What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

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Instead of rocketry, today I slept.... all frikken day! Bad headache plus vertigo, and the only reason I got out of bed was to use the bathroom! Tomorrow shall be better...
 
Saw a doctor about a shoulder reconstruction. Looking forward to getting this sorted out. I hate dislocated shoulders.

Good luck with that! I had orthoscopic surgery on my right shoulder in 2007. I don't want to scare you with horror stories, but they *really* messed up the anesthesia. What was supposed to be in-and-out surgery kept me in the hospital for four days.
 
Good luck with that! I had orthoscopic surgery on my right shoulder in 2007. I don't want to scare you with horror stories, but they *really* messed up the anesthesia. What was supposed to be in-and-out surgery kept me in the hospital for four days.
Sorry to hear of your problems. I had a reco back in 2001. Painless and effortless. Woke up with zero pain and didn't have any through the whole process. Only have to go back because I dumb car driver hit me on my bike and undid the good work. Getting the same surgeon. He does lots of high-end athletes and footballers. Very skilled.
 
Haven't quite done it yet, but in an hour or so I should see a 18-wheeler pull into the parking lot across from our house, and unload my aluminum folding utility trailer. My RAV won't pull much but this is going to be for local load/unload only, and small loads at that.

Best -- Terry
 
Haven't quite done it yet, but in an hour or so I should see a 18-wheeler pull into the parking lot across from our house, and unload my aluminum folding utility trailer. My RAV won't pull much but this is going to be for local load/unload only, and small loads at that.
What did you get? I have a reasonable amount of truck, but the only trailer I have is an 18ft pipe top utility and it's usually far too much for rocketry things.
 
What did you get? I have a reasonable amount of truck, but the only trailer I have is an 18ft pipe top utility and it's usually far too much for rocketry things.
It's a cheap 1100 lb-load Northern unit:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660343_200660343
Only being used for local trips to Lowe's, agri store, etc. as it has 12" wheels rated at only 45 mph.

Anyone know the practicality of changing tires/wheels to 13"? Do I need a different axle to get up to highway speeds (65mph)?

Best -- Terry
 
\( \frac{13}{12}45 = 48.75 \)
So for getting to 65 there has to be more to it, as the axle speed will certainly he higher than at 45 with the stock wheels.
 
\( \frac{13}{12}45 = 48.75 \)
So for getting to 65 there has to be more to it, as the axle speed will certainly he higher than at 45 with the stock wheels.
Edit: Forget it. Wasn't thinking correctly. Is the 12" the actual tire size and the 13" the size of the rims? Need to know the actual diameter of both to properly calculate it.
 
Ok, the 12" tires are 20.5" diameter, the 13" in a ST185/80D13 trailer tire is 24.4" That makes the difference in speed from 45 mph to 53.6 mph. However that is irrelevant because the 12" tires have an artificial constraint. The 13" trailer tires are rated to 81 mph. As long as they fit and you pay attention to the loading speed away! Your bearings and axles should be fine without overloading as long as they are roller or ball bearing and not brass sleeved or something equally stupid, they are usually tapered rollers. You need to measure the hub spacing and setback on the rims to make sure they will fit.
 
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Edit: Forget it. Wasn't thinking correctly. Is the 12" the actual tire size and the 13" the size of the rims? Need to know the actual diameter of both to properly calculate it.
Yeah, I guess the 12" and 13" figures are rim diameter, or the ID of the rubber (more or less) and it's the OD of the rubber that we need. Which I should have considered before opening my fat mouth.

Had I considered the OD of the rubber, you've calculated I would have come to 53.6. And when I wrote that there must be more to it, I got that part right; there's that artificial constraint. At least I never claimed to know what the "more to it" is, so I couldn't be wrong.

Also, it's a good thing this trailer isn't horse drawn, since I've now beaten the horse to death.

Shutting up now.
 
Just a thought, but you might be able to find a cheap rear end with wheels and all at a junk yard. Something from an old Pinto, Vega, or small truck might work with very little modification.
 
More of the usual shenanigans:
  • Continued reading the book on William McKinley - the author likes to skip around quite a bit, which sometimes annoys me
  • Read some French (need to keep this up since I don't live in a Francophone country)
  • Had food delivered and watched some episodes of season 17 of the UK "Time Team"
  • Came down with a bad case of really woozy head and slept for a few hours - when I woke up I felt parched, drank a ton of water and gradually felt better - so perhaps just dehydration; I'm not sure how that happened
  • Watched a short documentary on Finnish competitive sauna-sitting championships - both women and men sit in dangerously hot saunas and the last one out wins - a few people had to be carried out and given oxygen
  • Read a very short book on Fangtooth fish - freaky things
  • Watched some videos on Japanese culture and language on YouTube - the one on how Japanese men break up with Japanese girls was interesting
  • Recycled a pile of old magazines - as much as I love receiving magazines in the mail, it doesn't balance with my hatred of them piling and taking up a lot of space over the course of a year
  • Kept going, despite everything
 
Update on last night's 'entertainment'. Friends of ours had their house windows shot out, their car shot numerous times. Police have released pictures of the damage to one of their vehicles.

Suspect in custody. Friends are totally freaked out after hiding in their bathroom for four hours.

Glad Australia has such tight gun laws that stop this sort of thing from happening...*

156172333_10158678294826185_6229933914736852425_n.jpg

156227646_10158678295086185_1990126779023249271_n.jpg

*FWIW, now that guns are outlawed, only the outlaws have guns. Paraphrasing Louis L'Amour here...
 
Fixed the rear wheel on SWMBO's bike. Had a slow leak. Patched the tube. Discovered a broken spoke while I was at it. I am also going to do an eBike conversion on it. Probably 350W mid-mount drive. Might order the conversion kit tomorrow. For my bike I will keep pedaling.

Bathed the cat.
 
Attended a 3 day indoor RC event in San Angelo, TX. Excellent indoor flying site, a good sized colliseum. About 50 flyers attending. A very good time.
 

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Put taps (well, assisted) into some trees to collect sap. We only have four maples on the property big enough to tap. We also tapped eight birches.

Nice! Got 93 taps in here. No birches. I've heard that can be challenging and RO to high sugar and low heat helps.
 
I've heard the same about the low sugar. I've also heard that the taste of the syrup is bitter; some people like it and some hate it. My hunch is that with the need to drive off more watter than with maple sap, people overcaramalize the sugar. So, as you said, low heat would help, and just let it take a long time.

Anyway, since then I've turned about 18 ounces of coarse ground beef plus a few other ingredients into 99 tiny meatballs for the Italian wedding soup I'll be making for supper in a little while.
 
If someone had tried to shoot up my neighborhood they would have received return fire. There are 8 houses near me and 4 of those are owned by retired cops. The guy behind me is a retired SWAT instructor and I was a firearms instructor. This is the Wild West after all.
 
If someone had tried to shoot up my neighborhood they would have received return fire. There are 8 houses near me and 4 of those are owned by retired cops. The guy behind me is a retired SWAT instructor and I was a firearms instructor. This is the Wild West after all.

This is Australia. No handguns*. No pump shotguns. No semiautomatic rifles.

229 people shot in Australia in 2019. With no guns to speak of. It's a weird place sometimes.

*Handguns only for registered target sports shooting. Highly illegal to discharge a handgun outside an accredited shooting range.
 
I know about your gun laws. Draconian. I remember when they[Gov] pilled a bunch of guns up a drove a bulldozer over them. Didn't matter that there were collectable guns worth lots of money in that pile.
 
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