Inspired by Route 66 In 1959, when I was nearly four years old, my family went on a road trip from Los Alamos to El Morro and over to Zuni Pueblo. My dad was a backroad kinda guy, but it seems likely that some of that trip was driven on Rt. 66. Interstate 40 was just a dream then. I bet I slept most of the travel time in the old Plymouth as I don’t have…
A spaceship, named Teacup, was created while I had some time on my hands waiting for a couple of public art projects to either drop or not drop, so I started making a small flying saucer out of wood and styrofoam painted to look like metal. It is ten feet in diameter, so a little big for most living rooms, but I think we will find a home for it someplace. This has been sooo much…
Here is a clip of the final moments of the tower raising. You can't see the cables, but the jeep winch cable goes through a block anchored to the tree in front of the jeep ('56 Willys M38 A-1) and back to a cable system called a Spanish Burton (3:1) on the other side of the tower. The rope in the foreground that goes to the top of the tower, and takes a turn around the…
A metal tower (38' 4") with a spiral staircase will hold 6000 watts of solar panels up near the treetops. This video shows the first steps of creating the tower, first pouring a deep concrete footing and a slab. Then the spiral staircase and frame are reinforced and aligned on the ground. The tower is lifted off the ground using a derrick with a hand winch. Then the jeep ('56 Willys M38 A-1) winch does the…
Here we are hoisting the first of two large solar panel holding racks into the air for placement on top of the 38'4" tall sculptural metal tower. This first rack mounts high and to the north, and the second one will mount lower on the south side. As usual, we used the winch on the jeep (’56 Willys M38 A-1). The jeep winch cable goes through a block anchored at the base of the tower, up…
Here is the video you have all been asking for. How did you get the solar panels up to the top of that tower? The activity required the use of a 2:1 block and tackle to haul each panel up, one at a time, with human muscle power. Once at the top, each panel was hefted into the frame, and attached with 4 bolts, which required some circus work: hanging from bat hooks under the panels,…