2025LBS!

We load tested the Heron yesterday- a very hot, dry, dusty mesa day. First we started with Christian's first ever robot- his spider walking robot- weighing about 600Lbs. We rigged the bot from the nose of the beak and lifted it into the air several times, and swung it around to check for twisting, and balance. So far so good. Then we slung the Manipulatrix from the beak, a robot weighing 2025LBS and lifted it up a few inches. The Heron seemed fine, though it was tricky to dial in the ratio between the hydraulic winch and the hydraulic cylinders- so they would work together not in opposition. The winch cable got extremely tight, and semed to be taking more weight than it should. We added to two more flow control valves to the system and played with the flow- to various degrees of success. We concluded that the flow would have to be adjusted to each specific lift weight- each time. For Burning Man we will adjust it to lift max two people at the same time. That should be a happy medium for the winch and cylinders with and without a load. It has been so amazing to see it up- looks just like the miniature model...I could not resist to monkey around on it this morning- so Gregory and I played on Herald for the first time, before the wind kicked up. It was stupendously fun! Tomorrow it comes down for paint prep- and I will take as much help as I can get to get the grease and dirt of the metal so we can spray it soon! Let me know if you want to help paint prep!

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

Yesterday-Epic! Today-movement and load test!

Fabrication Fancy

There are always a few more things that need to be done, then there are a few things that would just look too great, so they become things to do as well. We are so close... Today we fed the hydro lines inside the Heron walls- a great idea to keep the lines out of the way. The outriggers are done including the bracing for the actual outrigger. Loads of bolts needed here. It has been fun climbing the first section of the Heron with the outriggers attached- it sure does feel like it's anchored down-STURDY. The mid body is now attached to the head-and the cylinders are mounted. The sheaves are in place, as well as the winch- tomorrow we roll the cable on and get it ready for it's final assembly- on Tuesday! The power unit sounds OK, still need to do a bit of work on that- but test worthy it is. I'll leave this post with a view from when I closed up the shop this evening- the moon rise over the mesa...

To Do Lists...

It's looking great! This week flew by in the shop with Christian, Gregory, Juniper and Toby putting in some serious hours- and as it is with talented help- the Heron to do list is shrinking! Christian has been tenaciously working on the hydraulic cylinder attachments on the head and on the upper body- which look indestructible. We decided to add plates on the sides of the head to spread the "up" force of the cylinders to the main two rails. The Pulley truss and all it's fine compound angles was a project Juniper took on-it looks beautiful- now I will weld it on to the main body and the entire outline of the crane is done. The outriggers are done, but still need bracing- and they are currently attached to the new 16" sub base. Tomorrow we will attempt to attach the sub base to the main body- with the help of our overhead hoist and Otis, the forklift. No easy feat, as the shop clearance is 14'-9" and the new dimension of the bottom part of the Heron is 13'-5"- not that much wiggle room. I am also posting a pic of the progress of the power unit build! Christian jumped over to work on that and hooked most of the lines and built a sweet fuel filler box that will be exposed after it gets sheathed.
He is such a super star! I have welded most all on the Heron so far- starting to wonder how many hundreds and hundreds of feet of beads I have run by now...and more to go, but the
list is shrinking!

FIRE WINGS-TEST ONE

Now it's really getting exciting!
Joel Hobbie brought one of the fire wings up to Taos this weekend for a test run and they are going to work great. The flame ranged from a soft feathery look to huge blasts that will certainly draw moths to the flame. Supposedly one could see the bursts of flame from R.E.A.C.H, an Earthship community clear across the mesa up on the mountain- 25 miles away! (See the video) They will articulate with a cable and winch and have an elbow joint and a shoulder pivot, where they attach to the Heron. We fire tested the wing with different various amounts of propane in the accumulator tank that Joel fabricated from a score at the Black Hole- our very own Los Alamos National Lab Surplus yard. The night started in full form with some random firing of Joel's pyrosil cannon- always a fun time! Ahhh, the toys available in Special Effects. The Heron is coming along beautifully also. Last week was a big push in the shop. We worked steady on the outriggers and a variety of large bolt plates...heaps of hole drilling. My advising engineer, Tom, drove up from Santa Fe also, with his lovely daughter Kira, and got a chance to examine the project in person. We discussed the connection areas of the crane, and how to fail safe the load-as in transferring loads to the appropriate structural members. I kept thinking about the book "Structures or Why Things Don't Fall Down" by J.E. Gordon- a book well worth checking in with again. We have all been calculating the craziest situations that could arise with and on the Heron- exercising our imagination extensively.
Now off to the shop...

Full Steam Ahead!

Nowadays the shop resembles a vaguely post apocalyptic maze, as the Heron has taken over. There are parts scattered EVERYWHERE, in some unique form of chaotic order. Christian, Gregory and I are working on various parts of the Heron, to get it ready to stand tall at the end of the month. This chapter in the build is comprised of machining parts with the lathe and the mill, building outriggers, a sub-base and Gregory working on the power unit engine, a six cylinder tiny Ford engine from a European car, could have been a Ford Focus. We have moved from compound angle lingo to "thousandths of an inch" as we are determining pivots, and pulley pins... The enormity of the project is starting to weigh down on me too-
the Heron is huge!
I am anxiously looking forward to making the acquaintance of this sculpture for the first time! We will load test it once it's standing tall, possibly using one of Christian's heavy robots to hang from the beak, then we take it back down, fix or tweak if necessary- then paint, and then up again...

What to hang off a Heron...

And now to all the fun things that can hang off the Heron....I have been working on a new web site for a few months now- designing, photo shoots, building prototype equipment and it is now LIVE. Spitfire Aerial Equipment
Building fine custom equipment for aerial artists seems to be a well suited business venture with the Heron about to stand tall behind me.
The Heron is completely trussed and ready for all the moving parts. I am in the process of putting together a sweet little gas driven power unit for the hydraulic winch and the hydraulic cylinders. With much advice from Christian and help from Gregory the power unit runs well. I will be decking it out with some serious mufflers to make it as quiet as possible. We are now waiting for the hydraulics to show up in the "mail"(more like on a freight truck).
Meanwhile, in Santa Fe, Joel Hobbie is working on the Herald's fire wings. They are made of steel tubing and pipe, everything plumbed for propane and will attach to the middle back of the sculpture for Burning Man. They will also actuate with a winch, imagine, retracting and expanding (or flapping) fire wings!!!!