Don't remember where my head was on the Plexiglas material. Long ago I had moved on to polycarbonate. Floating out there, sometimes you just latch onto whatever piece of flotsam comes by, and then you realize, after a bit of research, hey, I've already looked at this!
Running down a supplier today, cleaning up the workshop, etc,,,. Trying to pick the material type, thickness, pick out available tools, shapes to use and so forth. Think I'll have to go toward tensional setup instead of the hardback. That'll be interesting, and mind expanding. Onward. Winter's coming. Anticipation is building as to the fun!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Conceptualizing Bikes
In summary, the questions are, from a user's point of view, what do we need for our use? What does it need to do? How can it enhance my life? What will it cost? How can one pay for it?
From a designer's point of view, the questions are: What is the "need"? Is there one design which can fulfill the "need" or are there multiple adaptations from a central platform? What are the environmental parameters for the object? What are the environmental needs of the human operator? And, so forth,,,.
It all comes down to the; What? When? How? Why? Where?
Then, we place the word, "Need" into the word equation; Need What? Need When? Need How? Need Why? Need Where? We can rearrange the order as to their logical sequences or not. Or, we can just try and answer the questions.
As most of the science has already been done, "the math" so to speak, pertaining to the efficiencies of the wheel and being able to move objects using one or two wheels, I think I'll not challenge anything in those categories. Nor do I need to address the "Need" part. That's fairly evident.
I think I'll just put this on a personal basis. Right now, I "need" a vehicle that is cheap to operate; is fairly safe; can haul a load of fifty pounds or more; can go up and down hills in the most efficient manner possible; can get me out of the weather; can allow me to go large distances if the need arises; is self locking; is highly visible; is cheap to make. Let's see if I can think of something else to throw into the pot? Oh, yeah, and can either expand or interconnect with another like vehicle to allow another person or two or more to safely travel together. Drafting? Wouldn't that be something? If you could somehow "hook up" behind someone and then actually add your power to theirs? Sort of like flying a tanker? Could you actually make something which would allow a person to run up behind another like bike and hook into a connection that would raise the front wheel off of the ground while providing a solid connection between frames? Now that would be really tricky! But, fun! And, if it were to occur with two or more fairings, you could really put out some serious torque! Or, just use less energy to get to where you are going. Okay, back down to Earth.
Can I make a bike out of a fairing, without the bike insert? Just use the fairing material to be the frame? Can I do this cheaply? If I could use the KSS boat building method to produce a fairing, why not just take available plastic sheets on the market and make them into a fairing shortcutting around the laying out of the FRP and vacuum pumps and all of that costly process? Could I take, say, Plexiglas, and using the cables and so forth, bend it into a fairing and then using a solvent, melt the fiberglass onto the plexi? Or, once bent into the shape I need, hit it with a heat gun and "set the shape"? Once in a shape, I could string the tensioning cables inside to form the seat, seat back, and longitudinal tensioner hooking the axle/drivetrain/crank arms into a tensional unit. Okay, I think I'm onto something here. Off I go to research.
From a designer's point of view, the questions are: What is the "need"? Is there one design which can fulfill the "need" or are there multiple adaptations from a central platform? What are the environmental parameters for the object? What are the environmental needs of the human operator? And, so forth,,,.
It all comes down to the; What? When? How? Why? Where?
Then, we place the word, "Need" into the word equation; Need What? Need When? Need How? Need Why? Need Where? We can rearrange the order as to their logical sequences or not. Or, we can just try and answer the questions.
As most of the science has already been done, "the math" so to speak, pertaining to the efficiencies of the wheel and being able to move objects using one or two wheels, I think I'll not challenge anything in those categories. Nor do I need to address the "Need" part. That's fairly evident.
I think I'll just put this on a personal basis. Right now, I "need" a vehicle that is cheap to operate; is fairly safe; can haul a load of fifty pounds or more; can go up and down hills in the most efficient manner possible; can get me out of the weather; can allow me to go large distances if the need arises; is self locking; is highly visible; is cheap to make. Let's see if I can think of something else to throw into the pot? Oh, yeah, and can either expand or interconnect with another like vehicle to allow another person or two or more to safely travel together. Drafting? Wouldn't that be something? If you could somehow "hook up" behind someone and then actually add your power to theirs? Sort of like flying a tanker? Could you actually make something which would allow a person to run up behind another like bike and hook into a connection that would raise the front wheel off of the ground while providing a solid connection between frames? Now that would be really tricky! But, fun! And, if it were to occur with two or more fairings, you could really put out some serious torque! Or, just use less energy to get to where you are going. Okay, back down to Earth.
Can I make a bike out of a fairing, without the bike insert? Just use the fairing material to be the frame? Can I do this cheaply? If I could use the KSS boat building method to produce a fairing, why not just take available plastic sheets on the market and make them into a fairing shortcutting around the laying out of the FRP and vacuum pumps and all of that costly process? Could I take, say, Plexiglas, and using the cables and so forth, bend it into a fairing and then using a solvent, melt the fiberglass onto the plexi? Or, once bent into the shape I need, hit it with a heat gun and "set the shape"? Once in a shape, I could string the tensioning cables inside to form the seat, seat back, and longitudinal tensioner hooking the axle/drivetrain/crank arms into a tensional unit. Okay, I think I'm onto something here. Off I go to research.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)