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The Journey |
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Home |
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Below, you will find a detailed accounting of my cross country journey in search of sponsorship and assistance for this project. Be sure to check atleast once a week, for my plan is to travel to a new location each week. If you have any suggestions about where I should go, please e-mail me. |
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Monday, 27 Jan 03 Phoenix, Arizona |
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Today I talked with two gentlemen at two different companies about building three of the parts for a prototype. I need to see if the dimensions will work. Speed Automatics, Inc. told me to go to Billet Machine but took information about possibly doing a large production run. I have to build a prototype first to display to other companies in order to aquire sponsorship. Then I can product the entire system.
The three parts I had them look at were the drive gear, the tread gear, and the tread. Billet Machine told me to come back tomorrow for a price quote on 8 tread gears and 6 drive gears. I'll post the estimates as soon as I get them.
My next destination will be Albuguerque, New Mexico. I havn't found any companies there yet, but thought I'd do a little sight-seeing. |
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Wednesday, 29 Jan 03 Phoenix, Arizona |
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I received the pricing information for production of 6 drive gears and 8 tread gears. The drive gears will cost $65.00 per gear for a run of 6. The tread gears will cost $62.00 per gear for a run of 8. This bid was from Billet Machine. The total cost for each is:
Tread gear: $496.00
Drive gear: 390.00
Total: $886.00
Under my current budget, this is too expensive. I will continue to look for other machine shops and continue producing these parts myself.
I have found some blocks of aluminum and a dremel tool and I am currently shaping some parts. I have fabricated 2 tread pieces and 3 tread connecting pins. I have run into a problem about how to secure the tread in the appropriate position and prevent it from sliding back and forth. Give me a couple of days and I will figure this out. |
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Sunday, 2 Feb 03 Phoenix, Arizona |
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I would like to dedicate a special moment for the hero's of Columbia. We will never forget them.
Today, I managed to assemble 3 tread sections. I have worked out how to secure them and will have drawings up as soon as possible. |
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Tuesday, 4 Feb 03 Phoenix, Arizona |
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Tomorrow I will travel to Tucson, Arizona. When I get to Tucson, I will scan all the pics I have of the parts and assemblies. Stay tuned. I am working on adding a report on how to make solar cells, look on the main page. Or click here. |
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Wednesday, 5 Feb 03 Tucson, Arizona |
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Well, I finally made it to Tucson. Within the first 10 minutes in town I saw the Pima County Community College. I stopped in a chatted with the machine tool instructor about possibly making my drive gears and tread gears, but he said that they had a tight schedule and could not spare the time to do it. Tomorrow I will go to the University of Arizona, Tucson and chat with them. |
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Friday, 7 Feb 03 Flagstaff, Arizona |
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I really like the town of Flagstaff, Arizona. Nothing to do here. Heading off for New Mexico tommorrow. |
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Monday, 10 Feb 03 Albuquerque, New Mexico |
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Wow, such a bad snow storm on the trip up here. Nothing much here, moving to Amarillo, Texas tonight. |
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Tuesday, 11 Feb 03 Amarillo, Texas |
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Nothing to report here. |
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Wednesday, 12 Feb 03 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
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Worked for a metal manufacturing company. Got an insite into how the machinery works and now know how to build them. I'll have more details later on. |
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Thursday, 20 Feb 03 Little Rock, Arkansas |
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A tremendous setback for me today. I traveled all this way to learn about bauxite at one of the local bauxite mines and found out that they have all been closed since the 80's. Oh, well. I also went to a rock crushing plant and they said that they would not be able to assist me but pointed me in several directions to people and companies that might. |
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