serial/ethernet combination tap

J@§¤ñ wrote to tell me about how he extended my 5-in-1 network admin's cable to build a dual-purpose Ethernet and RS-232 tap. Very nice!

the great satellite disaster of 2007

I traveled to Fairbanks with a small hot wire gear cutter and parts to make a large one. At Belfair I spent the better part of two days making the large gear cutter and an axle guide prior to the start of the event. The structures were made primarily of balsa wood, fragile but lightweight enough to allow for gradual, gravity powered gear cutting without bending the resistance wire. Lars had the bright idea that I could use a single axle guide with the small and large gear cutter mounted at either end. We decided that this configuration looked somewhat like a satellite.

I didn't try to make a gear until the third day of the competition. By that time my power supply had apparently fallen off of one of our work benches and sustained some damage from the low temperature impact. The case was broken, and the Kapton tape holding the transformer to its mount had broken (They use the stuff to make space suits, so you'd think it would hold up in cold temperatures! I guess I must have had it against too sharp of an edge.) Fortunately, the wiring was intact, and current was delivered to the gear cutter as I attempted to make our pinion.

When I tested the hot wire gear cutting technique at home, I ended up with a nice gear and a puddle of water. Unfortunately, the colder temperature (-20°F or so) during the competition didn't allow for a similar result. No liquid water escaped at all, and I helplessly watched the device pass slowly through the entire cylinder of ice while all of the melted water re-froze immediately behind the hot wires.

I tried adjusting the voltage. More power made it work faster but also caused cracks to appear in the block of ice; no setting prevented the horrifying re-freezing. With only a half an inch to go, the power supply failed for an unknown reason (temperature affecting the semiconductor in the TRIAC dimmer switch?), so I began using the backup power supply (same design, smaller transformer). It finished the job, but I was left with a solid cylinder of ice trapped within the gear cutter assembly. Only a hint of a gear shape was visible.

I was almost ready to give up on making gears at all, but I figured that there was a chance that the technique might work if the individual resistance wires were bent slightly upward so that gravity could pull the liquid water along the hot wire toward the outer edge of the ice block. I decided to flip the whole contraption over, tweak the wires, and run it upside-down, passing the wires through the gear blank in the opposite direction. Even if it didn't work, I would at least free the ice from the gear cutter.

Here's a fun exercise to try at home: Place all your fine china or other fragile valuables in a large box with a bowling ball in the center. Don't use any packing material. Take the box for a walk around the block, flip it upside-down at least once, bring it home, open it, and witness the destruction. This is pretty much what it was like turning the balsa wood frame around with a block of ice trapped inside. I thought I could turn it over (holding the ice, not the wood) and pass it up from beneath the sawhorse workbench, but it was too big, or I was too clumsy, and it was, well, a disaster.

I did finally manage to get the small gear cutter in place, upside-down, over the gear blank resting on temporary supports, but the large gear cutter was badly damaged and completely separated from the axle guide in the process. I bent the resistance wires, attached the backup power supply, turned it on, and nothing happened. The backup power supply had failed! Thus our quest for gears ended.

Perhaps last year's technique would have been better, but the speed advantage of hot wire cutting seemed tremendous. After this experience and our first field use of The Boiler (Lars's hot tube cutting machine - effective but slow and with some cracking), we've determined that no heat cutting technique should be used in sub-zero weather. If we decide to use heat cutting in the future (and the speed advantage may well lead to that decision), then we will have to perform the operation on warmer ice with a warmer ambient temperature, perhaps in a tent.

Counterclockwise

Here are a couple photos of the completed piece. It is a working music box that plays one note. When the crank at the front is turned, a cam lifts and then drops a hammer that strikes a vertical chime.

The frame structure on the left ended up being completely superfluous because our chime was attached directly to the floor.

photos by Dan

Dan Gottesman graciously offered quite a few photos he took of our project. Here they are in chronological order.

We started out by carving a few slabs off of our block. We used a chainsaw with a 42 inch bar and a helper handle to follow lines scribed into the ice. At first we tried etching the lines with sharp things, but we eventually figured out the easiest way we had to mark the ice was with pencil. The pencil markings could be erased quickly with a chisel.

Breaks in the warming hut were essential as the temperature was rarely above -15°F. I heard that the average temperature during the competition was -23°F and that it was the first time in the history of the Single Block Classic that it never exceeded 0°F over the course of the three day event.

We used small, electric chainsaws to carve parts out of the slabs. Here is one of the saws next to one of Lars's homemade chisels.

We tried cutting slabs at night, but it turned out to be tricky. At temperatures below -20°F or so, the ice tended to crack. We never lost a whole slab, but some significant fractures appeared along the edge closest to the gas engine of the giant chainsaw.

Lars noticed that the exhaust port on the saw pointed directly at the ice where it had cracked, so we decided that slab cutting would be a daytime-only activity until a modification could be made back at the shop.

We were fortunate to have the aurora borealis overhead as we worked into the night. It is always a treat to see the lights in Fairbanks.

This display was fairly bright and active. There were two distinct bands of light that rippled quite a bit.

We were worried about how long an axle we would be able to turn on the lathe, but we ended up having no trouble producing axles of more than 50 inches.

Roughing out parts with chainsaws turned out to be the safest nighttime activity.

The drill press carriage assembly and custom 3.5" drill bit Lars made worked wonderfully.

Here you can see a hole ready to receive a lathe-turned axle.

We had some scary moments while assembling the chime frame that consisted of three horizontal shelves. The extreme temperatures made it difficult to waterglue ice. As soon as more than a few drops water or slush hit the ice, significant cracks appeared. Also, the frame pieces didn't fit together as well as we would have liked, mostly due to our slab cuts not being perfectly planar (though they were much better than last year's). The middle shelf broke apart into several large pieces while I was trying to level it for gluing. I was amazed that the lower shelf stayed intact when all the pieces landed on it. After that event, we came up with a bonding method that caused less cracking and also allowed for less precision: spreading a layer of dry snow between the parts, wiggling them into position, and then spraying the snow with a small quantity of liquid water.

Throughout the competition, we followed diagrams in a book I had printed using QCad. As the event wore on, we made more and more notes and modifications to the designs in the book.

Lars used a hot tube cutter ("the boiler") with a sheet steel template to carve the hammer.

The boiler worked well but very, very slowly. Unfortunately, it tended to create cracks in the ice, especially when used at night. We had the same problem with hot wire cutting, so we came to the conclusion that heat cutting is generally useless below about -20°F (maybe higher). If we decide to use heat cutting in the future, we will have to warm the ice up to a workable temperature before doing so.

As night fell on Thursday, we were working on the final assembly of our simplified music box. We had to pack a considerable amount of snow between the front frame pieces in order to get the axles aligned correctly. Ice was cracking like crazy when it came in contact with more than the tiniest amount of water, but I found that I could get the snow to stay in place with just a little moisture from my own breath.

I brushed snow off of the piece while Lars worked on the last few parts.

The cracking power cord on the die grinder held up just long enough for Lars to finish the bushings needed for the axle assemblies.

I kept scraping and brushing snow off the ice until the bushings were finished.

Just before the horn sounded, we put the axles in place with all of the parts attached. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the next day that we were able get the music box working.

counterclockwise or otherwise

Check out the official Ice Alaska page for our creation at the Single Block Classic. Shortly before the final photo was taken we affixed the crank handle to the front and made a few invisible modifications to allow the piece to function. It isn't much to look at, especially from the front, but it works. We should have turned the entire piece 45° so that you can better see the mechanical parts.

Hilariously, the sculpture is titled Counterclockwise, but it only works when turned clockwise. That should confuse some people. Lars carved a clockwise arrow above the handle that will hopefully get the point across. Unfortunately the mechanical parts are likely to break if it is turned the wrong direction; this was why we had originally planned to add a ratchet. Oh well. We'll see how long it lasts!

it works

I need to catch up on sleep before posting more of the story (and a whole bunch of pictures), but our effort to make the single chime mechanism work on Friday afternoon was a success! We turned the crank, the hammer hit the chime, and nothing broke! Unbelievably, it was still working when we returned a few hours later.

the competition is over

After an afternoon discussion, Lars and I decided to simplify our design and attempt to complete it by the 9:00 PM horn marking the end of the competition. If the piece wasn't done at 9:00, we would voluntarily disqualify ourselves and keep working until finished. Lars: "Art may break out at any moment!"

The simplified design consists of a single chime struck by a hammer once per rotation of a crank. It eliminates many parts that were required by the design capable of playing a tune but is still mechanical, interactive, and musical.

We finished making all of the required parts and were installing the axle assemblies as the clock ticked toward 9:00. When the horn sounded, all of the parts were in place except for the crank, and the sculpture only needed some waterglue and a little re-positioning of the chime before being completely functional.

Since we were so close, and the piece was starting to look pretty cool, we decided not to forfeit the competition. Instead we packed up our things, cleaned up the site, and headed home after one last donut from the warming hut. We'll return on Friday afternoon, during the warmest part of the day, to finish the piece and make it work.

Thursday update

A combination of technical difficulties and general lack of time have prevented me from updating the blog as often as I would have liked. As of lunch on Thursday, the last day of the competition, we are doing well but are behind schedule. Our tools have been working as intended this year, but we are finding that, even with better tools, carving each individual part takes quite a bit of time, sometimes well over an hour for a single part. We need to find ways to increase our speed!

We have made excellent progress this morning thanks to a few speed improvements, but there is still much more to do. At some point today we will have to decide whether or not we will simplify our design to get something working tonight. Another alternative would be to continue carving tomorrow, although our piece would be incomplete for judging tonight. Either way, we are doing much better than last year despite experiencing worse overall weather.

slab cutting

The giant chainsaw has been working very well for slab cutting. We've cut full slabs from two inches to six inches thick, and not a single slab has broken. The only improvement we can envision would be some kind of guide to keep our cuts straight. Our cuts haven't been horribly crooked, but a little more consistency in our slab thickness would help quite a bit.

in the shop

We spent a great deal of time on Sunday and Monday in the shop at Belfair. I spent most of the time working on a hot wire gear cutter for the large gear.

Lars worked on a number of things, including the super router that has become known as Julie. Originally envisioned as an attachment for a drill press, Julie ended up being constructed with her own motor.

Nephew Gary helped out by building a large nailboard that we call The Devil's Backscratcher or Old Scratch.

go!

We showed up early and set up hundreds of pounds of equipment this morning before the 9:00 starting time. We spent the morning carving large slabs of ice off of our block and making a pad of ice upon which we will build our sculpture.

The pad is made of hard-packed snow that has been leveled. After leveling the snow, we dribbled cold water onto it a few times, did some sanding, and eventually got it to the point where we could pour water onto it like a skating rink. By lunch we had a fairly slippery rink and were starting to carve structural pieces out of our slabs. Not a single slab has yet broken!

The giant chainsaw is working flawlessly, as is every other tool. Wow! We look like we sort of know what we are doing!

ready

After a delightfully uneventful flight to Fairbanks, Lars and I spent two days hard at work in the shop at Belfair. We have so many wonderful tools this year! I'll have to post photos of them, but I am unable to at the moment.

At Ice Park today we drew site number 42. Excellent! If you are in Fairbanks, we hope you'll visit us over the next three days. We've already unloaded some equipment at the site, and the rest of our stuff is ready to go in the morning. Our ice block has been oriented and placed (something that didn't happen until the first morning of competition last year), so we are ready to attack the ice with the giant chainsaw at 9:00 AM sharp.

going back to bed

I checked my email one last time before leaving for a long day of travel only to find a notice telling me that we had been bumped to a much later flight. Our first flight of the day was canceled. Other than the fact that we don't get to join Lars and Sharon for dinner tonight, our new itinerary is actually much better. This change cut our total travel time from thirteen hours down to seven hours, and it pretty much gives us a whole extra day.

"¡Peligro, Will Robinson!"

"I just heard that the SAW IS READY!! Peligro Will Robinson!" So said Lars before he went to pick it up. He now has the giant chainsaw, and it is ready to go!

one week to go

We've settled on a design and are making last minute preparations for next week's event. I've had a cold for the last few days, so my first priority has been to get healthy; I don't want to head to Fairbanks feeling less than 100%.

Lars has been very busy working on tools. He welded up a new drill press table (the "Drill Press Table X-2007 HD") and has done some ice axle testing. He is also trying to put together a hot tubing ice cutter to try out.

The high temperature in Fairbanks is supposed to be -20°F from today through Sunday, but they say it should be warmer (lows near 0°F) next week.

ice harvested

The word from Ice Alaska is that the ice harvest for the single block has been completed and that the ice this year is 31 inches thick, not counting a little white ice. This is quite a bit thinner than last year's block, but it should be plenty of ice for the music box. Hopefully the cold spell won't crack the ice too much.

cam, hammer, and pawl

We thought that we would have to resort to building eight or nine hammers, but now we have a design that only requires four hammers, one for each chime. The red thing is a cam that turns clockwise when the crank is turned. Each lobe of the cam lifts the hammer (green) and pawl (yellow), and then releases them in that order. When released, the hammer swings once toward the chime on the left (not pictured) and then swings back toward the cocked position. By the time the hammer returns, the pawl has been released and is able to catch the hammer mostly cocked.

If the crank is turned too fast, the pawl is released in time to catch the hammer after only a fraction of a swing, preventing the hammer from hitting the next lobe on the cam with damaging force. The pawl limits the tempo at which the tune may be played, catches the hammer to prevent damage caused by repeated swinging, and preserves much of the energy of the hammer, making the whole thing more efficient and minimizing wear.

Unfortunately, the pawls are four extra moving parts and an additional axle, but they help us avoid making eight or more moving parts that we would need if we were to use more hammers.

oh, for a giant chainsaw

Lars: "I was up in a balloon the other day when the chainsaw store called to tell me that the saw and Handburger Helper Handle was there, but then the balloon came crashing down the next day when they told me that the bar won't fit on the engine! They are '100% positive' that they've got another one that fits it, and can get it up by the 19th, so that's where we are. If that fails, I'm going to demand that they become one of our corporate sponsors, and give us the longest barred saw that they have during the contest in exchange for advertising. Maybe we'll have a corporate sponsor!"

Hopefully they'll get us a chainsaw with a 40 inch or longer bar in time for the competition. If not, we'll have to resort to hot wire slab cutting or cutting the slabs from both sides with a shorter saw like we did last year. We spent too much time trying to align the cuts last year, though. If we have to use that method this year, we'll probably settle for rougher cuts and then smooth the slabs with a large nailboard.

two weeks to go

Strangely there is not much to report. We continue to work on tools and designs, but our preparations aren't so frantic as they were last year. We have a much better idea of what we are doing this year, a better command of the medium, and more sophisticated tools. Hopefully we aren't victims of false confidence, but, although there is still much to do, there seems to be plenty of time to do it.

I leave for Fairbanks in eleven days, and I only have a few more days before my shipping deadline. I'm taking more stuff with me this year, but that means I'll have less to do in the shop at Belfair after my arrival.

three weeks to go

Lars writes, "The giant router is tacked together, and needs a little alignment and bit sharpening and final welding, but then it'll be fully ready to use." The router is actually a long, custom attachment for his drill press. The drill press is mounted over a table, and the giant router bit goes through the table and is fixed to a bearing on the under side. It should be great for precision cutting of large machine parts out of slabs of ice.

We're closing in on a final chime design, and much progress is being made on the cam and hammer design, though it is still somewhat up in the air. Before long we might actually know what our sculpture will look like!