All posts by Darcy

Making Boxes!

November 11, 2012ExperimentalDarcy

Here is a portrait of the Box-O-Matic. This machine makes many of the boxes that Squirrels are shipped in.

This project has brought me a great deal of satisfaction. I get to re-use material and make something that adds a lot of value. Also I can get creative on how to make the box. Sounds boring but be assured boxes are interesting. 🙂

It’s a little noisy but it does a good job. The cuts are a little fuzzy but that’s good because you can’t cut yourself on the edges.

Also pictured is some new tape which will be used for a while. It’s brown rather than clear. I have about 30lb of it. Will report back how it goes.

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Success, Failure and Starting Over

November 11, 2012Experimental, GalleryDarcy

Here are some pictures of the CNC 3D Wire Bender project which failed. Originally it was to make wheels for the Squirrel project. This thing is very tricky to make and the prefab systems are very expensive.

I’m starting again. It will make wheels for the Dayton project. I actually disposed of this prototype. The new machine will be different. I’m excited to start again with more experience.

Also is a picture of a failed laser run (the Squirrels are now made by laser). The laser project has been very successful but believe me it’s had it’s issues. Here’s a lovely picture of the laser doing something wrong while making prototypes. The power and air assist were set wrong and everything sorta failed.

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Dayton Feedback

November 10, 2012ExperimentalDaytonDarcy

One of the pre-release Daytons went to Frank Schwartz of Tennessee. I used an experimental mailing method to Frank and it didn’t survive the postage handling. They mail guy decided to fold the box in half. How brilliant. But he fixed it and made is own version. He said that the original motor stick was weak. That’s actually already corrected in the current version of Dayton.

He said it’s flying very well but he still likes the Squirrel more. We’ll see after he receives the next revision.

By the way, I’ve developed a mailing list of 20 people who will receive the next revision. If this week isn’t too busy it may come forward then.

Here are Franks suggested changes:

Motor Stick:

He used 1/4 x 1/8″ and laminated a piece of 1/8 X 1/8 on top of it full length which made it 1/8 X 3/8. He had to sand the front to fit the propeller nose piece.

Wing Mount:

1/8 X 3/8″ tack glued in place (after balancing).

Rear Hook:

Sharpened bamboo pushed into balsa at an angle. No glue. He said this was very strong.

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Ode to Free Flight

October 23, 2012OutreachPoemDarcy

by Bob Hatschek, June 12, 1925 – October 13, 2012

What’s Free Flight? A thrill, a challenge, a puzzle.

It’s other guys like you, the world around, striving for the same graceful beauty of flight.

It’s comradeship across all human barriers. It’s bull sessions through the wee hours.

It’s fierce competition with the highest of sportsmanship.

It’s a battle against nature, her perversity, her law of gravity.

“Free as a bird,” describes God’s most unchained creation. Man’s is a model airplane soaring birdlike in a thermal. You created it. Vicariously you soar with it, with its freedom.

Free Flight is the mist of the dawning’s calm as you test. It’s the noonday sun as your model thrusts for the heavens. It’s the cool drink after a dusty chase.

It’s the piercing scream of a peaking engine, the silence of the glide.

It’s sunburn and poison ivy and weariness to the marrow, made worthwhile.

It’s skill in your fingers. It’s knowledge learned for the knowledge alone.

It’s perfection sought , never attainable. A goal everlasting.

Free Flight is all of these, yet much more! I tell you this, and you may believe. But, you cannot know, unless you know.