One day I want to go diving in a cage and see a Great White. One of my life's goals.
I have great news!!!!
You can make the cage out of billet!
Quote:
Great White Shark Cages
Custom-built shark cages are 10' x 7' x 5' and are constructed of marine grade aluminum. All cages are 100% precision welded by certified welders. Large entry hatches with doors open and close easily to allow divers to safely enter and exit. All cages float at the water's surface – at no time are the cages submerged meaning divers can come and go as necessary. In addition, all shark cages have large viewing windows for unobstructed photos.
OMG!!! I just caught up with the last 10 pages, I never thought when I mentioned video taping this thing it would come out as great as it has. The videos have brought an entirely new perspective to everything and things just get better and better. Can't wait to see the next one and keep on checking off the list of what you want to do. One of mine is owning a cobra and now it is driving it under 10 seconds down the quarter mile.
Keep on having as much fun as you can because it is going by so fast!!!
Thanks for the little pieces of enjoyment you give all the rest of us on this car.
Jim.
Glad you like it! We will be posting more video as soon as possible. Great idea!
I'd trust a cage out of billet a whole bunch more! Maybe I'll give em a ring. When I take the plunge, I'm going to take Jamo with me and see if he squeals under water as well.
No problem. The chance of someone else also bringing their own shark is very low.
Oops!
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"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
George Washington
Now, the video you have all been waiting for...how we actually MAKE a car.
Remember, you can click on the link for high resolution of the video. For those of you who want to know how to pound aluminum, here is the first (of many, I hope) videos. Notice we work in SMALL increments. Aluminum will do anything you ask it to do (just look at the crazy reverse curves of a Cobra) IF you ask it nicely.
We probably have 20 nylon and urethane hammers around here. I don't use them very much because they are very hard to control precisely. I know that doesn't look like precise work, but the work area was very tight and we needed the mass, impulse, and small physical size of a metal hammer to get in there.
You are right, they don't moon the metal like a steel hammer; but, then again, they don't move metal like a steel hammer either.
Is this suppose to be a trick question? The easy answer is that the #1 car among millionaires isn't a car at all. It's the Ford F-150 pickup.
If I had a good deal more liquidity I'd buy a Kirkham.
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michael
A man that is young in years, may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages... Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
I have a lot of photos from this week, but the guys put me to work on this baby so we could make the deadline! Actually, we are working on another secret project and that kind of has me tied up so the posting has been down. I will make up for it shortly!
Here you can see how we line up a body to mount onto the chassis. Most people don't realize how difficult this actually is. I tell people it is actually easier to take a flat sheet of aluminum and turn it into a body than it is to actually mount the body. Here is why. It is extremely time consuming to get everything lined up. It is almost impossible to hold everything square in 3 dimensional space. Here are a few of our tricks
First, you notice 3 holding devises that we are using.
Vise grips:
Vise grips are really great to hold things down. BUT they slip, crush things, won't hold things that are not flat and square very well, and are generally a pain in the butt. Here we are using them to hold the end of the body in relation to the end of the tube.
Clecos:
As the late Carroll Smith said, Clecos are like peanuts...you can never get enough of them. (I would change the word peanuts for burritos (or a few other things I can think of) but you get the point). Clecos (the copper colored thingy) are temporary fasteners that are spring loaded. The fit directly in the hole where an 1/8 inch rivet goes. They are amazingly strong and will hold way more than you initially think they will. Of course, familiarity breeds contempt and pretty soon you are using them for things like overhead cranes--with predictably unpleasant results. So, I would recommend you just stick to using them to hold bodies together. One word of warning here...clecos are made from spring steel. If you weld around them, you will suck the temper out of the spring and your part will come flying apart--particularly nasty if you happen to have a pool of molten metal close at hand "Oh, that can't happen.", you might say...but you are talking to the voice of a rather warming experience.
Safety Wire:
This stuff is amazing. The side of the car is extraordinarily difficult to line up with the door and then hold it in place exactly where you want it. We do this by literally wiring the body to the chassis. We then twist the wire to lengthen or shorten it until we have the perfect fit.
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