Combination Tire and Cable Drive Motor

Combination Tire and Cable Drive Motor

For Music Man, I had to make a drive motor capable of driving three fully loaded revolves for under $100. The 3/4 horse motor and VFD were pulled from an old AC unit the school no longer needed. The tire and belts came from the bus barn and all the unistrut and threaded rod came from past shows. I only had to buy a few cables and pulleys. I geared it down to about 30 RPM on the tire and was able later to drive a twenty foot, two ton revolve for Christmas Carol. The control pickle was able to start, stop, set clockwise or counter-clockwise, and had an Estop. Later, I wired it with limit switches that would flip to automatically stop it at the appropriate time.

Turntable Motor

For Christmas Carol we needed to make a new motor for the 20' turntable. This was what I made for it.

Turntable Motor

The cage is welded out of 1”x1” 12 gauge square tube and reinforced with 1/8” steel plate. The motor is a three phase three horse with a thirty to one gear reducer. On the front end, there is a chain tensioner capable of removing 8” of slack from the system. The control unit is a Creative Conners system. This easily ran a 20’ revolve with 20 actors for Christmas Carol.

PLC Automated Car Project

PLC Automated Car Project

For my final automation project this semester, we had to use a PLC (Programmable logic controller) to accomplish a complicated task. With six technical directors in the class, we had to have one go button that would start a chain of events through all six PLCs twice. Below is my part of the project.

This project is designed to move a toy car around a track after a red,
yellow, green LED progression and a go buzzer sounds. When the
PLC receives the signal from the PLC before it in line, it will start the LED
progression then start the car running around the track. Once the car has
made one revolution around the track it will signal the first loop of the track
to stop and the next PLC in line to start. When the signal from the next PLC
is received the PLC will change the active track to a jumping track, start the
LED progression again, and then send the car down the new track. When
the car makes one revolution around the new track it will signal the PLC to
stop the new loop and the next PLC in line to start.

Life Strikes Again!

Life Strikes Again!

Ok, so the summer is almost over! School is about to start, work it taking off like a mad hornet, and the kids keep getting harder to chase down. That being said now all the fun projects are about to come to life. So keep posted, you may see some of the things on this list.

1. Welding sculptures
2. More 3D printing
3. Drafting and functional design
4. Rail gun (I know it has been on my list for a while)
5. Odds and ends projects in the stage shops (Both of them)
6. Maybe in a few months we will start working on the addition to the house!

Lets have fun!

Selling the 3D printer

Selling the 3D printer

You read it right. I am selling the 3D printer. Two reasons. 1. I need the money. 2. I want to see how much it is worth in the real world. I have built it and I know I can do it. Someday, I will build a bigger one with a better print quality. My next projects will have more to do with school as I am going to be working on my MFA at UW Madison. But I do want to build a rail gun so keep your eyes out for that. You never know when I might have some crazy idea.

Google+

Ok, it has been 24 hours that I have been on Google+ I have got to say I love it. I cannot compare it directly to Facebook. it is different and better at the same time. It does almost everything Facebook does, but more and better. This is based more around integration of information and control of who sees what in a world where privacy is being thrown out the window, Google is trying to bring back a bit of it.
1. If you want to delete something it is actually deleted from the server. If you want to download files from the server in batch form you can. 2. If you have things you want some of your friends to see and not others it does that easily through circle of acquaintances. 3. It is fully integrated with all the other Google software. This is the part I love the most. I use Google docs and I have been using it more and more. I also use Google's photo storage Picasa, along with several other Google services. Even though there was one sign for all of them I always thought why don't they have them linked together? Now they do. You can store all your files on their servers and access them from any computer or smart phone that you can log into. Because it is integrated you can collaborate and share files and pictures. I have a friend I am working with on a job. Now in Google docs I can share the file with him we can both look at it and change it, and work on the same file. No need for emailing different copies back and forth it is all together in one location. Soon they will be integrating Google calendar so you can make events and share them with others onto their calendar. So you say what if I do not use Google calendar or email. They have done everything they can to make it work with other programs. If you want to use Outlook (I do not know why) they can sync with that. This is an amazing piece of work. Yes it has a few bugs, it is new, but there is so much this can do. I cantt wait to see the future and what others will do with this powerful tool.

Trebuchet! Yea those are fun.

Trebuchet! Yea those are fun.

I decided to make a trebuchet just for the fun of it. I wanted something that I could use in the back yard so I said it can be no taller then 2'. It took me about forty five minutes to put together, and it works great. It will launch a 6oz socket about 50 feet. I will have to work on accuracy and distances as I get to play with it. I would like to make a chart with distances with different settings and weights of projectiles. If you want to come over for a party some time I might just break it out for you.