I encountered my first setback with the epicyclic hub project. Frankly, I am surprised to have made it this far without some kind of major disaster.
I pressed the planet shafts into the axle and loaded a set of planets, bronze washers, and snap rings. They run really loosely on the sun gear and bind on the ring gear. I measured the outer, extreme points on the opposite shafts and found each pair to be the same, but 0.005" too far apart. I must not have correctly indicated the turnatable on the mill when I drilled the holes in the axle. I was a bit skeptical of the indicating job I did.
I will be able to easily punch out all of the planet shafts and then shift and redrill the holes in the axles. It won’t be but a two or three hour setback and it will LIGHTEN the unit as a few of you wanted me to do.
So, like all errors and coverups, it’s a design feature…not a construction flaw.
Oh…another setback. I bought Jeff Lutkus’ giraffe from him and it’s supposed to arrive Wednesday. So, Wednesday about 6:00 or so I should be sky high and enjoying myself and 6:05 or so I should be in the back of the aid car. The number of splints, casts, and bandages I’m wearing on Thursday will determine how much machining I can do that evening. Sacrifices must be made, though.
Thanks for your concern but, no, the plains of the Serengheti call me. I must saddle up the camelopardalis and urge it on to swiftly stride the grasslands that it calls home. If only it arrives in time.
Do be kind enough to relay to this timid Fox, weather, in fact, the grapes are sour or sweet. Your position from on-high sould afford consideralbe insight in to this mater.
>I will be >able to easily punch out all of the planet shafts and then shift and >redrill the holes in the axles. It won’t be but a two or three hour >setback and it will LIGHTEN the unit as a few of you wanted me to do. >So, like all errors and coverups, it’s a design feature…not a >construction flaw.
Open up any applyance and most likely you will find all sorts of holes
without any obvious reason. I’ve always wondered what they were for,
but now I see: they’re a design feature!
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“VLF, 64 Vauxhall Cross, Lybia”
Excellent observation, Klaas. Now I find my new set of holes is almost equally as bad so I will have to now alter the planet shafts so the planet gears float around a little. Well, it’s a prototype so there you have it. The planet gears and shafts will wear a little faster but the instrument makers here have told me that it will work and that’s the fastest way to save my…hub. They also told me it might help to have a real machinist do it, not a dork electrical engineer.
The grapes are sweet. I have the gearsets meshing now. I will try to post photos of the partially assembled and meshing gearsets in the next couple of days. Now it’s on to making the aluminum hub halves. I sawed out the blanks tonight.
If you would be so kind, take a few pics of the machining/fabricating of the aluminum hub halves- would be cool to see the sections of raw material transformed (the wine press in action, as it were).
e-mail me and we can discuss what views and what kind of progression you would like to see. I will start machining tomorrow and I want to know if I should bring a camera then or wait until Sunday. Send an e-mail to the harper@unicyclist.com address from the location to which you would like the message returned. You don’t seem to respond to your rhysling@unicyclist.com address.