frobzwiththingz: duo fabric shot (silk_firefly_vt)
frobzwiththingz ([personal profile] frobzwiththingz) wrote2006-07-31 12:28 am
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Aerial Rig Mark 2 test raise. SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

So, for the past 2.5 months or so i've hermitting in the machine shop, barely seeing anyone and occasionally emitting streams of expletives from the depths of the basement. I feel intimately familiar with all of radioIO AMBIENT, and have pulled enough all-nighters in the machine shop to have heard their entire inventory. I've been working on Aerial Rig Mark 2, a rig of a very different design as the one that has been in my yard. Object was to design a rig that needed much less people to erect, could be transported using the two vehicles we own (both scion xBs), requiring minimal extra support tools to erect, and most importantly, require *NO* external guy wires and be able to be put up somewhere without any ground anchors needed. I wanted to bring this new rig, if ready, out to Burning Man, and guy wires are a danger to the public at night. And this one should be lighter, and made of aluminum instead of steel. And i wanted a swiveling mount point integrated into the rig, so that we could make our silk rigging simpler.

Anyhow, this project has eaten all of my spare time since early May. I thought it would be much easier than the last rig. I mean, what could be so hard about building an equilateral pyramid, with a tension cable network at the bottom to keep it in place?

Of course, as it turns out, the devil is in the details. And boy were there details. I won't describe them here; ask me in person if you have any interest. And as the deadline for having things ready for packing onto the Boston Burning Truck approached, i began to think that i had bitten off way more than i could chew in time. Thats when the weekend all-nighters started. And then the stints in the shop on a work night until 3am. At some point last week i crawled into bed around 3 and said to [livejournal.com profile] klingonlandlady, "I don't know how much more of this i have in me."

Today, however, all of the work has seen fruition, as we did a successful full-height test raising of the not-final, but good-enough to be functional rig. It only took 4 people to raise and lower, as opposed to the 8 or so the square rig requires (or the *30* you need to raise the square one in an open field)

I was sort of dreading the test today, worried that we'd find *some* fatal problem in either the design or raising method. But everything worked! Lots of thanks to [livejournal.com profile] klingonlandlady, [livejournal.com profile] sensesurfer, and [livejournal.com profile] doze_e_fish for their help in the project today. More thanks to [livejournal.com profile] sensesurfer for the use of the Multicam 1500 CNC Machine Of Doom. Onward to the Playa! much much much thanks and love to [livejournal.com profile] klingonlandlady, who has put up with me during this long episode of hyperfocus. Hoping to relax a bit now.



Here are all the parts and support rigging. The milk crates in the back contain all that is needed to raise the rig.



In this photo we see the rig assembled , but folded flat on the ground. Already in existence in Aerial Rig Mark 1, the Steel Behomoth.



This is a closeup of a leg base plate. The axle positions for leg and wheels are positioned such that after a certain amount of winching in, on grass or playa surface it will form a ratchet brake that prevents backsliding while winching the rig up. This worked almost *too* well on our soft grass.



Each leg has a come-along and cable-pulley system, going in to a central hub temporarily rebared into the ground.



Partially winched up.



Almost there.



At full height now, base cable network attached. The top spider is still loose though. it needed to be to be a hinged system to raise it. Now, however, we need to climb up and tighten the bolts up there and turn it into a rigid unit. Here i climb up the silk, with a pre-rigged climbing harness, rope, and GriGri belay device to clip in to the main point.



Now i tighten the hinge bolts. Note that i have tied off my tools.



Here is a close-up of the central spider structure, that pushes the pyramid sides out to a 2 foot radius from center, making almost all of the rig useable space. Good view of the built-in swivel mount.



Ready to test out for real! Get those crash pads!



Gratuitous silk pictures.









[identity profile] whitebird.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
That is a very elegant piece of structure!

[identity profile] marmota.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Congratulations, applause, etc!

Um, considering Firefly, I have to ask the obvious followup question to "This worked almost *too* well on our soft grass."... how about in/on mud?

[identity profile] bikergeek.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
wow, that's pretty amazing! go you!

[identity profile] ceciliatan.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
Soooooo awesome.

[identity profile] trowa-barton.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
*drools at the engineering*

[identity profile] lillibet.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
Fabulous! Congratulations!

[identity profile] kimberlogic.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
wow, that's fantastic!
i'm headed out to an aerial festival next week in boulder

[identity profile] maighread.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Even without knowing all the details, this is beautiful! Congratulations!

[identity profile] lifecollage.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Elegant. The word we're looking for is elegant.

Also, damn sexxy. Nicely done, sir.

[identity profile] rmd.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
this is great.

[identity profile] starphire.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice job!

[identity profile] hauntmeister.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow! Elegant indeed. That's good engineering!

[identity profile] tcb.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
sweet! elegant design!

[identity profile] noire.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Sooooo elegant. (Yeah, I'm a sucker for elegant engineering/solutions.)
ceo: (Default)

[personal profile] ceo 2006-07-31 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that's beautiful. Are the holes in the central spider structure for weight saving, or just decorative? And how do the legs lock to the spider?

[identity profile] spitcurl.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
It is positively exquisite, P.

Congratulations on all that work! Hope you are going to be plenty spoiled now!

[identity profile] lightfixer.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice engineering!!!!

[identity profile] dilletante.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
everyone else seems to have said "elegant," so i feel a bit sheepish that that is the first thing i thought also, when i got to the photo that showed how it raises. very cool. did you design this? and if so, have you posted about it to the rigging forums?

why so adamant about integrating a swivel? for the 5 inches of height you don't have to lose attaching one? hm, i guess that's reasonable, actually.

awesome!

[identity profile] dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Hooray! It's awesome :)

[identity profile] quietann.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm very impressed (by both the rig and the hawt silks boyz ;)

[identity profile] klingonlandlady.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! It came out great! yes, post it to the rigging forums :)
Looking forward to being able to enjoy your company again on occasional evenings, tho... (hug)

[identity profile] deguspice.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
It's cool to see it up.

Can you post more pictures of the wheeled feet? I'm curious how they were designed (I've already seen the top part in person).

[identity profile] haptotrope.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
holey crap! thats awesome! get some sleep!

[identity profile] clara-girl.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
YEARGH it's gorgeous! i'm so sorry i missed the raise. can't wait to see it In Action.

an aside: due to clara_girl's lack of organization, she's in town through this week.

CONGRATULATIONS on the rig :) :) :)

[identity profile] clara-girl.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
ps - POINT THOSE DAMN TOES (in the drop-setup photo.) ::cracks whip::

[identity profile] oneagain.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Goodness! Mazel Tov!!!!

[identity profile] underwatercolor.livejournal.com 2006-07-31 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Very pretty!

I'm curious if it could be raised higher or given longer legs. (It looks like it could take it. :) I imagine there's not much need, but... y'know. :)

It also seems like one person could actually set this up, albeit slowly. :)
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[identity profile] perspicuity.livejournal.com 2006-08-01 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
fantastical :)

i read about the LEDs... how about some hawt paint? design?

something blacklight?

#

[identity profile] sicklemoon.livejournal.com 2006-08-06 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Chiming in awfully late, but--it's an amazing, and beautiful, piece of equipment.

Wow.
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[identity profile] perspicuity.livejournal.com 2006-08-18 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
saw Chad (of the firespinning/etc) the other day. he said he'd like to get in contact with "the guy that has the silk rigs":
o to see if you guys would happen to sign up for WildFire in CT (and bring the rigs, play, teach, etc)... along with all the other playing, teaching, etc

o if you ever gave though to selling a [silk] rig of some kind

he's http://freedomthrufire.livejournal.com/profile on the old eL Jay

#

(Anonymous) 2009-07-06 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
yes, what would you think about selling (maybe a little less complicated) aerial rig?

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(Anonymous) 2013-03-28 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Do you sell these by any chance? joannemeredithsolomon@gmail.com