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Tom Gralewicz

It's fun to build and modify things… It's more fun to do it in a way that hasn't been done (much) before!

Example: I have wanted to build an electric car for decades (Ok, so I called it a motorized go-kart originally :-)

Common Solution: Get a big DC motor (think fork lift) some thick wire (double O at least) and buy a bunch of expensive parts: high current controller, fancy battery charger, good batteries, etc.

My solution: Take the 25HP 3 phase motor from an industrial air compressor, an AC drive from a locomotive (I think it was more of a street car but that's what the seller said it was from) Some scrounged UPS batteries and individual battery chargers and you have an electric car unlike any other I have found in the hemisphere (There is one a guy in Australia with something similar)

Example: Build a power wheels race car for the PPPRS racing series (check it out on Youtube, Flickr, or the web in general)

Common Solution: Find a power wheels car that you can almost fit into or on, upgrade the motor with a 1HP scooter motor, add some motorcycle sized batteries and drive!

My Solution: Take the smallest power wheels car we found on Craig's list and stretch it to fit little old me! Stick a 6HP winch motor, 2 car sized batteries, and a fork lift motor controller and start doing wheelies (never did get it to do burn outs)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/opacity/4864507655/

You get the idea. For me its more important to do it myself than to get it done fast or perfectly. I added a garage and rec room to my house. I hired someone to do the foundation (I didn't have the equipment and couldn't learn the skills in a reasonable time), the furnace (I don't have licenses) , and finish the sheet rock (I can finish sheet rock, but it takes for ever and never looks right.) The good news is I built it (with a little help from friends) from brick walls to roof shingles and everything in between. The bad news is it took me 7 years. I really enjoyed those 7 years :-)

members/tomgralewicz.txt · Last modified: 2017/08/23 05:17 by wildapricot-campbell_timothy