Where am I?
by Luke Jones · 01/15/2010 (5:55 am) · 8 comments
First ever blog, 6 years ago, last blog, 4 years ago.
It's damned amazing whats changed here since then!!
TGE became obsolete, TGEA matured, then T3D come into being, and holy hell is it good!
Praise be to the GG crew.
Where have I been? Well, I'm an engineer by trade, heavy fabrication, steel work.
Just for the sake of it, heres some pics of what I've built, alot of it has been for the oil drilling and gas industry. Unbelievable how strict safety procedures can be on site too.
Above image is a mobile desilter for drilling fluid, only for small holes.
Above is what we call a shaker. Basically 3 specialised meash screens are tensioned up on the base inside it, and 2 high G-force electric motors (vibration, offset weight on shaft) are bolted on and shake the living hell out of it. Used for breaking down the gunk that comes out of drilling holes, the water and fluid that comes out are filtered, sifted, measured, reused. Don't know the specifics since i never really got near any of it but the mix that is pumped back down into the drilling head is a careful mixed concoction.
This one is a computer chair I made for the sake of it :P
Made from old 302 pistons I had, a disc brake and hub from an EA Falcon, and the seat from the falcon too.
Spins real nice, takes ages to slow down. Really should have left the caliper on and attached a handbrake to it, that would have been handy. And good for laughs!
One of the bigger creations I had the joy of working on.
I giant mudtank, shipped over to aussie. For drilling fluids, too, like most everything so far. Estimated around 3 months of work on it.
And lastly but not least, some of the slightly cooler stuff!
The two images above are examples of the stockcar chassis' I've helped fabricate and weld for Pete Rees.
Alot of fun, but unfortunately I'm getting electronic detention soon so can't continue.
Around 20-30 hours of welding involved, can use a spool and a half on these.
Currently designing my own chassis from the experiences I've gained, Pete's were quite over-engineered and there really is a lot of improvement to be made, mostly in strength and handling.
These cars end up being a sort of cross breed of stressed skin + spaceframe design, mostly from the safety requirements.
May post up pics of other peoples designs, there really is some awesome innovations happening.
A half decent action shot. They take a pounding.
A tank, guess how it gets the name. One of NZ's favourite. This is Pete's, his new one, based on a kind of spaceframe design instead of folded 3-6mm sheet.
A cad copy of a proctor built chassis.
This is my initial testing of exporting. A semi complete car.
And here I've managed to get them set up quite nicely!
Now all that needs to be done, is... Alot really!
Animation of suspension for one, proper texturing (I'm a complete newb) and so on.
I'll make this the last image. Sorry to all you guys'n'girls who don't like an image intensive blog.
This just to show I have the camera and mounting set up correctly. Was quite satisfying getting this far.
Soooo.... What am I doing?
I honestly have no idea. I think more I'm just curious. Maybe I'll even try use Torque as a testing ground of sorts for my designs before I actually manufacture.
But really to do that I need a comprehensive physics engine and a hell of a lot of programming done...
One day. I'll keep plodding along for now, but at the end of the day it will always be quicker for me to build the stockcars irl and go down to the local track for testing.
Thanks for staying with me thus far in this blog people!
I shall be back, with more pics hopefully, of far more interesting developments.
It's damned amazing whats changed here since then!!
TGE became obsolete, TGEA matured, then T3D come into being, and holy hell is it good!
Praise be to the GG crew.
Where have I been? Well, I'm an engineer by trade, heavy fabrication, steel work.
Just for the sake of it, heres some pics of what I've built, alot of it has been for the oil drilling and gas industry. Unbelievable how strict safety procedures can be on site too.
Above image is a mobile desilter for drilling fluid, only for small holes.
Above is what we call a shaker. Basically 3 specialised meash screens are tensioned up on the base inside it, and 2 high G-force electric motors (vibration, offset weight on shaft) are bolted on and shake the living hell out of it. Used for breaking down the gunk that comes out of drilling holes, the water and fluid that comes out are filtered, sifted, measured, reused. Don't know the specifics since i never really got near any of it but the mix that is pumped back down into the drilling head is a careful mixed concoction.This one is a computer chair I made for the sake of it :P
Made from old 302 pistons I had, a disc brake and hub from an EA Falcon, and the seat from the falcon too.
Spins real nice, takes ages to slow down. Really should have left the caliper on and attached a handbrake to it, that would have been handy. And good for laughs!
One of the bigger creations I had the joy of working on.
I giant mudtank, shipped over to aussie. For drilling fluids, too, like most everything so far. Estimated around 3 months of work on it.
And lastly but not least, some of the slightly cooler stuff!
The two images above are examples of the stockcar chassis' I've helped fabricate and weld for Pete Rees.
Alot of fun, but unfortunately I'm getting electronic detention soon so can't continue.
Around 20-30 hours of welding involved, can use a spool and a half on these.
Currently designing my own chassis from the experiences I've gained, Pete's were quite over-engineered and there really is a lot of improvement to be made, mostly in strength and handling.
These cars end up being a sort of cross breed of stressed skin + spaceframe design, mostly from the safety requirements.
May post up pics of other peoples designs, there really is some awesome innovations happening.
A half decent action shot. They take a pounding.
A tank, guess how it gets the name. One of NZ's favourite. This is Pete's, his new one, based on a kind of spaceframe design instead of folded 3-6mm sheet.
A cad copy of a proctor built chassis.
This is my initial testing of exporting. A semi complete car.
And here I've managed to get them set up quite nicely!
Now all that needs to be done, is... Alot really!
Animation of suspension for one, proper texturing (I'm a complete newb) and so on.
I'll make this the last image. Sorry to all you guys'n'girls who don't like an image intensive blog.
This just to show I have the camera and mounting set up correctly. Was quite satisfying getting this far.
Soooo.... What am I doing?
I honestly have no idea. I think more I'm just curious. Maybe I'll even try use Torque as a testing ground of sorts for my designs before I actually manufacture.
But really to do that I need a comprehensive physics engine and a hell of a lot of programming done...
One day. I'll keep plodding along for now, but at the end of the day it will always be quicker for me to build the stockcars irl and go down to the local track for testing.
Thanks for staying with me thus far in this blog people!
I shall be back, with more pics hopefully, of far more interesting developments.
About the author
Core developer using Rust lang at Sphere Identity.
#2
Interesting work you have going up there. I've done some metal work, but not as hardcore as you. Made my own RC car from spare metal scraps and extra motors. :)
01/15/2010 (11:37 am)
Quote:Maybe I'll even try use Torque as a testing ground of sorts for my designs before I actually manufacture.Using a game engine to do something other than create a game... He's acheving the impossible!
Interesting work you have going up there. I've done some metal work, but not as hardcore as you. Made my own RC car from spare metal scraps and extra motors. :)
#3
Matt, I may scan the RC chassis drawings I've done, you might be interested in them.
Maybe I'll convert them to cad first, makes things much easier in the long run. The rc car itself is based on the Tamiya Dirt Thrasher.
Have also started a nitro design too, hardest part to make in those is the centrifugal clutch plus gear sprocket, but again not impossible. (Since I've made one :P )
01/15/2010 (5:54 pm)
Lol Steve, I believe that to be true.Matt, I may scan the RC chassis drawings I've done, you might be interested in them.
Maybe I'll convert them to cad first, makes things much easier in the long run. The rc car itself is based on the Tamiya Dirt Thrasher.
Have also started a nitro design too, hardest part to make in those is the centrifugal clutch plus gear sprocket, but again not impossible. (Since I've made one :P )
#4
Does your pit crew keep a crossbow handy at the race?
01/15/2010 (10:27 pm)
Nice work on the real thing.Does your pit crew keep a crossbow handy at the race?
#6
I want to see you rig the AutoCad chassis model into a T3D car. That would be interesting :)
01/15/2010 (11:45 pm)
@Lukenstein:I want to see you rig the AutoCad chassis model into a T3D car. That would be interesting :)
#7
These are from Torque3D.
Damn f***ing amazing, Must get the license soon.. Haven't really fiddled with too much in it yet, but the improvement over TGEA is vast...
One small problem with the cars, the turning circle is crap, which I guess is down the script and probably the animation too.
Will work that out later on.
Might do a side by side with the gg buggy too.
@Nathan, I knew atleast one guy with a deep set interestin racing + crossbows :P
Edit: Yeah, turning circle was script.
Quite frankly, theres a hell of a lot of work to be done on the vehicle side of things. Put mildly, it's functional stuff, but ultimately, it's crap. Will have to re-teach myself C++ again and start digging myself into a hole.
01/16/2010 (4:39 am)
These are from Torque3D.
Damn f***ing amazing, Must get the license soon.. Haven't really fiddled with too much in it yet, but the improvement over TGEA is vast...
One small problem with the cars, the turning circle is crap, which I guess is down the script and probably the animation too.
Will work that out later on.
Might do a side by side with the gg buggy too.
@Nathan, I knew atleast one guy with a deep set interestin racing + crossbows :P
Edit: Yeah, turning circle was script.
Quite frankly, theres a hell of a lot of work to be done on the vehicle side of things. Put mildly, it's functional stuff, but ultimately, it's crap. Will have to re-teach myself C++ again and start digging myself into a hole.
#8
I use to do welding and fabrication as a job for a steam railway.
One of the jobs I worked on was restoring a £750,000 steam loco and building it's tender fom scratch.
With a Gas axe and a MIG torch, I was happier than a pig in "you know what" :p
I miss that work now :(
Once I got some spare cash and I can find a garage to rent, I'd like to build a kitcar.
01/17/2010 (12:23 pm)
Cool work you've done...I use to do welding and fabrication as a job for a steam railway.
One of the jobs I worked on was restoring a £750,000 steam loco and building it's tender fom scratch.
With a Gas axe and a MIG torch, I was happier than a pig in "you know what" :p
I miss that work now :(
Once I got some spare cash and I can find a garage to rent, I'd like to build a kitcar.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]
Interesting to see something in real life ... then it's virtual conterpart in Torque. Me thinks you've done rather a good job there.