JJ Ellingsworth is a race car builder and driver, having accomplished the material skills to not only compete in the exciting (and fast) world of racing, but went further into custom constructions, not only for himself, but for others as well.
After racking up a BUNCH of trophies, he's become a wise old soul these days (at 23!, I wish I'd learned earlier!), not racing so much as constructing things for other racers (and a few of us less "fast" sorts like farmers, home owners, and an occasional hitch weld or two).
Shown here is a top and side view of JJ's first model, a simple but effective construct of hand bent steel rings welded into a variable rolling ratio race, two steel disks that are mounted to a vacuum cleaner motor as the friction drive means, and lead shot filled tennis balls as the orbitals.
He states that he placed it in a cardboard box to keep the motor from pivoting on the floor, and it dragged the box and model one inch (approximately) on each go-round of one orbital.
While your main reporter for Mama Earth's GIT team (DavidC) was present at JJ's shop, being within an hour's driving time from Silverton, for a repeat performance of JJ's first GIT, it's inertial thrust was getting on the side of lackluster.
Apparently JJ ran it so many times that the lead shot had worked open the slits in his tennis ball orbitals and was losing weight fast. It was slinging lead shot all about the place, pelting this reporter with high speed buckshot, luckily not fast enough to require surgery, but enough to make me dance, YeeeHaaa!
JJ plans to build a more substantial model, and the race is already built (see picture above). While I was there he showed me the 4 inch diameter foam balls he was going to use as molding pieces to make solid lead orbitals (as I understood him, the foam would vaporize as molten lead hit it, leaving a spherical cavity in surrounding plaster to form the orbitals).
Shown at left is JJ grinding off overfill on one of my molds so we could open it. We spent a pleasant Oregon day melting and casting lead from JJ's lead foundry in my first attempt at solid lead double conic orbitals, a method that was ruled out for later constructions.
As you can see, the mold cracked and began pouring molten lead all over the work table. In opening the molds (two were used) both molds were destroyed and that put an end to our lead smelting for the day.
JJ's a rather busy guy, crafting and welding parts for the folks around Dallas Oregon, and like any craftsman in demand, hasn't been able to find the time needed to work on our dreams (sound familiar with about every other GIT researcher?), but as JJ's efforts are pushed forward when time permits, I will add that information here on JJ's page.
I haven't heard from JJ for a while, HEY JJ, if you are reading this, return my email through Luke McAllister's Not So Technical Computer place! I really would like to have some of your words here. I get worried when folks don't return my mail, makes me think it's getting eaten by "gremlins"!
OH! Congrats to Luke and Noreen, now proud parents of a healthy baby girl he and his wife have named Clover!
Edited and added to Sunday 12 October 1997
Stay tuned!
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