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OT: Down the Wabit Hole (Boredom Thread)

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Wabit

Registered User
May 23, 2016
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I guess the best way to describe this thread is a newfangled entertainment thread or randomness: favorite Youtube channels, funny memes, random song that is in stuck in your head, cool airplane pics, etc.


Thread reviews:

Avder said:
…..the heck did I find at 5am?
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Minnewildsota said:
I'd love to get into Wabit's hole... :laugh:

Some good Indie game channels that I follow:
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DjO.gif
 
57special said:
My son is doing this. Pretty amazing...they produce two cars per year, one IC, and one EV. It's a lot of work.


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Is that a club or a class project of some sort? It's friggin awesome, I need more info.
 
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Wabit said:
Is that a club or a class project of some sort? It's friggin awesome, I need more info.
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It's a club. They do two cars a year, and go to at least one competition against other schools from all over the country, and some from outside. They are rated on a bunch of factors, and never race directly against one another(safety), but do, essentially, time trials. I think the cars go up to about 70 MPH or so, and apparently are a lot of fun to drive.

According to my son, the kids who are involved are really, really committed, and spend a lot of time on it. As far as he is concerned, he learns more at the club than he does in class, because some of the kids are uber talented and skilled, and teach him a lot. I think he had a hand in designing, building, and installing the steering module last year ... nor sure what he is doing this year.

I think it's mostly a combination of MechE, Aerospace, and EE/CompE students, but it's open to anyone.
 
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57special said:
It's a club. They do two cars a year, and go to at least one competition against other schools from all over the country, and some from outside. They are rated on a bunch of factors, and never race directly against one another(safety), but do, essentially, time trials. I think the cars go up to about 70 MPH or so, and apparently are a lot of fun to drive.

According to my son, the kids who are involved are really, really committed, and spend a lot of time on it. As far as he is concerned, he learns more at the club than he does in class, because some of the kids are uber talented and skilled, and teach him a lot. I think he had a hand in designing, building, and installing the steering module last year ... nor sure what he is doing this year.

I think it's mostly a combination of MechE, and EE/CompE students, but it's open to anyone.
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That's a club I'd join, it looks like a great hands-on experience. I'm lost on some of the electric car aspects, but the compression engine car looks a lot like an ultralight aircraft.

Your son might like going to the EAA Oshkosh airshow (last week in July every year). There are just so many things to geek out over.
 
Wabit said:
That's a club I'd join, it looks like a great hands-on experience. I'm lost on some of the electric car aspects, but the compression engine car looks a lot like an ultralight aircraft.

Your son might like going to the EAA Oshkosh airshow (last week in July every year). There are just so many things to geek out over.
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I think they buy the engine, and modify it a bit to their purposes. Tires, and wheels, too. Maybe the batteries for the EV, too. I think they build everything else, such as the frame, drive train, body, seats, etc.
The electronics are pretty cool. They have a feed back system that monitors things on the car just like real Forumla cars, though I’m sure it’s way more primitive. My son is a straight A student, but he says most of the kids here are way smarter and more accomplished than he is(partly because they spent their teens on mechanical and robotic teams while he was trying to hit 85 MPH on his fastball), but many get lower marks than he does. They essentially blow off classes because they find them uninteresting compared to the club. Employers don't seem to mind... most of these kids get multiple, very attractive, job offers both during, and after school.


My wife is the one who would be going to the WI air fair, specifically for the Ultralights, though she is into anything that flies. As a matter of fact, I had to divert the whole family and go there on a summer vacation, drop her off, takes the kids to DQ, sit in the car forever, then go find her because she forgot about the time. Her dream is to get a plane... it used to be Ultralights, but she got turned off by the company a bit, and there are other things out there that are similar.

Me, i'm a wood guy, and a very retro one at that. Also some painting... i like what they did, but i could do something WAY cooler, though i'd have to research the materials to make sure that the finished job could withstand the heat and moisture(they had to stop the last test at one point when the car temps got to be over 200 F - the driver's body temp was over 100 F!). I did dabble is electronics while building guitars and fixing tube amps, but in a very unschooled way. I do get some of what the MechE guys are doing, especially building the structures, but designing and building PCB's that control functions in the car is way beyond me.
 
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57special said:
I think they buy the engine, and modify it a bit to their purposes. Tires, and wheels, too. Maybe the batteries for the EV, too. I think they build everything else, such as the frame, drive train, body, seats, etc.
The electronics are pretty cool. They have a feed back system that monitors things on the car just like real Forumla cars, though I’m sure it’s way more primitive. My son is a straight A student, but he says most of the kids here are way smarter and more accomplished than he is(partly because they spent their teens on mechanical and robotic teams while he was trying to hit 85 MPH on his fastball), but many get lower marks than he does. They essentially blow off classes because they find them uninteresting compared to the club. Employers don't seem to mind... most of these kids get multiple, very attractive, job offers both during, and after school.


My wife is the one who would be going to the WI air fair, specifically for the Ultralights, though she is into anything that flies. As a matter of fact, I had to divert the whole family and go there on a summer vacation, drop her off, takes the kids to DQ, sit in the car forever, then go find her because she forgot about the time. Her dream is to get a plane... it used to be Ultralights, but she got turned off by the company a bit, and there are other things out there that are similar.

Me, i'm a wood guy, and a very retro one at that. Also some painting... i like what they did, but i could do something WAY cooler, though i'd have to research the materials to make sure that the finished job could withstand the heat and moisture(they had to stop the last test at one point when the car temps got to be over 200 F - the driver's body temp was over 100 F!). I did dabble is electronics while building guitars and fixing tube amps, but in a very unschooled way. I do get some of what the MechE guys are doing, especially building the structures, but designing and building PCB's that control functions in the car is way beyond me.
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Flying Ultralights scares the heck out of me. I've only done it once, and that is more than enough. I'll geek out over them on the ground though. They truly are the wild west of aviation in the US. I know guys that have built their own from basically just stuff they had lying around in their garage. Their biggest expense is a mod kit for the Briggs and Stratton engine they pulled off of a generator and the fabric for the wing.

These are the FAA rules (FAR Part 103) to classify an aircraft as an ultralight:
1 seat
254 lbs max weight
5 gal max fuel tank
a couple of airspeed requirements.
No pilots license or med cert is required to fly them.
No N# or airworthiness inspections needed.

Powered parachutes are what I enjoy flying (I feel much safer). They can be light enough to fall into the ultralight category so no pilots license needed (I don't have one).

I'd do some things different on that club car too, but without doing a deep dive into the rules and regs I don't know if it would work. The club looks awesome, and if there was a school near me that did that I'd see if I could take like one class at the school and still join the club.
 
Wabit said:
Flying Ultralights scares the heck out of me. I've only done it once, and that is more than enough. I'll geek out over them on the ground though. They truly are the wild west of aviation in the US. I know guys that have built their own from basically just stuff they had lying around in their garage. Their biggest expense is a mod kit for the Briggs and Stratton engine they pulled off of a generator and the fabric for the wing.

These are the FAA rules (FAR Part 103) to classify an aircraft as an ultralight:
1 seat
254 lbs max weight
5 gal max fuel tank
a couple of airspeed requirements.
No pilots license or med cert is required to fly them.
No N# or airworthiness inspections needed.

Powered parachutes are what I enjoy flying (I feel much safer). They can be light enough to fall into the ultralight category so no pilots license needed (I don't have one).

I'd do some things different on that club car too, but without doing a deep dive into the rules and regs I don't know if it would work. The club looks awesome, and if there was a school near me that did that I'd see if I could take like one class at the school and still join the club.
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The kids would probably be thrilled to have your experience and enthusiasm.

I just realized it wasn't the ultralights, but more the Ikon A5 that my wife was enamoured of.
 
57special said:
The kids would probably be thrilled to have your experience and enthusiasm.

I just realized it wasn't the ultralights, but more the Ikon A5 that my wife was enamoured of.
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Okay, so the light sport category of aircraft?

I've been so tempted to be completely irresponsible and buy something like this as a project.
Cessna 140 project UPDATED - aviation - by owner - airplane aviation...

I don't have a hanger (a big enough garage), a pilot's license, or good enough health insurance to cover my hospital trip when the wife beats me silly (completely warranted) for being dumb.
 
If you want to fly safely, discover the world of flight simulation and the amazing MSFS. Learn how to fly light aircraft to advanced airliners like the Airbus A320, developed by real technicians and pilots. The sceneries are the real thing, maybe you'll find your home.

MSFS: www.flightsimulator.com
A320: www.flybywiresim.com
 
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