PROGRESS!!!

So spring break has just occurred in our school district.  It allowed all the students to recover from the madness of school and take a break right before the mental breakdowns of May.  During this one week of no school, I took a long car ride down to the steel shop.  Now it being on the south side and me living on the north side, it was a long trip.  Just about 30-40 minute drive just for steel! But I was alright with this.  My dad, not so much...
Coming up to the place, it seemed a little sketchy.  However, the people over at Warner Steel helped me gather what I needed and got me in and out in only about 5 minutes.  They also helped me cut it down so it could fit in the van!  So it was a good day.
The steel in total cost $74.05.  I also paid $100 for the rear axle and the 20" wheels.  The motor was free off the side of the road; however, it cost roughly $10 to repair.  In total, I have spent about $184.05 and I still have at least $110 left in parts still needed to purchase.

Parts list

Well my progress so far today has be minimal and not exciting, but much needed.  I started to do a parts list of everything else I need to buy to complete this project.  This is what I have so far:

• MBS ATS Pro Truck 49.95
• http://shop.mbs.com/accessories-241/mountainboard-trucks-suspension/mbs-ats-pro-truck.html
• Complete 8" Knobby Wheel x2 49.90
• http://shop.mbs.com/accessories-241/mountainboard-wheels/complete-8-knobby-wheel.html
• 1 x 1 x 11ga steel
• http://www.warnersteel.com/Tubing.html
• 2 x 1 x 11ga steel
• http://www.warnersteel.com/Tubing.html
• 1" Cold Rolled Rounds
• http://www.warnersteel.com/ROUNDBAR.html

So now it's time to go to the mall and go shopping!!! YAY!!!

Never mind about making progress soon...

Last week I said that I may start making progress forward, well that never happened... I didn't have time this week again.  With robotics and schoolwork going on, I have not completed much.  I have been learning a lot from robotics and have been applying most of my knowledge I have gained from robotics to work on this project.  Hopefully my trip to buy steel will turn out ok!

Progress!!! Ish...

It has honestly been a while since I have worked on the skateboard.  It may be just from me not having enough time, but also not wanting to work on it.

But now, I finally have some time so I may get some work done!  I have been working away at the 3D mock-up on Autodesk Inventor and it has been going very well (except for the fact that Inventor wants to kill my project but that's besides the fact).

 I still got to order metal and few more parts, but it's going along!  Hopefully it will be complete by May.

Documentation of Project

Today, our teacher asked us about documentation and I went like:

I didn't now what to do, I was just like the left shark at the super bowl half time show.  Along the way, I have been taking photos every now and then when I remember to.  Besides that, I have my blog which has been documenting most of what I have been doing.  When it comes to actually building the skateboard, I will be taking more photos.  By then, I should have more control over the project just like the catch of the year from the super bowl.

Progress Update

Well I have been chugging along recently on the motorized skateboard project.  I recently ordered the rear trans axle.

 It is a rear axle off a MTX riding lawn mower.  I did not know that it came with 20" tires, but that's what I got to work with.  Main reason why I want to use this trans axle is that it converts horizontal shaft to vertical motion, needed for my horizontal shaft engine.  Hopefully, I will be making a trip to the local steel supplier here in town soon to get the steel that is needed.  As long as death does not come down on me because of this project, this will be a beastly skateboard.

Hanging out with friends, online.

Instead of going off on our projects solo today, we actually got to socialize a little bit and see what others in English class were doing for their projects.

First stop was Sarah's blog.  For her project, she is learning HTML5 and writing about what she knows.  I sit next to her in English and see everything she codes and it's just plain amazing.  Every time she does a blog, it is written in HTML before it is posted.  Code is just something amazing I have never bothered to learn and is witchcraft to me.
Next stop was Matthew.  In his project, he is researching the brain and how it's nerves/emotions work with it.  Now let me say first, his use of GIFs was brilliant and fun to read.  I have always been interested in the brain and its functions in social situations.  It will; be interesting to see what he finds.
Last was my little/older sister Beth.  I do not get to see her much but it was nice to see what she is doing for her project.  She is looking into female role in video games and to see what effects they have on people.  It is very interesting topic and very under-rated in my opinion.  Not many people look into the psychological effect of video games on people, but people play them constantly.  Even kids as young as 5 play them.

Back to School

Well we had a good three week break for Christmas.  Time to go back to school!  Over break, I actually ended up changing up my project a little bit.  Now I decided to go for a motorized skateboard.  After much time looking into the purchase of the a old car, the harsh reality hit me that I would never be able to afford a project like that for a while.  I ended up settling on a lower-budget project that would still correspond to what I want to do.  I settled on either creating a go-kart or a motorized skateboard (both of which are super sick).  Over the break, through some deals I made, I got my hands on a small trans-axle from a riding lawnmower.  Why my friend had one sitting around, who knows, but I have it now!  With this and the engineering skills I have learned from friends and through Blueprints to Brilliance, hopefully I will be able to make one of these dreams a reality.  Future, here we come!

The End of a Long Road :(

First semester has come and gone; the wind taking it away.  Considering the fact that our class has been doing Blueprint to Brilliance for half a semester, I feel like I have came a far way in my project.  I started off pushing a broken-down lawn mower down the street off the side of the road home to fix up.  Also, I magically got the lawn mower working again and it runs cleanly now (besides the fact the exhausts creates a horrendous smell, but that does not matter).  In the beginning, I wanted to end up fixing up a car for my end project.  Realistically, I don't think that will happen.  Instead, I think I will end up making the lawn mower into a go kart of some fashion.


Sounds ridiculous, I know.  Even my parents are questioning my sanity when I bought a 10 inch pulley for the lawn mower.  Hopefully this will tun out ok without any problems or any fire.



And by the way, Happy Christmas and Feliz Navidad!

Time to become fat!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means its time to get fat! Less importantly, it is also time to be thankful.  With Blueprint to Brilliance, I have learned to be thankful for the little things in life.  I have found out the importance of a portable heater along with  garage space.  Without these two, I would probably be frozen solid working on some dinky lawn mower outside in the snow.  Instead, I am alive!!!  I am also thankful for all the stores around the area.  Thankfully, I have not needed to ship any parts yet; I have always been able to purchase them. It is a little awkward to walk into a construction store as a kid though.

Lets start!

Now that I got the parents approved, I can start working on the engine.  I picked up a small 6.75 hp Briggs and Stratton push mower roughly 1 month ago. 

At the moment, it is in a non-operational condition and does not run.  Looking over it, it looks light I will need to go through and replace the spark plug.  Also, the carburetor looks like a mess so I will need to rebuild that.  While I am at it, I may want to check the piston head to let me see how well maintained the motor because who knows how stupid the people who owned this beforehand were. Who knows, maybe I can fiddle around with the exhaust to make it sound like a Ferrari! The possibilities are endless... 

The plan is announced, and the votes are in

Well I finally gave the dreaded speech for my class a few days ago, and it turned out fine! (Besides the fact of me embarrassing myself by knocking the teachers bowl off her desk).  But, I got a few laughs in and made it a-ok.  During the presentation of pure awesomeness, I put up a picture of a spark plug just to see what people know, which is apparently nothing.  Someone guessed it was a whistle.  I mean go ahead, stick your mouth on it and see what happens, but I personally would not recommend using it as one.

However with these people not knowing much, they were still able to help me.  I found out that in the real world, money could be a problem and may be a problem in this situation.  I may haft to tweak this project to fit these parameters cause cash is much needed for food, girlfriend, and this project.  Without a job, it may be hard to fund a full car so...

The Dreaded Speech...

First off, I give speeches on about a bi-daily basis.  As leader of the FHS Robotics Team, I had to learn how to prepare and give speeches to small audiences with informing them on what we are doing.  This speech to the class should be the same way; informing the students on what I am doing for this project over the next few weeks.  Hopefully the feedback from my peers and classmates will help me develop my final project more.

York School

York School, a school that exists somewhere in the USA.  They posted a video online about their Genius Hour projects that they accomplished.  If you would like to view it, it is here at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xupHuEk8p7g. No one did anything anywhere even remotely close to my topic.  However, I did notice most of these projects were geared towards community outreach while mine is more geared towards me.  This makes me question my project idea and if it fits into the guidelines of the project.  There are plenty of experts in the field of cars ranging from just hobbies to famous car designs, so I should have no problem locating some.

The Critics

Well its settled, I’m going into car restorations and engine rebuilds.  Not like I was going to change my mind from the start, but we do have the option to.  Our class had peer review for our topics.  No one really understood what I was doing or why, but that’s probably because their parents will just buy them a car.  I hope to learn with this project to rebuild/repair a car so I can get a car for the cheap and use it. To learn this, I will look up the millions of general tutorials online.  Nothing specific yet because I’m not sure exactly what car I would like to go into.

I WIN, MY LUCK STRIKES AGAIN

After multiple years of begging and wearing down my parents with a stroke of luck, I finally pressed my parents into allowing me to have my own engine.  This has been years in the making.  They have stopped me from buying and rebuilding a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle, 1981 AM General 6X6, and a 1990's Toyota Camry.  On Wednesday on the way home, I just so happened to stumble upon a Craftsman lawnmower on the side of the road.  Moments latter, it just so happened to appear in my garage calling my name.  I guess settling for a old Craftsman lawnmower could be considered low, but its a start.

At the very beginning...

Well, its the start of the school year, and that means its time to starts some new projects.  This year, it is a new project called "Genius Hour". I have never heard of this project before; however, it is apparently very popular among teachers K-12, so I thought I would give it a try.  It took me forever to figure out what to research for this project cause I typically don't care for these unguided projects.  I discovered this project is basically along the lines of a monastery-school type of learning.  With me wanting to go into mechanical engineering plus my passion in cars, I decided look into engine rebuilds. I am going to be needing for a car soon for work, so hopefully this could help me rebuild a car on the cheap. Just as long as I don't blow a gasket on the way...