Sunday, June 30, 2019
Light a fire with a baggie full of water
The idea is to make a type of ball that can focus the sun's light into a beam hot enough to start a fire.
Footings, beams, and floors
How to pour concrete footings
How to attach a beam to a post
How to level a shed floor
Making space ships reuable
SpaceX Fairing-Snagging Ship Returns to Shore with Epic Catch (Photos) https://t.co/vjVQyymziZ— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 29, 2019
Saturday, June 29, 2019
NASA announces mission to Saturnian moon Titan
It will launch in 2026.
Over the course of its initial 2.7-year mission exploring Titan, the dual-quadcopter will fly a combined total of more than 108 miles https://t.co/dAy6DWmEno via @SmithsonianMag— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 29, 2019
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Screens for windows, doors
I'll want doors and windows on my buildings. To allow free exchange of fresh air without the annoyance of flying insects, some screens will be desirable. Here's how to make them.
It appears easy enough.
It appears easy enough.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Wood Stud Wall Framing
Another set of pointers on how to do this stuff.
no windows or doors:
window or door:
no windows or doors:
window or door:
Six part video series: Building a shed
The shed he builds here looks very nice. The instructions are quite detailed, so even a not so hot carpenter could put it together.
I'll refer to it in the future. Best to have it up here and now.
Part 1: The floor:
Part 2: The walls
Part 3 : Building and installing rafters
Part 4: Installing sheet metal roof
Part 5: Installing a metal roll-up door
Part 6: Installing vinyl siding
I'll refer to it in the future. Best to have it up here and now.
Part 1: The floor:
Part 2: The walls
Part 3 : Building and installing rafters
Part 4: Installing sheet metal roof
Part 5: Installing a metal roll-up door
Part 6: Installing vinyl siding
Saturday, June 22, 2019
New weedeater
The last go around was with a borrowed weedeater. This weedeater is my very own. Yay!
But it is not the same weedeater. The last one was a Cadillac. This one is a beaten up old jalopy model. Actually, it is not old. It is brand new. But it is a cheap model.
Consequently, it has no electric cord. Whaaaaaaaaaaaa??????
Yep. You gotta supply your own cord. Maybe that is why it is cheap.
Haven't tried it out yet. Just taken it out of the box. Assembly is going to be easy. Just a few screws. Only need a phillips screwdriver.
It should help around here, or I have wasted my money.
But it is not the same weedeater. The last one was a Cadillac. This one is a beaten up old jalopy model. Actually, it is not old. It is brand new. But it is a cheap model.
Consequently, it has no electric cord. Whaaaaaaaaaaaa??????
Yep. You gotta supply your own cord. Maybe that is why it is cheap.
Haven't tried it out yet. Just taken it out of the box. Assembly is going to be easy. Just a few screws. Only need a phillips screwdriver.
It should help around here, or I have wasted my money.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Terrestrial Energy news
Comment:
Impressive.
If their production meets their public-relations efforts, these guys will be in the lead for commercializing molten-salt reactor technology.
Cheaper than coal, and for you carbon-free believers, it is carbon-free.
Impressive.
If their production meets their public-relations efforts, these guys will be in the lead for commercializing molten-salt reactor technology.
Cheaper than coal, and for you carbon-free believers, it is carbon-free.
.@TerrestrialMSR is named as 1 of 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019, curated by @BillGateshttps://t.co/LUPIczIGrs@NukeInnovation@AdvancedNuclear— Terrestrial Energy (@TerrestrialMSR) February 27, 2019
Monday, June 17, 2019
Thorcon news
Comment:
This appears to be crawling along much slower than I would have thought.
According to the article, the tech part is not the problem. The problem is getting it funded.
This appears to be crawling along much slower than I would have thought.
According to the article, the tech part is not the problem. The problem is getting it funded.
Quant investor Gary Bergstrom is backing a plan to mass-produce small nuclear reactors that can be delivered by sea to smaller countries in need of power https://t.co/AoSa2hk2c6 via @technology— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 18, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
A real Iron Man suit that flies
....
Well, it sort of flies. It is bulky and clumsy, and heavy. But it does fly.
Well, it sort of flies. It is bulky and clumsy, and heavy. But it does fly.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Why SpaceX is making Starlink
What is "Starlink"?
It is a system that will enable worldwide broadband connectivity to the Internet. It may cost $10 billion or more to construct, and take upwards of a decade to build out.
Evidently, SpaceX thinks there is a market opportunity there. If successful, the profits could be used to finance Musk's Mars plans.
It is a system that will enable worldwide broadband connectivity to the Internet. It may cost $10 billion or more to construct, and take upwards of a decade to build out.
Evidently, SpaceX thinks there is a market opportunity there. If successful, the profits could be used to finance Musk's Mars plans.
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Off-grid experiments, 6.6.19
Updated,
6.9.19:
Evidently, I don't know my own wiring set up. It looks like the trailer battery isn't connected to the solar panel after all. So, what is charging it? Shore power! Oh, boy. I got this one wrong. I had to go remove a lot of junk to get at the wiring. It is buried because of the shortage of space in here, and I was using that space above the wiring to stash stuff. All that stuff had to be removed so I could get at the wiring and figure out what was going on.
Looks like I will have to re-think how I did all this. In the meantime, the junk will have to go in the van outside because there is no more room inside this travel trailer.
Pain in the nether regions.
6.7.19:
Upon further review, the battery really wasn't charged. The way it is set up, the battery connected to the solar panel gets charged first. Since this battery is rather small, it charges quickly. But the bigger battery outside, which runs the trailer, is connected to this battery. It receives a charge from the smaller battery inside, but that isn't much of a charge. It is presumed that an excess is routed to the outside battery during the daytime, but I don't think that really worked. At any rate, the inside battery is what is connected to the controller and it read a lower voltage ( 12.2 v ) this morning. It should be around 12.6.
As for the sunset portion of the experiment, the shade would have covered the car completely by 7 pm. It was a little too far west, so as of 7 pm, it was still receiving sunlight.
7:30 am
Today will have a couple of experiments. Number one is to test capacity of batteries and
the means that is charging them. The charging is coming from a solar panel. Nothing new
here, except the battery is the one that is powering the trailer. The trailer lights and
the furnace and its fan are powered by the battery. Last winter, the solar panel could
keep up most of the time, but not all of the time. Since it is near summer now, there should
be more energy available. But instead of the furnace, I decided to turn on all the lights
before dawn. Then, I noted the effects on the battery. The battery did discharge noticeably
after 90 minutes of running all of the lights. After about 20 minutes, the battery is slowly
bouncing back. This is because it is after dawn, and I suspect that the load might have
discharged the battery faster than the 20 hour rate.
Note: The trailer's inverter is not working properly. The solar panel is necessary to
recharge the 12v batt, as the "shore power" cannot do its job due to this malfunction. Shore
power will run the lights and appliances, but these are designed to run on AC anyway.
The second experiment is more observation than experiment. I want to track the sun's movements so that I know better what to expect. There's always more to learn. Yesterday, I noted that the sun moved across the east west line into the northern sky probably after 6 pm. This is usually the highest temperature during the day. It was about that time that my car was going into the shade given off by a high profile vehicle parked next to it. Both vehicles are parked in an east west direction. Therefore, as the sun tracked into the northern sky, the shadow from the high profile vehicle would creep over the car.
sunrise/sunset according to garmin 6:30am/8:33pm
9:30 am:
After letting the battery recharge, and it being 2 hours later, it is now recharged. I turned on the lights again in order to see how well the solar panel can supply the battery with electricity. It is a cloudy day, so the sunshine is actually not abundant today.
6.9.19:
Evidently, I don't know my own wiring set up. It looks like the trailer battery isn't connected to the solar panel after all. So, what is charging it? Shore power! Oh, boy. I got this one wrong. I had to go remove a lot of junk to get at the wiring. It is buried because of the shortage of space in here, and I was using that space above the wiring to stash stuff. All that stuff had to be removed so I could get at the wiring and figure out what was going on.
Looks like I will have to re-think how I did all this. In the meantime, the junk will have to go in the van outside because there is no more room inside this travel trailer.
Pain in the nether regions.
6.7.19:
Upon further review, the battery really wasn't charged. The way it is set up, the battery connected to the solar panel gets charged first. Since this battery is rather small, it charges quickly. But the bigger battery outside, which runs the trailer, is connected to this battery. It receives a charge from the smaller battery inside, but that isn't much of a charge. It is presumed that an excess is routed to the outside battery during the daytime, but I don't think that really worked. At any rate, the inside battery is what is connected to the controller and it read a lower voltage ( 12.2 v ) this morning. It should be around 12.6.
As for the sunset portion of the experiment, the shade would have covered the car completely by 7 pm. It was a little too far west, so as of 7 pm, it was still receiving sunlight.
6.6.19:
7:30 am
Today will have a couple of experiments. Number one is to test capacity of batteries and
the means that is charging them. The charging is coming from a solar panel. Nothing new
here, except the battery is the one that is powering the trailer. The trailer lights and
the furnace and its fan are powered by the battery. Last winter, the solar panel could
keep up most of the time, but not all of the time. Since it is near summer now, there should
be more energy available. But instead of the furnace, I decided to turn on all the lights
before dawn. Then, I noted the effects on the battery. The battery did discharge noticeably
after 90 minutes of running all of the lights. After about 20 minutes, the battery is slowly
bouncing back. This is because it is after dawn, and I suspect that the load might have
discharged the battery faster than the 20 hour rate.
Note: The trailer's inverter is not working properly. The solar panel is necessary to
recharge the 12v batt, as the "shore power" cannot do its job due to this malfunction. Shore
power will run the lights and appliances, but these are designed to run on AC anyway.
The second experiment is more observation than experiment. I want to track the sun's movements so that I know better what to expect. There's always more to learn. Yesterday, I noted that the sun moved across the east west line into the northern sky probably after 6 pm. This is usually the highest temperature during the day. It was about that time that my car was going into the shade given off by a high profile vehicle parked next to it. Both vehicles are parked in an east west direction. Therefore, as the sun tracked into the northern sky, the shadow from the high profile vehicle would creep over the car.
sunrise/sunset according to garmin 6:30am/8:33pm
9:30 am:
After letting the battery recharge, and it being 2 hours later, it is now recharged. I turned on the lights again in order to see how well the solar panel can supply the battery with electricity. It is a cloudy day, so the sunshine is actually not abundant today.
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Woodworking tips for ....
dummies? No, beginners. Same thing, huh?
Some of these may be useful. Maybe they all will be useful, what the heck. Worth reviewing again sometime in the future, so I'm putting it up.
Some of these may be useful. Maybe they all will be useful, what the heck. Worth reviewing again sometime in the future, so I'm putting it up.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
In search of quick turnaround times
The article says it will be tough to get the really fast airline model to work for the Falcon 9 booster.
So, here's an idea. Maybe it is a non-starter, or perhaps the SpaceX crew is already working on it. The idea is refuel the booster on the recovery ship, and then fly it back to base. In order to do this, you will need a much more capable ship, I would imagine. It would need a lot of fuel and oxygen so that the rocket could be refueled quickly.
Perhaps you would want to do a quick check out first before you start prepping the thing for a quick trip back to base. Since the drone ship is really slow, it ought to be faster to fly back than to ship it back, see?
The hopper never did a sideways trip, but it did do some altitude on its test flights. You could do a short "launch trajectory" type burn that would enable the trip back, with the procedures being similar to a land-based recovery.
You shouldn't need nearly as much fuel for a couple hundred mile trip. Plus the speeds would be far less. Perhaps you could calculate the delta v for a ballistic flight that would enable a couple hundred mile trip back to land.
SpaceX beats Falcon 9 recovery records after Starlink launch debut [photos] https://t.co/fT9fedNbqT— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 5, 2019
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Hypersonic flight systems
Reaction Engines Ltd. in Colorado to show the advanced tech that will enable the Skylon ssto concept.
There are plenty of other applications that could be enabled as well, in my opinion. But that is my speculation at this point.
There are plenty of other applications that could be enabled as well, in my opinion. But that is my speculation at this point.
We are so fortunate to have been invited out to @air_colorado where we learned more about @ReactionEngines and their Advanced Precooler. We saw their HTX High Temperature test program and had the opportunity to learn more about their efforts to unlock high speed flight. pic.twitter.com/jIGCfaQC0U— MSU Denver AIAA (@MSUDenver_AIAA) May 16, 2019
Stratolaunch news
Comment:
Spacex's success at reusing their first stage rockets has probably doomed this concept. If you can bring back a first stage to the landing site, why bother with this?
Spacex's success at reusing their first stage rockets has probably doomed this concept. If you can bring back a first stage to the landing site, why bother with this?
Stratolaunch shutting down? https://t.co/WjELfnAfrp— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 2, 2019
Saturday, June 1, 2019
JP Aerospace life support test
JPA will use a submarine for this function. Makes sense. If you can keep water out, then you can keep air pressure in. If you are at 100k feet elevation, then you need to pressurize your airship. Eventually, he will put these pieces together for an airship that can go up to 100k feet. Once he achieves that, it will be an important milestone.
After that, I suppose that he will want to build out his Dark Sky station. The Dark Sky station will be set up at 100k plus feet above ground. It will be a launching point for a humongous airship that he plans to take to orbit. Hence, the moniker Airship to Orbit concept.
The elements to his system are taking shape. He needs an airship to get to 100 k feet to the Dark Sky station, then a second airship to get to orbit. That's three main elements.
We're gearing up for the next life support test on Belle. These are with the sub in the shop & me inside. The last one we ran "full closed" for 3 hrs while we running full system shake out & taking atmo & medical data every 5 mins. This time it's 5 hrs.#jpaerospace #submarine pic.twitter.com/y1KJqEssCf— John M Powell (@JohnMPowell1) May 31, 2019
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