Buggy Quarantine Project
In the past I used to complain endlessly about the bugs in software. Now it’s just another day at the office. Of course the title has a little double entendre. I don’t mean that kind of buggy, I mean buggy as in dune buggy. I’ve always wanted to model a dune buggy. And now thanks to quarantine, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands. And so do you, or you wouldn’t be reading this.
Life for me under quarantine really isn’t that much of a change. I’m still sitting in front of the computer in my office in my office pants (pajamas). Footwear optional. I know, not a great visual for you, but that’s what it is.
The biggest change for me is that my wife is also working from home. I get to be her IT department when she’s here. Maybe I’ll send her company a bill for all the free work they got from me when all this is over.
I’m still blogging, I’m still working on the Episodes site. I’m still making models.
One of the things I’m working on is a dune buggy with an engine. This one is a 4 cylinder inline instead of a flat 4, like the old VW bugs. I’m not modeling it after something specifically, I’m just trying to make it look a little bit realistic, and putting as much actual mechanical stuff in there as possible. Of course my mates look like the picture on the right, and my lifters keep flipping on the cams. I’ve created a few different engine models, and the cam mates flipping seems to be a recurring theme in all of them.
I’m trying to keep the spark plug wires off the exhaust to keep them from melting, but that’s just a tangle right now too. I haven’t got a battery in the car yet, and no cooling system, or carburetor. It’s always a debate how far to take something like this when it isn’t exactly a paying project.
And then of course the body of the buggy had to give me some fits, or it wouldn’t have felt like a real surfacing project. Interestingly, the easiest part of this so far has been the 3D sketch/weldment frame. Weldments works pretty well. I’ll give a better shot of it once I’ve got more of it done.
Ah, well, it’s a work in progress. It’s looking like we’re going to need to be able to entertain ourselves for months. Good thing too, with all of the suspension and drive components left to do, as well as finishing the buggy body, I’ve got plenty to keep me going.
What are you up to during quarantine?
The CAM Mate has been broken since 2017 version. I have contacted SOLIDWORKS about this many times. One person I spoke to said “What’s a CAM Mate?” Can’t make this stuff up.
Same boat as you Matt. My home office feels as normal as a year ago, and the family is always home because we homeschool. Interesting how suddenly everyone’s perspective on those two things have changed or been enlightened.
I expect a slow down in work but hard to say when/how much. I try fill in the cracks with your surfacing site (excellent!) and getting better at KeyShot renders/animations. I own a ’75 Westy that would be fun to model but I can’t imagine when I’d have the time. I believe there’s value in expanding the toolbox but also wonder if one can spread to thin as a single self-employed entity. I take pride in a high level of quality/efficiency in my areas of expertise.
Agree with weldments, great tool! One challenge is determining how to manage sheet metal parts and individual structural members for laser cutting. Some clients want every member as it’s own part number… ugh. Good for managing and tracking but makes the weldment tool useless. I’ve been inclined to start with the weldment (part file) that has a nice cut list, and then insert that into a next level up assembly file (technically also a ‘weldment’) where I add plates, gussets, etc to it. These sheet metal parts have their own drawings/flat patterns/DXFs. Laser cutters usually like a complete weldment file (IGES) where they can see how it fits together, possibly tweaking tabs and slots, etc.