WOW! it has been slow going of late. but i am still managing to get a lot done behind the scenes. basically, what i am doing, now that we all know that things are functioning how they should, it is time to find a more permanent place for the parts. All the fuel pumps are being relocate to the lowest part of the board. this will help with weight balance and safety. lowing the pumps lowers the boards centre of gravity. with the pumps and fuel in the lines your looking at about an extra 2kg so this is rather dramatic if you start to raise it above the center of mass. Now, with moving the pumps i am needing to find a new place for the electronics. so i have needed to make a new housing. then i will need to rewire some things to neaten everything up and not have excessive amounts of wire laying around. now one thing i have been looking at lately is new battery technology i want to minimise the batteries i need on board and also lower the weight. i have my eye on a couple and will be pursuing this in the near future. But first thing first and i will be putting in a heap of new fuel lines in the form of nice copper tubing. these will be the permanent fuel lines for the engines and the afterburners. so yes! you will be seeing flames really soon. so make sure you stock up on marshmallows. Below you will see how i laid out the pumps to get an idea of how they will fit. Below you can see that i now have the pumps mounted in their permanent places. the next thing is to build a cover to separate fuel and electronics. i will be running all copper lines to the pumps. the large pumps are for the afterburners and the small ones run the engines. i am still yet to work out where to run the gas lines. below you can see the finished and mounted fuel pumps. big ones for the afterburners and small ones for the engines. next is to plumb them up. Below you can see the temporary box made to separate electronics from fuel. again this is only to give me something to work from while i build something more permanent this will also give me time to work out what i want to do with the MASS of batteries i have and the abundance of wires they create. i am seeking one battery to rule them all. so if you know any battery guys looking to get a new battery out there let me know haha.
Just a quick up date. i was contacted by the guys over at HSC Ceramics (for those of you who don't know, are the people supplying me with bearings to break this world record) they wanted to let me know that they are custom machining up some parts for the new wheels i got from the guys over at ProLine Performance Racing. you see they have to make the bearings fit an 8mm axle because that is the size of a standard skateboard truck axle. which i am using to set this record.
Hopefully they guys will be able to get me some photos to show you guys. i look forward to seeing what they come up with. i can't thank them enough for everything they have already done. if you got a minute go check them out. they do some awesome bearings. i should know, i run them on all my boards. what a busy busy couple of weeks i have the good news is i have been in contact with some aeronautical engineers that might be keen to help me get my board as aerodynamic as possible. which would be great considering the speeds i am looking at doing. and not becoming airborne. so to begin with before any wind tunnel testing can begin and to see what they could possibly do they requested some pictures. these are the first full length pictures i have taken of the board with me on it. the photos are low as to give an idea of the angle of attack from the winds perspective. you will see in the one below that it is the front perspective from the middle of the board. the picture below gives the perspective from the middle of the engines the picture below gives the port side view of the board. believe me the starboard is exactly the same The last picture below shows just how close my head is to the turbines and how wide the board is.
I will be doing a Reddit AMA at 7pm EST. if you are interested come check it out and Ask Me Anything you would like to know.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ i know it's been a while since my last post, but you will have to forgive me. i have recently started a new job that is great. but it does not mean i have been slacking off. i have actually had the jet luge apart and have recently put it back together to test the new wiring layout and new settings i made on the ECU's. i have been trying to sync up the two turbines. so what i did, i thought i'd take it down to the park and try it there. it's away from houses and people. well so i thought. the moment i brought the board out i had an instant group. then i proceeded to start it up. well! didn't they come out of the wood work then?!. one guy later told me he thought a plane had crashed in the park. so i got it going and as it was running really well at about 25% thrust i thought i'd try sit on it and see what happens. well what happens is, at about 25% thrust the dam thing pushes you up a hill. the hill is at about a 8 to 10 degree incline. the board still sits way to low so it was scrubbing out the hole time. probably lucky considering it just wanted to keep going faster and faster. i could really feel the power when i lifted my feet. and i gotta say i loved every minute of it. i now can't wait to hook up the afterburners. anyway, enjoy the on-board footage and feel free to make comments. i enjoy the feedback and suggestions. p.s. i'm sorry for how long the clip is, i haven't had time to edit so i just put the raw footage up from start to chatting finish. So much work, so much time, so much money has gone into this moment. i am very happy today that i have had my first successful start and run of both turbines. i spent a very long last couple of days in the shed wiring, rewiring, stopping fuel leaks and tightening up loose nuts and bolts. all for the next two minutes you about to see. i'm still a little lost for words as i now know i am much closer than ever before to running the board for rolling tests. it's not through fear that i am lost for words. but more the excitement. 200kph here i come. on a side note. shortly after the first test i did another test that was not filmed. during which time the RPM sensor lead was inadvertently sucked into the intake of the Port side engine during ramp up. this was due to the fact i had the intake screen removed for testing of a new starter motor. this means this engine is out of action till i can fix the RPM sensor or source a new one. it's all good. i will have it done in no time and be back with even more power very soon.
After weeks of working, waiting and wiring I have finally done a successful start test of both engines. I am happy about this because it means I am now ready to try a full twin engine run. Those of you following the blog will know I have been hard at work building the housing for all the electronics and pumps. this will come into play once I start both engines. the heat from both is going to make things rather warm back there. After this I will be able to finalise allot of things on the board to make them ready for rolling tests. once I have that done I can start on making the afterburners functional. that is when the fun begins. I have been looking forward to getting my go fast button done for a very long time. who knows, I could hit it and set everything up in flames HAHA. Any way, enjoy the clip below. well i would like to first welcome you to craft corner. this week we will be baking a cake. this cake can be used for many things. but this one. i think we will use to house electronics, batteries and fuel pumps and lines for two turbine engines with afterburners. to begin. lets get a nice foundation to work with. preferably one coated in bulletproof kevlar to help prevent any intrusions in the event of a katastrophic failure, protecting the most important electronics and pumps. atop that foundation lets rough out the side walls and compartments we want to house our sections. you will see this below. once you have them in place fibreglass them to add strength and rigidity. once you have cemented your foundation and side walls a roof would be a nice thing to top it off. make sure you make a nice curve with enough clearance for the afterburners. also keep in mind you need to allow enough space for heat shielding. also allow a mounting point at the rear. make sure you leave one end open so you can allow for the electronics and fuel lines access to the cake. this cake will then also be pressed up against the fuel cell. this will cap the end off on your cake and make a completely enclosed layer cake. make sure you make the housing cake slightly smaller than the fuel cell. this way it won't catch any air at 200kph and try fly away. looks are not important. function is the key here. light strong and safe. remember, we are on a diet here. ok. we now have our basic cake looking like it should. now we fibreglass the outside to add some strength. let it dry and harden before moving to the next step. remember not knowing how to fibreglass should not hold you back. just go right ahead and slap it on there good and proper. now some of you maybe asking. how do we access the electronics and batteries. well this next part is were we put in the hinges. cut along the seems of your cake. remember. only use parts that you can afford and can be found around your shed or stolen off the kitchen cupboards. (warning: do not let your partner be aware you have any knowledge of why the cupboard doors now open freely on their own. nor why they won't stay closed like they used to.) once you have everything attached and you know that your clearances are ok. it will be time to then add icing to this cake. in that i mean heat shielding. make sure you have an even cover. keeping were the hottest parts are going to be well covered. we want to bake the cake. NOT the electronics ( you will be dealing with temperatures ranging from about 400c up to about 1800c) don't forget to thank the person that supplied you with the icing for this cake. Fitzy from Sydney Australia, your a bloody legend mate. can't thank you enough for giving me something that will protect the heart of my beast. once you have added your shielding make sure it is all secure and in place. then allow yourself about five minutes for fine detailing work and slap a she'll be right sticker on it and your done. later trim the inside to protect the batteries and stop any rattling noises during start-ups. on a side note. some of you may be aware i have been having problems with my electronics. mainly due to relays not being able to handle the heat or the sheer awesomeness of which is the jetluge. i can barely stand for five minutes in it's glow before busting out with a tear. a very small... but.. manly tear. so i upgraded the relay to one that maybe more suited to the job. if you can't guess. it's the one on the left. this one is a 100amps. the last was 30amps. you think it will work? place your bets people.
well after a great and VERY VERY hot weekend we inch ever closer to the goal. some of you may know i was down at the Blacktown Inn car show over the weekend. and as usual still working on the board. were i could. the heat got a bit to much for me later on.
The biggest problem i faced was having the Port side engine sheer on the afterburner when it expanded with heat. it's a very fine science with turbines and the clearances are very minimal. so i had my brother bring the grinder down so i could take off a couple a thousandths of a inch. sadly i took off enough in one spot but to little in another and the impella sheered on the afterburner again. by this stage it was way to hot to work on any more and i just had to leave it for the day. after all i still had the Starboard engine... or did i? well the starboard engine ran fine until i had problems with another relay. this could become an expensive exercise in correct wiring haha. so basically i was left with a very large and heavy but cool looking paper weight at the end of the show. Now you ask yourself this sounds like a horrible day. but in fact it was a great day. most importantly because i got to spend it with some great blokes. but also because i did get to test fire the Port side engine and we now have the ECU programed perfectly with the other engine. also, the starboard engine ran great while it was running and was smooth as butter. the following day i was sent a link to a few photos taken at the event by Scott Cummings. thank you for passing that along Scott. Follow the link to see them. HERE all the Jet Luge stuff starts about a third of the way down. you can also see a video of the event in the Video section shot by David Cameron what a great evening i had. for the first time i took the jet Luge out and showed the public. i took it to Sydney Speedway in Parramatta and not one person knew what it was. others would look at the board, then back at me, and back at the board, then just walk away shaking their heads with a grin.... i think they knew. once people started to understand what it was, and what i am trying to do, they laughed and told me how mad i am. but, strait after that, it was followed with a sincere good luck and a hand shake. this is one of the things i like about living in Australia. it's the mate-ship you share with you fellow man. even if they think your crazy for attempting something dangerous, i think they understand it's something that is bigger than that one event and yourself and genuinely want to wish you luck. i started one of the engines a couple of times and spent the night trying to keep people clear of the jet wash. by the end of the night i couldn't keep them away so the resulting video is what you get. it was the last run for the night. |
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