PowerRacingSeries Vette build
09 Apr 2015
Besides 3D printing hands, we have several other projects going on down at the io-estate and the Maker Station. I'm pretty excited to start making some progress on our entry into this season's Power Racing Series race at the Atlanta MakerFaire.
While the gauntlet and palm parts were printing last weekend, I mocked up the car's frame in PVC. A couple of days ago I procured some 1/2" steel tubing from Metals Supermarket... which was not as super as I had hoped. However, it was super convenient in that I placed the order online, and was able to pick it up later that day. I was hoping to find a big warehouse type of supermarket where I could wander through and see steel and cutting machines because steel, but instead it was just a small store front and the guy went back into the employees only warehouse to grab my order. The entire transaction took all of two minutes, super convenient.
Also the guy behind the counter sound German or Eastern European. He frowned when he saw me because it was 5:05pm when I arrived and he promptly informed me that they were closed. "But", I replied, "it's just a tiny order, already paid for... just 4 pieces of 0.5" x 6' square tube". He frowned, but went back and got it. The transaction made me chuckle. A couple days ago I read this fanboy answer on Quora about mechanical engineering school in Germany, and here I was at Metal Supermarket of Marietta getting the evil eye from a German metal salesman.
I'm hoping to get down to the Station this weekend to cut and melt some steel into the intended frame. Against everyone at the Station's better judgement, I elected to go with 1/2" square tube because, weight. If it doesn't hold up, we'll just fix it and reinforce it.
References:
- Power Racing Series
- Metals Supermarket I'm a fan now!
- Details of the vette's build will end up here
- Atlanta MakerFaire
If you liked this post, you can tweet it to your followers or follow me on Twitter @tanjuB!