Placeholder for The Contraption 2010

[theCryptofishist]

Cause we miss her, dammit.
Maybe if we tell Contraption Stories and post Contraption Pictures, we can have a contraption thread again.

Um. You start.

[Elderberry]

Cause we miss her, dammit.
Maybe if we tell Contraption Stories and post Contraption Pictures, we can have a contraption thread again.

Um. You start.

What's that little bit of advice we always give the newbies here?

JK

[theCryptofishist]

Okay. I only rode the Contraption once, in 20008, when LeChat and Karine took me from the Booby Bar over to vist AntiM. They had been trying to get a steam engine in her that year, but finally a month or so out from the playa they admitted it wasn't going to happen and found this 100 (mas o menos) year old gasoline engine. Now, we had no trouble getting out there. In order to get the engine to catch, you had to do this pump action thing--think of the little cartoon rail road hand cranked car Snidely Whiplash might be riding on after he's tied up the fair maiden, with those big handles that go up and down--and then when it gets up some speed you could do something to the flywheel and start the engine. Getting over was no problem. But when we came back the engine, a sort of temperamental thing, wouldn't go. So we had to do the pump action thing back. Or the get participants to help push things. We had the CO on there by that time, and it was a treat to watch him persuade passers-by to push for a ways. The evening ended in laughter.

[Oldguy]

My 2 cents: that old hit and miss engine powered contraption was fasinating. I saw it once as I exited the Bombbay(sp) Tea Company teahouse. It's a great example of kinetic art and participatory activity. Much of the art is shortlived and/or one offs. I enjoyed it also.

IMHO, We only go around once, so live everyday as your last. You never know what the future will hold, so enjoy your time. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff, so pack up your tent and move on down the road. Cliches often have a seed of truth in them. To all the newbies out there, remember to have no expectations and enjoy what is happening now.

[LeChatNoir]

Oh Boy!! A thread has already sprung up via Fishy!!

So far we're looking to 2010 with plans to be there, with Contraption finances permitting. The biggest thing I'm waiting on at the moment is the disposable income to get a better suited engine for the old rust bucket. As gorgeous as the old antique engine is, she's just not suited for the high altitude and dust. It was, after all, only a 1-3/4 Hp engine when it was brand new. I'm eyeing a 8Hp single cylinder diesel built very much like the old engine…. Water jacket cooling and everything.

Hopefully it will work out.

In the meantime… Hmmmm.

Stories and The Contraption do seem to go well together. Let me think a bit.

[Captain Goddammit]

OK LeChat I've found what you need - the idea could be used on whatever old 'banger you can find. This is SO perfect!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDJxXdVpKVY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1yiIh-IGw&feature=related#watch-main-area[/youtube]

[gyre]

Steam?

[lonestoner916]

[LeChatNoir]

Steam?

Unfortunately, after all the work we’ve done to the house this year I’m just zonked. The remodel expenses were minimal as far as money goes, but requiring less money means requiring more work. We’ve been at it nonstop in every free moment since April, hired nothing out and manufactured a LOT of trim. So… the thought of undertaking a new boiler is just too daunting for me right now. Burning Man 2012, maybe.

But an Agripunked diesel sounds so nice to me at the moment. Easy to convert to veg oil too.

[Captain Goddammit]

If you just wanna get it running easy and cheap you could resort to lawnmower-type motivation. You can scrape up a ten or so horse motor for probably nothing and just bolt it on and go, and yank it off for something cooler later. The riding mower motors even generally have electric starters.
I have two I'd give you if shipping them over there wasn't more than they're worth.

[LeChatNoir]

The mower engines just don’t have the aesthetic it deserves. As much as it pains me to say it, the engines I’m looking at are new(er) but built on the very same principles as the antique engine on The Contraption now. Same water jacket cooling and flywheel location and seemingly easy to punk, just better engineered and injected.

[Captain Goddammit]

Totally agree... just tossing that out as a temporary way to make it go if you haven't got time/money/energy right now to go with something properly steampunk.

[gyre]

Consider oddball solutions like cutoff blocks, as in the twin cylinder off a 12 cylinder.
Or the scat 4 cylinder.

And I bet that you could make a shell of a very interesting engine to cover any prosaic block and still allow it to work.

Hard to silence, but the big rotary is only 18" by 18".
There are small ones too.
You would have room for an adequate silencer.
And no vibration to speak of.

[theCryptofishist]

I just love this article. I realize that it's not the same thing as The Contraption, but it just evokes the same sort of giddiness at the contrast.

[unjonharley]

test bump different lap top

[LeChatNoir]

Still here…

Still scheming… er… planning.

[gyre]

Time for
Kitty Cats On Ice!