I’ve got an image in my mind of a particular series of pictures I want to do for canvas printing, and I’m really getting close to where I would like it to be.

Here are some from tonight:

I will say that the consistency out of the 285HV seems to be a bit lacking. I saw variances of about 1/2 a stop if I fired off too quickly. It could have been low batteries (they were low), but it’s not a high-performance flash and I never expected it to be. Regardless, I don’t anticipate outgrowing it any time soon – it gives light 100% of the time (thank you, CyberSyncs!), and right now I can easily manage a half-stop variance.

We were able to reconnect with some old “Beaverton” friends from long ago this month, and as a side benefit we learned about the Salmon Creek Trail and how great it is for kids with bikes. So we loaded up the truck with bikes, a scooter, and a stroller, and enjoyed a five mile walk up the trail and back with the kids (and wow were they wiped out after that!).

I also had the privilege of helping out shooting two weddings this month, and despite my bad shoes at the first one and the heat at the second, had an unbelievably good time. I hope to post some pictures from both weddings on my business site soon, after I work out the permissions with Amy.

And just last night we took a little balsa glider and a Nerf football and visited Orchard Park. And what a fun time we had! Isaiah has an amazing arm, and Jeremiah was fully engaged running around in bare feet chasing a soccer ball. Timothy, Lindsey, and I took turns launching the plane, and Tami played catch with Isaiah. I’ve got to say that it sure is fun to tickle-tackle the kids when they catch (or not!) a football!

It’s been a good month to reflect on God’s incredible grace and goodness, and to enjoy some great time together as a family.

As always, click on any of the images to go to Flickr to see even more pictures.

About a week ago I was able to get both the steering and drive systems complete, which had been a hug hurdle for me. After some brainstorming with Dad and some poking around at the Orange Box, I found all I needed.

The plans had called for a galvanized pipe for the steering rod, flattened and bent up at the tie-rod end and fixed with a pipe flange at the other for connection to the steering wheel. I had a version of this completed, but was never satisfied with the roughness of the steering. Not only was it difficult to steer, but it wasn’t particularly reliable. So I ended up using a 3/8″ diameter piece of steel for the steering rod. At the bottom end near the tie rods, I bent it up, ground the sides a bit to make some flat surfaces, and used U-bolts to fasten a 1 1/2″ x 4″ section of flat steel. The tie rods bolt to this flat steel, and there is amazingly little play in the whole thing.

I had ordered tie rods with the ball joints, but the shortest they had were 11″, and I needed something around 8″ long. I used 5/16″x24 threaded rod (or all-thread), which is great because I have enough play to allow adjustment of each wheel separately.

It’s not the prettiest steering ever created, but it works very well. The steering rod comes through a piece of scrap that I screwed to the front of the body because the original steering column hole was about an inch in diameter to fit the pipe called out in the plans. Once the grill is in place it should look much more clean.

You can see the flattened sides of the steering rod. The U-bolts I had bought were pretty small, so I had to grind the sides of the rod to get them to fit. There’s no chance they can slip or move — they’re on VERY tightly.

And here’s a poor-quality video of the steering in action. The angle on the tie rods is a lot greater than I would have wanted, but at this point I’m not willing to redo it all. The kids could care less, and I just want to get it painted!

For the drive system, I had two problems: I couldn’t figure a way to affix the single drive wheel to the 3/8″ steel axle rod, and I didn’t know how to attach the drive rods from the pedals to the crank. Although I’m not yet convinced the lifespan of this solution is all that long, I ended up drilling a hole through the drive wheel hub and the axle, and inserted an “R” clip through the holes. My concerns with this are that the hole I drilled is pretty large relative to the small 3/8″ axle, and the hub isn’t really designed to handle the torque that can be applied by an excited child. We’ll see how long it lasts. So far it doesn’t show any wear, so that’s promising.

Getting a picture of this was harder than I expected, and the sun was fading fast. In the picture above you can see the loop on the “R” clip. I still need to trim the axle, but I’ll probably wait for final, post-paint assembly before I do that. You can also see the colored label on the tire in this picture, which is another thing to fix in final assembly (all the other wheels have the blackwall point out, with the tire graphic hidden; yes, I have issues).

It’s really tough to make out the “R” clip here, but you can see the top loop of the clip on the right.

For the drive crank, I drilled holes in the drive rods just large enough to be able to slip the axle through them, and threaded them on with a washer and small pipe-band-clamp on each side. The washers and pipe clamps keep the drive rods in the same spot on the crank, and insure that the drive rods don’t slip up the sides of the crank. It’s another case of “not pretty, but quite functional.”

And here’s another questionable-quality video, this one showing the drive crank and pedals in action. Again, not all that smooth because I was trying to keep the camera steady with one hand. Also, both this video and the above steering video might give the impression that there’s a ton of friction in the two systems. They’re certainly not finely-tuned, but they really are pretty free and smooth.

The past two days have been VERY productive days with the pedal car! Not since the body went together have I accomplished this much in such a short amount of time. I finally worked a very usable solution for the steering (at BOTH ends of the steering rod!), and finished that last night. Then today I was able to devote about four hours of uninterrupted time to redoing the drive mechanism, and that’s working better than I could have imagined (thank you, Dad, for your ideas and help, and Tami for letting me do it!). Once the kids drove that around for a little while, I realized I just had to get the fenders mounted. And man, what a difference it’s made having those things on the car!

I’ll update Part 4 with details and pictures as soon as a I have a chance to get some decent shots of what I’ve done. Until then, perhaps these videos will hold you over! The kids ran it for about three hours today, and the worst I had to do was add a seat support (for those with longer legs) and tighten a few nuts that worked loose.

One of the huge helps in all of this has been the comments and emails I’ve received on some of the other posts in this series. Seeing interest in this project is really pushing me to get it done, so thanks to all of you who have stopped by!

We hit the Esplanade around 7:30p, but the sun wasn’t low enough until probably 8:30 or 9:00. But when the lights came on, and the sky darkened a bit, it was tough to get enough pictures. Every photographer within 200 miles has probably shot the exact same pictures we got tonight, but that’s doesn’t make it any less fun. Dad did a lot of panos, partly because he wanted to get back into editing (lots of stitching!), and partly because I had the 16mm and he had the 24mm (thanks AGAIN, Dad!). I did keep offering, but our hands were cold and useless enough that we didn’t feel like gambling on a lens swap.

Timothy, the poor kid, was cold most of the time, but he had his Heelies to keep him occupied. And once he started seeing how the pics were turning out, he was anxious to see the next shot. I suppose the promise of a warm car and hot fries helped a bit, too. And what boy ever tires of throwing stuff into the water?

Thank you, Dad, for getting us out of the house. We need to go again once it warms up a bit!

Here are two of the shots from tonight. The first is a 20 second exposure with a pan on the video tripod I brought. The second is just a straight-up 30 second exposure. Both were at f9 and ISO 100, and both have been hit with Noiseware and minor lens distortion fixes in Photoshop.

This surgery today is a pretty minor procedure in the overall scheme of things, but placing a child in the hands of a third party (one with a knife, no less!) is never easy. It gives us an opportunity to realize how blessed we really are in that this is such a rare activity for us, and to praise God for his incredible goodness.

The doctor should be out in a few minutes with news of the surgery, and Jeremiah will sleep off the anesthesia before we’re allowed to see him.

Thanks Amy for taking Lindsey, and thanks Dad and Mom for taking Isaiah!

***** UPDATE 11:23 am *****

Everything was successful, and though there was a slight bit more to do than expected, is all looks great. To God be the glory!

Some things I learned, most of which probably seem obvious:

• Direct sun, even when the subject doesn’t have the sun directly in their eyes, will cause squinting if there’s too much reflecting around them. Shade may often be better to avoid this.
• Use a sandbag on the lightstand!
• (For the results I wanted) be sure the aperture is open enough to expose the ground/grass under by about 2 stops. Much more than that and it gets too dark.
• Be wary of focus issues when pointed directly into the sun. My Canon 40D choked a bit, though this is not unexpected.

This post is focused on the steering and drive components of the pedal car. These two areas have been the source of 95% of the problems, stalls, and headache for me. Admittedly, the primary reason for this trouble is my decision to use bicycle wheels instead of the plan’s plywood wheels. But no matter what I do, I can’t convince myself to eliminate the wire wheels. So I’m stuck with trying to come up with efficient ways to make it all work.

One of the commenters on the Introduction post indicated that he had built one of these years ago and used go-kart parts for the steering, which resulted in me searching for some parts I could use. I did find some web sites with decent prices, and am now waiting for a couple of sets of ball joints and tie rods, $20 with shipping. I may also break down and buy a cheap MIG welder for a few things (I’ve been wanting one anyway), but haven’t decided on that yet.

It seems I am now regularly finding ways to improve on this whole project. Bearings are so cheap that using pipe fittings and brass bushings seems silly. Kingpin assemblies are relatively inexpensive and much more clean than what the plans call for (though I am still a bit impressed with that whole assembly, made with pipe fittings). Chain drive doesn’t look all that difficult, especially with the decision to use bicycle wheels anyway, and the possibility of having a welder (though this raises some issues such as braking and coasting, but I’m planning to put together a summary at the end of all of this to address some of these things).

This post will be updated after the tie-rods and joints arrive.

*** UPDATE 3/5/09 ***

The ball joints are here, but only one tie-rod made it. They apparently only had one in stock, but the other should be coming (soon?). I expect to get a bit done this weekend, and look forward to posting some pictures!

*** UPDATE 6/8/09 ***

Hot dog! All the steering came together tonight, praise the Lord! I have a few bolts to replace since I got the wrong size, but I figured out how to make a pittman arm without any welding! Man, I’m so excited to get over this hurdle. I’ll post pics as soon as  I have the correct bolts (tomorrow?). I still need to attach the steering wheel, but that’s the easy part.