The Continuing Adventures of Jud

Another spectacular sky the other day...

After finishing the new deck, and setting about reassembling the "Stretch ECV", I discovered that the control wire bundle was now a few inches short due to the increased length of the scooter body and height of the steering column.

After several trips to Radio Shack for 22 gauge stranded wire (no, not solid) and crimps connectors (no, this package has only 16, not 32- that was the other style you looked at, and you broke one), I added about 8 inches of length to the wire bundle.

I wrapped the new connections and all the wire from that point in several layers of duct tape and banded it in place, with enough length to now to reach to its connection point at the motor in the rear section of the scooter.

And now, up and running! [note: just found out that though Facebook SAID I could embed a video there anywhere, it was requiring people to sign up or sign in to see it so the heck with them, I have changed it to YouTube.]

[Note: throughout this blog, clicking on some of the pictures will give you a larger view: some do, some don't, have no idea why.]

In Florida, our 'mountains' on the horizon are big white and constantly changing...

I was wondering where I could cheaply acquire some aluminum tubing for a planned new frame for my ECV... I have these awnings I took off my house years ago...

Cut, fit, trimmed, and painted a 3/8 inch plywood board for new floor for Shuttle ECV yesterday, and just screwed it into place now.

Below is the underside and shows the screws through the original body parts into the new 3/8 floor.

Did some layout and some cutting between naps last night and today and have the existing body cut and fitted to the new configuration of the frame. Might take a little bit more off the front end body where is curves up from the 'floor' to make it flat for as much as possible.

On the back section, I removed so much material to get rid of the hump that ran down the center, I inspected and found I had enough clearance to add some boards to the back and underside to hold its form after the cut.

Here is the whole thing with the modified body in place. A piece of plywood will be cut and fitted over the entire 'floor' and the old body will be secured to that to make it all one piece. This will get the Shuttle back in operation, and meanwhile, I will design and build the new body.

Hung and primed the ECV frame in the room under construction. Much to my surprise, it took two cans. Had to go buy a second can.

Gloss red finish coat covered a lot better than the primer: only one can!

So while the finish coat on the frame sets up, I went to work on the new connector for the steering column. Main thing is perfect placement and alignment while drilling through the 1 inch steel rod I had added to the fork.

I also went ahead and cut off the parts of the 'bending catch plate' that I never use and look really ugly. This allows the upper section of the steering column to be folded for transport and set at different angles for use- but I always used straight perpendicular for better wheel-feel.

And here are the drilled and prepared pieces of the new connector. In addition to the drilling, I had to file down the inside of the fitting- you know pipe has a welded seam inside? When dealing with a fitted piece, that gets in the way. Sprayed it black. It will be bolted to the two section to replace the weak tabs that had broken off and couldn't be repaired as covered earlier.

Well, this certainly looks a lot better. And certainly brightened my day! Big thanks to my neighbor and his lawn man!

Still weary, but a bit inspired by my nice newly cut lawn, I finally dragged my ECV frame outside and did the clean up of the new welds and some flaky paint areas in preparation for primer and paint.

Here is a close-up of two of the new welds all ground out smooth and ready for primer.

Picked up my modified ECV frame from the welder- three inches longer and tubes added to support a removable front-end storage box (to be built later).

Also had the welder weld a solid rod into the fork with a tube to make the connection between it and the steering column to replace the poorly designed and broken tabs that it had- and also adds 3 inches to the height of the bars, thus clearing my knees...

And sometime soon, I will use these three sheets of scrap aluminum diamond plate to cut, bend and weld a new body.

Up at Howards Flea Market, Homosassa FL, there is one booth selling rubber duckies...

I now have 5, the center one from WDW, Y&BC Movie Night, July 4th, 2008. I have absolutely no use for these things, but... :)

Is this the best marked measuring cup ever???!!!

My county is one of only two in Florida that has a surplus of fresh water: so they ship it all out to Tampa. Our water table has dropped the last few dry years: my well is now skimming the top of the aquifer and getting all the leaf rot that floats up; result- brown staining water. Built an 'injector' to add bleach to wash out the tank and the rest.

Tried to do macro on an ant today- he wouldn't stand still: this is a severe crop of the best I could get.

Can't push the mower long enough anymore, so have to limit it to the bits I have to have to get in and out. Gettin' deep out there! :)