04-27-2013, 10:06 PM
Well, there have been a few posts on my home site with updates, but this is a biggie so I figured I'd share here too:
Big milestone today!!
I finally permanently attached the seat to the "U" section. One of the biggest difficulties of doing this is that the length of the arc around the inside of the "U" is much shorter than the length of the arc around the back of the seat (when deflated). When inflated the two arcs should be the same as the back of the seat puckers up and pulls in.
What I originally envisioned with the Vader Prototype was to have 5 segments to break up the arcs into the same percentage of the total curve and then weld them on center. The problem that I discovered in reality was that with only 5 segments I couldn't geometrically "pucker" the back of the seat without overlapping with the adjacent segment. Sheesh, this is hard to explain...
At any rate, with the newest Gen 3 (Hmm... Navy blue, Higashi Navy, Higashi Maru?) I broke up the two arcs into 15 (!!) segments which allowed a nice even pucker.
Check it!
![[Image: 8687025870_37ede7f3b3_b_d.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8405/8687025870_37ede7f3b3_b_d.jpg)
Here is the assembly with the seat fully deflated. You can see even if the seat gets harpooned by a Lake Davis pike, you can still sit low and wet in the sling and kick home.
![[Image: 8687022262_098e06d113_b.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8687022262_098e06d113_b.jpg)
And here is the thing fully inflated with a temporary spread limiter installed. You're looking at the bottom of the tube here... The real deal will of course be cleaner!
![[Image: 8687020782_e1fda16936_b.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8261/8687020782_e1fda16936_b.jpg)
Flip side (the side you sit on!):
![[Image: 8685900953_0609345e40_b_d.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8403/8685900953_0609345e40_b_d.jpg)
Prototype fleet! (OG Proto1 is rolled up awaiting orders...) You can see from this photo that I've repaired Vader. Sure you saw his Tie Fighter go spinning out of control into deep space, but you couldn't REALLY have thought that you wouldn't see him again in the sequel? The repair allowed me to experiment with seam geometries, and though these tweaks most likely won't end up in the production model, data is data.
![[Image: 8685947113_33860890b2_b_d.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8122/8685947113_33860890b2_b_d.jpg)
Next step on Higashi-maru will be to finish trimming the seams, install the spread limiter strap, the valve plug leashes, and glue on the attachment points.
Until I actually "take the plunge" I won't know if there are any further design details that I'll want to make on the next one, but so far from the looks of it I think I'm pretty damn near done with the design of the air holding system.
Ah progress!!
_SHig
[signature]
Big milestone today!!
I finally permanently attached the seat to the "U" section. One of the biggest difficulties of doing this is that the length of the arc around the inside of the "U" is much shorter than the length of the arc around the back of the seat (when deflated). When inflated the two arcs should be the same as the back of the seat puckers up and pulls in.
What I originally envisioned with the Vader Prototype was to have 5 segments to break up the arcs into the same percentage of the total curve and then weld them on center. The problem that I discovered in reality was that with only 5 segments I couldn't geometrically "pucker" the back of the seat without overlapping with the adjacent segment. Sheesh, this is hard to explain...
At any rate, with the newest Gen 3 (Hmm... Navy blue, Higashi Navy, Higashi Maru?) I broke up the two arcs into 15 (!!) segments which allowed a nice even pucker.
Check it!
Here is the assembly with the seat fully deflated. You can see even if the seat gets harpooned by a Lake Davis pike, you can still sit low and wet in the sling and kick home.
And here is the thing fully inflated with a temporary spread limiter installed. You're looking at the bottom of the tube here... The real deal will of course be cleaner!
Flip side (the side you sit on!):
Prototype fleet! (OG Proto1 is rolled up awaiting orders...) You can see from this photo that I've repaired Vader. Sure you saw his Tie Fighter go spinning out of control into deep space, but you couldn't REALLY have thought that you wouldn't see him again in the sequel? The repair allowed me to experiment with seam geometries, and though these tweaks most likely won't end up in the production model, data is data.
Next step on Higashi-maru will be to finish trimming the seams, install the spread limiter strap, the valve plug leashes, and glue on the attachment points.
Until I actually "take the plunge" I won't know if there are any further design details that I'll want to make on the next one, but so far from the looks of it I think I'm pretty damn near done with the design of the air holding system.
Ah progress!!
_SHig
[signature]