Report From Bonneville (Way Late)

Bonneville 2013

Let me say for the record that I hate writing. Even the necessary emails that I have to do on a daily basis are often arduous for me. That said I do feel like I have a lot I want to share and that I’m way behind so let me try to catch up a bit here. First Scott Kolb has resurrected his long dormant blog about the 125cc partial Streamliner. Go read it. it has a lot more pictures of the fabrication than I will post here and Scott's description of the process is a great way to get an understanding of just what went into building his bike and you can read about the full streamliner he has in the works. His bike has been the inspiration for my bike he first built it and went to Bonneville in 2006. It is his bike you see in these pictures and it is Team Kolb that is the team I've gone to Bonneville to support (2010 and 2013). Since 2010 Scott has held the record for the Special construction (frame) Partial Streamline (body), normally aspirated, Fuel 125cc. Since 2010 Hence the markings on the side 125cc APS-AF. That record was 146.72mph and still stands. Prior to that he has held 125cc records since he first set foot on the salt in 2006. In February of 2011 we got the chance to do wind tunnel testing at one of the A2 wind tunnels in Mooresville NC.

Also setting the record for worlds
 most meticulously applied graphics!

Scott, Andrew and I go over the
 Sponsorship Graphics

That was an incredibly educational experience and provided a huge amount of data that we used to make improvements to the aerodynamics of the bike. We weren't able to make it to Bonneville in 2012 for financial reasons but this year we did make it due to a large part Scott’s determination and a most of the expense coming from Scott personally. With the improved bodywork and a new motor we were hoping to significantly increase our record. Scott decided to run in the AG class this year as the record in that class was significantly lower than our previous speeds so it was an easy target relatively speaking.

The only person at the event
lighter than Scott,
Aden tries on the bike for size.

Tech Inspection is a game
 of"What will they object
 to next and why
 they are wrong".

 Our real goal was to have the updated bike see the kind of speeds we calculated it should be going (we believe 170mph+) which was significantly faster than what we were running in 2010. In 2010 we felt like the bike never reached its potential mostly due to traction issues but the improved aerodynamics we hoped would help with that.  Unfortunately this year the bike arrived at Bonneville bit under prepared and so quite a bit of time was spent during the first days getting the bike ready for tech. 

At the starting line wait for our turn.
 The People who volunteer at the
 event are always great to talk to
while waiting

When we finally got through tech after fixing a couple of objections from the inspectors there were only 2 days left to racing. We had some electrical issues that showed up at the worst possible times limiting the number of runs we ultimately got to do but all in all it was a success and Scott set a new record in the 125cc APS-AG Class (spec Fuel) of 149.907mph.  

Also along for the ride this year was a film crew directed by noted photographer Jason Brownrigg. you can see he and his crew in some of these pictures. Jason is filming for a pilot for a TV show he's pitching that will showcase various american motor sports and their participants. You can check out the segment on Scott and the Bonneville effort here: http://vimeo.com/69919930

Launch!

The real reason we go is for the amazing sunsets.

Steering Detail

More info on Bonneville, Bub Speed trials , dates, rules, and the current records for various classes can be found here: www.speedtrialsbybub.com

The KOLB 125cc LSR 2013 Edition.

Although I’ve had a dream to race at Bonneville ever since reading about the Blue Flame Rocket Car  when I was  kid in the 70’s it wasn’t until my friend Scott Kolb built a 125cc partial streamliner and started racing it there that I realized now was the time and that I had to get my own wheels on the salt. I first start working on Scott's team in 2009 with my first trip to Bonneville in 2010. In 2010 we set the record for our class and this year we are returning to not only defend that record, but apply what we have learned in the wind tunnel and with a new, more powerful motor and far improved suspension to try to up out record significantly. Bub speed week starts the 24^th of August this year which is 3 days as I write this. Here are a few pictures of the bike in Scott's shop taken about 3 weeks ago as we scramble to get it finished and on to the truck for the trip to Utah. Looking at these pictures you can see where I got a lot of the inspiration for my bike.

I'm the one with the Sunglasses

 

Final Assembly of the Front Hub

Finally! Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming!!

MakerBot 2

So this landed in out shop today. It was brought to us but someone who is essentially designing an number of aftermarket upgrades for these makerbot2s and wants Chris’s help in implementing them. It the process we get to use this makerbot 2 with express condition that we use it a lot. In fact we need to really torture test it so that we can find the areas that need to be improved. Just an initial look at the machine and it’s easy to see areas and parts that are marginally designed at best and really questionable in some cases. In a way I’m surprised the machine “prints” as well as it does considering how armature the overall design is. And that, said it really does print fairly well for a $2000 3D printer. I don’t have a good basis for comparison as even thou I’ve seen a number of these 3D maker level machines I have never had a real chance till now to compare them to the real commercial rapid prototype machine made by companies like Z-Corp and Stratsys. Let’s see what this thing can do…

Bonneville 2013 or BUST!

here are the dates for Bonneville 2013:

https://www.facebook.com/bubspeedtrials?_fb_noscript=1

P.S. Fuck Facebook.

One way or another I will be going this year with the Team Kolb, the 125cc partial streamlinr that inspired this project. However I have never felt a greater fire under my butt to get my diesel bike done and on the salt. I am going to make a huge effort to get this bike on the grid for 2013. Having the fairing done may be a bit out of the scope but come hell or high water I plan on having this bike there. so hopefully that will mean a good stream of progress posts here. stay tuned.

A Day Late and a Small Fortune Short

I have 3 huge projects I have to get out of the way before continuing with the Bonneville bike. One is going to take some time having already taken 2 years already but that one isn't going to hold up progress in and of it's self. the other 2 are coming together fairly quickly and my hope (misguided though it may be) is too have them done and out of the way by the end of February march tops. I have a real fire under my ass to get the bike on the salt this year and to do that I need to have it finished by June at the latest for ample shale down before making the investment in getting it all out to Utah.This doesn't mean I have not been making progress on the bike however. I have been doing work on the final drive and rear swingarm as well as researching ideas for the streamlining and bodywork.

Happy Festivus!

Another Huge Distraction

I realize my last post was over 3 months ago (OUCH!) but I've been wrapped up in something that has been taking far too much of my time and when it's not sapping my free time it's destroying my motivation to work on anything. Long story but suffice it to say stay tuned. We will return to our regularly scheduled programming shortly (I hope).

Oh and it looks like Google is putting ads in my blog even though I have them turned off. You will be advertised to whether you like it or not.  

Another Little Distraction

Not Christmas this time. I have enough Old Triumph motorcycle  parts floating around my shop to come very close to building a complete running bike (I think). A few months ago I started assembling said parts to see about actually building a bike. I have a Ceriani 45mm road race front end I salvaged off of a 1987 GSXR750 super bike that was raced by my friend Larry at the Isle of Mann before he decided that all that was crazy business and he wanted nothing to do with it. Years ago I machined the parts to mount that front end onto a 1977 OIF Bonneville frame and tonight I made a brake disk carrier to mount a KTM 310mm semi floating rotor to an 19 inch alloy Suzuki wheel. The rotor had to be offset enough so that the Brembo Gold line 4 pot caliper would clear the spokes. In the picture the rim and hub are a bit weathered and the spokes are completely rusted. Once all is mocked up this wheel will go to Buchannan's Spoke and Rim for polishing and new stainless steel spokes. All this really should be in another blog but one is turning out to be too many for me, so here it is.

The Next Big Thing.

 
 

This Time I think I got It Right (CDI Diesel mockup)

The is the first transmission adapter plate I made from Aluminum. It worked but there were things I wanted to correct and a few features I wanted to add.the 2 major problems with ut was that the holes were not quite right. I modeled them in Solidworks by measuring with a caliper and the were a little off. for the new plate I got the hole locations by scanning the points with the Romer CMM arm and that was far more accurate. the other problem with the old plate was that there weren't enough mounting points for components. there is no sub-frame on this bike and things like body work battery, tanks, accessories have to mount to something. So I added a number of threaded holes that framework or parts can be securely bolted to. This includes that method for the main motor mounts which you will see later.

Cutting the 3/4 6061-T651 aluminum stock to size on the table saw.

Movable fixture plates with 1/2-13 threaded holes I made from 3/4 mic6 cast aluminum fixture plate to extend clamping holes out to the edges of the bed. Much more versatile.

The Best way to see whether the edge of you part will fit inside the stock you have is to mount a Sharpe in a collet and create a center line tool path to have the machine plot the outline.

The part just fits with the piece of aluminum I have.

There are 44 drilled holes in the part. 39 of them are tapped with either a M8x1.25 or M6x1thread. Thanks to the FSM for ridged tapping in the VMC. all 39 holes drilled and tapped in under 6 minutes. I could have pushed it a little faster but I live in fear of breaking taps. It's a fast way to scrap a part. Sometimes you can recover, but often when the tap snaps it can slightly move the work piece and that throws every subsequent operation out coordinate wise. Even if it doesn't move the part you still have a broken tap in one of your holes and they can be difficult to get out without damaging the aluminum around it. Either way it's ugly.

Here is the first op done. All holes drilled and tapped, the center cut out (and I was able to save the center piece for a later part). Now to flip the part over and do the counter bores, the outside contour and champhers and the reliefs over the M6 holes.

I had made a fixture plate for the first adapter plate I made and it was still good for this one. There are 2 12mm dowel pins on the back of the motor bell housing that locate the transmission and I cut those in the front side of the part so that I could use them to locate the part when I flipped it over. The fixture plate also had 16mm dowels that align it with the center slot of the machine table the center of which we know is located at Y-9.222. once mounted there is a center hole that allows easy indication for the X offset and set the Z once the part is clamped down to the plate and off we go.

Details of the thread, and champher details.

The Finished plate

The new plate (right) next to the original

The new plate mounted to the back of the test engine. It fits perfectly and with the extra mounting surfaces will be much better than the original design.

 With the Transmission mounted.

Not the final placement, but engine and transmission assembly resting roughly in place for perspective.