The base shows is size
We’ve been plugging way at putting the base together and it is finally taking shape. At this point, the scale of this project begins to sink in. We need to use the crane to flip the huge structure so we can start TIG welding in the finer structure underneath to give it strength and stiffness. [...]
Alpha leg design on the critical path
Finding the balance between an elegant and sexy leg, and something that can be built in time by the ever more skillful team becomes critical.
Power comes in cylindrical form
This 15kg of steel and thick red paint can deliver 19kW (25hp+) of power and 4200kg (9400lb) of force to an area the size of your thumb. That’s a lot of push.
One step ahead
There is so much engineering and design that goes into producing fabrication ready parts, but it’s not until all the prep work is done that you can finally generate drawings and start cutting metal.
At the helm
I have a team of dedicated and hungry fabricators that I need to feed parts to.
Like moths to a flame
As the team all learn the basics of wire feed welding the pace picks up.
Dylan and Mark try their hands at flux-core
On John’s advice (insistence) we used flux-core wire feed to weld the sizeble members that make up the base of Prosthesis.
John shares his skills on the first pieces of metal
Veteran ship builder John Blake lends his decades of experience building large things to the team. With the extent of my intuition topping out at 1″ tubing, this sort of knowledge is just what we need to make sure the huge 4″ x 4″ x 1/4″ tubing for the base goes together properly. Mark and [...]
School is in – the Prosthesis team has class
As a way to entice volunteers to help me build Prosthesis, I have offered to teach a select group of friends who have expressed interest in helping build Prosthesis over the years, what I know about welding and fabrication. I learned most of what I know from my experience building the Mondo Spider. I’ve taken [...]
Project Alpha design takes shape
After a pow-wow with my right-hand man and sanity check, Mark Eijsermans, I’ve decided to go for the full split tower design, allowing the leg to jump back and forth in both directions. The suspension will behave quite differently when landing backwards, so this is a crucial thing to be able to test. This is [...]
