Spectacles holder for the sun visor

The printed frames, M4 screws and nuts, few cm of fuel tubing and a tool on table.

I have been trying to find a spectacles holder for sun visor that I could operate with one hand, and that would work both the visor up and down positions. This is a need for us with glass eyes, one would like to swap regular glasses to shaders on the fly, with single hand.

I could locate one commercial option. It was over engineered with a button and springs, it turned out to be quite flimsy and broke after a few weeks of use. Thus it was not an option. I needed to design my own.

I did few designs through trial and error, this is the third iteration of the plan. I designed it for M4 screws and may later swap those to longer ones for the holder to give slightly wider support for my glasses.

On the picture right you can see the installation going on.

The black rubbers on those screws are old fuel lines I had lying around in my garage. They are there for looks, and to provide little spring tension for the nuts. Not really a functional part, that is.
 

At first dry trials this design seems to work ok. On picture right you can see my regular glasses hanging in there.

The holder will not fit Mazda MX-5 as the sun visors on that car are different in shape. But this will fit both Abarth and Fiat 124 Spider 2017 and later.

The 3D printable .stl file is in this zip file: Fiat-124-Spider-Sunglasholder.zip

Garage door opener with a velcro

I attached the garage door opener with a velcro under the center console box. Neat, works, easy to use blinded.

Baltic round trip in English

Baltic round trip in English here: https://www.124spider.org/threads/around-the-baltic-sea-and-through-eight-countries-in-two-weeks.33642/

Installing Abarth 124 Spider GT hardtop on Fiat 124 Spider

Thread in English here: https://www.124spider.org/forum/361-2017-124-spider-how-diy-tutorials/31780-how-install-abarth-gt-hardtop-fiat-124-spider.html

Steampunk e-bike cruisers from Southern neighbor

Picture (c) 2014 Liberator Bike

I stumbled upon interesting small scale electric bicycle manufacturing blog from Estonia; Liberator Bike.

Unlike other e-bikes I have spotted this both looks good, or at least steampunk bonk, and has full suspension on both ends. All other e-bikes I have so far spotted are either falling in to one of these categories, or neither.

Overall look & feel of the Liberator bike resembles 1920 and 1930 era board trackers. Just like my Harrison does, though where Harrison is more about race and purpose Liberator goes over the board.

If I was to design a Liberator my hands would be itching on quite a many details but I would not touch the rear or front suspension. With little over 7000 km on Espoo and Helsinki bikeways I have a firm belief suspension would be handy...

Liberator has opted for wheel hub engine which is used through three gears. Design wise this is cool solution but makes me wonder the cost of the solution, and feasibility of just three gears. Also, I'd hate to pedal Liberator as a bicycle only after the battery is dead. Pedaling and e-bike like Harrison with more traditional ergonomics is already hard enough. E-bikes tend to be weight wise on the heavy side.

I wonder if we could get the Liberator Bikes from Estonia to join the next Harrison rally (1st Annual Harrison e-bike rally (8.9.2014)) in Helsinki? Or are they having similar event in Estonia?

Ah, and the link to the Liberator blog: http://liberatorbike.blogspot.com/

1st Annual Harrison e-bike rally

Tourist attaractions at Kauppatori: Jiivee (left), Harri, Anne, JJ, Miikka and Santtu

First annual Harrison e-bike rally was organized Saturday 6th September 2014. Due to the short notice we ended up having six e-bike enthusiasts on site, in deepest rural Helsinki.

Typical September weather in Helsinki is cold and rainy. But today we ended up having t-shirts and sunglasses qualified riding, through the whole day. What a treat!

The 10 km ride took us from Sea Horse (Kapteeninkatu) terrasses past Mattolaituri, Ursula and Kauppahalli terrasses nonstop to the Kanavaterminaali for another refreshing stop, at a terrass. From there we curved trhough Kruunuhaka towards the centrum and had some additional pics at the Kansalaistori.

We renewed the daily speed records at Baana after which we cycled towards Cafe Piritta for yet another beers, food and closing the day.

Against all odds no bikes, people or animals were harmed. Rather successful, one should say, though some citizens may have been annoyed. Next year we'll double the amount of bikes!

All pics (c) Izmo Heikkilä.

Kypäräkuvattua fillarointia

Kypäräkuvasin uudella luurilla duuniajon Espoon rantaa pitkin. Tässäpä video:


Linkki jos yo. ei toimi: http://youtu.be/NdEjDt3ENto

Kuvauskalusto on oheisen kuvan mukaisesti kiinni Harrison-kypärän tuuletusreiässä (ks videossa varjo 3:33 kohdassa). Siihen löytyi sopiva läpivientikumi suojaamaan maalia, ja edesmenneen kameranjalan kiinnitysruuvi jolla tuon kameraperän ja kännyn sai kiinnitettyä.

Tuo Espoon rantaraitti on muuten mahdottoman hieno ajella. Samalla sylettää muutamien kiinteistöjen omistajien puolesta, miksi pyörätie on ollut pakko vetää heidän tontin keskeltä (pahin esimerkki 02:10 kohdalla videossa)? Eikö sitä yhteistä sosialistisoitua maisemaomaisuutta olisi kuitenkin voinut vetää niin, ettei se menisi niin rivosti muutamien pihojen poikki? Hävettää, mutta silti ajelen hyvällä kelillä tuota kautta.

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English: Yes, the phone is Nokia Lumia 1020 with the 41 Mb camera.

LED-päivitys fillarin lampuun - Kytkentäkaavio ja osaluettelo

Fillarin lampun muuntaminen LED-käyttöiseksi jatkuu (LED-päivitys fillarin lamppuun (21.1.2013)). Sain ystäväni Repen suunnittelemaan ja testaamaan kytkentäkaavion jonka avulla LEDin voi kytkeä fillarin vaihtovirtalaturiin.

Dynamoksi tässä suunnitelmassa on mietitty Shimano DH-2R30-E, IB-DR70 tai IB-DR50. Kytkentä toiminee kuitenkin minkä tahansa 6V vaihtovirtadynamon kanssa. Tämän pitäisi kattaa lähes kaikki markkinoiden dynamot polkupyöriin.

Kytkennän kanssa kannattaa huomioida maadoitus. Jos vaihtovirtadynamo tai käytetty lampun runko maadoittaa fillarin runkoon niin oheinen kytkentä tulee tehdä niin, että se ei ota maihin missään kohtaa. Toisinsanoen tuo LEDin vaatima tasavirtapiiri pitää irroittaa dynamon vaihtovirtapiiristä.

Valolähteeksi valitsin mahdollisimman kirkkaan ja laajalla kulmalla olevan LEDin. Noita on kaupassa useita ja ledien hinnat kun pyörivät centeissä niin köyhemmälläkin on varaa ostaa useampi erilainen testaukseen. Värisävystä en tässä yhteydessä välittänyt. Valokuviollakaan ei ole kovin suurta väliä, katson että valon tärkein tehtävä ei omassa käytössäni ole valaista tietä vaan parantaa omaa näkyvyyttäni muille tielläliikkujille.

Jos haluaa panostaa varsinaiseen valokuvioon ja valaisemiseen niin sitten LED pitää valita ja kolvata paikalleen niin, että sen valolähde tulee mahdollisimman tarkasti samaan kohtaa missä E10 polttimon lanka palaa, ja valaisukulma on laaja tai kohti lampun heijastinpintaa. Tätä pitänee testailla joskus myöhemmin.

Tässä valmis osaluettelo linkkeineen PartCo:n verkkokauppaan:

• Yleisdiodi 1A 400V (1N4004) 
• Regulaattori TO220 1,5A +5V (7805) 
• Diodisilta AC/DC tasasuuntaajana 6A 1000V [KBPC610] 
• LED 5mm 110cd kirkkaus ja 60 asteen valokulmalla

Varsinaisesta toteuksesta ja kolvauksesta lisää ehkä myöhemmin, artikkelissa #3.

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Same on English
Converting E10 6V bicycle lamp to a LED lamp

I had a problem with frequently burning and destroying the bulb on my bicycle lamp. Finally I got bored with this and started looking for a solution to convert AC dynamo with the 6V and 2,4 or 3W E10 lamp to a LED. Turns out there is no ready made solution.

A simple solution would have been to use battery, change the lamp and give up the dynamo. For this bike the design is more important than the function so a LED conversion to the existing lamp and hardware is required.

You can find the circuit diagram here. The texts are in Finnish but it should be rather self explanatory on any language. The circuit is designed and tested with Shimano DH-2R30-E, IB-DR70 or IB-DR50 dynamo but there is no special magic here, it should work with pretty much any 6V alternative current bicycle dynamo.

There are few things to keep in mind while implementing this:

1) Some bicycle dynamos and older lamps ground to the bicycle frame. As the original circuit is alternative current (AC) and the LED demands direct current (DC) the two circuits need to be isolated form each other.

2) Conversion is relativity easy if your interest is your own visibility and actual lightning pattern for night riding is of no interest. However, if you also need proper and good lightning special attention and probably also few trial versions are needed. You need to pay attention on the position of the light source relative to the lamp reflector.

A LED typically emits light (image 2) in relative narrow angle up to 60 degrees and forward while E10 bulb is emitting on all directions. The reflector of an old lamp is designed for the E10 bulb. There may be a need to place a wide angle emitting led backwards, towards the reflector, or create a totally new reflector for this purpose. I am still yet to test this, though my focus is on my own visibility instead of a proper lightning.

Hertz gave me an upgrade

Hertz surprised me positively by giving me an upgrade for this week in Vancouver-Seattle. Would have rather rented a bike (as usual), but the weather forecast did not really support that approach. But can't complain now.

Let's see where she will take me, as the office will be closed for the weekend...

Biker background images for N9

Luupilotti followers may be aware that additionally to writing blogs, I am spending time in a big international mobile device manufacturing company. Past few years I have been working on the N9 that is finally out and public.

Here is a set of wall papers I am using in my own N9 (and N950). The pics are in device screen resolution (480x854). I have taken the pictures during 2009 and 2010 on Helsinki Bike Show and Joutsa Chopper Show. The images are free bargain for your own personal non-commercial use on Nokia N9 (or Nokia N950).

Additionally to these images, I am a great fan of a neat little app called Scenic (http://store.ovi.com/content/178736). Scenic allows to rotate between these wallpapers automagically every <set> minutes.

You may be able to find these images (and some more) also on other locations, but they are still my pics.

Gets dark way too early

Today I stayed in the office little longer than usual as I wanted to benefit from the big screen while doing a few cad drawings. And about 7:30pm I realized that it was dark outside. Really dark.

No big news there, unless you are on motorcycle and have the black visor on only. Goods news, if any, was that it was no longer raining so I could ride back home visor up.

Though the road was wet.

Riding in California

Good thing about business travel is the possibility to visit locations where riding season is still on, while we have icephalt in Finland. This time I went to San Francisco where I visited a friend (who has a bike) and rented a bagger.

I also have an employer who is understanding this need due to compensating the bike rental cost so that I need to pay myself only the difference between bike and a cage, if the bike is more expensive (as it tends to be in every place).

I do get weird looks at the airports and planes when traveling with riding gear on. Also, at business meetings many seem surprised when I show up with Helmet and full gear on ;-)

Many thanks for Jyrki for showing me north North and South of San Francisco.