Another full suspension build

[methods]

I just went and took a dump.
It felt nice :thumb:

The Subject of being "On Topic"

So...
Scrolling up, the over zealous moderator may be tempted to claim I am OT. :wink:

Right?
You may even be thinking that I am OT and Rambling.

...

You would be wrong
Note above. . . that I cross-pollinated 3 or 4 trades to lean the reader into the concept of using the correct (glues) to cross-bond 3D printed materials of different origin*

Now back to my topic, which is "Another full suspension build"



When you are building something. . . (and you actually have skills) you are thinking of M A N Y things. At the top of your list should be:

* Will it Meet Requirements
* Will it Be Reliable
* Will it Be Safe
* Will it Service Well

I put "Service Well" before Quality and Value (EH HEM)

How well something services is far more important than how it look or how cheap it is. This is core to Durable Goods and if you are from the Automotive Industry you understand what I am talking about.

How
Well
Does
It
Service?

... Talked with ChargePoint a lot about this. Talked directly with their head field service guy. ... Talking about 1 man jobs vs 2 man jobs, etc. ANYWAY

When building an Ebike. . . Please avoid this temptation to cut every wire to 1mm short of where it needs to go. This. . . this ... is tweaker shit. It is a much more honorable activity to figure out how to HIDE some extra wire than how to "File to Fit".

File to Fit
Is what you see around here a lot. This skill set is nearing death and it is only of use very late in the path to Production, where we may be making 3000 or 30000 of some thing. In 95% of the other cases, what is more valuable than a perfect fit. . . is MAKING SOMETHING COTS FIT.

(enter 500 page pHD thesis here)

You either get it or you dont
You are either into standards or you are not
Eh hem. . .

(We are hiring Robot Mechanics. Apply directly with me, I am looking for a jr EE and a sr EE Tek)



If you put something together, it needs to be able to come apart. Remember that, and you will get further in Tek life.

* $20/hr
* $40/hr
* $80/hr
* $160/hr

Tell me all you want about it. The above CAN be serviced, can be broken down, can be inspected. Both DRY and WET.... and wet disassembly is huge where it comes to waste material in the pipes.



Generally speaking, a pump like this (thrower) can tolerate almost no restriction on its input. The way I have plumed it above, is highly irregular. You have to take into consideration that I am running 1.25" pipe, and that pipe has pressure on it (gravity) so the pump (at the FLOW) I am running it, has a tiny bit of positive pressure on its input.

This pump is quite special

It is a 40W DC pump!
It is IPx8 rated so you can run it under water
It is Efficient and Fanless, so you can run it dry
It is very quiet
It does not present hazardous voltages to the salt water
It comes with a variable (0-100%) speed controller

It is effectively an Ebike Pump*



Above it is attached to the outlet of a 1/2HP chiller. That is nothing but a compressor hooked to a large plastic tank with some titanium tube running around inside. You will be seeing A LOT of this sort of thing, so pay attention.

* Gotta know HVAC, at least compressors and handling of gas
* Gotta know materials compatibility, so working with salt water at a minimum
* Gotta know your various types of pumps - Positive displacement, squirrel cage, diaphragm, piston...



Anyhow - yesterday I drove the 89 4-runner up the hardest run we have local. Called something like "the gulch". I made it all the way. . . and could not get the last 5 feet of it. Had to get pulled out.

* Stock Runner
* BFG A/T 31" x 10.5" tires
* V6 from an original single owner

I got past the hardest part (the death pit) but could not make the last corner. . . even when I drove up on the wall.

* Not for lack of power or control over that power

I had plenty of power in 4-L and I was spinning the tires as slow as a crawl. It was lack of momentum for this particular rig. I backed all the way up to the pit of death, got up as much speed as I could muster, slammed my left tire up on "the wall"... and each time... my ass would tip out right... I would lose traction ... grind my dif... stop.

Solutions?

* Larger diameter tires
* Limited Slip Differential
* Wider wheel base

With larger tires I would have more ground clearance and could approach in a different way. With a limited slip of some sort, the power could be sent to the tire with the MOST friction, instead of the tire with the LEAST FRICTION. With a wider wheel base I could have caught some traction on the other side of the rut.

Oh well
A very thoughtful Canadian man pulled me out with his winch. On the first attempt, the angle was bad. . . as I was being pulled against the hillside. On the second attempt he brought it down further, locked up against a tree, and pulled me the 5' I was missing. I was then able to drive out.

...

Canadian Man was rolling with what I presume to be a Dutch man. Both very polite and helpful fellows.



I was rolling with this country girls who stripes wires with her teeth, spits what she calls "flower seeds", and who packed us a lunch consisting of

* Churro Donuts
* BBQ potato chips
* Beef Jerky

. . . She knows how to get it done. She grew up in a truck with her dad doing Solar Installs. Best road dog I have found so far. Always patient. Always paying attention.

... The kind of road dog that wont have much to say, until she is sure she has an answer you have not thought of.

Got me out of a pinch many times.
Choose your road dog wisely.

-methods

 

[methods]

Road Dogs

I am very selective in who I choose to spend my time and life with. Since Work and Life are the same thing (eh hem) I do not run one set of "work friends" and another set of "private friends".

Anyone I Work With. . . I can live with
Anyone I Live With. . . is suitable for the workplace



I prefer (when hiring) to take the following profiles

* Military Veteran
* First Generation Immigrant
* Gay, Black, or otherwise from a group who has been oppressed

...
...

Think about what I just said up there. I am NOT bound by mandatory minimums, I do not take advantage of people, and I do expect folks to be awesome both in the workplace and at home.

Military folks. . . They bring a missing discipline and organization.

Immigrants. . . They already passed a tighter extrusion than anyone you may find at Church, like your buddies kid

Gay folks. . . Toughest men (and women) I know are gay

Black folks. . . A lot of people I know have had to F I G H T discrimination and I am trying to create a future reality where black men and white women can lead side by side with CoWg's (Crusty Old White Guys).

... Change starts right here ->
I am an equal opportunity employer and I PREFER folks who come from oddball backgrounds. I have always found those folks to be . . . made up of the most grit. . . and I will place my bets on an immigrant or discriminated-against person EVERY TIME.

NOW LISTEN
...

It is NOT AT ALL about avoiding talking about this stuff. YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT. . . or the cycle will perpetuate.

.. If you work someplace where you have to walk on egg shells, you are DOING IT WRONG.

* Some people have a vagina and tits
* Some people have black, brown, red, yellow, or even green skin
* Some people have odd sex lives
* Some people came from the dirt
. . .

I love all of those people exactly the same. . . and I love them by treating them exactly the same as I treat anyone else. NOBODY gets special treatment where I am at. You can either do your job or you cant.**

You can either do the job, or you cant***



"The Job"
Is the definition of success and it includes

* High technical competence
* Getting along with others on the team
* Being helpful, but keeping to your own commitments
* Speaking truth to power (NEVER power to truth)
* Being open and honest

SO

I do not really support "Dont ask, Dont tell". . . but I see it a lot. We wont get into the sub-sector where this is more prevalent, but ... there is a class of worker that still hides behind this "dont ask, dont tell".

I promote...
Absolute Honesty

If you can not be honest about your Home and Work life. . . then you cant work with us (and should not want to)

SO

* If you used to kill people for the government, I will hire you
* If you did a couple years in State Prison for drug stuff, I will hire you (conditional)
* If you are female, gay, lesbian, whatever... I will hire you
* If you are ::

* racist
* liar
* Hate other countries..

In that case I reserve the right to discriminate against you. I dont hire racist's. I dont hire liars. I dont hire people who discriminate against immigrants.

Remember that, and you will likely get past my Behavioral Interview.

My Technical Interview is much harder*

-methods

 

[methods]

Now back to building ebikes


The first step to building ebikes (synonym for Servicing Robots) is to choose your team well. At times I will vampire information from a non-desirable person. . . but for the most part. . . I try to surround myself with folks that are "generally good".

* No racist remarks
* No sexist remarks

Lets start there
Lets not walk on egg shells

I am formally trained in all this shit, so save it if your HR training was different than mine. I work on teams that shoot things into space, and we dont have time to re-make your mistakes.

Examples:

* If a particular female can not lift heavy, turn a large wrench, lift a transmission off your chest, etc... You have to be able to call that out without being called sexist.

So
Some may say "Dont say female"

Ok...
How about I say

* Small person
* Handicapped person?

Pitfalls all of them
What folks are yelling at you about is "Baked In discrimination"

... By ASSUMING that a female (generalizing) is not capable of a job, you are discriminating. SO... The way you get around this is to SET UP A TEST.

* pallets full of 49lb boxes
* Large rusty bolts that are stripped and need to come off

Put everybody thru that test
Give every one of them a chance to learn about

* Using Solvents and penetrating fluid
* Using Leverage and power tools

The most capable man I know on the planet. . . is a pretty small guy. . . but I have N E V E R seen anyone else move so much weight.

* Pullies and cranes and lever arms...

SO
What it really boils down to is TRAINING. How much training did you get? Right? ... Up till now, many men were brought up different than women. . . so many women I interview simply have not had the hours of training required to meet the requirements of the job.

* Busting knuckles
* Getting hurt
* Getting burnt
* Dealing with extreme emotions under pressure

Right??
If you have ever worked where I have worked, you know that is the kind of shit you need HuYB (Hours under Your Belt) to know how to handle. Hours and hours and hours of experience.

SO
If you are a lady. . .
If you are a small person. . .
If you are handy capped. . .

and you want to roll with the team as an equal...
then
I am going to need you to put in your hours. You gotta bust knuckles. You gotta build and build and build. You gotta learn how to lift. You gotta learn

* Pallet Jacks
* Fork Lifts
* Pulley Systems
* Lever arms

... I work at a Google Stealth Mode... almost all ladies on the team. One of them is BAD ASS. She drives a fork lift, and the last time I saw her. . . she was bleeding out at the hand. Drilling steel, tapping steel, cutting aluminum...

Yea
bad ass crew

Google has been on a Diversity Bender. . . and I have heard a lot of bitching about it. . . but I am on board. I will train ANYBODY who wants to PUT IN THE WORK. Since we are on the subject, I have watched work for 20 years.

* 10 years government contract
* 10 years wild west

Here is what I observed::

"People get mad when another person skips rank and moves to the top, presumably, because they are female or other"

It makes folks irate mostly because of the impression (real or otherwise) that a person has been put into a position of leadership who is not qualified to hold that post.

ANYONE
Can hold a post.

NOONE
Should hold a post that they did not work up to

SO
If you are from a discriminated against party. . . please understand. . . that if guys like me push you to your limits. . . what we are TRYING TO DO is CATCH YOU UP.

...

What we are TRYING TO DO, is CATCH YOU UP.
We all need a minimum number of hours. Call it 100hrs, 1000hrs, 10,000 hours.. Those do not have to be straight line hours but you have to have experience. If you are bright .. . but you skipped rank... and did not hold down lower positions... then we need to catch you up so that you develop

Empathy

Specifically Engineering Empathy

This is the understanding of what a job is.
Where it is hard
Where it can be sped up
Where it needs to slow down

... So getting back to my point
If we want to lower hostility in the workplace while we move discriminated-against peoples into power, it is extremely important that we do so ONLY with folks who are Qualified or OVER Qualified.

Eh hem
Ignoring this requirement will prolong success.

I want to diversify leadership. . . and the first step to doing that is getting more qualified people... NOT... just shoe-horning unqualified people into positions of power so they can hire more people who are different.

...

Does that make sense?

Take-home
* The first step to diversifying the workforce is an OPEN DIALOG where anything that is not understood is . . . put on the front burner. . . and understood. If you are not a person who came up thru the ranks... you likely will not understand. I came up thru the ranks. . . so I speak the truth on the matter.

...

Now
Building Ebikes
Building Teams
Building Diversity

Starts with an Honest and Open Dialog
Point out negative stuff
Turn the volume down on standing around jacking each other off

That's my free advice to Google as they try to diversify. Honesty is the first step to diversification. Testing is how you accomplish the goal. You have to define success and set up metrics for measuring progress toward it. If the target is just to shoe-horn people into leadership... you will fail. If the target is to bridge the gap... you will succeed.

Good luck

-methods

 

[methods]

Training and Tools

There are two primary paths to gaining experience

* The Old Way
* The More Civilized Way

In the "old way" a person is put into impossible scenario after impossible scenario. They are asked to do nearly impossible jobs with all the wrong tools. They are asked to work in the freezing cold, blistering heat, and dangerous environment. They are given the WRONG TOOLS... so...

* No Leverage
* No expensive tooling

It is a "sink or swim" learning process and it is real harsh. I have lived thru this a dozen times and .. at times... I do employ it.

BUT

What we prefer to do now. . . is the "kinder and gentler" way.

* Set aside budget for training
* Set up GOOD training areas
* Buy the best tools and equipment
* Hire the best trainers you can find

Anybody can take the training
Company flips the bill

This is super dangerous . . . and insurance will shit their pants. . . so the first step is that anybody electing to train has to sign away their rights to sue.

That is the FIRST STEP
...

Now...
Instead of me setting you up to fail OVER AND OVER

* Busting your knuckles open
* Burning the back of your neck
* Breaking toes and fingers
* Burning your eyes with solvent
* Chipping your teeth

What I do is set you up with an OPPORTUNITY to learn

* Chemicals and how they are used in hard work
* Leverage and how it is used in hard work
* Machinery and how it is used in hard work

... This is a risky way to go. . . jump-starting people into the use of mechanism before they learn "the old way"... but we can do it. Some examples of risk are::

* Learning to use a forklift before you learn how dangerous large objects are

In the old way. . . you would drop a lot of things . . before you got to do the same job with Hydraulics. This is mostly to teach your lizard brain. You really need to have a feel for how dangerous

* 10lbs can be
* 100lbs can be
* 1000lbs can be

Right?

How dangerous a piece of metal flying at

* 10mph
* 100mph
* 1000mph

... So... To bridge this gap... we have to do some Dangerous Experiments!

* We short circuit 1000V capacitor banks with steel wrenches
* We drop 1,000lb loads onto various surfaces
* We knock over 50lbs compressed air tanks

Not watch videos
We F'ing DO IT.... because... Video training is NOT SUFFICIENT.

... I have explosives training (did not know that, did you?)
In that training I watched numerous gloves full of steak vaporizing. Setting charges gone wrong. People going to prison for breaking bad.

Eh...
None of that was enough
You have to do it FIRST PERSON to develop a LIZARD SENSE for when you are frocking UP.

Trust me on that.

So...

Part of our training involves

* Working with extreme chemicals like Nitric Acid, Sulfuric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Concentrated Hydrogen Peroxide, etc
* Firing and reloading weapons of various caliber - gun powder, primers, lead, pistols, rifles, etc
* Driving cars really fast on the track. . . and crashing
* Hardcore offroading, tipping, rolling, fires. . .

You gotta learn WHY we keep a CO2 fire extinguisher around and not a Powder Extinguisher.

You gotta learn WHY we keep 5 gallons of water around and not your dual-wall sippy cup

You gotta learn HOW fast things go out of control, how people get hurt, and why I am in charge at that exact moment.

8)

Who has been thru this sort of training?
I have. I survived. . . but it was hairy.

So back on topic of

* The old way
* The new way

We are trying not to kill people (literally and figuratively) while we teach people to do dangerous work. We are trying to find a kinder and gentler way to ease people work that is neither kind nor gentile.

* Machines do not love you
* Machines will harm and kill you
* I work with machines that are very dangerous

So
What we do these days is focus more on getting people to figure out "the right tool" and less on innovating around "making due". I am a FRUCKING MASTER of "making due". I have done more jobs with the wrong tool that you can shake a stick at. I use wrenches for hammers, zipties for everything, expanding foam, glue, ... lol... hacks of hacks of hacks.

I will cut your frigging sewer pipe, use it for a lever arm, then put it back with rubber joiners. In doing so, I will put up on the board a "mark for inspection" since I broke the original galvanized pipe and replaced it with a degrading rubber joiner.

Eh hem

... So....
In this learning the New Way instead of the Old Way... we are losing some of the ingenuity that comes with "doing it the hard way". We expect folks to pick this up in their hobby work.

* You dont have a band saw
* You dont have a mill
* There is no 3D printer
* You cant send off to CNC

* You work on location
* You can bring a trailer
* Nobody on site to do it for you

You gotta figure it out. . . like. . . when I went out and got my truck stuck. I know 8 ways to get that truck out of there. . .

* Pack the rutt with rocks and dirt
* Cut away a step on the hill
* Back all the way back down
* winch myself out
...

So
Back to the top
We no longer want to harm you in the process of training you

In the same breath... we do dangerous work. . . and this work requires training and qualification. You can go at that qualification any way you like. . . but I propose Ebikes as an all-encompassing platform for learning.

* Budgets are reasonable
* Tooling is reasonable
* Fun is off the chart
* Danger is manageable
* Scales to handicapped
* Scales to full size Automotive
* Does not require a "track" or controlled environment
* Scales to at work or at home
* Encourages group work
* Can last hours or years
* Reasonable expected injuries...

I could go on like that for an hour. You can wind your finger up in the chain, you can cut your hand open, you can lose your skin and break your bones... Plenty in there. You can start fires and put them out. You can get electrocuted. You can mate to Mains. You can transfer battery to battery. . .

... Listen here bub
Show me something that needs to be learned and I can show you how to teach it with an ebike.

-methods

 

[methods]

Tooling Up

* Ryobi
* DeWalt or Makita

For Battery Power tools... for home use... I tool up with Ryobi. In a professional or extreme environment you WILL reach the limits of these tools

* Not enough torque
* Plastic housings tweak
* You can break them

A Ryobi can do much better than 80% (maybe 90%) of what a DeWalt or Makita can do. That is on a tool by tool basis. BUT... when you fold in budget. . .

"I would rather have 15 Ryobi tools than 8 Makita tools"

FOR
Work at home... and... a big part of that is not edging out folks on a small budget. Now for tooling up a shop -> I dont use Ryobi -> EVER. I use Commercial / Professional tooling. I use Dewalt for most plug in and I use something as good as Makita for Battery. This stuff is way more expensive but it is also a heavier duty. Argue if you want. . . but a Ryobi can get most jobs done and Makita or DeWalt are damn expensive.

So - Do as you please, just tool up.

...

For those interested in Personal Protection

* Bear Spray
* Body armor
* Downhill Mountainlike Helmet
* Motorcycle Jacket

Those are the first weapons I suggest folks buy. Bear Spray and a bullet proof vest will get you farther than a pistol or a shotgun. Once you have those first tools mastered...

* Shotgun
* Pistol

Start with a long rifle. MASTER THAT...

* Shoot at least 20 out of 25 on the trap range
* Break it down and put it back together in the dark
* Learn to modify your weapon

Once you are fully competent with a shotgun, then go to Pistol

* Glock

... This is not a place to talk about guns... so enough on that subject. Guns do not kill people, people kill people... so chill with all that if you want to be an American. In the United States we have a right to bare arms. I exercise that right. I suggest you do as well.

SO
Training
Building Ebikes
Building Ebikes to train a generation

Sometimes your government will go insane and do crazy things. If this happens, stand them down and get a new government.

Enough on that
Moving along

... At Stanford University I studied Engineering at the Masters Level. Our motto in Electrical Engineering was "Breadth and Depth" (in that order). To be a wicked badass you have to have breadth. This means mastery in many fields. ... Does not really matter what those fields are, but there needs to be breadth

* Plumbing
* Electrical Work
* Working on Cars
* Software Programming
* Sporting

... So when I talk about guns for a moment. . . that is just about Breadth. Get yours where you can and respect others breadth training. I have gained MUCH by doing reloading and shooting. Lots to learn there.

I have learned MUCH by doing my own Feed and Sewer plumbing. Much to learn there.

I have learned MUCH by doing my own Framing ... doors and windows... Much to learn there.

I have learned MUCH more than all of that by wrenching Automobiles. Great depth there.

I have learned MUCH thru bicycles. . . but they do have a limit. Bicycles do not scale perfectly so some "heavy training" is required if you want to build robots that lift and throw around 10,000lbs.

* Reliability
* Safety
* Quality
* Value

That is what we look for in a robot. . . and Safety is important. Getting into firearms and explosives is a really good way to appreciate

* Reliability
* Safety



Wha?
You thought you watched your training videos and now you are ready to go build Robots that run around doing shit?

:lol:

You want to fly autonomous drones over my hosue?



You want to create robots that can think on their own?



Listen bub
I have been around the block a few times. I have worked under Lockheed Martin management for over a decade. There are SOME THINGS that Software Ninnies should NOT be making decisions about.

If you want to lead a Robotics Program that is Customer Facing. . . we need to see Breadth in experience with some heavy emphasis on Reliability and Safety....

SO
Direct and personal experience in the thousands of hours with doing highly dangerous shit that must be reliable.

Eh hem

-methods

 

[methods]

Got the plumbing job complete. Lots can be said about plumbing. . . I will save it for another time.

Here are some pictures.



You start by cutting links. Generally speaking, 1.25" pipe will insert 1.25" into the next fitting. That being the case, I used my Ryobi Compound Sliding Miter Saw for the cuts. It wobbles more than my DeWalt did. . . but. . . at least I have a saw.



Liquid does not like sharp corners. If you are flowing at a very low rate, it is not an issue to even think about. As flow rate goes up. . . think about it. Note that I shaped a "step to the side, 90" out of 3pcs of 45 degree.

You step to the side to avoid the other pipe*



For fitment, you want everything "resting easy". Where I go thru the wood, I let the pipe rest on that. Once everything is aligned I put DOUBLE hash marks on all the alignment points. This is what allows you to take it apart for solvent welding.



That block of wood does nothing and in the next picture it is good. It is there as a placeholder, as later I will insert a bracket with foam sound deadening to ensure there is not stress on the plastic pump fittings.



-methods

 

[methods]

Why do I post that crap?

"Pictures to Words brothers and sisters"

You will win many more hearts by backing your statements with proof in the form of pictures. . . than with prose alone. I realize that Youtube has taken over this segment. . . but. . . Not everything needs to be in a video. If you really prefer video, here is the flow test.

[youtube]NJ7ns6BlKBg[/youtube]

See?
Yes... I can do it too.



Skipping a bunch of steps. This is where you GENERALLY enter your tutorial tips. For those who work for me, this is where you insert your::

* Build Procedure Notes
* Rework Procedure Notes
* Documentation of Methods and Ways



Yes of course all of this is Karate Kid stuff. You paint the fence, sand the deck, wax the car. . . you get all frustrated... and in the end you find out that DOCUMENTING YOUR WORK (at WORK) is not really all that hard. You just have to figure out how to make it fun!



Again, I made another locker. This one fits right in snug but removes nicely. I rolled the dice and eliminated the second valve. . . as gravity will move all material to the lower valve either way. I have 3 methods to clear a pipe* (To avoid water on the floor, bowls, etc)



So...
Water is now flowing. That is 40W worth. You could easily get that 40W from a solar panel***

250W panel
250W for 6hrs
50W for 30hrs. . . so one panel will do it. . . if you have grid tie or a battery backup*

-methods

 

[methods]

Pics or it DIDN'T HAPPEN

Since I always say "Pics or it Didn't Happen!", and since this is a Youtube generation, ... sigh ... fine... here are my pics. Getting towed out by a nice Canadian man, 5' from the top of the Gulch.

[youtube]MOFmlM7JIFA[/youtube]

Generally speaking. . . I like Canadians. Maybe I am just lucky, but most people I have met from Canada are not dicks.

This is now a Canadian Website. . . so... WTTW.... ah?



So the Jenk temperature sensor says one thing



The even more Jenk sensor says another



Above is the ass of my chiller. Blows hot air.


Bubbles up there are from a Skimmer I am tuning. It is called Foam Fractioning. All of this is headed toward my Salt Spray Test Station, but before it gets there. . . I play with it and get everything working. All this crap is like a hundred bucks. . . So I buy one for the setup and spec the second.

Never buy one of ANYTHING. . . what the hell is the point of that?


Now you can see it coming together. SE/IoT lives in that tank. I can swing the temperature from 90F down to 40F and the specific gravity of the liquid is 1.026



Dont leave the pump floating like this unless it is rated for it. This plastic is shit, so I am going to shore it up.



For actual salt spray. . . there are many ways. Worry not. . . methods knows how to make a salt mist

-methods

 

[Stealth_Chopper]

Whatzis?
:lol:

 

[methods]

Understanding Privacy

I get snippy from time to time with the younger folks who think they are hackers because they managed to embed a Youtube video (that they did not even create) into their Facebook stream. :thumb:

Looky here
I may not write codes anymore, but you better remember that I know how. Tens of thousands of hours crunching Regular Expressions. That sort of thing is used for sifting and sorting very large bodies of data in a way that only a machine could.



That above is a picture. It has been processed by me to remove the EXIF data.



EXIF stands for "Exchangeable Image Format" and it includes significant and highly accurate personal information.



Sure. . . things about the device which created the picture, all the way down to the firmware revision. More importantly, information about the exact location and GPS time that the photo was taken.



You will of course note that if you can read it, you can edit it. If you can edit it, then you can Batch Edit it (machine edit in large batches). What this means is that I (or anyone else) can go onto your computer and batch edit a subset of your photographs to include non-factual GPS time and location information. The only trick necessary is patching the CRC at the end, and that takes an IQ of apx 87 to get right (using tools like those I create).

(So EXIF is not admissible in court, even if the "entire batch" is consistent and tells a story)

I could re-write your entire EXIF history in 4.2 seconds with any data that I like*
Think about it.



SO . . .
Along those lines. . . where I use Regular Expressions to search and replace very small bits of data across very large datasets. . . We want to reduce the size of our data set. So above, you can see that I use a program called Irfanview (written in Assembly Language) to

* Reduce JPG weight
* Set the dimensions
* Strip personal information. . .



As you can see above, I used to be a Boy Scout. . . so I only sift and replace EXIF data on "Bad Guys"



Rust is an interesting thing. You need to understand it to live a long and good life.



. . . I can sort the people I know by those who know how to restore a good tool and those who do not.

-methods

 

[methods]

The majority of work is done by the mechanically driven brush. Fact is, you could do the entire job without any rust-attacking chemicals and I have many times. Even water will do fine (eh hem).



That is a good size wrench.



That is the cut-end of the lock that was on my wifes bike. I am holding it in front of my Prius, which had its Cat stolen right in front of my (baseball bat holding) face. ... That is the third bike stolen.

...

Now listen here. . .
A man only tolerates his property being stolen and destroyed to a certain degree. Once a line is crossed. . . the stakes of the game change. Where the safety of Women and Children are concerned, I have no issue with turning a wrench like that against a person on my property - late at night.

...
As you grow older, you will need to learn when, where, why, and how Violence is required to survive. If you have not had to experience the need to be violent to survive. . . then you are still a child. . . who has been coddled and protected. That - or maybe something else.

So...
California has strange laws about Violence. In these laws a person or persons can systematically violate you and you have no recourse other than to "report it again". ... Even if you report that while your family is sleeping in the house, a man is 10 feet outside with power tools disassembling your car. . .

... this man who drew back with the Jack Handle when approached. . . wheedling it like a bat. . .

... you see
Even in the face of a death threat, the fools and ninnies will have you cower in your house and hope the cops show up in time to MAYBE find the systematic (organized) criminals who are invading your space and stealing your stuff. . .

....



... now I am the type of man who likes to go camping, ya know? I have all sorts of camping paraphernalia. Ropes and guns and knives. . . hatchets and various means to make fire. . .



Electric Chain Saws. . .





-methods

 

[methods]

So on the thread of "Another full suspension build" remember to always charge the 18650 battery in the small Adafruit module which phones home once every 10 days for 3 years.

eh hem



Package Arrived!

To... turn this dark thread positive again (dark because violent thieves invaded my personal space) ... ... . ... .. I... am very happy to announce that one of the members on the board successfully shipped my 10x6 hub motor for this build!

* The packing was amazing
* The shipping was fast
* The product arrived in perfect working order

Everything we agreed on was there, including a very nice

* Rim
* Tire
* Extras



I will be inventorying that in a minute here, once I shake off the bad juju of Organized Crime Fighting (OCF).

-methods

 

[methods]

I...
Really intended to open another thread to celebrate BikeFlights



The deal went down great and I am supper happy. Much more awesome, was the way the ES member packed my hub motor. It arrived in absolutely perfect condition and . . . I am quite grateful for the thoughtful time that was put into the job.

The box arrived in perfect shape with no dings, dents, or holes. I have pictures of every side, but I dont want to waste time editing out personal information.

Have a look at this.



A most epic multi-wall packing job!



See all those layers?
That is how you ship a hub motor man. Whoever is thinking about it. . . this sets the standard for getting something there in perfect condition.



NOW... LISEN HERE!

Do not be fooled by the pretty packaging bullshit of clean white Styrofoam and baggies. That shit does not last a second shipping a hub motor. What was done above. . . was done for the long haul. . . and you have to learn to appreciate the beauty of a good packing job.



That is some REALLY heavy tubing. Look at the degree to which the hub axle is protected. ... Secondary tubes were laid above and below the wheel to assure it stayed in place.



Love it man!
So stoked to be building another super low KV build. These were the first rear hubs to start landing with a disk adapter. They were imperfect, but the sender included a spacer for the disk that will no doubt allow me to leverage the hydraulic brakes on my wife's (replacement) bike.




Quality Goods!
Super stoked!



An original 9C showing the work Justin did with the suppliers to improve the quality of the product. That was an international effort. . . and one of those things that just got passed by in the history books.



Sick double-wall rim. . . exactly what I would have chosen.



Sick BMX tire, high pressure, low rolling resistance, excellent traction!
...

This is a bike that is going to serve my wife well!

I will build it safe and reliable (with a throttle interlock) and . . . she will have enough torque to P L O W straight up the little hills we have around here.



You see...
This is about *retrofitting* existing bicycles, ... NOT ... having to buy a $5,000 frame just to get going.

-methods

 

[methods]

Depth vs Breadth

As everyone knows I could go on and on with an epic ebike build today. Instead. . . I am going to stop writing. I am boiling over again with anger from some recent injustices. The police, and even the courts. . . did not serve the purpose they claim to serve. I have 42 pages in the book about it -> But it has to wait.

Some books have to come out on a timeline*
(After certain requirements are met)

... While that simmers on the stove (and you know I can type a minimum of 78wph. . and you know I type every morning. . .)

I have many other jobs to do.
Today alone::

* Installing a 1.25HP Garbage Disposal (thing can eat pork chops!)
* Installing a NEMA 5-20 run of 12AWG in conduit to service this most capable machine
* Freshening up the R134A charge on my 1/2hp compressor to improve cooling efficiency
* Moving exactly 25 boxes weighing 42-48lbs each, in order to access "Christmas stuff"
* Setting up the sliding microscope for doing Reverse Engineering again (got an offer I cant refuse)
* Sorting the surface mount components into the "pill boxes" so short run production can hit 20pcs a day
* Finishing the "Camping Gear" sort so we can survive the snow this year.

. . .

A man (or a woman) who is fully capable and self sufficient should spend some 20% of their time doing things "the hard way". I learned this from the Mormons and it is a damn good lesson. You can not know what is important in life. . . unless you live life to the fullest. Part of living life to the fullest is understanding::

* Where we are
* How we got here
* How we stay here
* How to survive and thrive no matter what happens

...

I... (or my son) am heading to outer space. You can laugh all you want, but . . . it is going to happen sooner than folks thought.

* Brain Implants that make Google Glass look like a laughing ass
* Commercial space flight that is subsidized
* Full-ON electric REvolution



We have one going over here brothers and sisters. Fear not, it is all part of the plan.

-methods

 

[methods]

Clean Water



That is a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system that is used to clean the foul "city water" which arrives at our home. I do not feed this "city water" to my family*

I clean it

... You may sometimes see an additional filter (DI) -> This is a Deionizer, as might be found on a sub-marine. The tank is there to collect and hold water under pressure. It has (effectively) a balloon inside. The balloon is filled to a known pressure and it takes up a small portion of the tank.

The tank is then attached to the output of the RO, at some pressure around 40-60psi. The tank fills, and the balloon acts as a spring to create pressure. Once the system stabilizes, you have a volume of water (1, 2, 3 gallons) under enough pressure to flow at high rate out of a tap on your sink. You can fill pots, fill glasses, make ice, whatever you want.

Filter your water*

It costs about a hundred bucks on Amazon and anyone who can build an ebike, can install an RO system.

-methods

 

[methods]

Where clean water comes into play is Robots

Robots like dirty water even less than my wife and child. Dont fill your robot with nasty shit. If you take 5 gallons of "City Water" and evaporate it. . . you will be left with Crystals. These are to be described as "dissolved solids" and is often referenced as TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

These solids. . affect many things. They impact PH and the ability to dissolve *other* solids. More importantly, these dissolved solids leave residue, buildup, and other crap on nozzles, fittings, and points where liquid turns to mist, etc.

I.E.
If you are running a mister system. . . you want to run it on highly filtered water. If you do not, you will grow stalagmites and stalactites at an alarming rate. Enough so, that you will fist impact flowrates, and later completely clog and break the system.

...

Since the point of Robots is Automation. . . this . . . clogging of passages. . . is undesirable. For a robot I use an RODI -> That consists of

* Mechanical Pre-Filter
* Coarse Carbon
* Fine Carbon
* RO Membrane
* DI Membrane

OF COURSE. . . we do not use any inline device which adds minerals or taste. That is for drinking water and what we are creating is a "solution".

Think of it like the famous quote:: "Solutions for Modern Living"

-methods

 

[methods]

Tools for Modern Living




THAT is an Aluminum Pipe Wrench. Traditionally wrenches like this were made of very heavy steel. These are night and day lighter to work with and Farmer Pete has one of the very first originals that came from China.

So...
Lets talk about China for a quick second (Since most of our stuff comes from there)

At times you will hear me speak VERY POORLY of "China". You will hear me says things like "The Chinese" or "Chinese Stuff"... ignore that. That is misuse of the language. The Chinese are brilliant and helpful people*

When someone says "Crap from China" what they really mean is that some asshole American drove the price down on a good SOOOOO FAR that the final product is absolute garbage. What you have to understand about doing business with China is that they WILL ... (oh buddy they will...).... THEY WILL let you bargain down the price of a Durable good or Product.

$10
$9
$8
$7
$6. . . or even lower.

You can approach China and ask for a price. They may say "$10 shipped". For this. . . you will get what you get. It may be awesome and it may be bunk - all depends on who set up the original run of goods.

NOW

IF...
You tell the nice people in China that you want the same thing for $7. . .

They will do it!
They will do it man. . .

...
........ ....

It may mean that they have to use slave labor, pot metal, horrific industrial process, and even at times. . . deliver a good which is totally counterfeit or non-functional to the fullest.

THIS IS NO FAULT OF "China"
This is the fault of the "Business People"

... SO
(And we know methods could lecture for 45 minutes a day on the subject and never hit a topic twice. . ) You really gotta think about the value of a dollar, the value of durable goods, sustainability, quality, environmental impacts, injustices, ... many things.

ANYWAY

This particular wrench is from China and it is made of Aluminum. It is light and kicks ass. I love Chinese goods. I hate assholes who profit for themselves by raping the rest of us.

Ace Hardware
There is a good place to start a story if you want to look for ABSOLUTE JUNK sold at QUALITY PRICES. EH HEM!

. . . unbelievable

... so ... if anybody asks... "Yes, of course I buy tools and materials from China - I love the Chinese ingenuity". In the same breadth, I will tell you that you really need to know what you are aiming at if you want to leverage Chinese goods.

(sigh)

distracted... but a very important topic. To succeed as humans on earth we need to shift away our decision making from Hollywood Actors and big money investors to those who understand what a Durable Good is. Forget this "Buy American" -> I bought some "American" stuff and it was just as cheap as "Chinese stuff" only not as clever

We need a different term to use. I believe it starts with understanding and valuing Durable Goods. Here are a few producers of Durable Goods that I go to regularly.

* Ryobi
* Honda
* Toyota
* Sorensen
* Fluke
* Apple

... Yes :?
Apple made the cut. Not because I like their asshole approach of making totally incompatible systems. . . but. . . because they truly do make a very solid product, even if it is produced under horrific conditions that exploit tens of thousands of people daily.

-methods

 

[methods]

I just got done swapping out a bunch of garbage Galvanized Pipe. I dont know the actual history. . . but presumably the changeover to Galvanized was an attempt to save Money and Materials. Galvanized (AFAIK) is steel pipe with a zinc coating. It eventually rusts to shit and it is horrible to work with.

Copper
Is a nice material to work with

Not so much for plumbing (for Plumbing I use Pex*) but for other things, it is an incredibly useful material.

Anyhow
When you are doing major plumbing, make sure you know where the cutoff valves are. Just like knowing where the CO2 Fire Extinguisher is. . . you gotta know how to turn the water off QUICK when you are working on mains plumbing.

... Job went well, moving on to the next step.
Leak Test

... Testing
Is (along with Cabling) the most valuable and most overlooked aspect of Engineering*

Show me something with solid test and good cabling/interconnects. . . and I can show you a good product.

Show me something with minimal to no test, shit cabling and interconnects, poor housings - etc... and I can show you a poor quality product.

MUCH
Is determined by how good of a job you do on

* Cables
* Connectors
* Housings

* Test
* Design for Test... so ...

* Test Points
* Test Connectors
* Test Procedures...

(Sigh. . . giving it all away for free but nobody listens anyways. Might as well shout into the wind about "THERE BE GOLD!!!"...)

Nobody understands it (or few understand it) and that is one of the primary ways by which I earn a living.

-methods

 

[john61ct]

Keep going man good stuff

 

[methods]

What a job means. . .

A mentor once told me "Patrick, a lot goes into a job" -> And that is the whole truth.

You gotta plan, procure, prep, perform, and most importantly post-test.



-Planning means you dont leave the job all f'ed up and unfinished.
-Procure means you dont have to go to the store 3 times.
-Prep means you do a good job cleaning all the joints and interfaces. . . so "prep work".
-Perform means you do it yourself to an acceptable standard
-Post-Test means you thoroughly test your work to the Definition of Success

...
- Does not drip, not so much as a single drip or start of a drip.
- Does not jostle loose when the wife puts chemicals back under the sink.
- Does not electrocute anyone, so GFCI (TEST IT!)
- Does set in... so fill the sink with very hot water and flush, do the same with cold

Heat expands objects
Cold contracts them... this means your joints (will to some degree) settle, so parts of a job are going back some number of hours/days/weeks to check on things.



One big part of a job is accepting responsibility from start to finish of mating interfaces. In the picture above I had to dig farther into the plumbing to remove this section. If you zoom in on that. . . you will see that it was... time for it to get cleaned very well or replaced.

I replaced with (NOT HOME DEPOT) plastic. The Home Depot line of 1.5" Kitchen Sink stuff burned me twice. The damn nuts were spinning out (could not get torque), the seal-wedges were loose, it was flipping garbage end to end. I use a different (name brand) from a different store (local chain).

... All this stuff went in real tight. The gaskets were very snug, I was able to put significant torque on the nuts. . . you can bang the pipes and they are solid. NOT as solid as a metal install... but ... an order of magnitude cheaper (and easy to cut).

...

So...
It is not just about "finishing a job". Once you can actually START a job (lol) and FINISH a job (lol again) then there is still more to do.

- Test properly!
- Clean up your mess
- Salvage parts that are still good
- Oil Tools. . .

See... you dont learn this shit until live catches up to you. Once life does. . . you start to understand how important it is to have::

- PLAN A
- PLAN B
- PLAN C



Right?
Because... in PLAN A, Elon Musk is going to show up at my house one day with a 3' bong. We are going to cruse over to his spaceship in an underground tunnel going about 200mph. . . then...

(ENTER PLAN B)
right?
:lol:

Getting down to PLAN F, I am more than a competent

- Plumber (Rough and Finish)
- Framer of (Windows and Doors)
- Electrician (Anything. . . except I have not yet climbed a pole)
- Floorman (tile, hardwood, leveler... on concrete, elevated, ...)
-
-
-
-
-
-

Each of those trades can feed my family and all of them together can allow me to see over a job. In good times. . . contractors get all the gigs. In bad times. . . people just need a guiding light. Until you get into the shit -> You dont know how hard a job is.

-methods

-methods

 

[methods]

Landed the Scope Meter.
We now have the following capability

* 200Mhz
* Isolated
* Battery Powered



* Turns on almost instantly
* Has inputs to run as a standard meter
* Can capture and record

Er... I just realized that the scope inputs are only rated to 300V while the meter inputs are rated to 1000V. I will have to figure out how to set up a rig to take higher voltage measurements.

The scope probes are 10:1... eh... let me go look it up.

...



Oh - sweet
Dialed to 1KV



Just got super nervous because I did not do as deep of research as I normally would. I was fully aware that the Scopes are not very popular. . . but. . I was depending on being able to hit 480 with it.



Yea, super dialed.
This scope will meet my requirements. Came in a hard case, every bit of the original stuff was in the box (half unopened), accessory kit was there, even the CD.



You work to buy tools, your tools bring you more work, more work lets you hire others.

-methods

 

[methods]

I poked thru the menu a bit. A good deal of "core" O-Scope stuff is not there (as expected) but some more practical things are.

* Various Current measurements
* Various Thermal measurements

For instance you can give it your shunt value and display amps directly. I am very interested to see how fast I can record for how long. Shunt measurements on the Rigol (10mV range) were a rotten joke. Useless really. All I could do was "average the fuzz" and I had to plug the scope into an isolated inverter to take a single measurement non-referenced to ground!

We... will see how well these 10:1 probes can pick up a T I N Y signal (and the noise around it). Fluke is good at this, so I have high hopes. What I really want to see. . . is the power step-function of my Adafruit Wifi Arduino!

* Hibernate current
* Sleep current
* Running current
* Running with WiFi current. . .

I still think it is going to take two sensors (high range and low range) but I am fixated on taking these two measurements at the same place at the same time (eh hem). With this meter, I think I can use an active setup and get a clean enough read.

Time will tell.

-methods

 

[methods]

Schindler Engineering Adventures

There was a guy ripping up the beach on an ebike. I could not hear a thing and he was living the dream. Beach was covered in hundreds (no exaggeration, as in well over 100) huge snails. By huge I mean, significantly larger than your hand.





In the background what you see is Mexico.



Thats the wall, it extends out into the water. I dont know what the wall is for, but I suspect it is to protect this flying saucer that crashed. You can see it below.



and again in this picture -> Clear proof of Aliens.



Live the Dream

-methods

 

[DogDipstick]

What the....?!?!?!??!


I just wanted to see a bike, man.

........ not the ramblings of a ... madman, or someone on drugs...

WTF is this thread full of? Lol. Not bikes, thats for sure. Maybe, nobody will ever know. Yeah pretty sure thats it.

Tlr;
You're on drugs, right?

Lol

 

[methods]

What the....?!?!?!??!

yes?
Do you have a question regarding Ebikes or the Electric Revolution?

How may I help you?

I just wanted to see a bike, man.

........ not the ramblings of a ... madman, or someone on drugs...

Stop the press. One of our non-paying members had his/her expectations crushed while searching our database for highly targeted information. It appears that information around the starting of an Electric Revolution was packed in close to the content he/she sought, and the response is that poster must be

* Insane
* On Drugs

Interesting.
Sounds just like the posts we used to fend off before ebikes were mainstream.

er..
Maybe I should go back, moderate out every bit of content other than the information you seek, and ... like... be a free online help service?

WTF is this thread full of? Lol. Not bikes, thats for sure. Maybe, nobody will ever know. Yeah pretty sure thats it.

Tlr;
You're on drugs, right?

Lol

No, not on drugs man. . . but now I know you either do drugs or know someone well who does. Is this thread making you feel funny?

...

Dont feel bad. A lot of people have the same reaction when they see a crazy spill of information that they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. Disorientation, incredulousness, ...

I mean, I did claim above that an alien spaceship crashed in Mexico and that I had pictures of it. I can understand your concern.

eh
Want to go on an Ebike ride?


-methods