Life Update

Its been two weeks since I’ve quit work and I’m still no where close to deciding my future. I have bunch of options on hand, but I need to weigh them out and choose the one I really want to go after. Meanwhile I have decided what I shall be doing in the next 2 -3 months while I am on the sabbatical break.

Here’s what I have in mind

    Build a Helicopter : jd_knight and me have decided to build a mini helicopter from scratch. Our initial aim is just to make it float and hopefully put in some controls into it. If this works out, for the first time in my life, I will be applying whatever I learnt in my Mechanical Engineering course in college.

    Setup Photo Studio : This idea has been itching me for a while, and while I’m in a mood to try out new things, why not. Since I’m planning to work on the helicopter project, we have decided to rent out a large room and use it as a Lab + Studio. I have the camera and basic lighting.. will prob need to spend a little to get it up and going. .

And if time permits

    – Hack on one of the open source projects.
    – Build and experiment with a community site.. – kinda like craigslist wiki

I’m having a really tough time finding a place for all this. I just need a really large room ( attached bathroom will be a plus). Anywhere in south-east Bangalore would help and hopefully in a reasonable budget. So let me know if you know any place that fits my description.

Rest of the year sounds very promising.

37 Comments

  1. deepsan · October 18, 2004 Reply

    cool projects

    >decided to build a mini helicopter from scratch.
    Will that be a remote control helicopter or is that too far fetched?

    >Setup Photo Studio : This idea has been itching me…
    If it is somewhere in the south of bangalore, you already have a client.

  2. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Re: cool projects

    > Will that be a remote control helicopter or is that too far fetched?
    That’s not really a tough problem the way I see it. We get ready made RC transmitters and receivers which can just be mounted on this.

    The tough problems in building a helicopter is getting the aerodynamics of the blades right and have a good control system in place for the machine to react whenever there is a slight change in wind etc. Once the basic helipter takes flight and if we are able to control the flight in a decent way, we can think about the next set possibilites…. pre-determined flights / camera mounts etc etc.

    > If it is somewhere in the south of bangalore, you already have a client.
    The tough part right now is finding the place.. but once I have it up and going.. feel free to drop over. 🙂

  3. rashmiprasad · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Re: cool projects

    Umm.. drop over? 🙂

  4. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Re: cool projects

    heh. OK I meant come on over :p

  5. prady · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Re: cool projects

    I remember we did something like this in 5th sem. That was when I went thro hajaar books trying to figure out stuff about lift ,drag, bernoulli ,camber and stuff ..

    Very interesting dude.Keep it going.

  6. shradha · October 18, 2004 Reply

    WTG!!

    whoa! now *that’s* what i call exciting!!
    wish u luck dude!!:D

  7. sriramb · October 18, 2004 Reply

    are you planning on emulating the control mechanisms of an actual heli? How do you plan to tilt the rotors? had worked on a similar project about 10 years ago; ended up making all the main parts manually i.e rotors, chassis and landing skid. Got the gears from a model tank that we cannibalized. Try and get a kerosene motor from a hobby shop (after you have calculated the thrust/lift, and have an idea of the weight of the model). Might be a good idea to catalog your progress with photos online, kinda like your own discovery channel show.(How’s “kalyan’s adventures in chopper building” sound?!)

  8. klooloola · October 18, 2004 Reply

    rocket? plane?

    It is much easier to build a rocket or maybe a normal plane model.

    how do you maneuvre a helicoter ? build the tilting mechanism for the top rotor?
    Buid the tail rotor? seems much more than what you can do in
    a few months, more like 4-5 years is what i would think.

    Why not build a rocket ? go for the X prixe for mice?
    Send a mouse into outer space etc.

    Say did you see jwz journal for that jet powered shopping cart, that is doable and fun to do.

  9. anshul · October 18, 2004 Reply

    I will be applying whatever I learnt in my Mechanical Engineering course in college.
    Like what? 😉
    Anyways, great going dude! Both the ideas seem very interesting.

  10. harishgnaik · October 18, 2004 Reply

    > Anywhere in south-east Bangalore would help and hopefully in a reasonable budget. So let me know if you know any place that fits my description.

    Think you should look somewhere in BTM. I don’t know of any specific room or anything, but I definitely know there are a lot of them here.

  11. tariquesani · October 18, 2004 Reply

    The toughest part of building a helicopter is to make and control the tail rotor – else the body goes in an uncontrolable spin….

    Making it battery powered or fuel?
    Battery is cleaner, simpler fuel is much more fun!!!

    BTW How big is the room?

  12. tariquesani · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Oops! re-read you do not have a room as yet

  13. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Just started reading up online this week… hopefully we will have something decided by this weekend and I do intend to document every part of the project.

  14. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Fluid Mechanics, Aerodynamics and Control Systems ofcourse.

  15. kingsly · October 18, 2004 Reply

    A word of advice…

    never test the helicopter(or any flying device) indoors… 🙂

    I remember getting a spring windup thinigie when I was a kid…. it went up rotor spinning… and right into the ceiling fan… which shot it down into one corner of the room.. luckily no one was hurt.

  16. swatisani · October 18, 2004 Reply

    well, if he is ready to relocate to nagpur, he will have a room as well 🙂

  17. rohandsa · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Awesome idea. Wish I could participate. Nothing like getting a little grease on your hands 🙂

  18. Anonymous · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Hi, I am not sure but , I am game for this if it works out,
    why not buy a new car, tear it apart part by part and put everything back together

  19. aivalli · October 18, 2004 Reply

    When it come to flying high – knows / shows the way !

    Way to go dude !

    -nerdy

  20. kewldeaf · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Try getting into Honeywell , who deal in these stuffs 😉

  21. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    Re: rocket? plane?

    hehe.. the possibilites are unlimited indeed…

    How about a jet powered turn table ? 😉

  22. admin · October 18, 2004 Reply

    That’s exactly what I don’t want to do right now.

    It will take the whole fun out of it…. just like what happened for me in the software industry.

  23. jace · October 18, 2004 Reply

    My brother does this stuff at Honeywell. 😉

  24. jace · October 18, 2004 Reply

    My brother tells me the tough part is in the main rotor. It’s not a simple fan. For a helicopter to move forward, each rotor blade must change orientation depending on where it is in the cycle, and this change must be exact.

  25. anshul · October 19, 2004 Reply

    *Fanfare* And once again Kallu manages to shock me and the world with his sheer brilliance by doing the unexpected! *Fanfare stops*
    What did he do? He actually remembered the three courses but wait, is it because they were taught by the two prof’s who had a thing for him in their own way? Sethu, KSS….i just hope that you plan to visit them after all this time regarding your interest, and take your camera with you, i would like to see their faces when they see you back again, ie if you do go to them. (Please do go and scare them some.)

  26. tariquesani · October 19, 2004 Reply

    While what you said is true for larger helicopters, in models all you need to do have the entire motor/rotor assembly tilt forward by a few degrees. It is still the getting the tail rotor to spin at the correct ratio which is the toughest part for model helicopters. Of course Kallu could try designs which are perfectly useless in real life BUT make really cool looking hovering craft model

  27. kewldeaf · October 19, 2004 Reply

    Just kidding , your projects sounds interesting , go all the way , btw i heard this thing called hydropter , that moves within water …..something like that. Man what this world is coming to ………..

  28. klooloola · October 19, 2004 Reply

    Things i wanted to do!

    Ultrasonic visibilty aid for the blind…
    converts a ultrasonogram to sound , like placing detected
    shapes in your sound field.

    Spin Mp3 without a turntable, — a good human – tactile interface,
    something totally unlike a turntable.

    Mobile phone jammer!

  29. purplehazerads · October 19, 2004 Reply

    The studio/lab sounds cool. 🙂

  30. kalyancreddy · October 19, 2004 Reply

    COOL

    Hi there, its a cool thought, wish you the best. Go off the conventional designs and procedures. May be you would like to read a lil of Sir Ya Perelman’s Physics for entertainment series. I remember reading in one of the series about the design of something close to helicopter.

  31. kalyancreddy · October 19, 2004 Reply

    +more!

    It would also be nice if you can design something like a perpetual motor to drive it using as less source of power as possible. Do keep us updated about how far you have come in your projects.

  32. manubhardwaj · October 19, 2004 Reply

    The Honeywell right next to your house?

    – Manu, from the IIMB right next to *his* house!

  33. jace · October 20, 2004 Reply

    Yup.

    But if you noticed, Honeywell is across the road from IIMB.

  34. jace · October 20, 2004 Reply

    Re: jet powered shopping cart

    That chap says he built it using instructions found off the Net. Here are those instructions: http://www.interestingprojects.com/

  35. manubhardwaj · October 20, 2004 Reply

    .. and hence the comment that it was right next to your house!

  36. Anonymous · November 3, 2004 Reply

    Re: cool projects

    http://autopilot.sourceforge.net/.
    u might get some interesting info here. I’m not sure if diff part are available in your part of the world. you can always find substitutes.
    – deidre

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