FX Update: goblins, pumps, teeth, and tunnels

I've ramped up my SCARE efforts a notch, spending more time on weekends and more time during the week working at the Lab.

I assembled the high-power mGoblin's power supply and plugged it in... got a spark, some light smoke; very disappointing. I want either dramatic failure or a working device -- and got neither. Now I need to build it up piecewise and figure out what dumb thing I did to this perfectly good vendor circuit to make it not work.

I got parts and the new PCBs last week, so I also built up the new version of the sumGoblin (sigmaGoblin) and was able to program it, so that's good! I've got most of the code framework assembled for that, so I hope to be able to monitor the Goblin Net from it soon.

I also took the blinking code test and the communication code test and put them together into the final form for the uGoblin (microGoblin) device and I'll build up the large-chip version of that soon for testing.

A lot of code changes all at once means hard, painful testing... but oh well. I wonder if there are any software engineers in our volunteer pool? It would be great to put together a GUI for the Goblin Net, turning the ASCII updates out of the UART into pretty pictures...

I spackled and sanded on Stone Cold Nathan and then added two coats of Alcote release agent -- which I hope works as well as advertised. I used it a little bit on teeth, but without success (I did it wrong; just one coat), and I've been putting it on all the new tooth models... so we'll see how I like later.

I didn't start the Demon sculpt on Nathan yet, nor did I pull a positive from my mold, but that's okay; the Lab was too busy this weekend to really be able to settle down for the creative work of sculpting. I'll do the rough sculpt this week after work and have a first-pass kibitz session this weekend on it.

I cast all four of the tooth sets that have been waiting, and popped them from their plaster positives -- they all came off perfectly, except for Marla's, so I had to make another set of plaster teeth for her for future work.

I also made the mold and a casting on my Humongous Fangs of Doom -- pictures linked at the bottom. They need cleaning up and painting, since the gums are tooth colored and they are all ragged around the edges, but you get the idea. They turned out FAR better than I could have hoped, and I can even (mostly) talk in them. The challenge is in not drooling too much.

Phil and Yvonne did more tooth molding and I got them up to speed on the plaster techniques for making positive copies, so that's good. While they were doing that, Kyle and Bill also made some alginate molds, and then Phil did the plaster for them. Skills are drifting out into the group, which is very exciting.

Saturday, Robert and Henry (I think; Robert had a boy in tow) came to the lab and I set them to work on making the second piston/valve assembly for the blood pump; their work is progressing nicely and I look forward to seeing them again next weekend. The big question for the blood pump will be how we want to power it; my current plan is via pneumatic cylinder, I just need to get limit switches set up to make it cycle.

Saturday afternoon, Matt, Paul and I chatted about stilts. As a result of this conversation I got a bug up my nose and went back to the lab later that night to whip up a prototype stilt. I taped that monstrosity to my body Sunday morning (when I was fresh and less likely to damage myself) and got some good feedback on the forces involved.

There's a BIG force in only one location (the anchor point for the long toe), and that can be resolved in several ways, and it can be reduced in several other ways. I have hope! We have several plans for the stilts -- I'm poking Plan A right now, which may evolve into Plan B (which is Eric's stilt style), and could even go into Plan C (e.g. painter's stilts and a far clunkier shape for the demon).

Today I got to the Lab early and put the arc segments for two Vortex Tunnel circles into shape -- finalizing their curvature, cutting the flat ends off, making the fittings that hold them together, and marking all the drill points.

Deborah showed up in time to help drill holes and file them clean, and then she helped me assemble the test section of the vortex tunnel (one of three sections, with two of ultimately four rings).

We then used ratcheting cargo straps to tension the section and the result was better than I could have hoped. The tunnel, with no rigid connections, no screws, no bolts, nothing more than some holes and ratchet straps and tubes-inside-tubes, was strong and amazingly rigid.

I then went through the entire set of straps and made them the correct length, and the tunnel section snapped to square, all clean and tidy.

All in all, a weekend full of successes.

Lifecasting pics: http://tinyurl.com/ms97ha

Monster Fang pics: http://tinyurl.com/mnrey6