We’ve made several calls; no one seems to have what we need available for rent. We’ve asked several friends, but nothing has turned up yet. We’ve posted to Craigslist and scoured the internet… at this point, we have three options:

#1: Mothball the whole project for a year.

#2: Raise $3200 by MONDAY to pay for a custom-built rig.

#3: Borrow a trailer from you, or your cousin, or your friend Alex. We need it to be 8 feet wide and at least 25 feet long (more would be better), and it must be capable of carrying at least 7,000 pounds. It needs to be towable with a standard ball hitch—we have an F350 lined up for this purpose—and a tilt-bed would be preferable. We’ll need it from Wednesday August 25th to Thursday September 9th… Any leads would be appreciated!

So if you can give us a few dollars, we’d really appreciate that (via PayPal–go to lostmachine.com and hit DONATE). If you know someone who might have a trailer, we’d appreciate it if you’d call them. Otherwise… hopefully we will see you on the playa next year.

The ship is ready to go; she just needs a ride.

We don’t like being in this desperate situation, and we hate asking for help—what we really need now is a playa miracle. Bueller?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Captain Andy

We had our First Test Drive tonight. We had a few stumbling points. But they were all quick fixes when diagnosed, (including a mixed up label on a toggle switch). But this is experimental, and if it worked perfectly the first time we tried then we weren’t dreaming far enough.

However, with our small problems fixed we got to test drive, and damn what a feeling….We only went out of the driveway and back in a few times. It was dark out and we only had one halogen light to drive by. Tomorrow we will go again, this time up and down the street.

I am going to be digging out of my savings to get her finished which means any additional donations are a huge help and much appreciated.

Photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostmachine/

Thanks again,

Captain Andy

We have all the hydraulic lines installed. It took three days to get them all in and over 120 ft of hose and 65ft in hard line (pipe) to get everything hooked up.

We have the engine installed. Unfortunately are electronics are keeping it from starting. All our connections were corroded. We’ve been changing them out, with all new switches, relays and connectors.

Railing is going in.

The Stairs are going in.

We are still need donations. There is a bit more that we need. Please check out the new Video and the KickStarter website.

And we are getting paint on.

I should have a bigger Blog post tomorrow or the day after with a lot of new work to show you guys.

http://www.burningmanportland.com/

So I’m going to have a great weekend and I hope you do as well. I will leave you with this very happy making video.

Captain Andy

Josh, Aaron and I got the steering joints taken apart.

They were rusted in place, it took the 20 ton press to break the “pivot point” free. We are going to replace the bronze bearings with new ones. This was about 10 hours of work between the 3 of us, one of those things you don’t plan for but has to be done.

We made the the hydraulic motor mount for the front drive motor. It is made from 3x8x1/4 tube. The mounting bolts are 3/4″ grade 8 because they go through a slotted hole. The slotted holes through the tube were reinforced so that we don’t crush the tube. I am going to add another set of screws to to help pull tension on the chain as well. We don’t need it super tight because we have nearly 180deg of chain wrap on both sprockets, but I would like to get it set right.

Jules has been working on the lathe all week. We need (8) more 4″ roller wheels to guide the huge 10ft diameter front wheel. There are a lot of steeps involved to make those.

Just as I was about to go to Bed Sunday Night the first email came in, then another one. People were buying Tripods, people were helping build the ship. I looked at the View counter on the Video and it had shot up 200 more views than an hour before. (currently over 9000 views)

I looked at Boing Boing to see if my link was up, and there it was. Right there at the Top of the page was the video describing the Ship and the Tripods. Then a third and forth order came in, it was now 8am on the west coast. Then another order, I wasn’t going to sleep yet. As the Tripods sold I updated the site. This was exciting; I started messaging the rest of the ship’s crew.

We had about 30 Tripods on the site, but I also had 20 Tripods that still needed their picture taken. I managed the Sales as they were coming in. At the same time I set up to take pictures of the new Tripods. I worked fast to get them up on the site.

By the end of the Day over 30 Tripods had sold. Tuesday slowed down a little bit but the Tripods were still selling.

Then Wednesday comes and the link to the video is in “The Jack Rabbit Speaks”, Burning Man’s news letter. Orders started coming in fast and it didn’t take long to sell the remaining 20 Tripods. As of Thursday, 53 Tripods had been sold…. But our work had just begun.

It is now Friday Morning, my house is torn apart, packaging materials are everywhere. Pirate Ship Crew have been helping me get all the Tripods boxed up and ready for shipping. And now, 53 Tripods are ready to be taken to the Post Office. Some of them going to the U.K., Canada, Australia, and all over the United States. In a few days time all over the world people are going to meet their new friend.

A lot of people put a lot of work into the Tripods. Some of the crew was starting to question if this was the best way to fund the ship and maybe we needed to try something else. But here it is, out cost have been covered and we have enough to finish the ship and get it to the Playa.

We’ll continue to fund raise; there are a lot of things that we always said: “It would be nice to have X,Y,Z” and now X, Y and Z are much more of a possibility.

We have ~10 Tripods out at galleries that I will bring back this week and get up on the Website.
We will also sale the 3 huge Elder Tripods.

The important part is that we are funded.

So thank you. If you’re here reading about what we’re doing then you are helping us, if you bought a sticker, a patch or one the Tripods you are supporting us in a big way.

I have dreamed about this ship for years, being able to now build it without wondering where the Money is going to come from is a gift. Thank you,

Captain Andy

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.

More Photos

We found out this week that we will need a new Engine for the ship. Our scissor lift had most the parts we needed and we were hoping for an easy fix on the motor but it not to be. We will need a new motor. Please forward the video to anyone that would like a Tripod and would like to support this project.

Thanks,

Captain Andy

I got there in time to see the last sprocket being cut.

The water jet does in incredible job cutting these parts out of 3/4” plate steel. With the last part cut Bob and I got lunch where I had the biggest chicken burrito I’ve ever seen.

Today I got to work finishing up these parts. The parts need an accurate hole bored through the center. Bob left me just enough metal get a clean cut without spending forever getting the holes in.

The sprockets needed a lot of work, the nearest size the plate steel comes in is 0.75” and the sprockets needed to be close to 0.68”. I have a small lathe but it was up to the job.

The bigger sprocket was bigger than the chuck but with a dial indicator I was able to tap it into place and then face the plate and put the relief angle on the teeth.

There are still some key ways to cut and the teeth need to be deburred but some major progress in the last two days. I’m not sure if I’m going to finish up the chain drive tomorrow or start working on the gears for the steering system. I should know by the time I wake up : )

Captain Andy