Exactly. There is documentation on that. I plan on being well within that. I know that the test housings were sprayed with a gun at more of an angle than I will have to use. I am only planning on spraying from one side persay for uniformity. But for the most part the head will be in the housing so that it is the same angle from start to finish.
As far as the material holding the test housings certainly held their ground literally. With diamond, zirconia, and carbide I gave that one housing over a 12 hour work out and it didn't phase the ****. What appeared to be fracture lines turned out the be layer lines.
So I am still 100% sold on the material and it is just figuring the process.

 

Here is what I was talking about for the head. Provided an angle like that will work you will have significant space, limited only by the air supply hose. Please excuse the blurry picture but my camera doesn't like taking pictures without a flash, and with one it is too bright to be recognizable:



- Steiner

 

let me go play with soem old contact tips I got laying around, but I think you could easily bend a small radius contact tip and still run the wire through without birdnesting

that would allow for a very short package that hopefully could allow for the gun to be placed inside the housing and spray completely perpendicular to the housings

 

Come on guys give my little gun a chance It spits out some decent sparks Hehe! No appreciate the input but I am hoping I do not have to build a whole new design.

I just got great news and it's not about saving a bundle on my car insurance I just got off the phone with the owner of a local grinding shop. He does precision surface grinding, honing etc.
I have not talked to him in about a year and a half. We had discussed a broad range of grinding techniques and stuff that could be useful.
So I call him up to tell him the the project is back on and I am going to need some surface grinding on some side plates like I had brought in for him to look at a back then.

Well as fate would have it he has bought two RX7's since then! One is a vert and we did not get into the other. So when it clicked with him that I was that rotary guy he was happy to talk to me After I told him what all was going on and that we were still in test phase he said he would surface grind my test pieces for free so I can send them down to Houston for analysis!!!
Plus he said he would do me real good deals on getting the plates done once we go to production.
He also buys and sells equipment and trains on how to use it I told him about the aftermarket mounts and other stuff I make and he figures I can be a help to him on his rotaries He is damn sure right about that. Being able to trade skills is always nice.

Mondays usually suck *** but this is a good one indeed. Other than you guys dissing my gun that is!

 

Have you decided how you are going to control the rotational speed of the housings in order to get a uniform coat? Maybe one of the engineers could help you calculate ratios for a little geared AC motor with a contact switch which will automatically shut the gun off via breaker circuitry once one rotation is sensed. That would give the engineering students some practical experience, save you some time and create a more precise process. Of coarse it would be sweet if you could incorporate the verticle movement of the gun as well.

But first things first I wanna see this gun/wire in action. ;o)

keep up the good work
-Rob

 

I never ment to diss, or talk down your gun, I was just providing alternative options . That is great news, it's always nice when you can get a wedge in the door with companies. Wanklin if you go back a page Scalli has a video of the gun in action. Pretty hot stuff.

- Steiner

 

I built a welding turntable to weld out the engine stand adapters I make. Someone made a derogatory remark that I was not making a good weld because it was not one continuous bead :angry: Welding a continuous bead around a 2-3/8" pipe in one pass is a bitch. But none-the-less it pissed my off so I built a turntable.
Anyways it works great for weld work. But I have to get some idea of the kind of travel speed I will need. I think it will have to go much faster than my welding turntable. As far as controlling the vertical movement of the gun I have a long way to go before I get to that bridge

Here is a link to the story on my table and a pic of it

http://vintagerotaries.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=1084

 

I was jerking your chain Steiner

 

Yeah I suck at life.

- Steiner

 

ok, since everyone else is doing it, i figured i should make one too, just to mess with scalli's head. Probably close to the same as what steiner had in mind. i think this would be more than small enough to spray perpendicular to the housings (course it depends how far you have to be away to get a good coating)

sorry, i deleted autocad when my computer crashed, and i havent installed ProE (much nicer than autocad imho) yet, so you get a mspaint drawing.

pat

 

patman / SnowmanSteiner,

You will never regret if you do decide and have the opportunity to fill the role of shop grunt. I learned my way around rotary engines and cars in general by agreeing to work for free at a privately owned auto repair shop during Spring Break my Freshman year. Working in the shop at the time was the only independent rotary engine mechanic in AZ. He used to work on my RX-2. I agreed to work at the shop because I wanted to be around him more to learn everything I could so I could work on my own car.

Well, I did a good enough grunt job that first week that the owner offered me the perfect student job...work what ever hours I could during the school year, full time in the summer if I didn't go to summer school, had access to the shop, its' tools, and of course the rotary engine mechanic.

That job, plus co-oping, helped pay my way through school. That experience has paid dividends for me many times over. Today I lead a group of 65 people who maintain equipment in chemical plants. Many are "blue collar," non-degreed, union workers. My personal experience working as a mechanic, janitor, and dishwasher, just to name a few grunt jobs, gave me a great appreciation and respect for the men and women who earn a living with their hands.

Do pass on that opportunity if it comes your way, and if it doesn't go create one for yourself.

Richard

 

Hell you haven't lived long enough to suck yet You are still formidable whereas with me I am just kind of stuck in suck mode But there is still plenty of hope for you

 

Now that is great advice for these guys.

 

Yeah that's why you are doing things with rotaries that literally have never been done before. And you say you're stuck in suck. I have a hard time believing that. And that advice is great.

- Steiner

 

bwahahahah! 'stuck in suck' sounds like a 2 dolla porno movie. lol.

pat

 

It is all relative to your expectations of yourself. If you expect more from yourself than what you deliver you will be far less impressed with your accomplishments than others may be.
You'll always be aware of your shortcomings and probably beat yourself over the head with them. My Dad used to say you can't hide from yourself unless you'e schitzo! He also said not to be too hard on yourself, that is what wives are for

 

Haha! Damn in is too early to laugh Going to bed at 2am and getting up at 6am is no fun

 

yeah, i know... freakin calculus homework... man me and steiner are gonna be wise by the time we get done with this thread...lol.

 

I agree with your philosophy but being overcritical of yourself is not always a good thing. You should always look back at your accomplishments and see how large of an effect they have on people, and how many people are so involved and excited of what you've accomplished, and are working to accomplish. I am extremely critical of myself as well but you do need positive reinforcement every once in a while to keep you on track, and supported. Obviously this is to a point, you don't want to think you're better than everyone else because of your accomplishments but it is very beneficial to recognize the great advances you've made. Pat I think your idea and mind are very similar. I was worried about how brittle the wire would be hence why I had it entering without a curve, but in retrospect I forgot to take into account that most likely the wire is on a spool and thus doesn't have much of a problem being rotated. And from Scalli's previous pipe bender I don't forsee that, that specific application to be any problem for him, if he were to use a system similar to it. And yes I hope I will come out of this with much more than just the knowledge that Scalli has been able to develope a ceramic spraying process. I'm not trying to put down the significance of that Scalli just saying that the learning process I'm getting from this thread rivals some of my classes here at State Penn.

- Steiner

 

nice turntable.

about the grunt work, I think sometimes you need to watch what you ask for. To me a pefect job would entail a combination of desk work and feild work.
Right now I fork for a small company which builds custom home theatres, custom multimedia racks, electronic home controls, computer controlled lighting etc etc. Obviously our target market is an affluent one so we get to work in some pretty sick houses. I could name 2 billionaire families that we've done work for. We are getting ready to install, in this one guy's house, 3 formula-1 racecar chassis w/ body (no engines obviously) which will incorporate a plasma surround screen in front of each. So three people will be playing a F1 racing game sitting in actual f1 chassis linked in battle looking at the most advanced screens available which will make them feel like they're really there. The cars run 70k a piece. Sounds like a dream job right?
Well, you don't get to sit there and play with the toys or listen to the bad-*** system until it is done months later. You don't think about all of the 150 degree attics that you are working in, day in and day out, or the holes that you are digging or all of the miles being put on yur car as you wait in traffic, Or the construction phase inwhich you are spending one week (6AM) pulling thousands of feet of whire to prewire this house that you'll be trimming out and 80% of the time afterwards you are undoing half of your work because the homeowner has changed his mine about the configuration.
So overall it comes down to the process, not the product. I enjoy my job overall but it is definitely not what I expected back in the day.

I have come to respect mexican construction workers more than ever as I have seen them hang off 70 ft roofs and toss stacks of bricks all day long in the hot sun and not complain for a minute.

Scalli I think you have a great thing going because you are incredibly skilled at what you do and you seem to have a passion for it. You are essentially making money for your hobby.

-Rob

 

Jeeze I feel like Matt Folley motivational speaker.

- Steiner

 

are any videos available of your finished mandrel bender?

 

I Live.. In A Van, Down By The River!!!

 

Haha! Funny you should mention that. This kind of ties in with my post about knowing you own shortcomings.
The mandrel bender still needs the $550 inner mandrel that to me looks like a freaky *** sex toy that you would not want to be on the receiving end of.
That project will sit for now because I don't see making the returns very fast as opposed to other stuff.
This project for example has a lot of money tied up but in the end if it does pan out there are not 10,000 shops or even one other shop that is competing at the end of the day.
Not that I don't want a mandrel bender but every time I get an extra $500 there is always something more in the here and now that it can be better used for.

If any one thing ever really takes off and makes some money to pay for bringing other ideas to fruition I can assure you guys that there are at least 3 "things" that will follow that will give this resurfacing idea a damn good run for the money.
Two of them are not a matter of if they would work but money to get them to production. All are related to rotaries and all will make them both faster and stronger.

 

just when you think a thread is dead ... it sparks (literally ) back into life.

I was pretty lucky I live locally to a fairly large industrial Gas turbine company that still has an apprenticeship program, I worked through the apprentice shop for 8 months and then spent 2 years working in each of design departments before I finished back in my final department.
I have also been lucky enough to work with all manor of steam engines and large diesels while still at school through the local museum who have voulunteer program. And now get all sorts of hands on experience by building rally cars with my mates in my spare time (er well most of my time actually spare or not )

Working in the real world certainly gives you a good measure by which to hold your carefully calculated and CAD drawn designs against and see if they will actually work.

Common sense rules at the end of the day

thanks for the link to the shop floor forum, it looks most interesting.

~ Mike