A few years ago I made some Steam Punk Goggles that had spinning gears that did nothing. The 17 second video on YouTube went a little viral but the non-functioning gears always bugged me.
The Pirate Ship is about functional gearing and the steering system is perfect place to use them.
Turning the Ships Steering Wheel drives a whole series of gears that move a “rack” up and down. The rack is connected to a hydraulic ram. As the ram moves oil is pushed through a hose that then pushes and pulls another hydraulic ram which will steer the ship.
There are 78 pieces in the steering column, 32 of them were custom made including the gears. The gears are made from 3/4″ plate steel, there are a lot of brass and copper spacers and pins. The column is made from 3/16″ thick 4×6 steel tube. All the gears are supported on a shaft and pillow blocks on both sides for the column.
Initially the Steering was going to be done with a tiller, but as the ship got bigger a wheel became to way to go.
Welcome to the Construction Blog of the Pirate Ship. I plan to have it done for Burning Man 2010 as time and material present themselves. I am trying to use as much recycled and reused material as possible. Some things I will have to buy, for that we are making and selling Tripod-Sentinels. Please Visit the main page to lean more.
LostMachine.com
That looks AWESOME!!! I love it!
Great job!
BTW, how many turns of the wheel does it take to go from full left to full right? Aren’t you affraid this could be too much (looks like a lot of turns to me)?
It is 13 turns from a full left to right. We figure if you’re going to pilot the ship you may as well make a show of it. There won’t be a need for many tight turns but chances are it will be fun to steer and we’ll be making lots of turns.
I am looking forward to trying it with the all the hydraulics attached and actually turning the wheels.
Thanks for the comment.
Captain Andy
Oh this is so sweet, Andy. It even makes an great sound. Can’t wait to get back to PDX to see it for myself. Miss you.