Maiden Voyage

The STEAMBUG went on its maiden voyage to Transformus, and ahh what an adventure. Most things went well, a few did not work as planned, and there many little things to improve upon. One of the gears pulleys refused to grip the motor drive pin, and slipped, so the wings only intermittently flapped. Add to this that the inverter was too weak, and the battery might not have been able to power a more powerful inverter, and you have flapping wings only happening off of the mains or a generator. And we did not manage to pull the trailer behind the Beetle... but what that give us is a sturdy dance platform that can drive around and wings that can clip on for stage effects or be left off. It also gave us a stage for both Shibari rope suspension (which went fantastically well) and contact fire to set the laddies (and boys) chests, breasts and titties on fire. Ah - what fun. Not to mention all the dancers we had, both in motion and standing still.

STEAMBUG now has a facebook profile, check out all the tagged pictures (you can get there from the "badge" on the left). Also, and seprately, don't forget to become a fan on Paden's amazing fan site ( http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Burning-Town-USA/Steambug/93812799196?ref=search ) - that is the unofficial fan site, but somehow it makes me so happy that it came into being without any help from me!

To Do (from easiest to hardest - maybe):

• Drill holes around edge of the platform for the rope lighting - I had thought of doing this before finding the rope lighting clips, but this would work much better and be stronger
• Get a deep cycle batter - that can fit in the cars "other" battery compartment (under the rear seat), to power the lighting and hopefully run a powerful inverter off of that could power the wings as well. This being a separate power system would also mean we could kill it and still be able to start the car
  
• Make the attachments of wings to flapping rod stronger and better - current one broke once and looked risky much of the time
  
• Get a telescoping ladder - although the ladder we had was perfect, it had to be carried, especially if someone was dancing ( http://www.target.com/Xtend-Climb-Telescoping-Ladder-Type/dp/B000JIJLT4/sr=1-18/qid=1248384946/ref=sr_1_18/178-4663411-7594729?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Aladder&page=1 )
• Change the axle of the gears to metal with a ball bearing that is glued into the wood of the gears - this should get rid of a lot of the shimmy in the gears and make everything run smoother and more reliable
  
• Change the motor and belt system to something with a worm drive - although more powerful trampoline springs made the wings close to balanced, the little motors on there were still shaky when they did work. I think a more powerful motor with a worm drive that was definitely powerful enough to drive the wings would made everything run more confidently
• Put in Spot lights - cut holes in the deck, and put in Plexiglas's inserts. Below them but in LED spotlights to light up the dancer(s).
  
• Cut a hole in the roof of the car and put in a sun/moon roof. Then cut a hole in the deck and put in more Plexiglas just above it so the driver and passenger can get a show too. They might actually get the best show of all...
• Trailer - either drive around with the current trailer enough to feel confident that it can pull it in rough terrain, or get a smaller trailer for the DJ system to be on
• Install a better sound system in the car, make it all switchable to the deep cycle battery as well so it would not drain the starting battery.

Tips for next event:

• It takes at least two people to operate this little puppy, especially if going under trees. Plan on multiple teams, so one team can be not sober but the other team can take STEAMBUG can be out and about
• If we used a 6 foot pole, there would be almost no problems around Deer Fields. An eight foot pole pushed some of the branches back (and knocked the low and dead ones off), but it would just be a whole lot less to think about with a 6 foot one
  

Completion

Exhausted, but it is done. Bumpers - check. Trailer hitch - check. Wings; sewn; constructed; geared; operating - check. Lighting around base of deck (so dancers can see the edge) - check.. T-bar at top of strippers pole for Shibari suspension - check. Trailer reconstructed and coming in at twice allocated budget - check. Trailer awning for rain - check. DJ stand - check. Reuben's Tube to be mounted to DJ stand constructed; tested; installed in nice mounting brackets - check. Uninterrupted Power Supply (to keep the beats pumping while generator is refueled) - check. Approval from the natural Powers That Be in the form of a visitation from a Praying Mantis - check. Actually, it was really outgoing, I put my hand down nice and close to her to for a close up of her checking out a gear, but while I futzed with my camera looking for the macro setting I discovered that before I could find it, she was climbing my camera, heading for my hand. "Are you looking at your camera, or me?" Basically, the STEAMBUG is done... now just to pack my clothes and food. But in the worst case scenario if I arrive at Transformus with my STEAMBUG but no food or clothes, I may be naked, but I don't think I will go hungry...


-PyrocCelt

PS check out the new video in the side bar, it is wingy gearific

Can you say "Purpleheart Wood Bumpers?"

While I was out in Seattle visiting the family, I made a pair of purpleheart wood bumpers with my pa in our friend, Steve Habersetzer's, shop. Steve could probably be called a master craftsmen (though he certainly would not use the title), and along with being one of the old guard of Luddite back-to-the-earth hippies who settled Eastern Washington State in the seventies (where I was born in a tepee) he also makes amazing cabinets and gorgeously usable Gypsy Wagons (which sell for forty to sixty grand). While staying with pops, I got to sleep in Steve's original Caravan, the one Steve lived in for decades. It was tantalizingly delicious, every timber and corner carefully constructed... and it was beautifully parked in Steve's lush organic garden, where he makes enough off the food he grows to feed himself year round. It was a retreat in and of itself, but on to the bumpers.

It all started when my dad asked if I could believe the price woodworkers get on purpleheart wood, and did I have any use for any? I thought about it, and have never really like the crappy tinny bumpers on my VW Beetle, kinda makes me think of the addage "bumpers take about as many bumps as glove boxes have gloves in them." So, thinking back to my parents '71 Volkswagen van that we lived in while traveling the country for the first few years of my life, and the wooden 4 & 4 oak rear bumper on there we used to keep the propane tank on, well, I thought wooden purpleheart wood bumpers would be nice, and awfully Steampunky to boot!

Luckily for me, I flew Southwest, who reduced their baggage from three seventy-five pound bags to two fifty pound bags. So going out there I hoped I would have enough weight allowance to check the buggers on the way back. Getting out there, we went to Eden Saw (who has these amazing wood cards) and found some wood we liked, an eleven foot two by six. Back at Steve's shop, well, it is not everyday you get to cut into eleven feet of purpleheart wood, ah what an experience.

But I get ahead of myself. When I first arrived, Steve was rather busy with a delivery he needed to make the next day, and suggested he could help me out on my project if I could help him deliver his cabinets in the '54 truck he completely restored himself. So I agreed, and got the adventure of riding around is his old truck. It turned out to be well worth the trade, as he had excellent ideas regarding how to make the bumpers wrap around my Beetle like the originals. When I asked him if he thought they would be strong enough as bumpers, he said my Beetle would break before the purpleheart wood bumpers would break.

It was really good to get into a wood shop again, before taking up IT (and gaining a few pounds) I used to be a finished carpenter with my pa. I still knew how to use all the tools, and even still felt right at home in my pa's tool bag, being able to tell a story about most of the tools in it.

After two days, we got all of the pieces cut - Steve doing the trickiest and most dangerous cuts - and fitted with holes drilled for the bolts. The nice thing about our construction was that it was all collapsible, so I really could check it coming back, and both bumper even weighed in just under 50 pounds.

Over the forth of July weekend we got the bumpers sanded, the holes notched for the carriage bolts, the top corner routed, and they look, well, fantastic! Now I just have to glue them (this is mainly to keep unwanted debris or water that can freeze, out), and finish them. Purpleheart wood is, like the name implies, purple, but it fades with time. There is some discussion about if this is oxidation or UV rays, but in either case a good finish, well although it won't stop the gradual fade to gray / brown, it will prolong it. I went to our local Woodcraft to pick of some Arm-o-Seal, something recommended online for purpleheart wood, but it does not mention UV rays. When I walked in, the nice wood worker there asked if he could help me, and I asked what he would put on purple heart wood that was going outsidee to keep it purple. He said "Armor All," and I said "Arm-o-Seal?" and he said no, "Armor All." I asked where to get that and he said auto stores, and I said, "like Armor All? The stuff you put on... your cars interior.... to... protect... it... from the sun. Gatcha!"

It has been a lovely walk down memory lane, and the bumpers really must be seen to be believed...
Keeping it lit,
PyroCelt

PS, I am looking for an old, preferable antique-though-in-great-usable-condition, croze tool which is used for coopering. This is how they cut the groove inside a barrel that the bottom rests in. When I mentioned to my dad that I see a lot of old not too expensive tools in antique shops, he said "oh, that is in the South, they would have lots of great tools there, you should get them." Then I asked Steve if there was anything unusual he was looking for, and we said a croze tool.

$500 down, $500 to go...

Dear Philosopherz, Mysterians, Burners, Steampunkers, and People-Intrigued-by-the-Art-Car-Project-STEAMBUG At Large,

Money. Moola. Dinero. Not a fun subject, though sometimes a required one. I have applied for two Art Grants for the STEAMBUG with great success, $599 from Transformus (being used for the bug platform and pole itself) and $111 from Alchemy (being used for the trailer). However, another kind of funding is needed: one that I would not so much call art, but is none the less required for its operation - and that is mechanical. I took my '69 Beetle, which felt like it was running well, into the shop to get it looked over as it had been parked for awhile, and they did $500 dollars worth of repairs on it. All of the repairs were things that needed doing, like tuning it up and replacing what they called the original "firebomb" gas pump, along with all of the aging gas line, and a lot of other things. But alas, this is not everything that needs fixing.

Dollars, I hate talking about them. This is one of the reasons I did not put a budget on this blog (though now I think I possibly should have, it is available online in the Alchemy Art Section if you are interested). This is also one of the reasons I really love burns, there is no cash, no commerce, not even thinking about it, worrying about it, fretting about it, or spending it. But there is also a hard reality, which is that one does need a fair amount of resources to create and bring all the cool things we love to have and play with at these festivals. That is partially where the Art Grants come in, to help offset this paradox. But being grants for art, I really feel they should go into the art part of the project, and not for un-arty things, like mechanics. I was hoping to cover this myself, well, it has turned out to be a little more than expected. And working 50 hours a week (including commute), creating a complicated art project that has a clear deadline, and organizing all of the Theme Camps at Transformus, I have less time to actually get my hands greasy and work on the car my self. So, this is where you, oh wonderful admirer, might come in.

The good news is that everything that ABSOLUTELY needs to be done for the STEAMBUG to come to Transformus is working! The bad news is that the things that probably should be done are going to cost another $500. They are really only two things (that we know about currently) remaining.

1. A new German muffler, they are the best and quietest ($218 including labor) - the current one is shot. Not only is it loud as all hell, but a good muffler pushes a little back on the engine, which VW cars expect, and the rusted parts could clog the tail pipe and completely stop the car in its tracks. But the main issue is running quiet while at a Burn which I think we all can agree would be best...
   
2. Replacing the ball joints in the front steering ($300, including labor) - the mechanic said that this needed replacing soon, but was not urgent. Then he showed me how the rubber balls that usually pad them are totally shot, and how there was some looseness you really did not want there. Worst case scenario, the wheel will fold under the the car - just like those flying cars in Back to The Future - only it would really suck for it to happen on the highway. Considering we will be abusing this car's suspension, with the the addition of a hefty roof rack, stirppers pole, and dancing people up on top of it, I think this is also necessary before a major Burn
   

So, as a Ren Fair magician once said "and now for my final act I will make the entire audience disappear with one simple word!... ...Donations?" I have set up a paypal account at STEAMBUG at PhilosopherzStone dot com. It would be great if you could chip in. Don't feel that any donation is too small, everything will help, and if a bunch of y'all chip in just a little, we can still cover it. And yes, paypal even accepts VISA.

Humbly Yours,
PyroCelt
www.STEAMBUG.com

PS, I took it for a spin to a party, the girls seemed to like it - I thought you might like the pictures as well *wink* wink * nudge * nudge *

There be gears...

3am... rather tired - great time to be working with power tools - but it is done. The gears work. They push the the cogs which push the wings. I am so tired, both from the time and from it being a particularly long day, but it all works, and that makes my tired brain happy. We even hooked up a motor, and although it is not quite powerful enough on its own, we have a second of the exact same geared make, and without too much trouble we can hook it up to run in tandem. Posting a few pictures, and a video (also in the side YouTube player) of one side running, and then off to sleep for me.

I ran through two helpers today. After a few days of working on my own, first JP camp over and helped out for a few hours, and then Zac came over, and after both of them working with me together for a very short amount of time, JP left and I worked Zac till a few minutes ago.

Did I mention that we stained the top and grooved it? It is both for traction and to make it look kinda like a pirate ship... I mean airship. Yes, well, it is to look all the better for all that fancy gear work is happening under it.

Sweet dreams,
PyroCelt

It is like reinventing the wheel, I mean gear...

So, under the roof rack there will be two large gears with pegs sticking down that push a cog in and out (one on each side) which in turn pushes a peg on the bottom of the bar that has a wing on the front and back of it, making the four wings flap in unison. If this was too complicated, all you had to hear was "gears" and "wings," oh my! It will be cool, assuming it works. After messing with making plywood 13 inch diameter gears myself, with a compass (pictures), that did not work very wellI went to the greatest modern oracle of our time, Google, and discovered... *drum roll please* a gear template generator! Designed for wood no less! With lots of other fun projects and tidbits of info on it... much fun indeed, but now I must run to make the gears and hope they work.
Keeping it lit,
PyroCelt

PS, In case I should ever need it again (like to make a new template, should anything happen to a gear tooth):

• Tooth Spacing: 50mm
• Contact Angle (deg): 25mm
• Shaft hole diam: 19mm
• Gear 1 teeth: 19
• Printed page width: 215.9mm