wednesday

More metal work today. Will a v-belt work or should we switch out the fly wheel for one that will fit a serpentine belt? Cutting and welding...fun stuff.

First weekend

Day one, windy and loud with many visitors looking for a hot cup of coffee, tea or cocoa. The bikes were not generating energy to power our hot drink machines. Found ourselves repeating , repeating, repeating the same answers. "We're hoping to have them going next week". "It's our plan to use the bikes to create energy". "We have everything but the wiring, which we'll have running by next week" Ugh! Sucked to not have them hooked up to the alternator which trickle charges the battery which keeps our converter hot for longer then 3 hours.
Day two calm, quiet and a new idea that we knew should work. The wiring moved the voltage meter! Then the serpentine belt kept jumping it's track. A little more adjusting with a slow and steady pace proved to be the way of the day.
Loads of questions about how the system works. Lots of talk about using bikes to watch TV.

people are fascinating

When Fe and Colin first came up with the idea for the Ped Pex Power Pod, I was inspired and hoped we would be accepted for the Art Shanty project. December 20 rolled around and we are in!
Now the real work begins. Engineering a structure made of wood, pex, and plastic was new to all of us but Colin and Fe made it look easy. Colin's wood working construction skills were obvious from the get-go. His floor design allowing for easy installation and easy travel got us off to a great start. Fe's fine finishing touches on the floor gave us a giant bicycle tire to play on for the next 6 weeks.
Now for the metal work. Something I can do! Using scrap bed frames and square tubing, we came up with a sturdy bicycle frame that would handle the rowdiest of cyclists that we knew would visit our Shanty.