Slight change in direction and while three axis sounds like fun…

After messing about with some cad drawings I think that maybe five is the magic number!

This mini mill will start of with the stock three, then I will add the 4th as a driven rotary table mounted on the milling bed either vertically or flat on its back. Once I have this set up and dialed in I will need to add an other motor drive to the controller and a second rotational axis where the spindle mounts.

drummer v0.1 being etched!

Designed by Richard from www.richdecibels.com

After a few attempts I finally dropped a decent etching mask down and even think I managed to drill out all of the holes.

Posting it down to Richard tomorrow and cant wait to see it populated with parts!

Dreamed, designed, prototyped, built and tested…..

This is the final prototype of a wireless timing system. It works using a set of tweeked walkie talkies so your start line can be as far as 1-1.5 km from the finish!

Duel lane: The smaller box has a big red button for starting the race and sounding a LOUD buzzer and the timer box is at the finish with both track switches plugged in to it.
Single Lane: I like to run the timer box at the start line with one track switch plugged in and the big red button box at the finish with the other track switch plugged in. This method means that one rider can reset their time, lay down a run, HEAR they have crossed the finish as the buzzer sounds and but have to return to the start to get their time.

This is a pcb that did not make it past quality control before being set to the etching tanks, printing fine traces is tricky and making sure every trace is good before removing all that copper is even harder!

Here is what it looks like with less copper and more components! There is definatly going to be a small error in all displayed times due to transmission time but both lanes are always within 0.05 of a second to each other so lane to lane it is very fair.

Any questions or comments?

I have lost count of the number of wires this 4 axis cnc controller has but as you can see they are starting to look like less of a birds nest!

Above is soon to be replaced 24vdc supply, relays, drive power supply, spindle controller and a motherboard for the 4 stepper drives.

On the Left is a 2.2kw VFD to power my spindle, a bank of fuses, soft start timer to short out the current limiting resistor and  a bleed resistor. The transformer is huge 1000va beast to feed the steppers with the juice they will need.

Many hours were spent making custom shielded cables and then working out how to ground the many different systems together without forming any ground loops.

Each drive has its own heatsink and fan that….

Pulls the cooler air from the rear of the large cabinet. As I plan to cut a lot of carbon I hope to have this system in a sealed enclosure, hopefully the fans create enough air flow to use the large surface area of the steel enclosure to dump the heat.

So some big buttons, a few lights and a joy stick complete the package!

Constitution Hill is amazingly fun. Steep and corners mix together to make a drifting paradise.

Clive, Tom, Sam and myself taking an afternoon to enjoy one of the many different lines this hill offers.

Been a busy few weeks that started by using my face as a brake at the local style jam  Slope of Style….

After a few days of healing Olly, Joe and myself headed out for our first hoon on a real set of slalom cones. Had a blast but was left wondering how fast we were going.

I decided that it was about time Uglie Carnie built a race timer! I wanted something that was :

1) Wireless with a 1-2km range

2) Simple to use

3) Rechageable

4) Robust

5) Can start either a DH race with a buzzer OR a slalom run when a rider rolls over the start tape switch.

Finished prototype start gate:

The system works very well and gives all riders, relative to each other very accurate times. The track switch plugs in using heavy duty cable and large solid 6.5mm PA style connectors. The tape is very sensitive and has circuity to account for the front and rear wheels rolling over the switch. The 90db start buzzer can be turned off if you are using the tape switch to start the clock or left on to give an audible confirmation of the clock starting. The system should plug into most walkie-talkies and will transmit the required start commands so long as there is reception. The charger plugs into the rear of the unit and should last a few days of use between charges.

The original plan was to drop two very fine carbon pin-lines from nose to tail over the joins in the V-lam……

after seeing the character in the timber, old rotten mounting holes and a few decades of abuse I decided that all that was needed was a fresh hot coat.

First you will need to gather the required Ingredients….

… Annoying the neighbours!

This soundsystem has the same ported enclosure but to improve the output I have added an electronic cross over and Bi-amped the system to give a total of 40W of skateboard mounted noise! The system is powered from either a 12v internal battery (small and light with about 2 hours play time at full volume) or an external battery pack for longer skate session.

Here is a shot mid wiring that shows the two amps and the rear of the drivers. I have used spray foam to fill the backs of the top end pizeo horns to stop the heavy bass rattling the plastic. The enclosure is made from 15mm solid cedar, glued, screwed and filleted with epoxy to withstand the abuse it will see while skating. I have tuned the enclosure to have a little bit of a bass boost around 80-100 Hz to give this more punch when in an out door environment.

Currently I have a very basic preamp that has a line in, high and low gain, the ablitly to change the roll off of both the high and low outputs, a battry meter and very high quality volume pot. Over the next few weeks I want to add a few different line in jacks, audio source selector, Mic in, Headphone out, bass and treble control, mono/ stereo switch, about 6 light to show power to the amps and xover and to the fault warning from the amps and two very sexy blue vu panel meters!

While he may be a little on the short side, deep rippling Carnie concave and 15mm plush mount drops makes this little guy perfect for aggressive freeriding.

Wheel base : 700mm

Length : 900mm

Width at the shoulders : 250mm

Under his tight red and black cotton suit hides a balsa core and mixture of glass and carbon skin and six separate internal torsion boxes.

A few sleek Kevlar and carbon pinlines assures this body building midget will out shine any competition.

While he may be short and hard his thick skins give succulent responsiveness to whomever is atop his deep W concave.