roma847 Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 Everyone has to become happy with themselves somehow ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 Hello everybody, today, Shapeways' big Track Shoe delivery arrived with the seven Sets of 52, which of course were immediately unpacked. And these are the total of 456 shoes for the Crawler. The new sets look well, though there are small differences in quality between the sets, as one can see on the two encircled sets, which should be due to different thorough after-treatment/cleaning. But that is no problem, because I will try anyway, to let the sets being cleaned professionally again in the Dental laboratory, as usual. And the replacement delivery with the Set of 20 (FXD), which had been interconverted, is already on the way. For the connecting bolts, I've also still found a suitable solution, for which I would use instead of the insect needles (Ø 0,3 mm) now Nickel silver rods (Ø 0,4 mm), which fit closely through the Pin lug holes. And with a length of 7 mm per bolt comes together a total length of more than 3 m , which would correspond to 11 rods à 30 cm, which I will reorder. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 Hello everybody, today came the complained Set of 20-Flat Ori (FXD), Source: shapeways.com (Crackerjazz) which looks impeccable, and one can even see at all shoes the small holes in the treads. Only the sticker on the bag makes me perplex, which displays the upright set, Unlike the last Sets of 52-Flat Ori (FUD), which all had rough treads, the treads of this set are nicely smooth, as if they were not lying on the support wax, weird ... But I don't care at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 2, 2018 Author Share Posted October 2, 2018 Hello everybody, after the slowly tiring Track shoe story today again a little puzzle for relaxation. What do you think, what this could be? At least it's not a slice of crispbread. Well, is it dawning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Looks like that 2 part polyurethane(?) insulating foam that plumbers use to bodge their dodgy hole cutting. Am I close? Kirk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustermark Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Is it your flour-paint technique, but with self-raising flour by mistake? 🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 Hi guys, Kirk is nearly close. But I do not want to keep you on tenterhooks for long. And therefore here the short solving on the back. Hard to believe, but it's actually a piece of the original Spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) from the ET-138 which was flown at the last mission of Atlantis (STS-135). But how I came to this rarity, I would have to tell you separately in an own thread, if you are interested. This is a great story connected to another contemporary witness from the glorious shuttle era who has also written an amazing book, so to speak a "must read". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustermark Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 (edited) I would be very interested to hear how you came by a piece of SOFI from that historic mission! I have various bits from random shuttle missions, something from each shuttle, and a piece of foil from the Apollo 11 capsule. But no interesting tales - I just got them mail order. Edited October 3, 2018 by Mustermark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Let's here about it Manfred! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 Hi guys, it's an interesting story, but one after another! After my contact to the two SOFI experts Craig Capdepon and Vincent Morales was unfortunately interrupted, I got a hint from a friend of the ARC Forum that I could also contact Scott "Shuttleman" Phillips. He was an Engineer at the Marshall Space Flight Center, and was working on all ETs during the shuttle program. And the man with this telling nickname has written this great book together with his wife Dianne Phillips, which tells the story of his personal thirty-year shuttle odyssey. Source: Scott G. Phillips And this book with this striking red Remove Before Flight Ribbon, that gave him the title at the same time has cast a spell over me after reading a about it and seeing this Book Trailer of his son Christian Phillips. During his time working in the program, he was also able to join his two passions - the Space shuttle and woodworking - by building one-of-a-kind handcrafted wooden tribute shuttle models in large numbers for many Shuttle crews and also for friends, here among others when handing over to the STS-1 crew with John W. Young and Bob Crippen, which also were signed by them. Source: Scott G. Phillips Realizing that each mission carried historic weight, Scott Phillips set forth to preserve each flight through his work as Master Carver, true to his motto: Long live the Shuttle's legacy. And in the meantime, I have contacted him and also ordered his book, which arrived yesterday along with a few surprises. It was next to his book with a personal dedication, as well as the red ribbon and some stickers, and as icing on the cake this piece of SOFI foam, which he had branched off in the production of the last External Tank ET-138, what I have asked him for, which I am especially proud of now. More about this, i.a. also to the explanation of this ribbon as a hanger for the book, then in my thread about the "Shuttleman" Scott Phillips, who can also be found on Facebook. So much for now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 What a great story Manfred! Rather touching how "Shuttleman" went the extra mile for you to gather these items together. Remember to keep these items for the final display of your build. Nice report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 4, 2018 Author Share Posted October 4, 2018 Thanks Rich, I'm glad that you enjoy this short introduction into the Shuttleman story. For me yesterday was already Christmas! Imagine, Scott has also built a shuttle stack of SOFI foam, which was used during spraying process of ET-138 for STS-135. Source: Scott G. Phillips BTW, the ET spraying process is similar to the Airbrush. Before spraying the respective model, one should first spray next to it and then pull the spray gun onto the model. And those foam remnants from testing the Spray robots Scott had cleverly put aside. Source: Scott G. Phillips BTW, here is the Master Carver at work, Source: Scott G. Phillips and here in front of Pad 39A, proudly awaiting Atlantis' last lauch for STS-135. Source: Scott G. Phillips 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustermark Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Great story! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 12, 2018 Author Share Posted October 12, 2018 Hi everyone, and because it's just now about the SOFI foam, here's a little taster from Scott Phillips' book Remove Before Flight, what happened behind the scenes ... One task after finishing the SOFI spray process included overseeing the disposition of leftover SOFI components - known as Part A and Part B - that formulated the insulation foam. Surplus liquid foam components had to be poured back into their original containers to avoid causing a chemical reaction. One day, our team member, called Buzz, came back after a "liquid lunch" to clean the machine that mixed the foam. Inadvertently, he poured 10 gallons of Part A into a 55-gallon drum of Part B, tightened the bung cap, and walked away. Within minutes, the bung popped and the 55-gallon drum exploded, immediately filling the room with foam. Everything in the room was destroyed. We never saw Buzz again after that incident ... I love these stories, which reminds me of the stories of my friend James MacLaren from the NSF Forum, like A Techno-Redneck's Encounter With NASA's Satellite ... Enjoy! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 Hello everybody, meanwhile, my friend Joe (crackerjazz) from the ARC Forum found time and has started with the 3D modeling of the Main Sprockets, of which I need 16 pieces, which Shapeways should print in FUD. Initially, he had only used the front view of the drawing I had supplied and apparently had some problems with the implementation in his CAD program (Solidworks), especially with the dimension 33,6''. But then I pointed him to the side view, which shows that this value is the measure at the lowest point of the lower curve of the wheel, what he probably had not considered. And now he seems to cope with it, as his following pictures show. As it looks the modeling seems to be pretty tricky, but he'll get it done, I'm pretty sure, so keep fingers crossed! I can only watch again and be amazed ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 Hello everyone, well, this drive wheel really seems to be a hard nut, if one has a look at the next pictures of my friend Joe, who has diligently continued to model. Source: arcforums.com (crackerjazz) At least here it becomes clear how many sub-steps are obviously necessary to capture and model all these contours and ledges, until finally this single sprocket is finished, which looks great. But I think, that now not much is missing to make a suitable 3D printing set out of it. And that's why I've thought about the most favorable arrangement/orientation for printing and think that the sprockets could be arranged flat in a set consisting of two rows of nine wheels, whereby I would have two spare wheels. Now I'm curious to see what will come out in the end and what such a Set of 18 in FUD will cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 Hello everybody, my friend Joe just asked me if it would not be better to just let print only a single sprocket first, to see if will mesh well with the Track shoes, which would certainly make sense. Therefore, I had already pointed out to him in advance that the following condition had to be guaranteed, namely, that W2 fits into W1. Source: microartwork.com (Mischa Klement) But that would have to be guaranteed, provided that the drawings are correct, whereof I go out, and that he has correctly implemented them in his model (1:160). Therefore, he should first upload only a single, flat-lying wheel, so I can let print it in FUD and FXD on a trial basis. After the aptitude test we can then decide about the final Set of 18. Well, just wait and see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustermark Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 More great work and more money going to Shapeways!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 Everything has its price, let's see how high it will be ... An alternative would be to print it yourself, only then one would have to be able to model 3D, which I unfortunately can not do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 Hello everyone, the tea was good, and my friend Joe hardworking, who has already uploaded his Main Sprocket model. Source: shapeways.com (Crackerjazz) I was a bit scared when I looked at the 3D view and saw that the sprocket is hollow, which was completely new to me, Source: shapeways.com (Crackerjazz) especially since the sprockets of other crawler modelers in the Raumcon forum are full and not hollow, which I had in mind. Source: raumfahrer.net (Sascha1990) Source: raumfahrer.net (slimgo) Therefore, I was very skeptical at first and have immediately searched for suitable photos to clarify this. But in my archives I did not find anything at first, because on the normal crawler pictures you can not really see the drive wheels under the chains. In this photo, I found the first signs of cavities, if one looks closely. Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (AnalogMan) But in the NASASpaceflight-Forum there is a special Crawler-Transporter thread about the modification of the CT-2 for the mighty launchers of the future Space Launch System (SLS) of NASA, in which I then have indeed found clear evidences. Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (MechTech) Here to see beautiful in the falling sunlight. Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (sprtnsky) And here's a Hi-Res look into a drive wheel or through it out, which would also eliminate the last doubts. Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (MechTech) And so I ordered two sprockets at Shapeways, both in FUD and in FXD in order to be able to test their interaction with the Track shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 VERY COOL MANFRED!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 Thanks Rich, if I recall correctly, your Sprockets were full resin parts, right? Good morning folks, now I also got the corresponding screenshot with the Support Material showing the expected arrangement. Source: shapeways.com (Crackerjazz) The big lot of support wax would also explain the relatively high price of the Sprocket, half as much wax would certainly have been enough too, I guess ... Therefore I also asked my friend Joe, also to upload a model with an upright print orientation of the sprocket. I think that this would require less support material, so the price might be slightly lower. The side effect thereby is, that the top side should be smooth and the bottom rough, which in turn is important for cleaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 Hello everyone, after the first joy Shapeways came up with the next unwelcome surprise and has stated that they can not print the Main Sprocket. Supposedly they have informed the designer about the problems with the part, but which is a smooth Fake News. So slowly I start to doubt this club, I can't think of anything more ... The strange thing is that the shape of the Sprocket is less complex than that of the Track shoes, and the wall thicknesses are all according to specs, as my friend Joe says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 Hi friends, after I was first informed on my astonished enquiry that my already well-known SW friend Mitchell Jetten from the Track shoes story would answer me, now came this joke message ... Awesome!!! This reinforces my impression of SW, that's an case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand's doing ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 I think those "why don't you print it?" messages are automatic, Manfred. I uploaded a drawing a couple of weeks ago and received quite a few. Incidentally, had you thought of using anyone other than Shapeways? There's a company based in Germany who I think are cheaper than them and similar quality. I'll dig out a link if this is relevant. Kirk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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