granite, conceived of, funded, and brought into being by one man as an anti-nuclear protest.
I've personally never felt a great empathy with the anti-nuclear group. Their reasoning has always seemed a bit specious to me, and the majority of them seem to be luddites, terrified of something of which they have no understanding. Truthfully, I find a lot of their protests have only served to actually make nuclear technology less safe, especially with regards to the disposal of byproducts. They complain that nuclear technology creates a lot of dangerous waste (which is true), and then protest the creation of facilities in which to safely (as much as possible) dispose of said waste. And while Mr. Grothus is opposed to nuclear technology in its entirety, I find myself sympathizing with him more and more on the topic of disarmament, and find his comment that "one bomb is too many" makes a lot of sense. To turn back the clock entirely on nuclear power is not only impossible, it's probably not a very good idea. But the use of nuclear weapons can never be justified in today's world. It's almost impossible to use against a solely military target, and the corresponding environmental and collateral damage is nigh unjustifiable. So I find that the idea of nuclear disarmament makes a lot of sense, I just can't really see any practical means of achieving it."
It's worth noting that Esquire actually did a much more in depth and quality interview and profile of this topic.
Also, this is totally not filler. I swear.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Robot Madness!
I figured that I'd get my white whale and finish with this robot contraption I've been focusing on lately. So, I rewired the robot, put it all back together with a hot glue gun, attached the 'antennae' and look at how pretty it is!
And so, I fired it off and let it go for a couple of turns.
And, lo and behold, it broke.
Part of why it's only pseudo functional is because the parts (the switches on top) were kind of junked, so I decided to just scrap the project. Still, it's been a bundle of fun, and hopefully only the first of many robots. Hopefully the next one will be more successful.
And so, I fired it off and let it go for a couple of turns.
And, lo and behold, it broke.
Part of why it's only pseudo functional is because the parts (the switches on top) were kind of junked, so I decided to just scrap the project. Still, it's been a bundle of fun, and hopefully only the first of many robots. Hopefully the next one will be more successful.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Robot . . . The Revenge
I'd make a big long post here, but all I did was re-superglue some stuff and solder it together properly. It still needs some work, but this video is pretty funny, so here it is!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
A robot with no name . . .
So, by popular demand (from all two of you. And, okay, one of them was me), this week I did a robot, and in doing so, discovered several special things. One, soldering is harder than I remember. Two, when following instructions, it helps to get all of the proper parts. So I set up my little laboratory, and got to work.
So, following the tutorial, I ran into a few problems. One, I had the wrong battery casing. Well, that was about the entirety of the problem, as I could solder to it, or affix the motors to it, so I wound up creating a horrible monstrosity by comparison. Oh, and it also didn't work.
And in short order, with a few changes, I completed the basic model.
Then I tried to plug in the batteries, and it broke.
At this point, I figured out that I couldn't actually glue the motors on (as there wasn't enough surface area for the glue to make a strong bond), so I slept on it and figured out that I could glue on some balsa wood to make a larger surface to glue to. And thus was born this monstrosity!
And it kind of worked! It spun in circles! So I think all I have to do to make it actually functional is reverse the wires on one of the motors. But, naturally, it broke. And, in attempting to fix it, it broke even more. So I'm calling this one a bust for the time being and moving onto other things. Again, I will return! And perhaps fail less.
So, following the tutorial, I ran into a few problems. One, I had the wrong battery casing. Well, that was about the entirety of the problem, as I could solder to it, or affix the motors to it, so I wound up creating a horrible monstrosity by comparison. Oh, and it also didn't work.
And in short order, with a few changes, I completed the basic model.
Then I tried to plug in the batteries, and it broke.
At this point, I figured out that I couldn't actually glue the motors on (as there wasn't enough surface area for the glue to make a strong bond), so I slept on it and figured out that I could glue on some balsa wood to make a larger surface to glue to. And thus was born this monstrosity!
And it kind of worked! It spun in circles! So I think all I have to do to make it actually functional is reverse the wires on one of the motors. But, naturally, it broke. And, in attempting to fix it, it broke even more. So I'm calling this one a bust for the time being and moving onto other things. Again, I will return! And perhaps fail less.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Balsa Wood Plane: The Revenge
Okay, so the last time I embarked upon this quest, the results were less than auspicious. So I retreated for a while, to the realm of sewing and coming up with other ideas. But I eventually just figured that I already had the materials, I'd give it another whirl. Building off of the mistakes of last time, I made sure to assemble the fuselage and propeller before attaching the wing, and also giving the wing a higher aspect ratio, to make it more capable of gliding/getting lift. I also ran out of balsa wood rods, so I cut the frame of the wing out of a flat piece, which I think/hope reduced the weight significantly. So, at twelve inches long, with a twelve inch wide wing, I present the second incarnation of the Pogue Balsa Wood Plane.
So, after trying several powered flights in light winds, I found that it actually functioned somewhat better as a glider. And thus, after several attempts, there it goes:
I think this is going to be a recurring theme here, with different configurations and more complicated airfoils. Stay tuned! Next time: V-tail!
So, after trying several powered flights in light winds, I found that it actually functioned somewhat better as a glider. And thus, after several attempts, there it goes:
I think this is going to be a recurring theme here, with different configurations and more complicated airfoils. Stay tuned! Next time: V-tail!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Luke Skywalker's got nothing on this guy
Okay, so I've got all these great ideas for things to do here, but sadly, math is hard and programming is harder. So, here's something really cool from the good Dean Kamen, the guy who invented the Segway, which is really cool, even if it isn't the world-changer we all hoped it would be (at least until they ban cars in metropolitan city centers). But this is really cool. I think I'll let him explain it.
So I think this is what Ray Kurzweil would call 'the knee of the curve,' the point at which a technology starts getting exponentially better. It's scary and exciting to think that this is version 1.0, and that this sort of tech will only be getting better and better. There's a quote, I don't know who said it, but it goes something like "in the future, it will be a liability to be completely human". This is a freaky and awesome first step in that direction. The only real problem I can notice is that it makes those whirring noises, but hey, it's a 1.0 thing. I suppose the real race is going to be a three way between the ability to a) regrow limbs, b) clone them and reattach them, and c) creating the perfect prosthetic. God, I love science.
Next time: Actual project. I promise!
So I think this is what Ray Kurzweil would call 'the knee of the curve,' the point at which a technology starts getting exponentially better. It's scary and exciting to think that this is version 1.0, and that this sort of tech will only be getting better and better. There's a quote, I don't know who said it, but it goes something like "in the future, it will be a liability to be completely human". This is a freaky and awesome first step in that direction. The only real problem I can notice is that it makes those whirring noises, but hey, it's a 1.0 thing. I suppose the real race is going to be a three way between the ability to a) regrow limbs, b) clone them and reattach them, and c) creating the perfect prosthetic. God, I love science.
Next time: Actual project. I promise!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Ferromagnetic Fluid Art
Okay, I've been a terrible blogger. I've failed in my 'build one thing a week' mission, primarily because building things is hard and expensive. So, while I will endeavor to continue to build things at a more sedate and manageable pace, I will also post up cool engineering/science/transhumanist news and items I find on the internet, plus random ideas I have. So, onto the actual subject matter!
I was cruising one of my favorite blogs the other day, io9, and found this. It is the work of a Japanese artist/professor Sachiko Kodama, who uses ferromagnetic fluids and magnets to make magnificent works of art. For the curious ones in the audience, ferromagnetic fluids are colloidal suspensions of iron particles in water or a compatible solvent that react to magnetic fields in interesting ways. Ironically, the closest thing I've had to an art appreciation class (Making of the Modern World six) utterly destroyed my appreciation of art. I mean, honestly, a urinal set down on its side? This was a big thing? There's a reason I'm an engineer. Anyhoo, below is the video of her work, which is pretty damn awesome. The main thing that gets me is that it is all real. This isn't some computer generated effect, it's the basic laws of physics applied in a new and interesting way to make dynamic, otherworldly structures.
Sachiko Kodama
I was cruising one of my favorite blogs the other day, io9, and found this. It is the work of a Japanese artist/professor Sachiko Kodama, who uses ferromagnetic fluids and magnets to make magnificent works of art. For the curious ones in the audience, ferromagnetic fluids are colloidal suspensions of iron particles in water or a compatible solvent that react to magnetic fields in interesting ways. Ironically, the closest thing I've had to an art appreciation class (Making of the Modern World six) utterly destroyed my appreciation of art. I mean, honestly, a urinal set down on its side? This was a big thing? There's a reason I'm an engineer. Anyhoo, below is the video of her work, which is pretty damn awesome. The main thing that gets me is that it is all real. This isn't some computer generated effect, it's the basic laws of physics applied in a new and interesting way to make dynamic, otherworldly structures.
Sachiko Kodama
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Comic-Con!
Hey guys, here's a quick recap of what I've been doing. I went to Comic-Con last weekend! That was awesome. I got to meet my favorite web-comic artists and get some sketches. Randall Munroe of XKCD paid me a dollar to hit Gabe from Penny Arcade with a cardboard tube! My friend Justin and I had a competition to see who could get their picture taken with DC and Marvel cosplayers. Suffice to say, the Marvel guys did not show up in sufficient numbers and I lost by a slim margin.
Still, Doctor Strange was cool. We also ran into Master Chief of Halo fame, and I managed not to get teabagged. My friend was not so lucky.
Anyhoo, good times!
Still, Doctor Strange was cool. We also ran into Master Chief of Halo fame, and I managed not to get teabagged. My friend was not so lucky.
Anyhoo, good times!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Patch Jacket
Well, for this week's project, I went with something I've been putting off for a long time. I'm bringing back my patch jacket. Well, my patch piece of clothing, because before it was just a crappy school sweater onto which I stitched an inordinate number of funky patches.
Around my sophomore year of college, I had to give up this wonderful garment because it was falling apart, and people looked at me funny when I wore it. So I put away all the patches, and eventually found a nice jean jacket that would serve as a suitable host. And then I slowly started putting it together, and by put it together, I mean I asked Emily to do it for me. Thanks Emily!
So, I finally got around to putt together the rest of this thing. Here are all the patches that I had left:
And a few nights of drinking beer, sewing, and watching television later, my patch jacket is reborn!
So, naturally I decided to do this in the middle of summer. In San Diego. When it's really hot and there's no good time to wear it. But come, say, September, I'll be sporting this thing full time. Until I decide that being a social pariah, and/or 'that guy with the jacket' is no longer an acceptable situation for me.
Around my sophomore year of college, I had to give up this wonderful garment because it was falling apart, and people looked at me funny when I wore it. So I put away all the patches, and eventually found a nice jean jacket that would serve as a suitable host. And then I slowly started putting it together, and by put it together, I mean I asked Emily to do it for me. Thanks Emily!
So, I finally got around to putt together the rest of this thing. Here are all the patches that I had left:
And a few nights of drinking beer, sewing, and watching television later, my patch jacket is reborn!
So, naturally I decided to do this in the middle of summer. In San Diego. When it's really hot and there's no good time to wear it. But come, say, September, I'll be sporting this thing full time. Until I decide that being a social pariah, and/or 'that guy with the jacket' is no longer an acceptable situation for me.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Revisiting an old friend/challenge
So when I was a young engineering student, in my first aerospace class, I was given the task of working with a team to build a small propeller driven airplane out of balsa wood. I had three other team-members, one of which was my roommate, James, and we decided to split into two teams in order to build two planes, the better of which would become our entry.
So my roommate and I worked hard at designing our little plane (not really) and eventually started cutting our airfoils out of balsa wood. After hours of painstaking cutting and gluing, we discovered that this wasn't really working out (we were also covering the frame of our airfoil with saran wrap, which was not the greatest idea). So, we hit upon the idea of solid wood wings. Yeah, that's about as good an idea it sounds. James and I tried a few tests on the ground, which didn't work, so I figured that if we had a little more time in the air to gain lift, it might work out. So I took it to the third floor of the building, wound up the propeller, and let her fly. And she dropped like a rock. Then came the competition, and that's exactly what happened. My roommate went on to be a political science major, and given how four years of aerospace treated me, he might have had the right idea.
So now, having graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering, I am returning to the challenge that bested me all those years ago. I will build a functional balsa wood propeller driven airplane! Or die trying. Well, probably less 'die' and more 'be ashamed'.
So, I went out and bought some balsa wood, tissue paper, glue, and an exacto knife. I sketched out a basic design, with two rear horizontal stabilizers and a fin, plus, a flat, angled wing strategically located at the center of mass of the the rest of the plane. And, of course, a propeller up front.
Construction went easily enough, despite my lack of a ruler. I just built a basic frame for the wing, and reinforced the joints to keep it sticking together, and took a length of balsa wood and glued together the fin and stabilizers.
Then came the affixing of the tissue paper, which was fun, it worked out pretty well. Smear glue, attach tissue paper. Done. Then I attached the wing! Which was a bad idea, as I didn't have the propeller, and couldn't actually put the wing at around the center of mass. So I guessed.
Then I went out and tried to buy a propeller, for which I actually had to buy a kit balsa wood plane, which I felt somehow defeated the point of building my own. So, I got home and attached the propeller!
So, now comes the flight test. Joy and excitement! So, that center of mass thing is actually pretty important, because any lift the wing got caused it to pull up until it lost lift, and then fall backwards to the ground. So I put some weight on the nose and put the wing at a higher angle to generate more lift. The result? Well, it's just about the same.
In a good headwind, it'll still fly somewhat, but not fantastically. So we're gonna call this a beta product for now. I probably should have done some math with this, just to get myself halfway right, but I cracked open my old aerodynamics textbook and promptly remembered why the midterm left me a sobbing mess behind the computer science building. Next week, something a little more domestic, I think.
So my roommate and I worked hard at designing our little plane (not really) and eventually started cutting our airfoils out of balsa wood. After hours of painstaking cutting and gluing, we discovered that this wasn't really working out (we were also covering the frame of our airfoil with saran wrap, which was not the greatest idea). So, we hit upon the idea of solid wood wings. Yeah, that's about as good an idea it sounds. James and I tried a few tests on the ground, which didn't work, so I figured that if we had a little more time in the air to gain lift, it might work out. So I took it to the third floor of the building, wound up the propeller, and let her fly. And she dropped like a rock. Then came the competition, and that's exactly what happened. My roommate went on to be a political science major, and given how four years of aerospace treated me, he might have had the right idea.
So now, having graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering, I am returning to the challenge that bested me all those years ago. I will build a functional balsa wood propeller driven airplane! Or die trying. Well, probably less 'die' and more 'be ashamed'.
So, I went out and bought some balsa wood, tissue paper, glue, and an exacto knife. I sketched out a basic design, with two rear horizontal stabilizers and a fin, plus, a flat, angled wing strategically located at the center of mass of the the rest of the plane. And, of course, a propeller up front.
Construction went easily enough, despite my lack of a ruler. I just built a basic frame for the wing, and reinforced the joints to keep it sticking together, and took a length of balsa wood and glued together the fin and stabilizers.
Then came the affixing of the tissue paper, which was fun, it worked out pretty well. Smear glue, attach tissue paper. Done. Then I attached the wing! Which was a bad idea, as I didn't have the propeller, and couldn't actually put the wing at around the center of mass. So I guessed.
Then I went out and tried to buy a propeller, for which I actually had to buy a kit balsa wood plane, which I felt somehow defeated the point of building my own. So, I got home and attached the propeller!
So, now comes the flight test. Joy and excitement! So, that center of mass thing is actually pretty important, because any lift the wing got caused it to pull up until it lost lift, and then fall backwards to the ground. So I put some weight on the nose and put the wing at a higher angle to generate more lift. The result? Well, it's just about the same.
In a good headwind, it'll still fly somewhat, but not fantastically. So we're gonna call this a beta product for now. I probably should have done some math with this, just to get myself halfway right, but I cracked open my old aerodynamics textbook and promptly remembered why the midterm left me a sobbing mess behind the computer science building. Next week, something a little more domestic, I think.
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