Category: Diary

Notes by Noelle Goudy

Assignment for Tuesday: Think of questions for Professor Martinelli

Assignment for Thursday: Introduction and chapter 1 of Shop Class as Soulcraft

 

Announcements:

• Get stuff to be powder-coated or chromed together
  • We might be missing frame parts
  • Make sure we have anything that will be painted ready to be powder-coated
  • Example: battery box
• Next Tuesday: Professor Martinelli
  • Come up with a set of questions for him
  • Week four scribe: take notes next week
    

Housekeeping:

• Ricky: Found a taillight at the bunker and got that working; checked the spark plug on the red motorcycle
• Noelle: With Alex, assembled carburetor; flooded the carburetor and it leaked; lathed out the top plate because it was warped; reattached it and it no longer leaked
• Eric: Determined which front and back hub to use; began plugging it up for powder coating
• David: With Alex, found that half of a split-ring washer is missing (but there was one at the bunker)
• Connor: With Grace, cleaned the engine plates and put them back together; going to sandblast it today
• Charlie: Tried to disassemble the headlight; put it in a new chromed case
• Brendan: Cleaned the light; organized parts for powder coating
• Alex: Worked with Charlie
• Grace: Worked with Connor
• Jordan: With Emily, put together the jacks for the wheels
• Julianne: With Charlie and Ricky, went to the bunker; finished cleaning top end parts
• Sarah: With Ricky, attached the light and tested it; watch the dem for the spark plug
• Jake: Searched on ebay
• Hannah was out
  

Tiger Cub Engine Calculations Reading:

• Octane is C8H18
• Air is 20% O2
• Nitrogen goes in and out of engine
  • While it is a spectator, it still starts to react to form NOx
  • A problem with engines
• Sulfur present – emissions
• Carbon dioxide and water vapor are also products
• Energy release is 44,400 J per gram octane
• Air to fuel ratio is about 15:1 by weight
  • 14.7:1 grams in industry
• What limits the amount of power output is the amount of oxygen
  • Could make the engine larger
  • Compress the air
    • Super/turbocharging
  • Use pure oxygen or
    • Nitrous oxide
    • Nitromethane
• ⅕ liter -> .257 g of air and .0171 g fuel yields 759 J
• 37,950 Watts out of the engine (100% efficiency)
• 50.9 horsepower (if the engine was fully efficient)
• Engine has about 20% efficiency in actuality
  

Demo:

• Two cylinders (pipettes) with a platinum wire
  • They are bubbling with the top open
• When the top is closed, the bubbles cannot escape
  • The gas inside the left cylinder is going down more quickly than the right
    • This cylinder holds the hydrogen (H2O -> two moles hydrogen for only one mole oxygen)
• When the hydrogen got to the bottom, a spark was lit and the ping pong ball moved upwards about a foot and a half
  • The product is water
  • The pressure increases because of heat (PV=nRT)
    • Thus, the ball is launched
• On the second launch, the ball went up about three feet
• On the third launch, the ball went up about two and a half feet
  

Brake dynamometer:

• A device that allows you to figure out the torque and power of a motor
• A rope is wrapped around the shaft of the motor (called a rope brake)
  • This motor is an electric motor
• The ropes are pulled tighter and the differences of the tensions in the ropes will allow you to find the torque as a function of speed for this motor at a certain voltage
  • The speed of the motor will also be recorded
• As the rope is pulled tighter, the engine slows down
• For an electric motor, torque vs speed is linear
  • The torque is greatest at stall
• Power = Force (Torque) * Velocity
• To get a power vs speed graph, multiply the two axes together and graph with respect to speed
  • The graph is a parabola (opening downwards)
  • The greatest power to the motor will be at the center of the parabola, which is half of the possible velocity
• Homan force vs velocity is called the Hill Curve
  • Concave and with a downward slope
• The power vs velocity graph for a human on a bike also has a peak, where it will be easiest to get up a hill
• Efficiency of an electric motor would be the power curve divided by the force (torque) curve
  • Graphed with respect to velocity, it is a straight line with a positive slope
  • The most efficient is using the least amount of energy
    

Questions for Professor Martinelli:

• Where does air flow play a role in our motorcycle?
  • Carberation
  • Cooling
  • Windage in the engine
  • Exhaust
• Aerodynamic drag
  • Streamlining shapes
  • On the wheels
• Fluid in the engine
  • Lubrication

 

February 20, 2018

Notes by Noelle Goudy

Assignment due Thursday, February 22:

• “combustion-chemistry.pdf”
• “Tiger-Cub-Engine-Calculations-revised.pdf”

 

This week:

• Starting to study the science part of the book
• Seeing how fast the motorcycle can run
• Looking at data sheets and octane ratings
• Thursday: learning about combustion
• Next week: learning about aerodynamics and drag on Tuesday

Housekeeping:

• Emily: With Jordan, cleaned up and polished the engine covers using a sandblaster, sandpaper, and a die grinder
  • A die grinder uses compressed air to make a fan blow with very high speed (and low torque) – great for polishing
• Noelle: With Alex, disassembled the Amal carburetor and found and labeled all parts for it
• David: Cleaned the pieces of the transmission with Alex
• Jake: Made a tool to compress the shocks; took the shocks apart and cleaned them
• Brendan: Had to bore a hole to take apart the shocks; sandblasted them
• Connor: General disassembly; removed oil pump; missing ball bearing for the oil pump
  • Note to quartermasters: make sure to order new ball bearing
• Eric: With Hannah, sandblasted different parts of the wheel; going to assemble motorcycle stands today in shop
• Alex: With Noelle, worked on disassembling the carburetor and cataloged parts; began to clean the carburetor
• Alex: Finishing disassembling bottom half of engine; took of main sprocket
• Grace: Worked with Connor and Alex to disassemble the engine; will check to make sure everything is working; will go through the gasket packet to figure out if replacements are needed
• Jordan: Worked on polishing with the polishing wheel and by hand
• Sarah: With Ricky tested connections with a voltmeter and with a light; today, will generate sparks with old motorcycle
• Julianne: Continued to clean top end parts; need a piston and rings
• Ricky: With Sarah, checked electrical connections
• Charlie: Sandblasted the two top end pieces
• Hannah is not here

Discussion of Chapters 9 and 10:

• Chapter 9:
  • Motorcycle References
    • Engine misfire:
      • Spark fires but no fuel is ignited
      • Misfire can cause a bang or backfire
      • Happens if the unexploded gas goes into the exhaust line
  • Content
    • Scientific Method
      • Helpful to diagnose complicated problems
      • Ends up driving Phaedrus crazy
      • Six elements:
        • Statement of problem
        • Hypotheses
        • Experiments for each hypothesis
        • Predicted results of the experiment
        • Observed results
        • Conclusions
      • Hypotheses sometimes sound dumb but are important because assumptions shouldn’t be made
      • 132: Experiment only fails if it cannot provide data either way
    • Inductive vs. Deductive reasoning
      • Inductive: making a hypothesis out of data
      • Deductive reasoning: inferring what is happening based on observations
    • Underlying Form
    • Classic vs. Romantic approach
• Chapter 10:
  • Content
    • Characterizing Phaedrus: how did he lose his mind? Comparing Phaedrus and Einstein
      • Both study science for the stake of science – to learn – pursuit of knowledge
      • Page 111: The difference between experience and nature
        • Does nature provide the data?
      • Phaedrus is more interested in inquiry
        • The philosopher’s approach
        • Where knowledge comes from
      • Phaedrus thinks that there are infinite hypotheses and thus thinks that they can never be solved
      • Exponential growth of data and information but not of knowledge

Top Speed of the Motorcycle: 62 mph

• K’Nex model of a Model T engine: Four stroke cycle
  • 2:1 gear ratio
  • Crack turns the connecting rod, which makes the pistons move up and down
  • The spark plug goes off when the piston is at the top
  • As the piston move up, the exhaust is blown out
  • Intake valve opens when the piston is at the bottom: air and fuel mixture enters
  • RPM: revolutions per minute of the crank
  • What is the maximum RPM of our motorcycle?
• “Triumph-10001.pdf” – workshop instruction manual
  • We have the T20 model
  • Technical data is located at the bottom of the manual:
    • 63 mm bore (diameter of piston)
    • 64 mm stroke
    • Power output: 10 (brake) horsepower at 6000 RPM
      • 6000 rpm = 100 revolutions per second
    • Gear ratios
      • Engine sprocket: 19 (teeth)
      • Clutch sprocket: 48 (teeth)
      • Gearbox sprocket: 17 (teeth)
      • Rear wheel sprocket: 46 (teeth)
  • Clutch is going at 2375 RPM
    • Crack to clutch: 19/46 * 6000 = 2375 RPM
  • Rear wheel is going at 877 RPM (in the fourth gear)
    • Clutch to rear wheel in top gear: 17/46 * 2375 = 877 RPM = 14.6 revolutions per second
    • 14.6 revolutions per second * 6.28 ft = 91.7 feet per second
    • 91.7/66 = 1.04 * 60 mph = 62 mph
  • 48/19 * 46/17 = 6.84 (which was given as the top gear ratio)
    • Ratio of how fast the crank is turning to how fast the wheel is turning
    • Gear ratios increase as the gear goes down
• Tiger Cub Bible
  • Page 173: Gearboxes for all of the Tiger Cub motorcycles
    • Standard, wide, close, extra-close, and ultra-close gearboxes
      • We have the standard model

 

Day 4- Emily

Introduction

• Different grits of paper bought as well as carborator and silencer
• Cut spokes off wheels and sand blasted the hub of the wheel, rear wheel hub in bad shape, may need to change
• Sand blasting- stream of air and silicon that strips back paint and or the top layer of a material
• Studied electrical diagrams, used voltohmmeter to test resistance in the continuity mode (continuity test for circuits)
• Washed and sand blasted engine covers and started to sand them down
• Took piston off engine and used a c-clamp to push out the wrist pin
• Sandblasted frame paying close attention to parts where there were joins/welds as these are prone to cracking. No cracks found.
• Catalogued all the parts related to the fork
• Took apart transmission and then cleaned up the parts. Got new friction plates and soaked them in transmission fluid (made of cork). Examined sprockets were symmetrical and that there were no chipped teeth.

 

• WORK: Read Chapters 9 and 10 for Tue

 

ZAMM Chapter 6,7,8

• Discussion leader- Ricky, Hannah, Eric
• Motorcycle references (6)

o Thread strip, chain adjustment. To strip a thread: a screw has a thread and a nut has a mate to it. He strips the thread by not loosening the axel nut in order to try and tighten the chain. Wheel adjustor helps to move the wheels back and forth but only if the axel nuts are loosened which is why the thread strips. If you don’t have the chain adjustor link can you still adjust the bike? Yes- loosen the axel nut and tap it until the chain slack is right and then re tighten the axel nut.

o Cotter pin (our bike does not have one)- when worried about parts shaking loose, by drilling a hole through axel nut it prevents it from loosening.

o Flywheel- heavy metal disk with large moment of inertia that keeps the engine turning/running as piston goes up and down.

o Rectifier- diode, ours has four diodes that converts the AC signal that comes from the alternator (positive to negative cycle) to charge the DC battery. Full range bridge rectifier is what converts the AC to DC.

o Power train-

• Content (6)

o Phadreus- further exposure to the significance that Phadreus had on his life, but still keeps his identify a mystery.

o Contrast between the classical and the romantic views of looking at the world.

o Classical- analytical breakdown of things

o Romantic- outward appearance

• Motorcycle references (7)

o When chrome overheats it turns a blue colour.

• Content (7)

o Address his ECT therapy and how it changed him as a person

o Is there a significance to the fact that he wants to slow down yet John is picking up speed, can see that there is something to it potentially. Draws a bigger contrast between the two.

o Knife- if you are a classical person can divide things into smaller pieces allowing for analysis of things, making the beauty of them lost. Romantic people add things to the world with their knife to make things. Phadreus was the master of the knife.

o Phadreus- plays close attention to detail but misses the bigger picture, stuck in his ways of breaking things down.

• Motorcycle references (8)

o Feeler gauge and push rod- have to adjust when the engine is cold because otherwise the material is expanded. When engine heats up the size of the gap gets smaller, need to ensure there is always a gap even when the engine is very hot. The gap can’t be too big as this wears parts, also cannot be too small as this prevents valve opening.

o Changing jets- fuel needed to be ‘leaned’ more, gets new jets from Bill. At high altitude the pressure is lower as there is less oxygen. As they go higher in altitude there is too much fuel for the amount of oxygen that is available. By reducing the size of the opening from the float and the reservoir of the gasoline.

o Discusses the different systems of the motorbike and the idea that a motorbike is a system.

 

Day 3- Emily

Introduction

• Met John who was sick! Tech support and lab manager.
• Went over groups and what we did last shop:

o Carborator- missing a few parts, hard to salvage, couldn’t find a manual BUT Littman has a tub of old/new carborators! Try out carb on another bike so to learn how to take it off and put it back on.

o Arbour press to remove pin from swing arm and bushings because was so rusty. Used socket to stabilize on press.

o Took apart clutch and transmission, bagged and named parts. Friction plates in good condition. TO DO: Inspect all parts with John.

o Took apart base part of engine

o Fork assembly and categorization, used three jaw chuck in lathe to grip round fork to loosen and pull out spring.

o Wheels- measured wheel offset, important so that chain does not hit tyre. Offset is determined by how the spokes on the wheel are assembled. Took tyres off wheel frame.

o 2 full piston turns for one valve turn. Cam shaft, make engines work better at high or low RPM’s- valves overlap meaning they will both open at the same time- bad for efficiency but is better for scavaging (higher RPM’s).

o Sprockets- condition is based on how symmetrical they are not how clean they are.

• New manual for Quartermasters- Manual 8, closer to the manufacture time of our bike

 

ZAMM Chapter 3,4,5

• Discussion leader- Noelle
• Motorcycle references (3)

o Tack- measures RPM (revolution per minute of the crankshaft), engine speed. Tack is helpful for gear changing so we can keep track of what the engine is doing. Red line. We have a Speedometer on our bike, measures wheel speed.

• Content (3)

o Metaphor of ghosts- compare idea of laws of science to ghosts, they are both in our head, fantasies, philosophical arguments. Did gravity exist before Newton? Yes, but did the law exist? The law is a human invention, it still existed before the interaction. Ghost like. Related to Plato’s cave analogy.

o Phadreus- all of the thoughts he was thinking that day were not his. Split personality becomes evident. Shock therapy erases some memories, hence the fact he remembers the road and the motel. We cannot be 100% certain that he has been here before, but we can infer this.

• Motorcycle references (4)

o Tools kits:

• Large adjustable open-end wrench
• Ball peen hammer- peening= making a surface rough, strengthens the surface so it is not as loud.
• Cold chisel- used for going into metal (score marks)
• Taper punch
• Tyre irons- used to get under tyre to pull off rim. Hook for leverage.
• Molibdenum spray- penetrating lubricant, seen in the shop (YIELD)
• Impact driver- combines a forward action from a hammer into a quick rotation to loosen or tighten
• Point file- points are metal contacts made of tungsten, when they separate they make a spark. File for filing the points to make them square as sparking vaporises the metal.

o Spare parts:

• Plugs- spark plugs
• Throttle, clutch and brake cables- adjust carborator, release clutch for free wheeling, for the brakes
• Chain coupling link and keeper- clip must be in the right direction so that the chain does not fall apart if it snags on anything
• Cotter pins- metal pin used to fasten two things together

o Chilton’s motorcycle guide mentioned in book is on Blackboard

• Content (4)

o Motorcycle having a personality- each bike even though it is made the same way, responds differently and feels different. Subtle differences in each bike.

o Relationship between Narrator and John- see first moment of active fun with ‘chicken man’ moment. Talks about capturing moments and how once a border is put on it its gone.

• Motorcycle references (5)

o Shimming handle bars- shim stock, using layers of material to stabilize something. In this case, the handlebars are loose and cannot be tightened. Wants to put a shim to make the diameter of the bars bigger so they are tighter. John is ‘above’ this, bought an expensive motorcycle and does not want to taint it with a beer can.

o Nickel and dime sounds- lots of moving parts in an engine, sound comes from things moving around inside the engine. Especially true of old engines.

• Content (5)

o Reality and John’s reality- building up idea of dichotomy between art and science. Get the idea that the Narrator values science above art, this will mature throughout the book, thinks people should know how bikes work.

o Chris revelation- Chris has a mental illness, doesn’t want to seek treatment. Backstory as to why John is travelling with his son rather than his wife as he is worried about his son and sees this as a bonding episode.

o Talks about John not trusting technology but doesn’t want to seek treatment for his son- double standard?

o Phadreus- inadvertently shows value that Phadreus’ character brought.

 

Day 2—Grace

Reading for next week:

Due Tuesday: ZAMM chapters 3, 4, and 5

Due Thursday: ZAMM chapters 6, 7, and 8

Assignments:

Scribes:

1. Grace
2. Emily
3. Noelle
4. Eric
5. Brendan
6. Charlie
7. Alex K
8. Hannah
9. David
10. Jake
11. Sarah

Quartermasters:

1. Julianne
2. Ricky

Photographers:

1. Jordan (weeks 1-4)
2. Connor
3. Alex D

Groups:

Bottom end: Connor, Grace

Clutch and transmission: Alex K, David

Top end: Charlie, Julianne

Fork: Brendan, Jake

Electrical: Ricky, Sarah

Cosmetics: Emily, Jordan

Frame: Alex D, Noelle

Wheels: Eric, Hannah

ZAMM Chapter 1: (Alex K as discussion leader)

Motorcycle terms:

• John chose to buy a BMW for its durability (14)
• “Choke”: gets gas into the chamber; related to the carburetor; use only in the winter
• “Flooding”: When you use the choke in the summer, you “flood” the engine with gas, causing the plugs to get wet so there can’t be a spark
  • How to fix this? Take the plugs out so the gas evaporates
  • Hint: if you smell gas, there is gas in the chamber
• “Plugs”: spark plugs, they are burnt out if they can’t produce a spark
  • If burnt out, re-gap the plug to make the gap the right size
• “Points”: electrical contacts that get opened and control the spark, if the gap is corroded the spark is lost
• “Dead reckoning”: navigating with a compass and stopwatch rather than a map

Plot content:

• Setting: on a bike trip heading West, with son Chris (roughly age 13) and friends Sylvia and John
• Disagreement with John over principles of learning to repair own motorcycle
• Technology vs. anti-technology, classical (scientific) vs. romantic (artistic) theme
• “Chautauqua”: an old-fashioned form of radio talk show that was replaced by faster-paced radio and TV; similar to comparison between narrator and John
• “What is best?” as a theme is introduced

ZAMM Chapter 2:

Motorcycle terms:

• “Seizure”: when the cylinder overheats, expands, and melts to the sides of the piston wall in air-cooled engines
  • How to fix this? Let it cool off, open up and clear the bearing
• “Mechanic breaking cooling fins”
• “Tappet”: the part of the push rod that rides on the cam, moves push rods; having proper clearance is important to properly open and close valves
• “Overhead-cam chain tensioner bolt”: *our bike is gear driven by cam, not chain* to keep the chain taut so it doesn’t get too loose and skip
• A 25-cent pin stopped oil from reaching the head
• Gas tank:
  • Narrator checked the gas tank incorrectly and didn’t use the reserve tank
  • DO NOT get water in the gas tank because you won’t know how much gas you have and because it contaminates the fuel and reacts badly with ethanol
• “Stopcock”: an on/off valve to drain the tank

Plot content:

• Story with Chris in the storm, bike breaks down, didn’t check gas tank, gave up, inspired him to learn more about bikes
• Storm coming
• John and Sylvia interactions: lack of do-it-yourself attitude is their problem
• Story with bad mechanics: attitude, must care about your work as a lifestyle, not just as a job (mechanics worked sloppily, listened to the radio, clearly did not care at all)

 

Work in the shop:

Finished safety survey

Split into groups to continue disassembly and labelling parts; took apart the engine, wheels

 

Day 1—Grace

Introductions

Course Materials: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM), Shop Class as Soulcraft (SCAS)

Assignment due Thursday 2/8: Intro and chapters 1&2 of ZAMM

Motorcycle: 1963 Triumph Tiger Cub

• Single cylinder, dry sump, 4-stroke single, “plunger” swing-arm suspension, matching motor and frame

Jobs:

• 11 scribes (1 week/each, write Diary)
• 2 Quartermasters (whole term, keep inventory): Sasha & Julianne
• 3 photographers (4 weeks/each)

Course Objectives:

• Learn how the engine works
• Learn how to use workshop tools, get metal shop experience
• Learn about restoration as a process and on different levels of exactness
• Learn how to find parts and, in some cases, make parts
• Learn about motorcycle design, both mechanical and artistic
• Ride the motorcycle at the end!

Shop Rules:

• Only use our class’s materials, including safety glasses
• Leave the workspace clean after class, keep spaces and tools organized
• Use machines with supervision

Other In-Class Notes:

• Watched video of Adam Cramer on his shop and vintage motorcycles
• briefly introduced ZAMM
• short overview of some basic parts of a motorcycle

Shop work:

• Some took the machine-shop safety quiz
• Disassembly: took engine from frame, valves off engine, labelled parts
• Used the Triumph Tiger Cub Bible (pg 141 pertains to our bike)