Of Krayt Dragons and Banthas and Such

I tore apart my tablesaw last week to find out why the entire thing was electrified: cracked and brittle insulation on all of the wires leading to the coils of the motor. Rewiring the coil was not easy (and in fact I reversed the direction of the motor at one point) but I finally got the machine back together and working. Booyah!

I've spent the last week managing the latest entertainment spectacular at the venue I work at when I'm not out fighing crime: Walking With Dinosaurs. If you're within a day's drive of this tour, you owe it to yourself to see this show. This is the closest anyone will ever come to witnessing life-sized, walking dinosaurs. Incredible.


















I'm hoping to finally get going on the droid. I have some after-hours odd jobs lined up to help pay for the dome.

Speeder Bikes Don't Suck That Much

Yikes...I can't believe I've taken this long to post again.

Good news is that my garage is now extremely clean and open. I took some time to fix the air hockey table (still for sale), clean out my material shelves, and my workbench is entirely clear.

Also, speeder bikes don't suck so much now. I found a fantastic gentleman who has been retired since 1988 and has repaired over 350 Honda bikes in that time. He immediately figured out what was wrong with my 90 (valves were off .002 and the damn float in the carberator was upside down meaning no gas in the carb meaning the bike wouldn't start.) and had me running in less than an hour. I've since had a lot of fun scooting around with the bike although the timing is off just a bit.

I visited my local Harbor Freight and picked up a ceiling-mounted extension cord that rolls back up and some electrical leads. Fun stuff.

What does all this have to do with the R2 project? Nothing except for the fact that I can't work in an unkempt workspace and I'm very close to having one that shines.

Other stalling point: my tablesaw (a 30+ year old Montgomery Ward's unit, of all things) suddenly became electrified. I took it apart and found the wiring was totally shot throughout the unit with insulation cracking all along the length of the cord resulting in many short circuits. I re-wired it all (it all went back together amazingly enough) but I'm sure the motor is shot. Will have to check Grainger's in the morning.