2/15 - 2/18 2011 - Fit up and welding of top link w/JP and Jomo.
2/19/11 - Jason and I get set up. He does weld prep on bridge gussets. I fit spool valve to base plate. Brian comes by and drills. < Jomo goes home to Austria >
2/21/11 - Reality show scouting happening at NIMBY. Met Leigh Christie who made the Walking Spider Machine. Circus NIMBY! Working hard on getting KickStarter mounted.
2/27/11 - Peter Moy stops by to help drill. Jason grinds.
3/4/11 - KICKSTARTER LAUNCHES! hoping to raise $10k to help finish phase ll.
3/5/11 - Jason and I arrive late. Andrew and Ethan are already drilling. John Porter is working on fitting beam. Base plate is in position. He spent the week fitting and flattening it. Lots of shrinkage problems! Cylinder pin needs more shaping due to warpage in yoke fabrication. Attempt to fit cylinder w/beam in place - about 1-3/4” too long! Not sure how that happened? Repurposed cylinder rod end yoke is part of problem. The other problem is the tang/boom assembly is about 1/2”-3/4” longer than modeled.
3/6/11 - All alone today. Try to resolve cylinder situation. Determine 27” cc but thinking 26.5” cyl. might be smart to rely on bump rubber stops - not to bottom out cylinder. Anne Klint stops by for a visit towards the end of the day. Looking into a new custom cylinder vs. modifying the existing. Clamped up boom gussets ready to weld.
3/12/11 - JP has bridge fit to booms we re-level track frame- verify all dimensions and level. John starts welding, Jason does clean up on base plate. I cut pipe segments for the tilt hinge barrel. John gets all root passes done.
We spend a couple of hours trying to remove the boom/top link pins. Frozen. They were installed hastily without grease last year! The remaining flanges are bent. Once the pins are out the boom is removed and set on the welding table. We will rotate the boom to facilitate quality welds.
3/13/11 - Alone again today. Resolving tilt frame gusset files for SMP. The idea is to stand Maria vertical for the NIMBY party…
