Diary – 65 Tiger Cub Motorcycle

April 26th and April 28th

Scribe: Hudson

4.26

Received greeting card from Rick Smith in response to thank-you card, with a special shout out to Parker for his Exeter shirt.

Began by recapping what was done on the 23rd in shop.

Electrical: Prepared to assemble plugs.

Transmission/Clutch: Installed Clutch and transmission in ’62.

Wheels: Finished front wheel and brake assembly of that wheel, put on tire (Littman noticed and fixed axle, which was backwards).

Bottom End: Installed pushrod on ’62, planning on finishing oil system in ’65. (Littman instructed them to look for the oil spurting out when the engine is running, an indication that the oil is circulating correctly).

Frame: Finding all parts of fender and screwing them on, couldn’t find one crucial piece, which Littman had found since that class and used to attach front fender. Littman also made another custom part, which was missing, and was precision made.

Fastners/Gaskets: Finished assembling oil reserve, formed ‘brain trust’ and huddled around ’65, received instruction of scraping off paint so electrical can ground properly.

Forks: Put throttle/grips/speedometers on handlebars, received all new cables.

Presentations Specifications

:: Shouldn’t be too technical, choose 1-2 technical things and explore the concept in 10-15 minutes the following week.

:: For example. Spokes might focus on cross-area section (how thick spokes ought to be), or clutch/transmission might focus on gears and friction pads.

Hopefully by the end of this week, we’ll have the motorcycle running!

4.28

Last session! Began by recapping what was done on the 26rd in shop.

(Hudson as scribe)

Top End: Only worked on ’62, sealed up their section, had to take off transmission cover and re-do spring of compact plate.

Electrical: Connected backlight to brake light switch, and screwed in headlight

Transmission/Clutch: Worked with Glenn on ’62 to fold over washer on shock absorber of clutch, installed clutch cable on ’62 and ’65. Lever was bent on ’65 so we had to bang it with a rubber mallet in a vice grip back in place.

Wheels: Put brake cable on, work on throttle trying to find correct part for front brake cable

Bottom End: Put engine in frame, speedometer cable got stuck so spent a while getting that in the right place. Actually put together engine on stand, realized it wouldn’t fit in the engine all together so had to take it apart and re-install it in pieces.

Frame: Worked on fender, looked for bunch of bolts in ‘box of hell.’

Fastners/Gaskets: Installed oil tank, mounted engine to frame (heavy-Jim did the lifting) scraped off paint from frame in places where engine bolts to frame so that electrical throughout bike=electrical pathway from where ignition coil is to engine, and paint is an insulator that gets in the way of that.

Littman: Adjusted the timing of engine, a process which involved setting the piston of the timing side to top dead center, making sure it swings the right amount of degrees when it’s supposed to. Suggested Fasteners team make sure each bolt is snug in place.

ZAMM Discussion

:: Went over motorcycle references, of which there were few in the last couple chapters.

:: Discusses welder, and author’s amazement at welder’s technical ability.

:: While Plato’s view on sophists is presented as a rebellion against them, in reality it is fairly similar.

Preston: Pointed out that rhetoric is about persuasion, i.e., winning an argument, whereas dialectic is about using conversation as a means of figuring out what is true.

Parker: Phaedrus feels betrayed at Plato’s view of dialectic, which was more just rhetoric.

Littman: Book came out during hippie period, when I was in college. Had a cousin who was a hippie, although ‘I didn’t partake.’

-Liked how Pirsig looked to ancient Greek philosophy to solve modern problems. Greeks got a fair amount right (four states of matter correspond to four ancient elements).

how do we like this book?

:: Is popular philosophy bad?
:: Is popular anything bad?

:: Does it dumb down ideas for the masses?

Littman likes style, where as soon as you’re about to get bored of quality discussion he switches back to motorcycle.

Hudson: Thinks Pirsig was high every time he sat down to write.

Littman: Wondered who Mary Jane was (in high school).

Precept Notes (Thursday 4/21/16) – No Zen readings

Parker Wild

Last time in the lab:

– Electrical team: laid out the wiring harness, checked with circuit diagram to make sure everything was where it should be; stator wires had breaks in them, suggesting they need to be replaced; insulation too thick to fit through engine case; labeled connections on the wiring harness; may have to lengthen some wires for the brake light

– Top end: completely reassembled the head on the ‘62

– Fasteners, Gaskets, and Carburetor: assembled entire oil system; fasteners gathered to attach oil reservoir to the frame; need to acquire gaskets and seals for carburetor and oil system; check to see if the seals are clean and undamaged; dry sump oil system has a vacuum pump with a filter (screened)

– Wheels: trued wheel; put the tire on the rear wheel; have to put brake assembly on and attach to frame

– Forks: forks inserted into triple tree; tightened the axel; tubes had slide through holders on the triple tree, but they were sticking, so Glen developed a tool that threaded into the fork tube and connected to a slide hammer (steel handle attached to a pole with a weight attached – inertia from when the weight hits the stop can pull the tubes through); handlebars and speedometer can now be mounted on the bike

– Bottom end: inventory of parts left over in the bin; still need to connect oil system to the bottom end

– Transmission, Clutch: adjusted clutch lever, listened for the timing side cover for the proper spacing and then turned the screw half a turn back when heard a tick; screw for plate adjustment damaged, so they re-cut a slot; chain is now on the clutch (brand new)

– Frame: looking for parts that have been powered-coated, plan on assembling foot pegs; important to not screw a nut on a stud with the wrong threads (ended up having to grind off the nut and grind down the end of the stud); clean out threads before trying to put anything together, make sure the hardware fits before torquing

– Prof. Littman – picked up rims from the chromer

Demonstration:

– Energy Transfer Systems:

– A diode is a one-way valve for electricity, so two diodes (of opposing directionality) hooked up to two bulbs in parallel with each other is a good way to determine direction of current flow

– Coil of wire and a magnet that slides between it, connected to the diode-light assembly

– Lights alternate bulbs (out of phase) because inductance occurs first in the positive direction as the magnet enters the coil, and then the negative direction as the magnet leaves the coil

– Capacitors store energy in an electric field:

– C = eA/d, where e is permittivity of free space (epsilon naught)

– Energy stored in capacitor: E = 1/2 CV^2

– Charging a capacitor (with Q) creates an electric field between plates

– When connected to battery, capacitor charges; discharging capacitor to lamp, which lights momentarily and dims very quickly

– Inductors:

– When you run current through an inductor, it generates a magnetic field

– Energy stored in an inductor: E = 1/2 LI^2

– Back-EMF generated when you break the circuit with an inductor (which has a magnet through it)

– Self-inductance: basis of energy transfer system

– When points are closed, current flows through

– At just the right time, roughly when voltage is at a peak in one direction, open the points, and the energy stored in the magnetic field is transferred to the capacitor with a very high voltage; there is a transformer to step up the voltage for the spark plug

Precept Notes (Tuesday 4/19/16) – No Zen readings

Parker Wild

Plan on finishing the motorcycle on May 5th!

Last time in the lab:

– Electrical team: wired the back light; assembled points; sorted distributer parts and cleaned them; organized wiring harness

– Top end: reassembled top end

– Fasteners, Gaskets, and Carburetor: paired each part with its corresponding fasteners to ensure an easy assembly process

– Wheels: front wheel reassembled, spokes threaded, trued; tire and inner tube mounted (without pinching the tube)

– Forks: assembled forks; put Gaiters onto forks

– Bottom end: placed plug in the bottom of the engine case; waiting to assemble the oil system; gasket compound applied to the case

– Transmission, Clutch: made sure transmission functioned properly, shifted through all the gears, and then sealed the transmission side of the case; the timing chain is 64 links long, when it should be 62 for this model, so they will have to remove two links

– Frame: painted fender with Glen (paint should be applied in light coats so it dries evenly); searched for petcock

– Prof. Littman: Norton motorcycle show; Bill Becker’s ’65 Norton

Presentations:

– Power point presentation posted as a file on the web page for each corresponding group

– In addition, take some of the key images and text and create something that will be visible to visitors of the website (need to scale down those images for web-sized implant)

– Take a screen shot of the photo and then input it to the website

– Web page should be a description of some part of your activity

– What did you learn about? Theory? Practice? Description? Technical content should be included in the presentation, too.

– Example: for the wheels group, might want to calculate breaking tension (stress) for spokes, explaining why the number of spokes and their thickness matters; the transmission team might want to delve into the concept of mechanical advantage for the gears

– What did you find most interesting for your piece?

– Presentation should be around 10 panels, or three on each section of the bike that’s being examined

– There will be a 15 minute description of these power points to the class on the Thursday of reading period

– Personal touch is good!

– What are the most important things to be communicated?

Demonstration:

– Oscilloscope – voltage reader

– Magnet that spins between two coils of wire

– When only one coil of wire is connected to the oscilloscope: as the magnet moves by, it induces a current in the coil

– Faraday’s Law: as the field lines of a magnet cross a wire, they produce a voltage in the wire (basis of electromagnetism)

– When a horseshoe of iron is passed through the coil, the magnitude of the voltage is increased (because of the permeability of iron, which almost “guides” magnetic field lines)

– When two coils of wire are connected to the oscilloscope: the magnitude of the current doubles or cancels depending on how you hook up the coils

– Coils are the equivalent of the stator, and the magnet is the equivalent of the rotor

– A stator assembly can be used to measure engine RPMs (measure peak-to-peak)

Precept Notes Tuesday 4/14/16, Zen Readings (Chapters 24, 25, 26)

Chapter 24

o Motorcycle references:

Cover screw sticking, get stuck when the threads cold-weld (steel on steel), stripping out the head (snap off a piece, use a slotted screwdriver to avoid), corroded with rust. Can use penetrating oil or impact driver to get out (impact driver= screw driver with a twist, hit it).
Self-locking plier wrench: the vice grips (tool of last resort), used to get stuck screw)
Screw extractor: like a unicorn horn, grip the screw
Drill out, burn out method (might damage threads, should put Hela coil on it to put threads back in)
sissy bar (rear of the seat, keeps you from falling off)

o Theme of the screw being stuck: parallels a mental stuck-ness; quality is movement (train metaphor), you have to care about it.

o Form and function: parallel the train (the movement=function, the machine/cars=form)

o Truman: adapt your ideals until you find a quality solution that works

Chapter 25

o Motorcycle references:

How to mix and apply glue for engine covers, gasket compound
Classic quality can’t tell you how to do something really well “good does not naturally follow”
Mechanic as an artist: fusion of skill and mechanics of machinery

o The ugliness of technology: the relationship between the people who produce/use technology and the product. People don’t have a personal connection with these things, they need to care to have a good relationship with it.

Marxist idea of the creators getting detached from their work/labor.
Also talks about ugly materials (changing of styles and opinions)

o Style/stylized garbage dump: making that which is utilitarian look pretty

Chapter 26

o Motorcycle references:

Not many technical complexities

o Jim is on heavy-weight crew but is “glad [he looks] slim”

o Gumption as enthusiasm or motivation

Getting stuck is important, thinking for yourself, developing a personal connection with your work and developing that enthusiasm.
Gumption traps: not getting frustrated or discouraged, stay calm with that “peace of mind”
The ego: less open to improvement
Parts: lost parts, put on in the wrong order (mis-assembly), frustration.
Setbacks/hang ups:
Gumption filling process: quiet, still, like on fishing trips, thinking and taking your time, reflecting.

Notes from Precept, Tuesday 4/12/16- Zen Readings (Chapters 20, 21, 22, 23)

Over-arching theme for these chapters: narrator has found that quality is very important, at the top of the hierarchy of thought. Trying to reconcile quality with other areas of thought (art, science, religion).

Chapter 20

o Motorcycle reference- the romantic view of motorcycles is that your motorcycle is working now, the classical view of motorcycles is maintaining your motorcycle to make sure it keeps working in the future. I.e. checking the oil to make sure you have enough oil, you might lose oil by leaking (English vehicles like ours leak oil). Oil might also vaporize in high temperatures, maybe because you have bad rings (you will see blue exhaust).

o The first chart: romantic versus classical quality teaching, discrepancy between what Phaedrus taught and what he should have taught.

o The second chart: moves into romantic (pre-intellectual) and classical (intellectual divided into objective, subjective) reality. Difference between first chart and second chart- quality becomes the top of the hierarchy in the second chart.

o The Tao: quality is synonymous with God, replaces word “tao” with quality, and it helps him make sense of quality. Quality is the origin of all Eastern and Western religion.

o Purpose of chapter: quality as the parent of mind and matter.

Chapter 21

o Author wants to connect the ideas of art, science, religion.

Chapter 22

o Talking about the harmonious conception of the universe in science and in facts

o Generalize/simplify things to where you can make predictions

o Discussion of geometry: Euclid and parallel lines which never cross, Cartesian coordinates are an idealization.

o The curvature of space time: think of laser beams in straight lines, when it travels near a massive object, laser will bend around it (general relativity= no difference between gravity and acceleration, aka principle of equivalence).

o The point is that Euclidian geometry is not what astronomers use, there are curvatures and not strange lines. Scientists cherry-pick their facts; they not the truth, but they are a means to comprehend the world, and sometimes they are wrong.

o Romanic quality: a pre-intellectual disposition to certain facts which are seen as more “interesting.”

o Quality is still very important to the sciences.

Chapter 23

o Dream sequence: narrator in a sarcophagus, can’t talk to Chris. This is the point at which we learn, concretely, that Phaedrus was “killed” by shock therapy, and what is left of Phaedrus is the narrator.

Lab from Tuesday, 4/12/16

Wheels: put the ball bearing in and then took them out and then put them back in (gumption trap).
Fasteners: re-assemble and re-install Japanese carburetor on the yellow bike; need to test it out.
Electrical: got the lamp working, hooked up generator to battery with a larger clip; need to work on the distributor.
Engine (top): re-assemble the engine head, attach piston, put on cylinder, and adjust valves (used the racing cam, they need to use the stock cam), marks were not lined up on the timing gear; need to take apart and fix it.
Engine (bottom): working on the case, plug up the engine, putting fasteners back in; need to get John to make sure it’s tight enough.
Frame: attach the back fender to the frame with the clip assembly and backing plate, cleaned chain adjuster to get ready for the back wheel.
Fork: putting the fork together, one bush would not fit in the tube (bushel), had to get Al to help trim it down to get it fixed; need to pull it out and fix the bush, then get the forks together.
Clutch: working on transmission, clutch is ready to go on as soon as the transmission is finished.

Catherine Jennings Notes

Lab from Thursday, 4/07/16

Electrical: worked on lighting, work on volt-meter/alternator connections, need batteries.
Wheel team: finished truing, tightening, loosening; need to get bearing assembly put together.
Engine (both): correcting mistakes on the case of the ’62, rub off adhesive.
Fasteners: cleaned parts; need to pull carburetor off the ’62.
Fork: start putting bike together, grease the races from the triple tree, putt in ball-bearings; need to put together fork assembly and handle bars.
Clutch: putting on transmission and the need to finishing putting on the primary chain, fenders finished; set up paint appointment for Monday at McMillan 2 pm.

Thursday April 7th — Alex Argo

ZAMM chapters 18 and 19

Bill Becker is here

Wheels team: laced the wheels

Bottom end: put the flywheel in

Chapter 18:

No motorcycle references

Content:

Quality:

In the beginning of the book the narrator had a strictly classical view
Now he sees himself in Chris (his son)
Does he (narrator) really want to achieve all those goals or does he want to be in the moment?
Squareness: when you take away quality the only things that is left is rationale
Professor Littman disagrees: if you do a math proof, you can do it in a long and elegant way or a short and to the point way
Chris is having trouble scaling the mountain:
Metaphorical piece of his arguments improving and he is getting higher up the mountain
Parker: relating classic and romantic to subjective and objective
Narrator says objectively a scientific proof is right or wrong no matter how you get there
Diego: doesn’t think anything is constant
Distinction between quality and rationality:
- Quality is fluid
- Hard science is binary
Preston: Do you think that we are square?
Squareness: defined as “an inability to see quality before its been intellectually defined”
Ali thinks quality is a societal construction
Quality is subjective
Hudson: there is no answer
Hudson: humans are always trying to quantify things to figure out quality
Art should elicit an emotional reaction
Jamie: wealthy people are the ones who end up defining quality

Chapter 19: leader is Hudson

Narrator trying to dodge the horns of objectivity and subjectivity of Quality
Can’t choose between two horns so he goes in the middle and hits the bull in the face
A combination of subjectivity and objectivity
Digression of the word Just:
- Why is there the phrase: “this is just what i like” ?
- What influences what we like? What social forces play a part in determining what we like?
- Like fashion trends
Is true objectivity possible?
Would we follow the rules if they weren’t engrained in society?
Parker: more important to think of his understanding of Quality as a lense through which people see things around them through
aesthetics and the idea of quality
Main point of this chapter:
- Climbing the mountain at the end of this chapter
- Phaedrus is coming out of the narrator
- When the subject becomes aware of an object
- Without an object, the subject can’t be aware of itself

What does it mean to do a quality job on our motorcycle?:

It should look better

If it works
If we all value and understand what we brought to the motorcycle
Can develop our own analysis as to what actually is a quality motorcycle
What are mistakes in the motorcycle?
Bill Becker thinks the art is finished: it was done by some british designer
We bring to it our own analysis of it in order to improve it
Having the confidence to repair motorcycles in the future
Bill Becker thinks that there is no art in restoration
Sometimes he creates new bikes from old parts: that is art
What is the relationship between aesthetics and art?
Professor littman restores old radios
Hudson thinks that you can’t create a spectrum of restoration versus creating art

Tuesday April 5th — Alex Argo

ZAMM chapters 16 and 17

General comments about Bill Becker:

He’s an artist with an interest in technology
Important messages:

Select materials for a project with their properties in mind

Top spokes: tension in the spokes. As the wheel is turning, the tension is changing. Not all of the spokes work towards supporting the rider

Break with front wheel. Front wheel is more important for breaking than back wheel.

No acceleration in the front wheel, only in the back

Suspension system: whole purpose is to give a more comfortable ride. Absorbs shock from a bump

He didn’t talk about how it keeps the wheels on the ground
Front fork is very important (go izzy and alex)
Keeps motorcycle on the ground when it hits bumps

Chapter 16:

No motorcycle references

Content:

Narrator talks about what would happen if schools took away grades
What would happen if students didn’t have grading system
Kid drops out of school and then comes back and works in machine shop and starts making tools
He decides grades aren’t important
Parker thinks it was deceiving that he was masking the grades rather than taking them away
Grades are so engrained in society
Can’t just cover up grades, have to find a way to get rid of them all together
Hiding grades would take away the room for improvement
Preston: has his grades hidden from him. Asked all his professors to give him feedback, but he doesn’t ever ask for grade
Doesn’t want to know his GPA
Hudson didn’t have grades all through high school
Every semester he would get a page write up from teachers. Transcript was all write ups from teachers
You would need more admission officers to go through all of that
Idea of quality:
- Integral to the world
- So elusive that it can’t be pinned down
- Do we try to replace the idea of quality with a grade?
- Hudson thinks mankind tries to quantify everything
- Professor Littman: ranks papers quality top to bottom
- Very subjective
- Is the job your doing good enough?
Professor Littman is not a fan of grades
PDF system doesn’t work because students take courses that they don’t care about the course in order to lighten the load
Troublesome with classes where there is teamwork
Feedback element is very important
Schools teach to imitate:
- Professors are very dogmatic
- Teaching to a test, so teachers a lot of the time don’t have a choice
- Picasso studied many different artists and tried to imitate all the different styles and then brought his creativity into it. This served as a foundation for him
Success of this course is about being able to do things on your own
Idea of individuals developing skills that they can then apply later on in life
Individuals can set objectives for themselves
Overwhelmed with workload: objective becomes trying to move on to something else

Chapter 17:

No motorcycle references

YMCA method of using kids egos to elicit effort

Ego goals provide good motivation. Any effort that has self something as its end goal is a disaster

Its bad for ego to be its own reward

Ali thinks people have to recognize their success. People shouldn’t always be looking ahead, they should be aware and satisfied with here and now

Micah doesn’t think it is possible to not look ahead to the future

Diego: you should focus on what you want, rather than the act of achieving a goal over and over again

Hudson : is ambition good?

Narrator says to focus on the journey of getting there and achieving your goal, rather than only focusing on the goal

Uses metaphor of trying to reach the top of a mountain

Diego: shouldn’t be focused on continuously achieving

The point of the chapter is to get the definition of quality

March 31 – Jenny (Qiyan) Zhao

Professor Littman Introduces Bill Becker, and students introduce themselves:

Students introduce themselves and the various teams and activities they are involved in on campus.

Electrical (Diego and Preston): Worked with real time ultimator of automator and spark plug. They also cleaned a few parts of the headlamp assembly.

Bottom End (Ali W and Hudson): Finished cleaning everything and are now figuring out a way to make the display of the clutch easy to read.

Frame Team (Viduir and Catherine): Polishing the fenders right now. Cleaned underneath and polished the top of one fender. They are finishing the top of the fender this class.

Gaskets and fasteners (Jim and Micah): Worked on carburetor, finished putting it back together and put it onto another bike to test to see if it worked. It retained 0 of the fuel and it all flooded out

Top End (Parker and Chris): Worked on taking apart engine of the 62 bike and taking apart the bottom end and taking the flywheel off.

Bottom End (Jamie and Oscar): Take out flywheel, split the case

Fork (Izzy and Alex): Finished cleaning the fork, took apart throttle and put it back on handle bars. Painted more coats of paint on the triple tree assembly.

Wheels (Aly, Grace, and Jenny): Finished cleaning all the spokes and are now working on finishing cleaning the nipples.

Electrical (Diego and Preston): Worked with real time ultimator of automator and spark plug. They also cleaned a few parts of the headlamp assembly.

————–

Bill Becker: He is a retired architect with a degree in Business Administration. He also has degree in Architecture from Case Western Reserve University. He later went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania. His firm he had started up was later acquired by a huge architectural firm.

He talks about Volosoul x’s that are made in France.

We need to understand physics of mass and motion to understand the wheel.

Influence on mass: dynamic forces (movement), acceleration, braking, turning, gravity

Weight helps because you don’t have all this mass you have to stop

12 materials that are made into a wheel: aluminum, cast iron, mild steel (rims, spokes), hardened steel – ball bearings, stainless steel, rubber, polyester, brass, chrome.

All materials can be subjected to forces

Regarding bending: It is a combination of compression and tension

Goal: to tighten the spokes uniformly so the rim is concentric to the hub, and the hub is in the middle

The spokes are completely incapable of taking any force or compression

The spokes that are closest to the same plane of pressure are doing majority of the work, and as you move further, they are doing less work. They aren’t carrying any force of gravity, only keeping the wheel in line

Acceleration: the spokes that are in tension are doing the work

Tap the spokes to test tightness

March 29 – Jenny (Qiyan) Zhao

-Chrome Rims not coming in until monday

-Start working on model T

Wheels (Grace, Jenny, and Aly): Cleaning more parts, nipples, bearings, and spokes are almost ready

Fasteners (Micah and Jim): Finished putting together carburetor; they took existing carburetor off one of the other bikes and about to put ours onto the other bike to see if it works. They will finish latr today

Bottom End (Jamie and Oscar): Working on the 62, took out the outermost part of the engine, and are working on getting the rest of the engine disassembled to access the fly wheel

Clutch Team (Ali W and Hudson): Building models to Illustrate the shifting force moves the different gears to demonstrate the transmission, clutch parts are ready and clean, cleaning, taking pictures

Frames (Catherine/Viduir): polishing the engine cover by using the different substances to see which one could clean most easily, will work on the fenders this time, 400 level grits, and set against a machine in the back (high-speed polishing)

Forks (Izzy/Alex): Triple Tree Assembly, Sandblasted it, painted it, different coats

Top End (Chris and Parker): taking apart head on the 62, disconnected it and removed it

Electrical (Preston/Diego): Starting to work on documentation, research about electromagnetism system

Worked on Model T instead of discussions

Model T: Low gear, not high gear; two speed transmission. There are three pedals: left is transmission, middle is reverse, third is the brake; retard the spark; Turning the wheel helps you turn, so don’t try to mustard the steering

If you take your feet off all the pedals and push your right foot down

If you take foot off all the pedals, you are neutral