Traders - What are your hobbies?

[Boss302]

Quote from TraderZones:

this is the model of my scope - 20" mirror Dobsonian (Obsession)

That is a very nice scope - a 20" mirror makes for some very good viewing especially under dark skies. I made a 13" Dob about 10 years ago out of sonotube, with teflon bearings, etc. and it works great. I can only imagine what yours must be capable of. I always found a late night viewing session lasting for several hours very relaxing - almost as if you took a trip somewhere.

 

[Humpy]

Treasure hunting with a metal detector is hard work but fun. It has been very profitable for many people too. Probably more suited to an old country as in Europe for obvious reasons.

But having said that there is a supposed multi-million dollar treasure in Virginia called the Beale treasure. A Mr Beale left a coded document that noone can decipher. 17 tons of gold were buried somewhere in New Mexico in the 1930s.

In Europe we got tons of gold awaiting a finder from the Reichsbank, hidden after ww11 etc.

 

[nutmeg]

I remember when I pointed my telescope at some people in the distance. Just this once I allowed my wife to take a look, she said with surprise, "They look very clear and sharp but I can't hear them!"

 

[salvador90]

wow thats a big big telescope... must be very cool especially if one's located in the country side.

as for me it's gym, tennis (i'm a licensed tennis coach) and surfing. these are my main hobbies. of course i hav eother interests like watching a good movie of a book etc etc.

 

[Hombre]

Quote from Lucrum:

Over the last couple of months I've all but stopped short term trading to devote the majority of my time pursuing my lifelong dream. Designing and building a one of a kind experimental home built aircraft.

I'm currently rebuilding a turbocharged Mazda 20B rotary engine for this purpose.

What kind of an aircraft are you building ?

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from Hombre:

What kind of an aircraft are you building ?

The goal is to build a rotary engine powered ducted fan that will resemble by outward appearances a jet, in my case the F-16. Mine will not be a scale model or replica, I'm just basic layout or configuration of the F-16. This general idea has been tried before, without success, but I'm doing things considerably different enough that I believe I have a reasonable probability of achieving my performance goal of 250KTS at sea level.

Above is the wing airfoil section, the same from root to tip. 18.5 FT span, wing area of 68.4 FT^2, no twist, 15 deg sweep at 1/4 cord and an aspect ratio of 5. Spar construction will be a laminated aircraft grade birch plywood shear web, graphlite carbon rod spar caps, birch plywood ribs and a solid hot wired foam core covered with birch plywood.
I plan to use a slotted Kruger leading edge flap mechanically operated from the cockpit.

The all flying horizontal "stabilators" will use a NACA 0012 airfoil and be constructed in a similar manner as the wing. They will be mass balanced and almost perfectly aerodynamically balanced. I have a relatively simple idea for the mechanical flight control mixer that I've already built a small proof of concept model of. Flight control feel will be "artificial" in that all I'll feel in the control stick are changing spring pressures, the pitch and roll trim will utilize the same springs to adjust the neutral point of the system.

I haven't made a final decision on the vertical stab but it will be a symmetrical 9% thick section with a rudder of 25% cord. Stab height will be 4 FT, area 10 FT^2 and taper ratio of 0.333, same as wing and horizontal stab with similar construction as above.

The fan will be 29.4 inches in diameter with a hub diameter of 50% of that. Blade construction will be a combo of graphlite rods, wood and foam.
Below are the root and tip sections I've chosen.

The airframe construction will be mostly plywood formers/bulkheads spruce longerons and plywood skin except the nose where the compound curves will be easier to cover with fiberglass.

I still have a lot of details to work out but this will give you the gist of it.

 

[Lucrum]

Got the first rotor installed last night. A gear head would have been done by now but this is my first engine rebuild of any kind so I'm slowly taking one step at a time.

 

[FredBloggs]

nice one lucrum.

it makes my hobby of looking at the daily hottie thread and then having a wank a little bland!

 

[dalen]

What are you using for apex seals? 3mm? Have they come along way since the early days?

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from dalen:

What are you using for apex seals? 3mm? Have they come along way since the early days?

I'm using stock Mazda apex seals, and yes it's my understanding the early issues have been solved for some time.