Watt's Up Musings of an original geek

September 29: I completed the car’s final assembly. The results of which are: Car serial number #2 rolled off the assembly line.

To accomplish this I sanded down the chair back and seat with a rough circular disk to make it more comfortable.Second, I had to sand down my 1″ dowels so that they would fit into the 1″ inside diameter bearing. That took a while since they were oak. Next I mounted the front dowel, bearing with filler ring, bearing mounts, and rubber bands onto the chassis. I did this vertically so the bands hung down. Then I cut the “rubber band brace” down shorter so that it extended only 1/2″ beyond the width of the body. Next I looped all of the bands around the runner band brace. Finally I tightened pipe clamps to each end of the runner band brace.I want to allow the wheels to be removed (possibly for transport or to access/remove the bearing or rubber bands) so I added two double-thickness cardboard tabbed flange pieces to each wheel. I used hot-melt gun to attached these tabs to the wheel. Then I used a pipe clamp to attached the tabbed wheel to the axle.So the car is done, and I tried it out… At this time I have the following “engineering problems” to solve.

1. The rubber bands slip on the rear axle. I’m considering (1) adding six small 1/4″ diameter dowels, probably 1″ long) and then looping each rubber band on one of them. However, the torque on this dowel pin might either damage the band or pop out of the axle. Another idea would be (2) six small rectangular slots in the axle, one for each band. How I’d cut these would be a puzzle (maybe with my router from each side). A 1/4″ dowel would restrict the bands from pulling back through. That would definitely work, but would the axle now be too weak.
2. The wheels and my mounting system is a total failure. The wheels wobbed. Also the torque on the two double-thickness cardboard tabbed flange pieces caused them to rip. I think the wheels are too thin and should be made much thicker (back to the cardboard saw and the Elmers glue gallon jug). I might have to glue the wheels to the axle, but I would like to still allow them to be removed.