Maria Del Camino

Catching Up - Maria rolls outa here in 13 days!

6/25/2011

Working alone today, finished the mock up for the carrier guide on the boom. The hydraulic lines were also fitted so they can be ordered. The resolution and movement of the lines is more elegant than I was expecting. Too bad they will be hidden for the most part.

JP & Jason worked through the week rorganizing and cleaning the shop. JP built a solid work table w/steel top and a movable vise stand.

Jason finished the weld prep for extending the blade tips to full track width. JP should weld next week.

6/26/2011

Fabricated the aluminum guides for the hydraulic hose carrier.

Went to SFMOMA beforehand to see “Para Design.” The Toilet and High Tank were on display. A bit crowded/display wise. Same room that Gnomon was in. The seat has aged to dark brown - shit. The decrepid hose was not secured well to the toilet should have a bailing wire twisted. It is the oldest piece in the show: 1987!

7/7/2011

JP, Jason and I attending to numerous details: rallying to start up the engine. Refilling hydraulic tank and lines. Engine starts easily but pin hole leak-puncture in the fuel filter sprays fuel all over - potential disaster! Replaced old fuel line as well - possible leak.

We rig up temporary control sticks for spool valves to test lift & tilt circuits. Air is bled from lines. We first test the lift - success!! Then tilt - success!! Then combinations for standing & flying! All work remarkably well. I climb in/on and jump all around. More testing needed with more load, and then to drive her …

7/9/2011

JP & I work all day - rapid prototyping battery box mounted at front near tanks. Drive linkage installed. First drive in flying mode. Scary as all hell! Clody took video and stills. I encouraged her to use security camera footage if possible.

7/10/2011

Jason & I cleaned up some. I worked on the tilt/lift controller linkage. Rusty & Kelsey came by to video Maria in the daylight.

7/16/2011

Mounted control tower after working all week on configuring the bell cranks and modifying Komatsu parts.

JP & Jason attended to details all week.

I begin to build the mold for the fiberglass tub. It feels great to shift to another mode of working — wood. I love having to think insideout, but this is a real puzzler. Building from the top, but planning for removal from the bottom. Floor cross members done. Taped off/marked tops of doors to be reshaped with fair curves.

7/18/2011

Margaret & Brian stop by after Mary leaves. Two show & tells in one day. It feels good to be at this point. I spend the rest of the day fitting floor panels. A very curious and inigmatic shape results from floor intersecting plane of top of X frame.

7/19/2011

Frustrating day - engine won’t start. It is keeping us from a long list of other tasks … mold work is slow - can’t figure out detail @ tub top edge.

7/21/2011

The tower controller finally/finely adjusted for the tilt/lift. All other connections made, Testing in NIMBY lot - then a beer run in full flying mode to corner store. Mayhem on the street with people stopping and staring!

7/22/2011

Hi speed sticks on. Brian Maltby consults about how to interchange hi-speed spool valve from old unit to the larger one in use.

8/2/2011

Mold for the interior fiberglass is progressing well with both John & Jason assisting. Tom & Zorca helped on Sunday cutting out fiberglass pieces from the larger sheets. Trying to find a boat yard that can do the gel coat. I may go with linear polyurethane as a less expensive/time saving alternate.

8/11/2011

Fiberglass work officially begins!

8/13/2011

Jomo (he’s back!), JP & I continue prep, foathoning, laminating tub edge dash & pilars. Andrew and Ethan come by to help.

8/14/2011

I spend a fair amount of time detailing the edges and drilling 5/16” holes in air bubbles under the cap sheet fiberglass to be filled. Dash is trimmed out with more mat filler pieces. Then overlayed w/cloth. The squeegee is working well. Two more layers of cloth at pilars. Dash now has 3 cloth + 1 mat + 1 cloth. Tub has 7 layers + cap sheet.

Sanded second layer of pink opaque gel coat to fair translucency on sample. When held to sunlight grapefruit/proscuito color is good. Pink is slightly cooler and whiter than previous samples. Perhaps too light now?

Will take to samples Svensen’s Boatyard tomorrow for color match!

Beer run …

Thanks to Kelsey for filming this!

Thanks to Kelsey for filming this!

Thanks to Kelsey for filming this!

Maria’s lift and tilt circuits have been tested and they work!

Three cheers!

More later, Bruce

Back to the Log Book now after a break. Want to thank everyone again for all of their support on KickStarter.

June 19, Father’s Day -

We all go to San Rafael in the Mini: Mary, Jason, Andrea, Me and Phaedra. It was a bit like a clown car with all of us wedged in but well worth the trip. Family, Father’s, friends & food!

Spent the rest of the day at NIMBY. It gave me great pleasure to work with Jason on Father’s day.

Jason helped cleaning up the removed temporary supports for the boom that were on the blade/stylus/plane. I have yet to figure out how to think of this as a tool. We will modify it for this year on the playa, make it as wide as the tracks so that we may erase our tracks, but leave a full width (6’-6” wide) line or smooth surface.

Much has happened since that last entry!

Yesterday we up ended Maria with the forklift so JP could finish the structural welds on the bottom side of the tilt frame. He should be able to finish the structural welding - ALL OF IT - tomorrow or the next day! What a haul!

The primary lift cylinder is at a shop in Richmond being modified to fit better and allow the car to sit lower on the tracks; a kind of “wheel fitment” issue.

The bump rubbers are in place. The tilt cylinders fit and are preliminarily mounted. The boom is done with holes drilled for routing hydraulic lines.

Figuring out the hydraulic lines is a real puzzler. The rotation of the cylinders (tilt) - the arc they swing is extreme - over 90°. The slack hydraulics/lines needed for their movement is too much to manage simply. Dave P has suggested an articulated carrier, which I think is the way to go. Need to research.

I have two new heavier duty push pull cables to try for the controls.

Using Teleflex /Morse cables that my Dad used to sell for boats- these are what I knew, but their automotive/industrial line: Kongsburg, are about 30% cheaper. Curious.

At this point, I think we are about 3 weeks behind schedule. So much time off for personal (yet necessary and fun) travel has seriously impacted the schedule.

We should be finishing up the formwork for the fiberglass by now. Hope to have the basic hydraulics working by the end of June so we can start.

I put a Maria del Camino decal on the back window of our Mini and I’ve been wearing my Maria T-shirt as often as possible! Ramping up towards Burning man.

More photo information:

Drilling nearly complete! Note the last bit of template below the fin- a hand full of holes that the drill cannot reach from the outside.

Our hero. John Porter preparing for the last structural welds on the tilt frame.

Testing the movements. With the boom raised, the swing/arc of the cylinders is checked to determine the length of the hydraulic lines.

Details, details. Here you can see the bump rubbers for the boom on the pillars and the spool valves are finally mounted. Ready to run the hoses and cables.