Newby

Looking for teammates for the Baltimore race? Have a sculpture to give away?
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Ned
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 Jan 2011, 9:54 pm

Newby

Post by Ned »

Totally new to this but up for a challenge. Faced with limited time and resources, does anyone know of a retired entry to scavenge for parts or use as a rebuild-able entry? Am sure I can produce three pilots.
Elliot
Posts: 49
Joined: 10 Jan 2011, 1:31 pm

Re: Newby

Post by Elliot »

Welcome aboard, Ned!

There is usually a reason why an old entry is no longer being used. Typically, it is a design weakness (or several), and the builder has given up on getting the !@#$%^&* thing to work. Older racing sculptures may also be damaged by rust beyond repair -- salt water will do that.

Out here on the West Coast I have seen several poorly designed vehicles being passed from owner to owner each year, and only getting worse -- rarely better -- with each hopeful owner. This is very sad to see, and I'm trying to keep you from falling in that trap.

Most people find it easier to build good art on the machine than to make it really work. So there may be opportunities to re-use somebody's artwork. But you should expect to make some major technical improvements to get a gift vehicle functional. So you might find it easier to build the chassis from scratch. Either way, you want to read everything you can about it. As Tom mentions in an other thread, there is a TON of information available right here on our main web site -- some spelled out on the page, and links to other sites.

Once you have studied all that stuff, and that which will slowly but surely appear on this Forum, it will be time to ask specific questions on this Forum. And to start building or re-building an entry!

Best of luck!
Elliot
Posts: 49
Joined: 10 Jan 2011, 1:31 pm

Re: Newby

Post by Elliot »

Testing, testing -- are we getting automatic notifications of replies now? Are you there, Ned?
Ned
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 Jan 2011, 9:54 pm

Re: Newby

Post by Ned »

Elliot wrote:Welcome aboard, Ned!
There is usually a reason why an old entry is no longer being used
.
A well reasoned response. My son is already giving me unmitigated grief for even suggesting less than an original effort. Perhaps I should have asked: Does anyone know where there is are local industrial junk yards and or motorcycle junk yards? What I need is access to supplies of somewhat likely stuff. Also wanted are photo's of proven design pieces that stood the test, for learning and further development.
Elliot
Posts: 49
Joined: 10 Jan 2011, 1:31 pm

Re: Newby

Post by Elliot »

Hunting down parts and materials is part of the fun. You will soon learn to watch for treasures everywhere you go. And try to think "outside the envelope". Sometimes, the weirdest things can be re-purposed to KSR use. I have built huge wheels out of satellite dishes -- the giant ones from 20 years ago:

Image

This was my first Racing Sculpture. The front wheel is eight feet tall, the rears six feet.

Dead motorcycles can sometimes be picked up free, or very cheap. Try Craigslist and Freecycle.

There is no telling what sort of scrap yards you might have in your area. But you may be surprised what you can find in the good old Yellow Pages.

You may need some new industrial parts, like bearings and shafts and sprockets etc. Try the Yellow Pages under "power transmission". Also look in farm equipment stores like Tractor Supply Company for sprockets and chain. And look for machine shops. Not the kind that work on automobiles, but the kind that work on industrial machinery.

As for pictures of designs and features, let's hope we will soon have 100s of members! Meanwhile, search on the Internet. For example, if you go to Flickr and search for Kinetic Sculpture Racing and similar terms, you will find tons of photos. And the "world headquarters" of KSR fabrication in Arcata, California has a good web site:
http://www.kineticsculpturelab.com/

Also, I'm planning a new thread where we can discuss common features which work well, and some that work poorly. "Stay tuned to this station."
DirBenev
Posts: 2
Joined: 30 Jan 2011, 2:29 pm

Re: Newby

Post by DirBenev »

Ned,

I am not sure where you are located but I can think of two sources of parts in the MD area. One is in Carroll County in Westminster: Petry's Junk Yard Inc 800 Gorsuch Road Westminster, MD 21157-6552 (410) 848-8590. Crazy Ray's in Baltimore is also quite popular: 6201 Erdman Ave, Baltimore (410) 488-6650.

Sources for artistic or unique used items might include places like Community Forklift: 4671 Tanglewood Drive Edmonston, MD 20781 (301) 985-5180. Community Forklift also links to other green, salvage businesses: http://communityforklift.com/links.cfm

I am not sure what has happened to the folks at Artex but I think they have not been in the Baltimore race since 2007 (http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/KSR/200 ... asp?Page=5 ). They might have parts!

These are just a few ideas - hope it helps!

-Johanna
-Johanna
Director of Benevolence, KineticBaltimore.com
Elliot
Posts: 49
Joined: 10 Jan 2011, 1:31 pm

Re: Newby

Post by Elliot »

Hey, now we're cooking! Maybe as we grow, we will be able to post resource lists for the vicinity of all the races.

Johanna: "Director of Benevolence" -- I love it! I received your PM, but I seem to be unable to reply. The screen says you have receipt of PMs blocked.
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