57 Tiger Cub Motorcycle

FRS 106, Michael Littman – Spring 2015

Category: Diary

Thursday, April 30

-KE

 Reports: 

Professor: tank on, seat on, carburetor ready to go, painting needs to get done, battery cover is fitted, break lines and clutch and oil lines need to get put on

Mark: helped with engine, tried to get the battery box fitted

Caitlin: looked for rear break lever Samone: with Professor Arnold– gear was broken, sliced and polished the gear, did several tests and looked at it through the electron microscope

Kate: refit coil, put together the wire for the spark plug

Mikhael: helped get engine on (needs to be tightened), helped fit battery box

Francesco: finishing touches on the frame

Max B: put in engine

Colby: sandblasted and cleaned engine bolts

Devin: same as Samone

MK, Sydney, Leslie: sandblasted and helped with engineJamie: cleaned fasteners

Mun: worked to fit headlamp on

Max S: worked on filing the bolts, tried to find brake levers (got front one attached)

Shop Class as Soulcraft Discussion: Chapter 7

Pg. 161: difference between knowing “that” and knowing “how;” difference between learning an equation (i.e. Ohm’s law) and going out and getting experience

Idea of sixth sense (firefighter’s example)Technical writers

Experience: gives you a different type of knowledge

What is more valued? Knowing what or knowing how?

Connection to Zen: knowing how to ask the right questions in deciphering the manuals as well as having confidence

Shop Class as Soulcraft Discussion: Chapter 8

About being truly immersed in what you’re doing: discussion about Olympic athletes and attacking task/ focusing on moment rather than the results

Having pride in your work and seeing what you built in use: pride and value in construction workers’ job

Experiment with giving kids rewards from drawing: how does one most effectively sharpen skills? Giving kids a reward for good drawings has a surprising result in that they are not motivated to work more as compared to the kids who do not get the reward

Not trying to idealize the life of a mechanic, but encourages reader to follow passion

Issue of full engagement: the right place to be is where you’re enjoying it most

Shop Class as Soulcraft Discussion: Concluding Remarks 

Importance of failure: when you experience failure you learn more, teaches you how you work more on a deeper level

Individual agency: what you put into the world! How do you do your part to contribute to society?

Differing opinions of ending: makes you look more at how you can improve yourself and thus society, but then takes a sharp turn toward arguing against progressivism or is the whole point of this book to justify his life?

Tuesday, April 28

-KE

Reports:

Professor: ‘55 is up and running, last year’s group put the wrong size bolt into the engine case, stripped the oil line. On our bike: front wheel on, rear fender and license plate on, battery box and oil reserve on frame.

Jamie: finalizing front of frame with wheel and handle bars

Caitlin: same thing working on forks

Mikhael: frame, got concussed

Mark: done with gaskets, helped with handle bars and engine

Samone/Devin: looked for missing bolts, had to take gasket off since they didn’t sprocket wasn’t staked properly

Kate: worked on fitting coil properly

Max S: handlebars, bike tipped back over and had to work on bent piece

Francesco: front forks

Mun: got spacers ready for attaching headlight

Max B: made gaskets

Phil: fasteners!

Colby: worked w/ max on gasket, helped Samone look for the missing parts

MK, Sydney, Leslie: helped out

Zen Discussion: Chapter 25

Pg. 297: Quality or its absence lies with the relationship between the people who use the technology and the technology; new way of looking at Quality, it’s not a static thing but instead a struggle of man trying to find Quality

Pg. 303: relationship between artist and art; you can get Quality out of unexpected situations, Quality of Ansel Adams photographs was more than the technology, it had to do with the composition and “making” a photograph

Pg. 304: first improve world from “heart and head and hand,” idea of not separating yourself from surrounding but instead embracing it

Peace of mind

Classic vs. romantic: problems with the overly romantic view, first time he criticizes classic view => you need both aspects for things to take on a deeper meaning

Zen Discussion: Chapter 26

Idea of “gumption”– almost like resilience, must have it when repairing motorcycle

Rest of chapter is about “gumption traps” (something that sucks away the ability to get things done): external vs. internal, different types of setbacks

Ex. value rigidity set back: you might think you know what’s wrong but you’re actually looking at it the wrong way

Ex. monkey trap: story of monkey trying to grab rice, monkey needs to realize that what he thinks is important isn’t as important as something else => ego (must be able to admit you’re wrong); Impatience, boredom

Reading for Thursday:

Soul craft chapter 7, 8, and concluding remarks

Thursday, 9 April

In Last Week’s Lab

Samone: Fixed the main shaft; worked on the clutch and transmission.
Devon: found the missing nut for the clutch assembly (connects to the transmission assembly); put together the transmission
Phil: put the front forks back together and is putting the sleeves back in. Just need a spanner wrench to tighten everything next time.
Mark: encountered computer problems with the CREO software to make the gaskets
Mikhail: worked on the transmission and clutch, finally found the missing nut and helped put it together.
Jaime: sandblasted, primed, and used Bando on the oil tank; had to get some of the dents out. Next time: use glazing putty to get some of the small depressions out.
Mary Kate: Finished constructing the bottom end, started on our presentation.
Colby: (sick last time)
Max S: worked with Bill Becker on the wheels; put bearings on the front wheel and put the caps on; currently testing/spinning the wheel on its axel and fine tuning it so that it doesn’t wobble any way as it rotates.
Max B: tried to put the carburetor that they made onto the Blue Motorcycle (from a previous year), but it wouldn’t start because the Points weren’t functional (this is an easy fix). Then tested the Orange motorcycle: tested the bike to see if it would start (it did), then replaced the carburetor, but the springs weren’t the right tightness.
Francesco: worked on truing the tires with Bill Becker; worked with Phil to put back the fork assembly; took pictures (he’s the photographer)
Leslie:  Finished the bottom end, started working on bottom-end project.
Mun: worked with Max B replacing the carburetors on the previous bikes. Will have to work on the springs, and then continue to work on the electrical system.
Kate: Worked with Mun and Max B on the previous bikes, will continue to work on the electrical system.
Caitlin: put the brake shoes into the drums, and worked more on the wheels.
Sydney: Finished the bottom end; had to test previous engines of same model in order to properly line up the timing pinion with the cam, since the timing marker had been rubbed off of our pinion. Then started working on the bottom end project.

ZEN Discussion: Chs 16-18

-Chapter 16:
·          How would a grade-less school system affect students’ effort and learning?
o    Phaedrus confirmed what he believed: that the same students would do well in both systems, because the best students are often the most self-motivated, and want to learn for knowledge’s sake, not for the sake of grades.
o    A system without grades can be good for people who learn at different rates. Some people just take a little longer to understand things; a grade-less system wouldn’t put them under pressure to perform in a way that is not natural to them.
o    It would allow people to intellectually explore other subjects (that are not their focus) without consequence.
o    This is consistent with how many people come back to school after working for a little while and really developing their own interests; this way, they know what they want to learn and really take advantage of school.
o    Going to school for grades is very different from going to school to learn.
·          On writer’s Block: Phaedrus believes that what most people try to do, when writing, is just imitate
o    His exercise for solving his student’s writer’s block: make her write an entire essay on just the front of one store on the mainstreet of Bozeman. This forced her to be creative, and write entirely her own thoughts (because there was nobody’s work she could imitate on the front of this one building).
o    Also said: “the more you look, the more you see.”
-Chapter 17:
·          Do you have a good definition of Quality? What is Quality?
o    By nature, Quality is not something that can or should be defined.
o    What Quality specifically is changes depending on what you’re measuring (two sports teams, two essays, etc..) Is it really necessary to define something that changes so much depending on how it’s applied?
o    The thing that Phaedrus’s students struggled with was not what is quality, but rather, how do you get quality?  (as in, writing their own essays)
o    Always be careful when defining terms, because somebody will always try to find counter examples.
·          Phaedrus on Teaching Writing.
o    He dislikes teaching writing structures/traditional writing tools as methods for quality writing. Rather, he thinks it’s important to realize what it is you’re trying to accomplish.
§  For example: if you want to accomplish unity in your piece of writing, an outline is a useful tool to reach this unity.
§  It’s important to realize your purpose, then use your tools to achieve that purpose, rather than just using the tools because you were told to do so.
-Chapter 18:
·          Some More on Quality
o    Romanticists and classicists approach it different ways
§  Romanticists often admire aesthetic quality, and then never question what exactly it is
§  Whereas classicists often try to define and overanalyze things.
·          “subtraction” method to prove Quality exists
o    Objective: Prove that a world without Quality would be different than the world we live in now.
§  He says: that all of society would be “square,” and look the same, and there would be very little differentiation.
§  Society without Quality would be very different from the world we live in now, so therefore it must exist, even if we cannot define it.
Next week: on Tuesday, material specialist Craig Arnold will be talking to us!
On Thursday, we’ll be all in the Shop, because Professor Littman won’t be here.
No homework/readings! J
–SRC

Discussion of Zen: Chapters 22-24

Quality – a Third horn

Chapter 22:
Poincare – infinite hypotheses bother phaedrus
End of 19th century, difference in logical systems of space
Coming scientific revolution – theory of relativity, space/time no longer absolute
“The soberest and most respected of astronomers would be telling mankind that if it looked long enough through a telescope powerful enough, what it would see was the back of its own head!”
Special relativity – space and time linked
Matter and energy are the same
Absolute magnitude – wave/particle duality; amplitude of wave related to energy packet size, can’t be arbitrarily small

Difference in geometries: Euclidean vs Riemann (based on curvature)
Geometry most useful for describing Earth is non-Euclidean geometry
Eistein Principle of Equivalence: You cannot distinguish between gravity and acceleration (see the “vomit comet”)
Narrator says you can use whichever geometry works best for you at the moment  – Phaedrus didn’t know this

Classic Beauty vs Romantic Beauty: harmony of parts vs “the beauty of appearances which strikes the senses”

Chapter 23:

Glass door is entry to coffin – Difference in personalities forms barrier between him and family. Phaedrus is killed via shock therapy

Chapter 24:

Quality is the fusion of art and science – almost religious definition
“scientific reality” and “the goal of art”
moment of Quality is insular and can’t be thought of in advance
train as a metaphor for knowledge: classical knowledge breaks train into parts, looks at it in the abstract, but romantic knowledge looks at the “leading edge” of the train in its purpose

Can remove a screw by burning it out, using a screw extractor, calling a mechanical friend, or drilling it out

“Stuckness” can be a good thing because you can learn from the failure and learn how to get out of such a situation. This is why mechanics trained in shop can be better than school-trained mechanics

Tuesday, 7 April

In Last Week’s Lab

Mikhail: worked on the Clutch
Caitlin:  worked on removing paint from the Racers (where the ball-bearing hits)
Mark: gasket work
Mun: tried to get points onto the wires, but could only find 6, so were trying to figure out if we could use some that were on the extra wires
Kate: (same)
Francesco: worked on the fork assembly, tried to figure out what goes where and started putting the front end together
Max: figured out the configuration of the brake and clutch levers ; calculated the mechanical advantage for each of the levers.
Phil: pressed the gearing into the engine cover; cleaned out and started to put the front end back together.
Mary Kate: put the bottom end back together
Sydney: put bottom end back together
Leslie: put bottom end back together.
Max B: put the top end together, switched one of the springs in the carburetor, painted the cylinder
Jaime: helped paint the cylinder head so that it wouldn’t get rusty (with the silver paint) so that it wouldn’t oxidize and get rusty
Samone: figured out how to put the transmission together; there was a broken tooth, with a washer that had welded with one of the gear shafts; figuring out how to put separate it
Devon: putting the clutch back together, working with the missing/fused washer.

Guest Lecturer – Bill Becker

Bill Becker: The Wheel as a Structural Subsystem on a Motorcycle
-Background:
·          From Philadelphia
·          Works on mostly vintage machines, but also enjoys bringing them up to modern standards… attracted to the “beauty of mechanical work”
·          goes to his shop, and “creates problems and then solves problems”
-Some Basic Physics:
·          Need to understand Mass, Matter, and Force
o    Forces are what act on mass
o    With a motorcycle, dealing with forces like gravity, inertia, momentum, and velocity
o    Velocity is a force acting in a direction
·          It takes work to stop momentum and to stop inertia
For Manufacturing:
·          If you’re designing for racing, staying streamlined is very important for becoming faster and better… this means reducing mass and reducing friction.
·          If you’re producing for mass production, materials have to be affordable and not too expensive
-Looking at the wheel:
·          On Japanese motorcycles, there’s usually 36 spokes (9×4), but on our British bike there’s 40 spokes (10×4)… it doesn’t really make a difference.
·          Outer piece: “rim”, connected via the “spokes” to the “hub”
o    The hub contains a brake, with shoes that expand (for the brake), and some bearings.
-Materiality of Motorcycle wheels
·          In the modern motorcycle, there’s 12 different materials used on every wheel
o    Why so many? Because each material is good for different things! For example…
§  Aluminum, for the rim
§  Stainless steel, for the spokes
§  Cast iron for the hubs
Strength
Flexibility
Weight
Hard/Soft
Workability
Resist Corrosion?
Conductivity
Cost
Available?
Aluminum
x
Light
very
X
very
Cast Iron
X
Heavy
Good
Mild Steel
Hardened Steel
Stainless Steel
X
X
Heavy
X
X
X
Exp
X
Rubber
X
X
Light
X
X
cheap
very
Polyester
Brass
Chromium
Asbestos
Plastic
Air
-Because Rubber is so readily available, that’s why it was chosen as the material that undergoes a large amount of friction between the bike and the road.
-Basic Forces that work on the wheels:
·          Compression, Tension, Shear (and Bending, which is a combination of all 3)
·          Young’s Modulus of Elasticity: describes how different materials respond under stress (load) and strain (deformation)
o    The stronger the material, the steeper the slope
o    This chart also measures the yield point and the fracture point.
·          In a wheel, only about a quarter of the spokes are working at a time (bearing a load)
o    Each spoke can support about 850 pounds
o    So each wheel can support about 8000-8500 pounds.
·          However, a wheel is supporting a much bigger load than just the rider’s weight.
o    Especially with gravity, impact, acceleration and deceleration/braking, there’s a lot of stress on the spokes of the wheel.
o    At any given time, you could get have as many as 50% of the spokes contributing to the wheel’s strength
o    The spokes’ orientation provides different triangulations, which strengthen the wheel for different motions (like banking, etc…)
§  Only for the rear wheel…. The front wheel doesn’t provide any braking or any power, so radial spokes are OK
HW for next meeting (Thursday 4/9): CHS 16-18 in Zen (next three chapters, first three chapters of part III)

Thursday, 2 April

Next Tuesday (7 April): No reading assignment; guest lecture by wheel expert Bill Becker
Readings for Thursday (9 April): Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Chapters 16-18
Next week’s scribe: Sydney

Recap of Tuesday’s lab

  • Top end team finished with the rockers and completed work on the top end. They prepped to paint it and the cylinders.
  • Electrical team looked at the electrical system on an older bike in order to figure out how to hook up the electrical system on ours. They also learned not to turn batteries sideways because they can drip acid. Our battery is wired correctly and it has positive ground.
  • Mark continued work on the gaskets using CAD software.
  • Bottom end team tried to reassemble the bottom end, but had some difficulties. There are now two inserts in the primary side cover (thanks to Glenn), as well as an alignment pin.
  • Frame, forks, and wheels team worked to match up pieces of the frame as shown in the manual diagram. Some challenges: our fork configuration is slightly different than the one in the diagram; the new handlebars are too long (they have since been cut/ground down to the correct size); brake and clutch cables were fitting too loosely (that problem was fixed by adding sleeves to make the cables fit more snugly). Extra brake shoes and springs were cleaned, although new ones should be arriving before next week. Another piece of the frame was sanded, Bondo’d, sanded again, and primed.
  • Clutch and transmission team continued work on the Terrier clutch, which kept slipping. The reason was that the cable was too long, so they were able to trim some of it and now it works.

Book discussion

Chapter 14: Narrator, Chris, and the Sutherlands arrive at the DeWeeses’ home in the mountains. That night they talk about a lot of things, including the idea of machine assembly as a form of art (this relates to the romantic-classical divide; DeWeese looks at his rotisserie in a different light after being told the assembly process is akin to sculpture). Narrator says that “peace of mind” is important in accomplishing technical tasks; this peace of mind seems to be something Phaedrus lacked. This parallels some of the ideas discussed in Shop Class as Soulcraft, specifically the need for peace and quiet when working in the shop. In a conversation with an artist, Narrator finds that welding is common ground for them, since it can be seen as both technical (classical) and artistic (romantic). We also discussed the idea of whether mathematics was invented or discovered, as well as the difference between rhetoric (intended to persuade/convince), debate (two parties with competing ideas; the more true idea does not necessarily win), and dialectic (trying to reach a truth).
Chapter 15: There is a motorcycle reference to a chain adjuster link. Narrator and Chris go to the college where Phaedrus used to teach, but Chris gets spooked and leaves the building almost immediately. Narrator continues into Phedrus’s old classroom and office. He meets someone who is likely a former student of Phaedrus. Back when he was a teacher, Phaedrus struggled with the concept of subjective assessment, which was problematic since he taught rhetoric. Narrator remembers the moment when Phaedrus first considered the idea of what constitutes Quality. Phaedrus was obsessed with the idea of Quality, which will clearly be important later in the book.
CMQ

Tuesday, 31 March

Readings for Thursday (2 April): Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Chapters 14-15

Recap of last Thursday’s lab

  • Top end team worked with valves and springs and started with rockers.
  • Electrical team worked on handlebar switches and hooked up headlamp, taillight, and turn signals.
  • Mark used CAD software to scan and alter images of the gaskets.
  • Bottom end team finished prepped to reassemble the crankcase.
  • Frame, forks, and wheels team put new tires on the wheels (using dish detergent as a lubricant) and gathered parts necessary to reassemble the fork. Continued with Bondo application, sanding, and priming on the fenders and gas tank. Also worked on the engine block, where it was discovered that holes will need to be drilled into the cover and an insert likely added.
  • Clutch and transmission team continued working to repair the Terrier.

Heated debate about the color of our motorcycle

After much discussion, an agreement was finally reached: the color should be scarlet, as in dark red (like blood), not orange-red. The fenders should have a stripe of either white, off-white, or silver and the tank should be two-toned (scarlet and either white, off-white, or silver, depending on the color of the fender stripe).

Book discussion

Chapter 12: First mention of the concept of Zen, which Phaedrus studied in India. It is said that this philosophy, unlike logic/reason, does not presume a separation of subject from object. Phaedrus never really bought into Zen because he could not accept the premise of “Thou art that,” or “that everything you think you are and everything you think you perceive are undivided.” Attention is also given to the way Phaedrus solved DeWeese’s ostensible electrical problem (a problem with a light switch), which turned out to be a mechanical problem, since it was fixed with the installation of a new switch. We see that DeWeese, unlike the Sutherlands, isn’t hostile to technology, just ignorant of it.

Chapter 13: The narrator, along with Chris and the Sutherlands, is approaching Bozeman and the university where Phaedrus used to teach. While Phaedrus was a professor, right-wing politicians attempted to force the college to pass virtually every student, which threatened the university’s accreditation. In a lecture, Phaedrus called the University the “Church of Reason” and compared it to a repurposed church building that had been converted to a bar. Even though the physical building was that of a church, it had essentially been desanctified and no longer constituted a church. Similarly, the “real” University, which Phaedrus called likened to a state of mind (he called it a heritage of rational thought), was separate from the physical presence of buildings, faculty, students, etc. This logical perspective mirrors the discussion of the subject-object distinction from the previous chapter.

CMQ

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

Professor Ju Q&A Session

Professor Ju

–        Research Area: Transportation and Nanoparticles

–        Hypersonics generates enormous heating of the aircraft since the ignition temp is very high

o    Necessitates different cooling for the engine stability

Questions for Professor Ju

What is an ideal fuel for the engine?

–        depends on the engine.

–        For ground transportation, you don’t want a fuel that gets ignited too fast. You can’t have fuel that has more than 50% ethanol due to corrosion (lubrication issue).

–        Aromatic fuel (benzene) is very lubricating.

–        For aircraft, there is a lot of aromatic fuel due to the fact that aircraft engines go at a higher rotation

Hybrid Cars?

–        The batter is super expensive

–        Electric cars are heavily subsidized at the moment, so actual costs of these batteries are a lot more expensive.

–        Hybrid will have a good future before electric cars.

o    Gasoline has 50x higher power to weight compared to the latest lithium batteries

o    Lithium batteries have an inherent limit.

o    But Lithium Flouride batteries have a better future than current ones.

Diesel Engines vs Gasoline Engines?

–        European : 50% diesel engine

–        U.S. : 90% gasoline engine

–        In terms of efficiency, diesel engines are 30% more efficient than gasoline engines.

o    Diesel engines does not have a knocking process—we can ramp up the compression ratio much higher than gasoline

o    Because of the high pressure, the engines are heavier though.

o    Also, diesel engines have more emissions (NOx); thus, Japanese carmakers have steered away from the diesel engines.

  •   Diesel engines have higher emission due to higher ignition temperature à more NOx.

o    In Europe, diesel engines are very popular.

–        With electric cars coming in, diesel engines might face tougher competition.

EGR?

–        the temperature of the exhaust coming from the exhaust pipes are very low

o    Thus, it is very difficult to use this energy

–        Another idea is to use the heat radiating from the engine into electrical energy.

HCCI

–        trying to combine the merits of diesel engines and the gasoline engines

o    higher compression with lower emissions

–        Premix vs Diffusion

o    Candle flame is a diffusion; they mix as they burn

o    Premix -> oxygen and fuel are “premixed” before you burn

o    Diesel is diffusion and gasoline is premixed

–        Instead of using a spark plug, you ignite it by compression with a very low premixed fuel

o    Temperature is very low

o    But controlling the ignition is hard

–        HCCI concept has been around for 30 years but perfecting is hard

–        Diesel cannot be fully premixed

o    If it is premixed then as soon as compression happens, it will ignite.

Gas Turbines

–        ground turbine has duel design—one from the gas turbine and the other from steam turbine

–        Most efficient gas turbine

o    Supercritical steam turbine: the efficiency can be up to 40%

o    Gas combined with this supercritical steam turbine: 62%

–        Professor Ju thinks natural gas will stay due to the fact that the efficiency is so high.

Lead

–        Octane number: indicator of how good the fuel is in anti-knocking

o    Lead is very cheap that increases the octane number

o    Now they use aromatics: Toulene

  •   They are expensive and they produce emissions as well
  •   So refineries don’t really want to add aromatics
  •   They add ethanol now for most part of it.

Valve Overlap

–        when the intake valve and exhaust valve is open at the same time.

–        What determines how much overlap you have? Why do you even have it at all?

o    Because when the exhaust valve is open, the exhaust gas coming out still has inertia and creates a vacuum of sorts, which helps to intake the gas.

–        In a high performance engine, you would see more overlap.

Geometry of the pistons

–        depends on the cam shaft

What’s the future?

–        With gas so cheap, he doesn’t think that the gasoline and diesel engine will go away

–        Hybrid engines will continue to increase.

–        Hydrogen has very low energy density

o    To do the compression, you waste a lot of energy.

March 12, 2015

Questions for Professor Ju

•     Does engine spacing effect performance? (straight vs. Vee or engine location — front wheel vs. rear wheel vs. mid)

•     Is there a difference between combustion of fossil fuels vs. renewable fuels (Ex: biodiesel)

•     What about new engines types? HCCI?

•     Does the implementation of hybrid technology add anything?

•     Project the future for cars with gas engines, or do we have make a complete switch? Gas vs. hybrid vs. electric?

•     How does cost efficiency affect realistic alternatives for future engine technology?

•     What is an ideal fuel?

•     Why nitro?

•     Fuel efficient driving … how do you drive efficiently?

•     Opinions on diesel for auto engines? Good?

•     How would a gas turbine for a power plant differ from one for aviation or other purposes?

•     How can hot exhaust air be recovered/captured? EGR?

•     Alternative fuels? Corn? Algae/microorganisms and fuel?

•     Why lead as additive? What instead?

•     Spark advance?

OFF TO THE POWDER COATER ….

March 10th

One of the objectives is to take parts to powder coat by tomorrow (March 11th 2015)

–        Get every part that needs to be powder-coated

o    Frame, Swing Arm, License Plate Holder, Battery Box and Cover, Oil Reservoir, Brake Covers.

o    Color will be shiny black

o    We won’t be powder coating the gas tank.

The two articles on Engine Combustion

–        Heavy crude, light crude and sweet crude oil

o    Heavy and light has to do with density

o    Sweetness has to do with impurity—sulfur

–        What we call gasoline is not really C8H18, but it’s in the middle of the distribution of the refining process

–        10% of crude oil gets turned into gasoline

–        Cracking

o    Thermal vs Catalytic

  •   Influences a lot about how much gasoline you will get in the end

–         Octane reaction à exothermic, 44.4KJ/g for C8H18

–        The air to fuel ratio (AFR) is 15 ~ 14.7

–        Our engine displace = 200 cc, how much does 200cc of air weigh?

o    .257 grams after stoichiometry

o    fuel =  (1 / 15) * .257 = .0171

o    Thus, maximum energy release per explosion is 759 Joules

–        After a series of calculations, at top engine speed, we have 50 explosions per second.

–        Gasoline engines are about 1/3rd efficient

March 5, 2015

Reading for March 10, 2015: Article in email to be sent by Professor Littman describing combustion.

What happened in lab last class?

1) Marked the screw locations on one of the gaskets and prepared to use a CAD program to create a replacement.

2) Cleaned out the fork tubes (stanchions).

3) Cleaned the transmission parts.

4) Sandblasted the oil tank, frame, and fender.

5) Checked how round the flywheel was by putting it on the lathe and using the dial indicator. The two sides were not aligned and so Glen realigned the flywheel.

6) Rebuilt the carb.

7) Put an insert to fix a broken tap in the engine bock.

8) Replaced the light in the headlight.

9) Removed brake shoes and removed all the grease from the brakes, which are now ready to be sandblasted.

10) Assembled the points system.

Class Demonstration:

Transformer has a ratio of 100:1. Primary inductance=4.4m(H) Turns Ratio: x100 (Steps the voltage up by factor of 100).

Ohm’s Law V=I*R

When the points disengage and open there is a spike of current, which creates a spark.

In the second demo: An iron core creates a much stronger magnetic field, which creates a higher voltage.

Key Ideas: Allows you to convert mechanical work to electricity through magnetism. A moving magnet and a coil produce a voltage. If you put a current in a coil it can turn an armature, which is an electric motor.

Why do we like motorcycles as engineers?

Motorcycles are a structure (frame), a machine (gears/engine), a network (electrical sparking system), and a process (combustion).

Class Discussion: 

Ch4 Part 2

Defines and describes the term “idiot.” This creates an interesting dilemma, how is one classified as an idiot? The class comes to a conclusion that an idiot is someone who is self absorbed. For example, in Zen, the mechanics were too absorbed with themselves and the radio rather than applying the necessary attention to the motorcycle.

Ch 5 Part 1

The author leaves his job in a think tank, which he strongly dislikes. He opens up a motorcycle shop with his friend. This entire idea stems from a passion, which was found while repairing a carb on his 1975 Cb 360. He had repaired the carb but found that soon after, he had disassembled and reassembled the entire motorcycle.

Café racer- a style of motorcycle made popular in the 1970s, a more racing style bike, which was only meant to “race” between bars.

Ch5 Part 2

Starts with the author talking to a prospective customer and telling him that he should get rid of his bike, the owner does not listen and the author now spends hours trying to fix the bike. He starts with the valves and then moves to the cams and rockers. This brings him to his real dilemma on how to charge his clients. Does he charge for time on problems that he created? The author tries to cope with the equilibrium of charging his customers but also taking his time and doing exceptional work. He finally finds the problem with the bike and it is with an oil seal. He eventually has to disassemble a large portion of the bike to replace this seal. He believes he is spending too much time on the bike, but he still strives to do good work.

M.B.