(no subject)

[catsittingstill]

I feel like I have so much to post about that it's inhibiting me from posting. This will never do.

1) I intend to post about the Ireland trip. Really. But not today.

2) I am experimenting with constructing musical instrument cases, fiberglass around a foam core. I feel like this should take less time than it has been taking, but that's my "if nothing goes wrong" projections talking. Nevertheless I hope to finish the prototype by the end of this weekend. The prototype is already strong enough to stand on (for me to stand on; I make no guarantees about other people), which is the lower edge of the strength I was aiming for. My big worry about musical instruments in soft cases tends to be "what if someone steps on it by accident?"

I intend to post more about this. There may actually be enough interest (the filking community having its share of strange musical instruments for which it is hard to find a good case) that I may even work up a how-to web page. But not today.

3) I have been finding myself short of time as a result of 2, and have switched from riding the exercise bike at the gym to riding my own bike from home. I have been building up gradually, first the 1 1/2 mile hill up to the hospital, then over the hill and past the hospital to the school, then past the school and into the western edge of Jefferson City--today I rode all the way into Jefferson City, to the Wal-Mart, and did my grocery shopping. Road work made the way in more exciting. On the way back I found a way around the stretch with heavy traffic and no shoulder, avoiding the road work in the process.

On the down side, I discovered that my folding panniers hadn't been unfolded in so long that they were stuck folded. On the up side, my bike bag was big enough to take all the groceries, and I fixed the panniers at home with a couple of shots of WD-40 and a few tweaks from the pliers. It's amazing how insoluble problems become trivial with the right tools.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

fiberglass around foam core

You know they've been using that tech to build aircraft for years? Voyager was built that way, and I think SpaceShipOne used that tech. If you build an instrument case that way, you'll have to get you an SS1 sticker to go on it... :)

Heh. I can see it now. "Cat's Aircraft Grade Instrument Cases."

Or, heck, you could sell'em as a kit, just like they do homebuilt aircraft. You get this Ikea-type flat carton with a bunch of foam core, a bag of glass cloth, some epoxy, and a manual with easy-to-follow cartoon instructions... only you'd need to put a squeegee in it instead of an allen wrench. :)

But, yeah, I've read enough aircraft project web pages to know that it *always* takes longer than you think it will. Looking forward to the outcome...

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

? I knew they used it to build prototype car shells. But SpaceShipOne? Epoxy degrades at high temperatures--if you glue your scissors together (which can happen if you suddently decide you need to trim fiberglass in the process of being epoxied) you can break the bond with a cigarette lighter; epoxy would never survive re-entry. Unless you mean they used a different fiber-in-resin technique with a resin more resistant to high temperatures? Or maybe they used fiberglass over foam to build something inside the ship, where it wouldn't get so hot?

An SS1 sticker would be very cool, though.

I'd hesitate to label the cases "Aircraft Grade" because people might think they can endure the special baggage mangling system used for checked luggage, and I don't think they'll be up to that.

The trick to making instrument case kits is that, when it comes to the funny instruments like octave mandolins and appalachian dulcimers and banjo-ukeleles, you only have a rough idea of the instrument's shape from its name. If the kit-builder has to design the case around her specific instrument, it's not really a kit anymore; it's just materials.

I have high hopes for the outcome. Maybe too high. We'll see.

[mdlbear]

SpaceShip One re-enters at low temperature -- it starts out above the atmosphere at zero velocity rather than orbital velocity, and deploys an aerobrake at very high altitude. By the time it gets down to the stratosphere it's going at normal airplane velocity or less.

I agree that for checked luggage you'd want vacuum-formed ABS or something similarly flexible; fiberglass is too brittle. I've considered polycarbonate (Lexan, i.e., bulletproof) panels over a frame of aluminum angle.

Never mind selling kits: put the instructions into a booklet plus flash video, and sell that. Post the first and last sections on YouTube.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

...as distinguished from instruments out of their cases and with me attempting to play them, in which case the real worry is what if someone steps on it on purpose?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Nobody would step on an instrument on purpose! :-)

I hope you're feeling better.

[mdlbear]

With the occasional exception of badly-played accordions and banjos ;-).

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Paging Mr. Moon!