WARNING: Geek quotient high, proceed with caution

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:37:03 GMT

This weekend I spent some time assembling a little project that I've been working on:

It's fun living in the future.

Weekend

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:34:23 GMT

Had a great weekend up until tonight when the computers started fighting me. Mostly it's the BIOS on this new server, but aggravated by stupid installers. Enough about that, here's the fun I had:

Saturday I got up early (for a Saturday) and got to Ride West in time to be there when the parts and apparel swap opened. I just missed a rear seat for the R50, but I'm next in line if the buyer decides that he doesn't want it after all. It was in really rough shape, but priced at only $5 I could put some effort into it. I did manage to score some really nice Lee Parks gloves at about half price. I also met a few vintage bike people and chatted a whole bunch. I met up with Morgan and we chatted for a while. Just as I was about to take off cooncat and G showed up so we chatted a bit.

I took off from that and after doing a few things at home I headed to the brew store to pick up an apple crusher and ratchet press and hauled them over to ibexris and mimsy's house. It was a lot of work, but oddly enjoyable. After several hours of work we managed to turn 630 pounds of organic apples into about 34 gallons of cider. I took home 5 of that, 1 for drinking and 4 to turn into hard cider.

Sunday I returned the crusher and press and picked up a few oddments for brewing. I then visited my brother to help out with my nephew's halloween costume. He's going to be a lightning bug this year, and I'm in charge of illumination. I've got 100 yellow LEDs, I just need to figure out how to wire things up. I'll be making some little lens-like devices with the laser cutter that will hopefully diffuse the light better. It's all going to be powered by a mintyboost.

After looking over the costume and testing a few things Andrew, Jack and I went to Costco. Jack was pretty good and even let me hold him long enough that my arms got tired. He's a cute kid.

Now I'm home, waiting for this install to finally finish so I can copy a bunch of data off a failing array. It's not the way that I wanted it set up in the first place, but it's close enough that I can fix things later.

update-o-rama

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:53:23 GMT

I've been extremely busy of late. Mostly helping my friend Matt open up his new retail space (http://metrixcreate.tumblr.com/ for a bit of info.) I'm pretty happy with the shelves I built. I designed them in Sketchup, cut all the bits and screwed it all together with only minor tweaks.

Tonight I installed a new exhaust system on the R50. I was going to keep using the one I had but I got fed up with how poorly it fit (it's for an R60) so I sprung for a new complete stainless system. It's an exact replica of the OEM system only in stainless so it will last nearly forever. I'm pretty happy with it. I no longer have dual exhaust leaks and that's a good thing. I finally got the rear brake shoe today and will install it as soon as I can. I've also got a seat mounting bushing to install which should firm up the ride a bit. After all that I need to get started on the sidecar.

The Rockster is still out of commission as I've not yet had time to replace the fuel filter. Thank you BMW for putting it inside the fuel tank. That's a great place for it I don't think.

On the fluffy flying friend front we have a new bird staying with us for a while. She (He? It?) is a baby black cap conure, about 7 or 8 weeks old at this point. She is smaller than Niko and incredibly cute. I've been taking her to work a lot, my coworkers seem to like her.

The Groovik's cube appears to have gone well. All of the photos look great. I hope we set it up locally one day, though that would take a lot of effort and a good chunk of cash.

How to freak out your friends and coworkers in 3 easy steps

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:54:11 GMT

1. Shave beard off
2. Put in contacts
3. Take a picture:

So busy...

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:17:00 GMT

I'm helping out with a bunch of projects. One friend is building a 15' rubik's cube, the other is starting a new business, I'm trying to build a makerbot and I've got a motorcycle that needs some love. I think that I need to take a week off just to sit at home and do what I feel like. Too bad I can't for at least a week.

It's Alive!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:24:32 GMT

Tonight gordonmessmer came over and we installed the exhaust system, put a bit of gas in the tank and did a few last minute checks. The engine started and ran on the second kick. This is even more amazing considering that we soon discovered that the left cylinder wasn't firing (pulling the plug wire did nothing to engine RPM.) Turns out that the left carb was completely dry. The float needle was jammed and there was no gas getting in at all. I cleared that and we kicked it again and it ran way better. Did another spark plug cap pull check and now it was the right side that didn't want to run on it's own. Pulled the plugs and the right side was running rich so after resetting the carbs and a bit of tinkering things were balanced up a bit better. Then the engine really wanted to run. It actually starts halfway through a kick now.

So I took it for a ride around the block. It's been so long since I've ridden it that I'd forgotten what it's like. It was a blast. Gordon had a goofy grin on his face when I accelerated past him on the street. I did a lap around the block with the transmission bolts finger tight to align things. Then Gordon tightened them down and I pulled it around into the driveway again.

I'm having a celebratory drink tonight. There's still some fine tuning to do, the timing isn't right and the carbs are still only coarsely tuned, but it runs and that's cause for celebration!

Final steps, and a closer look at the next project

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:39:16 GMT

I pulled the R50 out of the garage today to do some work on it and was startled by how good it looked in the daylight. The clean engine makes a huge difference:

Tonight I filled the bike with fluids, gapped and installed plugs, checked the valve clearance and checked things over. I think that the last thing is the exhaust (that doesn't fit, but that's another story), fill the tank and kick it over. We'll see how well that goes, maybe tomorrow.

On the sidecar front, I pulled it into the garage and had a closer look. I tried to pull some of the nuts and bolts apart but they are pretty well gone. I think that I'll try using electrolysis to remove/undo the rust and see if that helps. In the mean time, have a look at the awesome plate that is mounted on the nose of the sidecar:

Frickin laser beams

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:29:50 GMT

I spent most of Friday night playing around with a laser cutter. This is the best toy since the stick. Seriously.

Also, I am now the proud but slightly worried owner of this sidecar:

The price was very good, but it needs work. Fortunately all the parts that I'll need seem to be reasonably easy to come by. I think that I'll leave the boat looking ratty for now, it'll match the R50. The frame will need a lot of work though, and a new wheel.

Oh boy, I have another project. :P

One year later...

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:18:56 GMT

One year after I bought the R50 it was once again in the driveway getting worked on:

I spent the day doing things like installing the carbs and electrics. Surprisingly the battery survived the long sleep with a full charge. I unwired it from the bike (previous owner had hard-wired it in) and cleaned up the connections a bit. While doing so the battery's fuse laid down it's life for the cause.

Click below for more pictures from yesterday. I'm so very pleased with how clean and shiny the engine is now.

There's still plenty to do, but I hope to try starting it in the next week or so. The only piece I don't have is a good rear brake shoe, so while I'll be able to start it I may not be able to ride it for a little while.

A very long day...

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:43:16 GMT

...but at the end of it I once more own two motorcycles rather than one plus a pile of parts. It's even close not running yet but all the big pieces are together and I sat on it (and made vroom vroom noises) and rolled it out of the garage.

Pictures to follow.

Brash consumerism

Mon, 25 May 2009 03:31:49 GMT

Saturday I met up with gordonmessmer, Morgan, cooncat and Grant at Ride West's parts and apparel swap. I didn't actually need any parts or apparel and had intended to just show up to hang out and eat BBQ brisket. Of course I ended up buying a bunch of stuff. The Haul:

70's BMW manual by Clymer.

Busted up side case with a working locking mechanism to repair my case with a broken latch.

A pair of Craven Golden Arrow Panniers in remarkably good shape.

A Teknic 1 piece leather suit.

I wasn't sure about the Cravens until I talked to Kevin about them and he offered me a good deal on a rack that would attach them to the R50. They weren't my first choice mostly because I never thought that I'd be able to get a set so cheaply.

The suit was on the end of the rack where lots of people had been looking at it. It's labeled a '46 Euro' which I think confused people a bit. I'm a size 40, but it fits me great. It was a completely ridiculous deal. As far as I can tell it was something like 75% off retail price. I'm not sure what they cost originally since it's an old model and I can't find much info about it online. I have to say that I look pretty good in it.

Epic Score!

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:19:28 GMT

I'm completely wiped out today due to getting paged late last night for a problem that took a while to clear up. I had intended on sleeping in but had promised a coworker that I'd give him a ride to work so that didn't work out.

In the long run however, it worked out very well. Being completely out of it I couldn't really focus on work so I ended up looking on craigslist for BMW stuff. Right at the top was a listing for 'BMW Carbs' for $75 so I had a look. They were listed as being for a '55 R50 so I dropped the seller an email and figured I might hear back. A few minutes later my phone rings and I get his address and head for Burien. Upon pulling into the driveway the guy looks a little familiar. Turns out I met him once at a VME meeting. Why do I remember him? Because he used to own my bike. Yes indeed, the carbs he had for sale were the carbs that were installed on my bike at the factory. Epic Score.

They are in remarkably good shape considering they were pulled and tossed onto a shelf 30 years ago. The only part missing is a slide return spring and the only non-rebuild part that needs help is one of the threaded rings that hold the top on. One odd thing is the red/white dust that came out when I opened things up. I'm not sure where that came from. The inside of the float bowls appears to have corroded a bit but is probably workable. Of course the floats are shot, one has even been patched with JB Weld.

Included with the carbs were an extra set of lever-tops for the carbs. This is extra great because I was on the look out of a set to replace the banged up set on the current carbs.

He also had a pair of bar end turn signals for $50 so I picked those up even though I'm not sure I want to use them. One is new and unused, the other used and in need of a lens. Since they are $90 each new I figured I couldn't really lose.

These are one of my favorite parts of the /2. I just love how they blend into the design so cleanly.

Changing Gears...

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:47:58 GMT

Things didn't work out for me to get down to Olympia to crack open the transmission and deliver the vlave covers so I went ahead and shipped the covers and ordered the tools. They showed up on Wednesday and work a treat. gordonmessmer came over on Thursday and we pulled the transmission apart. All the gears look pretty darned good, including the kickstarter sector gear which frequently has bad wear on one end. I managed to knock out the seals but don't yet have the kickstart lever off. Once I get that done I'll take the casing to the local transmission shop for cleaning in their industrial wash.

Over the weekend I took a look at the rear brake shoes. I've got new brake compound for them so I drilled out the rivets and stripped off the old compound being careful to keep it went to prevent dust. Unfortunately what I found is really annoying. At some point in the past someone has replaced the brake compound but in doing so drilled out the holes that the rivets go through. Unfortunately this means that my rivets won't hold the new compound on. I've got a few options but I've not decided on which I want to use just yet. Ideally I'd get someone to weld up the holes so I could re-drill them to the right size.

More commentary on Radish

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:45:54 GMT

We've been listed on reddit

Interesting to see all the commentary.

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:13:38 GMT

The project I worked on last year got posted to MAKE: blog!

This totally made my weekend.

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:47:53 GMT

Friday was my birthday so I took the day off and had some fun. I decided to take a ride on my Rockster in my new Aerostich suit, visit some people and places and just generally do what I felt like. When I took off it was starting to rain a bit so I stopped in at Ride West to see if they had a rain fly for my tank bag (something I've put off buying.) They didn't have one in stock, but Omar had one that he'd snagged from the 'free' bin at the last parts swap and passed it along to me!

From there I headed down to Dauntless Motors which is out in the middle of farm country. I was given a full tour of the shop and got to see several sweet rigs. We discussed what I'm looking for and to my surprise that turns out to not be as pricey as I thought. Not cheap enough to do it now, but at least I have something to aim for.

After that I rode down to Brooks Motor Works where Kevin was pulling out the race bike to give it a spin. We didn't get it on the road but it did fire up after we poked and prodded it a bit. We then had a look at my cylinders.

I then rode north again stopping in at my parent's house for a while. My mom had made me cupcakes, so I ate 4 of them (what? they were small!) and then set them up with GMail and explained the use of the archive button. I had planned on going home via Vashon island and visiting a friend out there but unfortunately I ran short on time and had to jet home via I-5. I hadn't realized just how stiff my legs were until I stopped just off the freeway. Upon putting them down on the pavement (and circulation returning) I proceeded to yell inside my helmet. It was pretty therapeutic so I did it a few more times.

Julie and I then headed over to lisa and henry's for a party. It was awesome to see them again. After that we had a late night snack at Bilbao. I highly recommend the crispy potatoes.

It was a full day, but a good one.

Where vintage engineering and modern material's science meet my checkbook...

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:29:35 GMT

I brought heads for the R50 to Kevin Brooks who went over what he could do for them. He's been doing some really interesting stuff with the engine on his "Bonita Rapide" 1955 R50. Most of the really interesting work has been done on the heads. He's lightened the valve train by 40% by replacing the valves with custom stainless steel valves with longer, thinner stems. The keepers are now made of titanium, and the springs have been lightened to suit. The results of this are less stress on the valve train and more room for air and fuel to get into the cylinder. It also looks so nice that it's a shame to cover it up. In theory I'll not only going have a more robust engine but I'll also have a bit more power too.

Next weekend I'll be heading down again. I'll be dropping off the valve covers for cleaning and I'll also be cracking open the transmission with Kevin's help. That's the last major component to be opened up. It really needs new seals and the bearings should be inspected.

In other news, the final drive is apparently on it's way back to me now. Things are really starting to come back together! Here's what's left to do:

new seals and bearings for the transmission
blast and paint the cylinders
re-line the rear brake shoes
bolt everything back together
profit? hah!

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:42:31 GMT

gordonmessmer and I managed to remember to take pictures of the crank before we re-installed it. It's not much different, just a bit cleaner. It's most noticeable on the rods:

Yesterday I took the cylinders into a local shop, but they don't do the kind of blasting I need, nor the painting. Instead they referred me to a one of their sister companies that does. I'll have to find time to get out there during business hours. Maybe one morning next week.

Last night I packed up the final drive to ship out for a bearing replacement and re-shimming. I dropped it off at the post office after work today. Hopefully it won't be gone long.

I also mostly closed up the bottom end last night. I've still got to pound the oil pan back into shape but otherwise it's all back together. It looks like this again:

Next up for tearing apart is the transmission. I'm also going to have the heads cleaned up and reworked, but that's not something that I can do myself. I'm hoping to talk to an expert about it this weekend.

In which a stationary motorcycle appears to move forward.

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:17:29 GMT

I got to hang out with some very cool people this weekend. I met up with cooncat, Morgan and Grant at the Ride West bike swap. I very nearly bought a totally sweet 1979 R65, black with white pinstripes. Fortunately for my bank account I deferred. It was a pretty sweet bike though. After the swap we went up to Capitol Hill for happy hour and just hung out and chatted. I definitely need to spend more time with those folks.

Part of our discussion was of course about the R50 and cooncat requested an update, so here it is!

I got the crankshaft back from Brent's Motor Works last week. It looks great and was essentially completely rebuilt. gordonmessmer came over and we spent an evening getting the crankcase back together. We were not as well organized this time and had to take the front bearing carrier off an extra time because we forgot the oil pump. We also forgot the oil splash ring so the crank had to come out again. In the end we got it all back together and everything seated properly. I'm glad that I sent the crank out because it's slightly shorter now which keeps the rear slinger from rubbing on the inside of the crankcase.

Then last night I heated up the flywheel (all 12 pounds of steel) and fit it on the end of the crank. The runout is just slightly over the limit at about 0.0045". I'm ready to call that good enough unless there's a fix that doesn't cost too much.

Tonight I sat down with the pistons, cylinders and my set of micrometers. The cylinders are dead on round with no taper. The pistons are as close to the exact same size as makes no difference. The wrist pins are pretty much perfect. The only thing that's possibly out of spec is the piston skirt to cylinder clearance. At the moment it's 0.006". The book says 0.0046" is the max, but I've got it on good authority that the book is being stupid. The pistons are aluminum and the cylinders are steel. It doesn't take too much heating up before you've used up that 0.0046 and are looking at a seized piston. I've got an email out to an expert asking his opinion. If he says they are too loose then I'll find someone to knurl the piston.

Tomorrow I may take the cylinders into a local shop to see about getting them cleaned up. They really need a good blasting and a lick of paint.

Pictures are still on the camera, I'll try to post them soon.

Thoughts on vehicles and effeciency

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:09:26 GMT

I've been watching a good bit of Top Gear lately. It's an amusing show and I do like cars and whatnot but something has started to nag at me. All of the cars they showcase from 50 mpg economy cars to super-cars that get as little as 2 miles per gallon are all insanely wasteful of the energy we put into them. Even the Prius only manages to make slightly better use of the wasted energy. We are driving around thinking that we are doing great at 50mpg when all we are really doing ultimately is converting fossil fuels into waste heat. We even have specialized systems on the vehicles to cool the engine and the brakes where we 'generate' it all.

I'm tired of it.

I want a car that is efficient. I'm not talking about 50 mpg. I'm not talking about 100 mpg. I'm talking about a car that uses only as much energy as is required to change my altitude from origin point to destination plus a bit to deal with friction.

Robert Heinlein made an astute observation about technology in his novel The Rolling Stones:

Every technology goes through three stages: first a crudely simple and quite unsatisfactory gadget; second, an enormously complicated group of gadgets designed to overcome the short comings of the original and achieving thereby somewhat satisfactory performance through extremely complex compromise; third, a final proper design therefrom.

This three stage theory applies itself well to a large number of technological fields. Unfortunately for many we're still stuck at stage two. Look at space flight. The shuttle is an amazingly complex piece of equipment. I think that for computers and communication we are actually making our way into stage three. Sure, a computer is a frighteningly complex machine, but we are constantly simplifying the user interface.

The one place that we're solidly stuck at phase two is cars. In fact, we just keep pushing the level of complexity further and further. Heinlein described the internal combustion engine thusly:

These unbelievable museum pieces were for their time fast, sleek and powerful--but inside their skins were assembled a preposterous collection of mechanical buffoonery. The prime mover for such a
juggernaut might have rested in one's lap; the rest of the mad assembly consisted of afterthoughts intended to correct the uncorrectable, to repair the original basic mistake in design--for automobiles and even the early aeroplanes were "powered" (if one may call it that) by "reciprocating engines."

A reciprocating engine was a collection of miniature heat engines using (in a basically inefficient cycle) a small percentage of an exothermic chemical reaction, a reaction which was started and stopped every split second. Much of the heat was intentionally thrown away into a "water jacket" or "cooling system," then wasted into the atmosphere through a heat exchanger.

What little was left caused blocks of metal to thump foolishly back-and-forth (hence the name "reciprocating") and thence through a linkage to cause a shaft and flywheel to spin around. The flywheel (believe it if you can) had no gyroscopic function; it was used to store kinetic energy in a futile attempt to cover up the sins of
reciprocation. The shaft at long last caused the wheels to turn and thereby propelled this pile of junk over the countryside.

This was published in 1952. In the intervening 57 years we have just continued to refine this design further. A modern car still has lumps of metal thumping back and forth and dumps all that energy as wasted heat. Heinlein continues:

The prime mover was used only to and to overcome "friction"--a concept
then in much wider engineering use. To decelerate, stop, or turn the
heroic human operator used his own muscle power, multiplied
precariously through a series of levers.

Despite the name "automobile" these vehicles had no autocontrol
circuits; control, such as it was, was exercised second by second for
hours on end by a human being peering out through a small pane of
dirty silica glass, and judging unassisted and often disastrously his
own motion and those of other objects. In almost all cases the
operator had no notion of the kinetic energy stored in his missile and
could not have written the basic equation. Newton's Laws of Motion
were to him mysteries as profound as the meaning of the universe.

Nevertheless millions of these mechanical jokes swarmed over our home
planet, dodging each other by inches or failing to dodge. None of them
ever worked right; by their nature they could not work right; and they
were constantly getting out of order. Their operators were usually
mightily pleased when they worked at all. When they did not, which was
every few hundred miles they hired a member of a social class of
arcane specialists to make inadequate and always expensive temporary
repairs.

Despite their mad shortcoming, these "automobiles" were the most
characteristic form of wealth and the most cherished possessions of
their time. Three whole generations were slaves to them."

Sadly all true. We've even surpassed three generations.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm totally a gear-head. I've got a bunch of tools and even spent a good chunk of today adjusting some bits of metal that thump back and forth. I love the engineering that went into creating such a device. To me they are truly are fantastic machines. However...

They lack elegance.

A truly elegant solution to a given problem is usually the simplest. It's pretty clear that today's cars are not simple. You can't even work on them yourself anymore without computer interfaces and huge toolboxes filled with all sorts of precision machines (trust me, I've bought most of them!) What we need are simple vehicles. There's just one thing holding us back: electrical storage. Electric cars really are the best. They are simple, efficient and quiet. We have had a perfect motor since 1882 so that's taken care of. In the last few decades advances in transistor fabrication have brought us both cheap micro-controllers and inexpensive heavy duty power transistors. What we lack is good power storage. Batteries have only marginally improved in the last few decades. Lithium ion batteries (0.54 MJ/Kg) are the latest and greatest and yet still have a far lower energy density than gasoline (~55 MJ/Kg). The current crop of ultra-capacitors is even worse at about 0.02 MJ/Kg. EEstor has patented a capacitor that beats LiOn at 1.0 MJ/Kg. That should be dense enough to get us going with electric cars... if it works.

Once we sort out the storage we'll be on our way. Cars will recover 90%+ of the energy used in braking. They will be efficient. They'll even be fun to drive. I can't wait til the guys on Top Gear get a real electric car to play with. I don't think that the Tesla Roadster is quite there yet, but once we get the power storage problem solved those three yahoos will be humming a different tune, though I'm sure they'll complain that the cars don't make the noises that they love.

I just wish I could build that car. Maybe one day I will at least get to work on one.

R50 update

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:27:26 GMT

I finally packed up the crank and shipped it out to Brent for inspection and truing.

The final drive is also still in pieces while I figure out how to get the pinion needle bearing removed. It's pretty happy where it is but needs replacing. I want to get the final drive back together so I can start on the transmission.

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:22:59 GMT

Haven't done a whole lot this weekend. At the moment the primary internet connection to home is down and I just finished fixing the secondary that I broke the other day. Turns out that I have 4 connections available to me from home, each of varying reliability and speed. I just wish I could make them automatically failover or something.

Today I did manage to get down to the garage to do the valve adjustment and throttle body sync on the Rockster. It's amazing how much that can effect how the bike runs. The valves were pretty close, only had to adjust the exhaust on both sides. The throttle bodies were way out (1/2 turn or more) and was probably the reason the milage had dropped of late.

In amusing bird related news, while tinkering with the internet connection I heard Niko call out from downstairs... only he sounded a good bit too clear to be that far away. Careful exploration found him at the top of the curtains at the bottom of the stairs. A good 8 feet from the ground. He's sitting on the top of the laptop now, he earned it!

Weight loss update

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:18:58 GMT

I've officially lost 50 pounds. I put my weight into the tracker this week and was greeted by a happy blue star with a '50' on it. I'm a little above the middle of my healthy weight range and nearly to my target. I need to start getting more exercise and building some muscle mass. I'd like to start bicycling to work again now that it's getting nice again.

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:33:27 GMT

I just got a call from the AMA today. The bills I talked about in my last post are as good as dead. The committee reviewing them saw that they didn't save any money and threw them out. I was quite impressed with the AMA's quick and personal response to my inquiry. I definitely recommend that all motorcyclists join up.

WA Legislative alert

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:36:45 GMT

In order to help balance the state budget a number of proposals are being floated that call for the reduction or elimination of advisory boards. This includes the board that monitors the WA State Motorcycle Safety Program. The bills in question are:

HB 2087: Eliminates the board in its entirety (see section 34)

HB 1497: Kills the entire motorcycle safety training program (see section 901 (12))

SB 5588: Suspends the entire program until July 1, 2011 (see section 109)

This would not only be a huge blow for motorcycle safety training in this state but it is also highly pointless. The program in question is entirely funded by the fees paid by motorcyclists when they renew their motorcycle endorsements. Eliminating the program or the board wouldn't save a dime.

So please write to your legislator and let them know how you feel about this. You can find out who your legislators are at this page: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx