Archive for March, 2010
What’s In A Gauge
I’m a sucker for vehicular gauges. I have been for a long time. I’ve collected junkyard gauges- I’ve got ideas for gauges I’d like to make for vehicles I’d like to make (you know how it is). Last weekend’s visit to the MVTF was good fodder for some good gauge photos.
LeMons Sears Pointless 2010
My racing team ran in the Sears Pointless LeMons race last weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma- I chose not to drive but stuck around the whole weekend to support my team and work on the car. It was definitely our best LeMons race yet- we had virtually no problems with the car, only a […]
Back in the USSR
At the Hudson Club meet at the Portola Valley Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF) we were given a tour of the massive (literally) collection of tanks, engines, guns, shells, jeeps and various tracked and 4, 8, 12,… wheeled killing machines. While that’s not really my cup of tea, I wandered around and found a few […]
In: Art and Design, Life and Times, Photo Journo
Guerrilla Solar
Back in the old days of Home Power magazine, before the Sunny Boy and Fronius, when the SW was the staple, and made by Trace, when wiring diagrams weren’t usually just a massive series string of modules…. Well, there was a little inverter called the Micro Sine, made by Trace. A 100w 12v or 24v […]
In: Life and Times, Renewable Energy System
Mini-Solar V.3 – Maybe I Got It Right This Time
I’ve been working on a small battery-based photovoltaic solar-power system for the last, well, 5? 7? years- it’s been a long while. Since I first bought the modules, charge controller and small inverter I’ve been reconfiguring the parts every couple years with hope that it’ll finally “work” and be “done”… but it never has been. […]
Step Down Into a Hudson
My friend Alan is the owner of a lovely 1950 Hudson Commodore 6 Sedan, and is a member of the Northern California Hudson Club. Last weekend the club planned a meetup in Portola Valley on the Peninsula, to visit and tour the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation’s museum there. Alan invited me along- we drove in […]
End The Adapter Blues
When you get bad adapters, make bad adapteraide- Wait, that doesn’t work… Never make what you can buy- Hmm, that doesn’t work either… After getting burned by the thesuperkids adapter I decided to bite the bullet and make a better one in the machine shop with tight fitting bores, a D-shaped bore for good torque […]
Don’t Buy The thesuperkids Shaft Adapter
I’m working on putting together an electric bike using a surplus Kollmorgen “Hi-Kol” BLDC motor- more on that later. I’ve gone back and forth about ways to interface with that stubby short little stepped, D shaped shaft on the Hi-Kol- I had gotten fed up with imagining nasty little systems of bushings and decided it […]
In: Electric Poly-V Bike, Reviews
Look What I’ve Made- Window Screens
Simple as that-