Category: How to build an 818C in 7,123,346 easyish steps

Projects aplenty

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I’m not sure if it’s the ongoing pandemic, the fact that my wife seems like she’s doing a lot better, or the coolish weather, but I’ve been loving working on stuff lately. I’ve made a lot of progress in the last couple of days and I can’t wait to get some more projects going soon.

In CNC Maslow news this last weekend I managed to assemble the entire frame! Took some moving around of things, but the frame is built and it’s on to the electronics. It really goes together quickly. The instructions from MakerMade are really clear and clean. It’s no comparison to my first CNC machine that probably took a month or two to complete. I love the thing already and I can’t wait to get the rest of the bits installed and running. I might need to run a new electrical outlet though. On the plus side the breaker box is right next to it, so I may just make it a short run to behind the machine.

I’m already dreaming up some upgrades once it’s up and running. The biggest thing first, and another reason to have a specific breaker for the machine is to get dust collection going. Afterwards it’d be nice to have some E-Stops maybe set it up to start the router on its own or a few other nice upgrades. Some kind of loading dolly to make it easier to get plywood on the machine would be a big help too. That and plywood storage are going to be pretty essential as I start to run this monster.

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818C Restart!

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It sure has been busy the last few months. Of course right now we’re still in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Hopefully that will be dying down sometime this year and we can get back to business as usual. Who knows though, as of this point parts of the country are beginning to open up despite most experts saying it’s a very bad idea.

Luckily for me I still have a job and I have a job where I can work from home, so that’s nice. Other than going out to get groceries and the occasional ordering of food, our exposure level is pretty low. That said… Still working from home, I am so jealous of all the people that say they have so much free time. If anything I have less free time, because I’m cooking a lot more and just being around the house, I end up spending breaks helping my wife with the kiddo etc.

I’ve still had some time to get project work done though, and I’ve been really happy about digging back into the 818C. I think over the last month or so I’ve gone through 20-30 pages!

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Embrace all change, all the time

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Last post on at the beginning of May?! Okay… well… so… some things have changed. Personally, I feel it’s very important to have all of your most life changing moments in a single year… you know shake things up a little…

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Last post Jan 6th

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Wow I’ve been slacking on writing stuff! On the plus side I haven’t been slacking on doing stuff! I think probably the biggest change lately is my new obsession with VR and VR kit. I picked up a used HTC Vive and I was instantly hooked. In fact, within a couple of weeks the obsession started taking a darker turn:

MVIMG_20190319_112757

VR Racing with a wheel, clutch, shifter… oh it’s so good. It’s like you’re there, you can look through the corner just like you would on the track, and honestly it feels nearly as mentally fatiguing. You don’t quite get the same ‘fear’ moments of approaching a corner too fast, but it’s really really good. Thing is after playing a racing game in VR you can’t really come back.

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Been a while since last check in

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Funny I look back and it’s been a couple months now I think! I’ve been trying to make as much progress as possible in a couple of fronts, so I that’s prevented me from writing all that much. Big news is:

motorin

818’s motor is in!

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818C One Year Later

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The last couple weekends have been really productive on the 818C. With the progress I’ve made lately it feels like I haven’t been doing anything the last year. It’s important to look back a bit though. While I’m on pg 227, I’ve been skipping around a bit so it’s closer to 200 completed pages out of the 700+ page manual

I think I also need to remember just how much work came before this. It wasn’t just install the front suspension, then install the rear suspension. There was a ton of work drilling and riveting the sheet metal panels. There was a ton of work tearing apart the donor car. There was a lot of work getting the pedal box and the steering fitted up. Every part cleaned up, wire brushed, repainted… yeah… I’ve made a lot of progress.

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Labor Dabor

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Three day weekend and I’d recently taken some PTO the week before to have a five day weekend, so I’ve made some progress! Not as much as I’d like of course (never is), but I did get quite a few things done now that I’m thinking it through.

The five day weekend started out perfectly, as I was heading out the door for work, I hopped in the truck and the starter just went ‘click.’ Super… I’d just replaced the battery so it was feeling a bit ominous. I wasn’t entirely wrong, that said, I was a bit fed up, so I went to CarMax and we now have a lovely Ford Escape! I’m actually really pleased with it. We got the Titanium edition and it only has 30,000 miles, so it should be good and reliable for a while. Also it has lots of very fun gadgets and buttons like it can parallel park itself!

Ford Escape

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Status update: Stuff that’s not games!

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Progress has been decently good lately! I feel like I had a few weeks there where I just got caught up in other stuff or it was just plain too hot to really work on projects. This last weekend though I made what I feel is a fairly significant milestone in 818C History.

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818C The Saga Continues (forever)

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Finally got a chance to get back to the 818C this last couple of weekends. My office used up its floating holidays to make Monday through Wednesday of the 4th of July off. It was perfect timing to get some good work done on the 818.

Finally…after way more hammering than seems objectively reasonable, I managed to pull apart the rear half shafts! Man they were a pain in the butt, but I finally figured out a method that works. Originally I had them clamped sideways and then hammered to the side. What I figures out is if I clamp outer diameter of the inside joint I can mount it vertically and really hammer it, with the bonus that gravity is on my side.

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