Hey LeChat, What Are You Working On?

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

Hey, LeChat! I enjoyed your music today whilst cleaning out my caravan. Nice downtempo, that. Thanks again for the gift!

[Captain Goddammit]

LeChat's Contraption is one of the most inventive, original, coolest mutant vehicles I've ever seen.

[karine]

It couldn't have been more beautiful!

[bigbluedoggy]

I want to give a great big thanks to Le Chat and Karine for their hospitality and friendliness. Mozy even had Le Chat come by our camp to find me after I had mentioned I had not met him yet. The Contraption is fabulous and I hope to see it again next year (possibly even a steam powered version huh?) Thanks for all of your efforts and the great camaraderie I got to experience first hand! It was really nice to meet so many of you from here at the Meet and Greet on Thursday. Hre's to a great Burn!

Doggy

[The CO]

Can't say it enough: The contraption is my favorite art car ever!

HUMAN POWER!!!

[Squidly]

LeChat, you are incredible!
Kudos on a beautiful and functional piece of art. (Not to mention, FUN!)

[LeChatNoir]

You guys are what made it fun. Without you, it’d just have been me sitting on that thing in the middle of the desert. You all jumped on and got it moving. What a freakin’ blast. This was the most interactive and fun Burn I’ve had yet.

[gyre]

The photos don't do it justice.
It was the most interesting and beautiful art car out there.
That's saying a lot with the cars on the playa.
I didn't expect to be able to say that, especially about something with no drivetrain, which technically makes it ????

Even on the playa, I meet car people.
As a girl said to me while we were watching someone rearrange a huge log in a campfire with their car,
"Everything is more fun when you do it with a car, don't you think?"


I want to see that beast hotrodded.

[Tiahaar]

Hi LeChatNoir and Karine and Mozy and Wizard and Unjohn and Steven and Elliot and dang all the rest of you who were out there and I got to meet and talk with. The Contraption is beautiful with playa dust! Heh, sorry I came walking by as Naked Guy instead of riding my trike that day, it got rode mainly at night when cooler (and the fireshooter worked!). A little steam engine assist would be allowable me thinks and saaayyy...aren't there abandoned rail lines down Kentucky way where you could run a slightly modified (rail wheel option addition) Contraption on? Hmmm!

[LeChatNoir]

There are indeed some abandoned rail lines, but many have had the rails taken up. A few have been purchased by individuals and groups and still run some short steam excursions. There's also a whole group of hand car enthusiasts that know about closed lines all around the country (and the world even).







I got some cool swag this year, but the coolest piece was something pretty special. Check it out:





So there were at least two eplayans involved in the making of this… Unjon and Robotland. These guys worked it out in secret and I even saw Unjon with it mounted on his trike and thought, “What a cool old clampâ€

[bigbluedoggy]

That's very cool!

[unjonharley]

LeChat, thank you guys for your hospitality.. the contraption was all and more than i could imagine..

Capt. goddamitt said it all..

see ya made it home without being raided by the hwy junk pirates..

the picture in the dust is the best photo of the year.. it would look good framed in an old frame in your shop..

am looking for a certain item for the contraption.. grampa may have one..

he was not strong enough to move around the playa this year.. keeps talking about giving up this year.. can't blame him.. you get old and bent from time and pain.. guess the time comes.. i can not be selfish and ask him to hang on.. i m sure he has a reward in the spirit world awaiting him..

[BAS]

Yeah, that picture in the dust is really cool! So's the clamp. Damn! Sorry I missed this year.

B.

[karine]

As long as he's not thinking about Steam power...
THE CLAMP STAYS ON!

(My arms are ~still~ tired!)

[Toolmaker]

Steam is elite

[karine]

So is the number of people who want to pump the contraption for over one block at a time on the playa!

[dragonfly Jafe]

loved seeing the contraption outside Labwerks (and meeting both of you!). Regret not experiencing the joy of pumping it.

[The CO]

So is the number of people who want to pump the contraption for over one block at a time on the playa!

Sweet! I would pump that thing till my arms fell off. Tried to one night, but my bladder had other ideas...

[karine]

It's TRUE! It's TRUE!
You were on the contraption when we hit that "road block".

Thanks for your help getting there, man.
((I really thought we and DPW were gonna take that gate DOWN!))
Good thing 1,2,3 Not It! hit the brakes not a half a second too late.
That was hilarious.

[Das Bus]

I was so happy to see it in person, albeit only for a few minutes. : )

My hubby Gordy ran into you, I had been telling him about it pre-playa. Let me tell you, he was IMPRESSED! He bows down to the Master!

[LeChatNoir]

It's TRUE! It's TRUE!
You were on the contraption when we hit that "road block".

Thanks for your help getting there, man.
((I really thought we and DPW were gonna take that gate DOWN!))
Good thing 1,2,3 Not It! hit the brakes not a half a second too late.
That was hilarious.

No, No... we almost took The CO out at that roadblock, 'cause he was manning it!!

And thanks Das Bus! It was a great pleasure to cross paths with so many good people this year. Though I must say, you give me too much credit for a master I am not.

Although, I do aspire to be a Master Fisherman one day... but for now I hold a post of a slightly lower status.

[unjonharley]

got into some pages about the Stanly Streamer cars.. interesting stuff.. also stirlinng motors.. AMC had one in 1970.. don t think you could make a stirling with a harth and hammer .. but there fun to think about

[The CO]

No, No... we almost took The CO out at that roadblock, 'cause he was manning it!!

I regret that I have but one life to give the contraption.

[LeChatNoir]

I got a new book the other day called “Making Simple Steam Enginesâ€

[Captain Goddammit]

While the pump-power was cool, green, and totally original, I still think power of some kind... some funky kind of course... would really make it great. The hit-and-miss belchfire banger would be right in line with the concept, but steam... oh man. Somehow, that thing begs for steam.

You realize that steam engines are quite dangerous by nature.

But if your mom says it's OK, that'd be SO cool.

[LeChatNoir]

I just got off the phone with mom, and she said it was ok. She also suggested a Monotube type boiler (think one long copper coil like found within an alcohol still). Says they’re much safer since the only boiling water is in the coiled tube rather than an entire pressurized vessel as in a Firetube boiler (think giant tank of boiling water). In a over-pressurized situation, Monotube types tend to pop at a joint rather than explode.

This is apparently a good thing.

Back to learning...

[Captain Goddammit]

Less danger... I guess that's good...

[unjonharley]

\/

this the boiler you r talking about?


Included Page: Boiler!

dam didn t work.. any way i like the design of the monotube.. it can still blow your head off if not done right..

[unjonharley]

maybe added to your C clamp:

STEAMER SKEAMER DREAMER

[spectabillis]

Regret not experiencing the joy of pumping it.

I would pump that thing till my arms fell off. Tried to one night, but my bladder had other ideas...

that sounded so pervy.


steam: its been so long since i read something on it that i shouldnt say much. but i think your mom is right that having coils are better than trying to boil a huge tank because of the surface area exposed to the heat. dunno really. but i guess it could be easier and cheaper to gut a junked water heater. i wonder if you use an old air-compressor for the piston.