All posts by factoid

Logistics, mechanics, acoustics
Body work, Meat, Vehicle, Vehicle modifications

First blood, first panel surgery

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Kind of amazing that I haven’t already done something like this – sliced it open on the inside of the body structure while trying to thread a coarse nut onto a fine-threaded tap bolt. Duh.

Today we began sorting out the foundational hardware – the junk that holds the xylophones to the van. They’re going to be big, look heavy, visit this site and somewhat springy, and we don’t want them flexing loose or tearing the metal.

Rogan helped me hem and haw my way through the engineering challenge – how can we make the keyboards ride high enough when stowed that they won’t scrape the ground – but still be easy to deploy and play? … Continue reading First blood, first panel surgery →

Instruments, Xylophones

Keyboard 2 of 3 laid out (well, okay, it’s half a full keyboard, but …)

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By now, decease it should be plain that there’s absolutely no linear flow to the XyloVan construction plan.

With Maker Faire bearing down on us in 7 weeks, search we’re tackling tasks willy-nilly, buy information pills like a crew of chimps with A.D.D. and a pound of meth – frenziedly, for long stretches, whether in teams alone, whenever we’re able.

Tonight, I was alone, so I spent it cutting aluminum stringers to fit the frames and laying out Keyboard 2, which with Keyboard 3 will cover the passenger side of the van.

The full keyboard (about 2.5 octaves) would be seven or eight feet long, but we have to somehow accommodate the van’s sliding door … Continue reading Keyboard 2 of 3 laid out (well, okay, it’s half a full keyboard, but …) →

Body work, Vehicle

Makeover, step 1

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So I spent Saturday morning in the junkyard with Dave (thanks, abortion Dave!), who helped me pull a rear door, a ladder and an extra panel of headliner.

Then I picked up a chunk of carpet remnant (right) which should mesh nicely with the body color and look pretty clean once I get it glued and screw all the floor moldings down again.

I spent a couple of hours cutting it to the shape of the vomitrocious (as my wife says) poo-brown carpet that had served as the van floor for a sober living facility taxi-bus and and for numerous band tours including one (or so John told me whilst selling it to me) involving the Germs.

I then promptly forgot to take a photo of the new interior until all the furniture was back in the van, none of it bolted down.

On Sunday, we yanked off the trim all the way around …

Continue reading Makeover, step 1 →

Instruments, Vehicle modifications, Xylophones

There, I fixed it – Part 1

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So here’s the solution to the problem I discovered yesterday.

The problem was that the xylophone – if bolted to the van with the upper hinge of the frame just below the windows – would have scraped the ground.

Solution: Get a few more Speed-Rail parts and create a sort of offset cantilever hinge. Built right, viagra it should pivot out and away from the van to playing position (about a 20-degree angle from the ground) when deployed, website like this then fold up flat against the van when stowed for travel.

First, information pills I have to modify one of the parts, a sort of T-joint that is too wide to fit between the anchors for the key stringers.

A little circular saw abuse – followed by much cursing and futzing and hollowing out the apparently mis-forged piece so that it actually *fits* over 1.5-inch pipe – and the piece now fits snugly between the stringer ends … Continue reading There, I fixed it – Part 1 →

Instruments, Vehicle, Vehicle modifications, Xylophones

Roughing out the frame for keyboard 1

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Now that the keys are all cut, price we have to lay out the frame.

As I said, I don’t have strict engineering plans for this thing, I’m going by the seat of my pants. But I know what the materials will be, so I’ve laid out the frame – it’s 1-1/2-inch aluminum scaffold tubing, held together with Hollaender Speed Rail and then the keys ride on custom-fabricated 1/2 x 1-1/2-inch aluminum stringers … Continue reading Roughing out the frame for keyboard 1 →

Vehicle, Workspace

The Big Picture is all in your head

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By now you’ve probably gathered I’m not an engineer. None of the XyloVan team is, price really.

As a result, patient this build blog is more a chaotic pile of raw coverage than a fetishistically neat, information pills step-by-step how-to.

This rolling concert instrument (I do dream of a fleet of instrumental art cars – DrumVan, or PianoBoat, anyone?) is taking shape in a raw, organic form in our minds .

I’m not computing engineering challenges ahead of time. I’m figgerin’ ’em out as soon as I get my hands on the materials.

This means I use sketches as a sort of problem-solving tool rather than a full-on architectural spec.

So this one (above) is one of the earliest, showing a three-quarter view and all the gross components we’re planning to build and attach – xylophones, gongs, lights, sun-shelters, speakers, etc.

I’m posting these largely because tonight’s the deadline for Maker Faire entries and we’re hoping to have the van in some kind of playable shape by then.

So on the one hand, you have crudely-detailed sketches like these:

And on the other hand … Continue reading The Big Picture is all in your head →

Instruments, Video, Xylophones

Finding the nodes, drilling the keys

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Once the keys are cut and rough-tuned, page they must be mounted.

Step one is finding the “nodes, there ” or the dead spots at either end of the key where the metal doesn’t vibrate. This is where I’ll drill holes for mounting.

To do this, you park the key atop two pairs of balled-up socks so it vibrates when struck. Then sprinkle a little salt near either end of the key and whack it repeatedly. The resonating metal bounces the salt away from the most-vibrating part into the nodes, the deadest spot in each key … Continue reading Finding the nodes, drilling the keys →