I've been a keen coffee nut for some 40 years (so since I was young) and over time I've been through a few different methods of making coffee. Two methods have stuck:
Espresso
Pour over
I've had brief forays into Plunger (the fancy folk call it French press) and naturally when camping use the Pot Immersion (and sedimentation) style that was with us for centuries. In the workplace I've tried Nespresso pods but fallen back always onto a plastic V60 style of "on the cup" filter because its compatible with the office kitchen, its quick and I can pick the coffee beans I like. I first encountered these in Japan in the year 2001 and they were pretty common in the Hyaku-yen shops for about 100yen. However I always lamented the loss of the oils (absorbed by the paper, which could be tasted in plunger style) but favoured the clean taste without the inevitable grind "fines" that you get with a plunger (esp in the second cup).
I've read of filters which relied on fine metal mesh (even as early as the 1990's) but there were rare and expensive. However I recently discovered this stainless steel one from China (via Ali and eBay)
This has a fine metal mesh on the inside and has some holes in the steel to allow some sort of bypass on the outside, however in reality while some might make its way down the outside and into the cup it would seem that the water passes between the mesh and the steel ... dunno. The mesh is a fine weave that's for sure.
looking from the outside we can see through the holes in the steel to the size of the mesh. My phone has a pretty good microscope which shows this clearly.
Its amazingly fine.
So now I get excellent pour over which has almost no "fines" (or sludge) in the bottom of the cup, a great mouth feel and taste and has renewed my coffee drinking methods.
Price was also amazingly good at AU$12 (including postage), but even at $20 I would not hesitate.
Its surprisingly tolerant of grind size, so as long as its anything in the ballpark of "Supermarket" ground coffee (for those who grind their own, I go a bit coarser), but still I tested it today on my usual espresso grind and that worked quite well (although a bit slow) and still no fines!
Its win win and the only thing against it is that you need to spend a bit more time "washing it" than if you just pull out a paper and dump it. Filter papers are king for convenience there!
To be clear, watches can be tools or they can be adornments. If they are going to be adornments then they are jewellery. Nothing wrong with that if that's your thing. But I see a lot of hardlube freeKingWanging going on over on Reddit (yeah, what else would you expect right?)
Anyway, while back I bought the Casio F-91W, which is the embodiment of the following:
accurate
functional
rugged
feature laden (compared to an uncomplicated plain watch; it has day and date complication as well as chronograph, hourly chime and alarm, display in 12h or 24h times)
Compared to a Rolex like this:
The Casio
is more accurate (seconds per month not seconds per day)
is more rugged
has a day date (and the date is actually a perpetual unlike 90% of automatic watches)
has a chronograph
has an alarm
is lighter (mine weighs 27.3g including the strap the Rolex will be over 130g on the strap)
Without a doubt the Casio (cost $20) is a mere fraction of the cost of a Rolex and I'm unafraid to wear it when working on stuff (like my motorcycles or other things). I know a few old watch makers and they tell me that back in the 1970's workers (welders, mechanics, boiler makers, fishermen) would still buy a Rolex because it could withstand punishment. Now they are more like $10,000
Lets be honest here, do you see Rolex's on workers wrists to tell the time (or help time a task) or do you see them on finely dressed wankers who are trying to signal their wealth (either real or faked).
One of these is worn by a tool, the other is being worn as a tool.
The Quartz revolution nearly drove expensive mechanical watches extinct, indeed the Swiss were really unable to beat brands like Seiko, Orient and Casio and indeed were only able to survive (after some dreadful and laughable failures) by appealing to wankers with too much money who wanted to be special on their Yacht or in their Armani Suite who were buying Swiss mechanical watches for exclusivity.
So I put it to you that if you want a "tool watch" then you want a Casio, and probably one of these amazing little F-91W's
If you think that the influencers telling you that an IWC or an Omega, or a Rolex is really a "tool watch" then I'm afraid that the tool is wearing the watch.
I don't wear my little Casio all the time, as I have a couple of other watches (quartz and mechanical) which I enjoy wearing (sometimes for ornamentation, sometimes comfort, other times for functionality) but its only the Quartz watches that can sit in the watch box for weeks and come out and just be fine, indeed its only the Casio because its digital that nothing needs changing (you know, like the date).
BTW, I put the NATO on the Casio with but a little effort, I bought a $15 one (so yeah, nearly overcapitalised) because I just didn't really like the original straps. Fitting the NATO took a little fiddling but there's plenty of videos on YouTube about that. I initially put a strong crease in the strap and used a typical watch springbar tool to guide the pin when I was inserting it so as to guide the pin back into where it will click in.
Then when one side was in, I could lay it over and see exactly where the other side needed to be "creased" so that it would fit in and sit nicely.
Naturally I cut off the useless flap (which is only there for military watches which have fixed bars and the watch might slide off without that flap).
Straight up: this watch is in the upper tier of Chinese made watches and its good value for money. No matter what I say after this, if this is your first watch you'll be very pleased. If perhaps you've bought other watches then this may not compare well. Sure its well ahead of Pagani, but maybe not Sugess and Seestern (at similar prices).
So, as is my 'want' I've removed the (very nice but not my preference) black two part strap and fitted one of my well worn (comfortable) leather straps.
Classic style, stainless steel body, Seiko NH36 movment, screw down crown, sapphire crystal, for US$150 its a lot of watch for a little price.
The specs from the Baltany site (I'm not sponsored nor supported by them, so go look that up if you're keen) suggest:
Myself the combination of 2 years warranty and the simplicity of buying it through Baltany made the AliExpress possible saving barely worth it. So I bought direct.
The watch alone (no spring bars either) came to 71.6g on my scale, however with the straps I'm sure that's right (cos I checked).
While handling the watch without straps I noted that the watch feels sharp (not uncommon with low end Chinese watches). Meaning the edges feel like they are not properly finished (for human contact), or at the very least are finished without attention to detail. Instead they are just deburred and cleaned up after machining the (around 90degree edges of the case) so the nobody gets actually cut.
To show you what I mean, lets compare to my Seestern (thoughts on that hereand in that also a link to my earlier "review" of it) on the left.
The macro shots tell the difference between "hard and unfinished" edges on the Baltany (right hand side) and the rounding of corners on Seestern (left). This is most evident in the lugs, but its everywhere.
Comparison
Since its hard to look at something in isolation (we're always comparing things in our mind unconsciously) why not make it explicit and compare this to the Seestern (a watch I already own that's at a similar price point) which as you can see I also have. That they're both similar in size and are both "nod's" to another watch it makes sense to me.
Both are very similar at first glance and both whare a lot of commonality in specs (like weight) so lets look at that. I guess firstly I'll say that I prefer the nicer subtle crown guards of this version (over the homage of later model by Addiesdive (review)), and the actual crown does not protrude from the case as far as the Addiesdive does.
So the Seestern has the same movement but has a custom date wheel that is lumed. Movement: Seiko NH35A Automatic with custom made date wheel (lumed) Of course the Baltany is homaging a watch which has no date, so that's neither here nor there, but it does speak to the commitment that Seestern has put into the quality of this watch. Lug to Lug: 46.20 mm, 47.5mm Height: 13.5 mm, 13.8mm
So since this about the Baltany I'll couch everything in comparative terms to that. Both watches feel very similar on and I can't fault the Baltany or score more to the Seestern there, I do prefer the operation of the Baltany and the face (dial) of Baltany is easier to read than the Seestern because of its "dot dot dash" design language and much more clearly identifiable and easy to see hands.
The lack of bling on the dial of the Baltany makes it appealing, but somehow feels less "dimensional" to me than the Seestern. The matte black of the Baltany is indeed deep and helps the contrast but the applied markers and the nice anthracite sheen of the Seestern is worth mentioning.
Both watch cases are slightly smaller than the bezel, which makes grasping and turning the bezel easier
The Baltanys bezel is like a flat coin with the edge slightly protruding from the case side, while the Seestern (upper image) is more like a cylinder that fits within the case that has a machined bit that protrudes past it. I notice that it sure looks to be gathering gunk in there (and yet its barely been worn, unlike the Seestern. Perhaps even here you can see the differences in the finishing of the underside edge of the watch.
Viewed from above the Baltany AR is working better than the Seestern and the dial and hands of the Baltany are superior in readability
The case design is "different" but its a matter of taste
I copied the half of the Seestern dial, ran a contrast filter and over laid it onto the Baltany for making the subtle differences clearer..
We see that; the crown sticks out less (which the back of my hand made clear from the get go) and the actual visible area of the dial and bezel is the same, however the Seestern bezel is just that bit smaller than the Baltany .. this makes the watch feel more compact and combined with the better finishing the Seestern feels that bit more "premium" than the Baltany.
Speaking of premium, the Seestern has a very nice caseback which is "engraved" and shows the ocean, the Japanese heritage and the Starfish (which is what Seestern means in German)
A point worth noting here is the case of the Baltany is sharp where the strap fits. Its a bit tight and that case edge there is just as sharp as everwhere else, meaning that some of the straps you may fit will be scuffed badly by that edge. I have some nice leather NATO straps and you have to remove the spring bars to change the strap or the sharp edge will skin the polish off the strap in a straight line as you pull it through.
Not nice. At this point I prefer the design and level of finish of the Seestern but the operation feel of the Baltany ... dunno ... hard call depends if you're a bracelet only or rubber strap user. Ultimately I really can't abide the bad "finishing" of the product.
Note that Baltany has opted to go with "genuine" in the case back opening style, its Rolex. If you're doing to do any servicing (or even just regulating) the watch then the usual case back opener won't work on the Baltany.
The Lume
However the lume on the Baltany sucks because they decided to make it look like an aged vintage watch (with no other signs of wear and tear). Fellas this is for wankers. Perhaps the original when it was new had yellowed lume (I doubt it)
Its hard to represent with the camera what the eye sees, but I'll do my best to present the differences, please note that the Seestern was not running time
basically the lume became almost invisible to the camera by about an hour but I could still see both, its just that the Baltany was a lot dimmer.
This reflects what I know with the Seestern; that by 4am its still clearly visible while the Baltany isn't.
So if you you buy the Baltany its not a watch that has good lume (even though they propably spent a pretty penny on that).
A quick video tour to cap off this review....
Seeing something in a picture is not the same as holding it in your hand; but hopefully this video of the Baltany Submariner Homage helps.
These days I buy a watch to see if its how it seems. Its a beautiful watch, great value for money and met my expectations; its just I'm not sure if I like it or not.
The Box
OMG ... the box ... I can't forget the box. I have little doubt there are some out there someone has their favourite lubricant in hand waiting to hear about the box it came in ... I'd hate to disappoint.
So the box is actually a very nice presentation and provides over and above the box itsself a very nice little faux leather case for the watch (one can't just put it in the sock drawer, and of course one must pack it in this for flights to Jamacia (where naturally you'd be hoping to see a lovely Ursula Andress jogging along the beach towards you).
As well as this (and the usual paperwork and colour matched plastic card contained in that envelope) it also ships with a nice pair of tools. The usual spring bar tool (high quality with red 'safety' end covers) and a small jewellers screw driver (which perplexes me somewhat).
Conclusions
Well its odd, for while I prefer the feel of the bezel, the nice black of anodised aluminium over the shiny annoying reflection inducing polished ceramic bezel of the Seestern I've not yet taken to this watch. I lean towards the Seestern for its nicer appearance, better lume better finishing and little touches (like the crown and the caseback).
The more I wear it the less I like their faux aged lume because it jars with pristine reality of a new watch, nothing else looks aged and so it ends up just making the watch harder to read in lower contrast light and have crap lume to boot.
So my dash let me know that it was CVT belt inspection time again and so I pulled the covers off and then removed the front (half of the front) sheave to have a look. This setup has been in place for quite a while as this (link) was my last belt and CVT rebuild. I strongly recommend that you go read that too (if you haven't already) as that contains a bunch of other helpful information too.
note the bolts inserted into the rear (secondary) sheave to "de-tension the spring" which is a needed thing if you haven't done this before and don't have a manual.
Belt looked good but I didn't waste any time gazing at it in situ because my first quick measurement of it showed it was close to tolerance.
So I put it flat on the bench and sure enough, it was close...
and so yep it was getting changed.
The astute may have noticed a crack in the belt between the callipers and so that is something that I'd be keeping an eye on anyway ... Indeed this belt has been on this bike since the above mentioned service and that was at about 100,000km on the bike Odo (actually I'm thinking more like 95,000 but meh).
So with now 162,332 on it I've replaced the belt and rebuilt the CVT with new weights. 100,000km on the belt and same weights, that's not bad (and I'd like to see you get that out of a chain and sprockets).
The Yamaha inspection interval is built into the dash (and you have to reset it when the service is done) at 20,000. This means I've done four prior inspections on this thing including this "inspection" at 130,000(ish)km for replacing a sealon the big end bearing. Everything was within spec so it all went back in. Now the guidance from the 2002 model was to "inspect" the belt but that changed in the 2007 manual to "replace" ... I'll assume this is because of inadequate skills in inspecting staff or just that at $100 it wasn't worth their while even inspecting.
The weights
But I always disassemble the sheave, inspect everything; replace as needed.
as you can see, some of the roller weights were starting to show flat spots, this is bad because then they become sliders, and that's another company. The sliding effect is not what was desired by the designers (although an after market one does this) who wanted those weights to roll (or at least I expect that was what they wanted). Once a flat spot has started then it is going to pretty much get stuck in that spot ...
...as it will get "caught" on that by the pressure of rolling past the lower height. This is bad for a number of reasons (not least will be uneven pressure on the sheave parts).
This seems like a good time to go back to the last time I did this (here). On that occasion I found that:
... except when I weighed them (on a scale that is only reading in grams) I found they were some 18g and some 17g ... when I weighed the bunch they were 143g (or 17.8g on average).
... Interestingly the Yamana ones were on average 19.37g (or 155g for the lot) which as a whole mass acting on the variator is about 12g heavier ... which will mean that it takes a higher RPM for the mass of these to overcome the spring (in the secondary sheave) and mean a higher RPM before the "front" is fully engaged..
This is something to think about so lets look at what the ones which I put in then weigh and what the ones I bought to replace them weigh:
During weighing the (now) old weights I had a few strange situations so I reweighed a second time. Interestingly the sum of all weights was basically identical and the new weights are very close to what the ones I'm replacing now started out as.
Shouldn't be too surprising when you consider the shavings apparent in the sheave side. Also the new roller weights are now a different material than earlier, and aren't as dark, which I hope means they'll be somehow improved.
I don't know what the material is but I expect that its a polyurethane. I was tempted to rub some graphite into the surface to perhaps help with "sliding" but I read that there is an interaction between graphite and polyurethane as Google AI suggests:
Yes, graphite physically interacts with polyurethane when used as a filler to form a composite material, which modifies the polyurethane's physical properties. There is generally no significant chemical reaction between the two in standard preparations, but strong physical interactions (like adhesion and hydrogen bonding) are formed.
so I left it off for this first operation ... I'll inspect and report at the next 20,000 inspection.
So with it all cleaned
I lubed the interior of the shaft and the nut and assembled it.
torquing the nut on to the correct amount. The tool I have works nicely by just using the bike's weight and the lever of the arm onto the ground to hold the crank (cos that's what the nut is on) steady while you apply the right (160Nm) torque.
At this point I always start it and check that it operates well before I put the covers back on.
Oh, and I replaced the air filter that's over the rear sheave air intake ...
To me the answer is yes; this blog post serves to provide my reasoning.
Once upon a time in my IT career (it was the 90's) this meme (we didn't call them memes back then) came around:
We all laughed a lot, it was patently absurd ... it was unquestionable: nobody would be that stupid. Then I encountered this article in Ars Technica.
You fucking what now? You open a terminal (as administrator) and enter that string of text without even understanding it into the heart of your computer... breaching every defence it has and invite the invaders in through the tunnel you dug for them.
Fuck me, people are more stupid than I thought possible. So here I submit the remarks from "The Dadbod reacts" as my closing.
So it seems that we are indeed getting to live in the plot of Idiocracy....
Yesterday I went to the local cinema to see TRON ARES. I don't go to the cinema as much as I'd like because its a bit of a journey and I prefer going at night, but I don't prefer to ride back through "roo territory" on my motorbike; so I go in the afternoons. Its summer here now and the days are longer and the ride home through "tried to be a storm" clouds was beautiful.
Firstly I liked the previous 2 TRON movies and being an Xer saw the first one at the cinema too. I was mildly disappointed by it (had higher expectations of what the "Computer Graphics" (as they were then called, as they were then new) but over the years I became fond of the memories.
I missed TRON Legacy at the cinema (for various reasons) but caught up with it in the streaming age. I liked it and think that the reviews were too harsh.
I'm going to say the same here ... in a day when YouTube clamours for your (probably short) attention and people go to the movies still using your phone (note the phone in the foreground lower left in the above) I feel that 'Tubers offer polarised views and opinions because that gets "YEAHH!!!" or "FUKK NOO" emotions.
America, you have a problem.
My "no spoilers" review is this: its a solid 7 out of 10, has a good cast with lots of nice little cameo walk ons of both gear and people. It was a homage to the time starting with 80's through to the 2010's in a way that should appeal well even to Milennials and Zoomers.
As Jared said "a Classic".
I'm probably going to see it again tomorrow evening too.
We (mostly) all know that as things age they stop performing at peak levels, sometimes replacement is the best solution, but perhaps other times intervention can fix the issue. I'm not one to shy away from a surgical intervention if needed, but if another therapy can work then all the better.
Background
So, while the WW was going well these last few years I've been using it less (favouring my bicycle for shorter trips in and out of town) and its had a few small issues that I've needed to fix (like the seized rear motor, exacerbating the not using it as much).
I noticed however that the battery was "sagging down" more in voltage sooner than I thought it should do as I was riding (you know, that volt meter on the handlebars does have a useful purpose right?) and began thinking that it may be something more than just expectable aging.
I always check the "Watt Hours" (Wh) shown on my charge monitoring tool (that always remains plugged in between the charger and the scooter), and the Watts needed to recharge are less than what I'd have expected were the battery depleted down to that level of "remaining charge" (as represented by the voltage when riding). For reference, this is the Watt meter I use:
It conveniently shows how many Amps are flowing, the battery Voltage and on the bottom row cycles the left number through
Amp hours (Ah)
Watt hours (Wh)
Peak Amps (Ap)
Voltage maximum (Vmax)
Peak Watts (Wp)
the right number shows just the current situation of Watts flowing. Its a great tool and I would strongly recommend everyone with an eScooter or an eBike have one of these; you learn a lot from them.
I mean unless you're stupid, then you don't learn anything ....
First step
So I decided to pay attention to the last part of the charging cycles and come on in at the end; glancing at it as I went about my doings around the house.
I noticed that it was 0.18A (that's also 180mA) at one point, then suddenly became 0.00A ... that's wrong as before I've seen it taper nicely down to 0.01 Amps (because I like to watch these things, just like I like to watch the food I'm cooking so I don't burn it).
"Riigghhhttt" I thought, "the BMS is cutting off before balance has completed" ... first step was to turn off the charger (at the wall, in Australia power points have switches on them) and leave it plugged into the charger (so I can monitor the actual charging point voltage as well as the "take off end" that shows on the handlebar, yes they are different voltages) and wait a while (about half an hour) and then turned it back on ...
bam ... started charging at 0.56A and I thought yep, diagnosis looks right: BMS is shutting down, the full cells settle (after charging) lowering the difference between pack cell groups. The role of the BMS (among other things like discharge protection) is to ensure that charging is stopped before any cell (bundle) is over charged (think fire risk) and to help fully charged cells bleed over to the less charged cells (although different BMS's do this with different levels of quality).
So clearly it was shutting off before the other cells were fully bled.
Not wanting to stand there all day I decided to automate this with a simple "clock work" power timer I had lying around ...
I set it to provide power for 15 minutes and not provide power for 15 min. I can "turn it on" for the first bulk charge (to save time) using the switch on the side:
in the up position its providing full time power (ignoring the settings) and in the down (blue/green arrow) position its on the timer.
Lastly
I've put together this quick video showing all this and discussing the same points above but in a slightly different angle.
I quite like Nietzsche's phrase "UberMensch" (a man above the usual human limitations and social constraints), so as a hat tip to Nietzsche I have decided to make the word: UberSchmarotzer to celebrate that (apparently) uniquely Russian (and from now on I'll only call that cunt-tree RuZZia) ability to overthrow their harsh oppressive Monarchy (the Czars) and to be fooled into replacing it with parsites like Lennin and his following (further composting society) "leaders" such as Stalin and (so far) culminating in Putin.
Perhaps SchmarotzerMensch is better ... I'm not sure.
As you know the Russian Revolution led directly to where RuZZia became the sort of autocracy where invades its neighbour (Ukraine) and attempts a genocidal engulfment of them in the manner of one huge uncaring amoeba with apparent impunity.
The "apparent" is because they have inadvertently set in motion their own (slow motion) demise.
This litany of vile sub-humans (who must surely be sub-human because of their psychological lack of empathy and care) set about iteratively constructing a system which was designed to be a "jack-boot stamping on the face of their people" (borrowing from Orwell) for eternity.
They have gone past the need to have an expensive police force to ensure compliance and have selectively bred a class who are so subjugated that they have simply ceased to be anything more than the lower intelligence mice that Calhoun discovered emerged from his Universe 25.
So I expect that RuZZia will soon breed itself out of existence.
Take Care ... choices make the difference between a bright future and oblivion.
I just thought I'd make a post about how my "system" of the combination of
Solar Floor heating
Insulation in floor and Ceiling
Use of Reverse Cycle AirCon
Wood burning stove
is working out for me.
With overnight lows of about -1C (so frosts) but typically sunny days of about 18C, I get sufficient energy from that to heat the floor and this therefore takes a significant load off the AC because as the floor (basically) never gets heated by the warm air blowing out of that (so, upper walls and ceiling are heated) the floor heating system then brings the whole house up warmer.
This is a typical winter day here:
The time zone indicated by A is where I turn on the R-C A-C and the zone indicated by B is where I lit the fire. Because the house is already warm (and insulated top and bottom) the fire requires just a fraction of what would be needed otherwise.
As the sun starts to warm outside I choose that time to then turn on the AC because the exterior heat exchanger will have more advantage in raising the temperature inside if the outside is actually warmer.
Its just like the height difference between two points on a hill. The higher the difference the more energy you need. So even though I'm using technology and electricity to move and amplify that heat I'm still taking advantage of the Sun to do that.
So only one component would simply not work, but all four parts work together, consequentially my house is warmed (but not 100% of the time, my power bill is much lower) and I burn less than a quarter of the wood. For example the load of wood I bought in 2023 is still serving and I anticipate that it will provide for this winter entirely too.
I'm a big fan of
understanding diminishing returns
seeking maximum value for money
I know what it would cost to improve this situation, and so I'm quite satisfied with the additional amenity provided by my existing solar floor heating in conjunction with Reverse Cycle Air-Con and insulation to augment the little wood burning furnace that the house already had delay the need to and reduce how much I burn when I do.
Some time back I bought a $15 Sanda Rolex inspired watch to "get free postage" (but actually get something tangible on a purchase of the same cost to me) on an Ali Express order. I intended to use it in the gym to time my training and get a second hand to time HR during training. I was surprised how comfortable it was; which was (I expected) not least because of its weight.
This led me to consider the Addiesdive H3-2QZ which I found quickly enough on Ali for a discounted rate that (including taxes) worked out to AU$50. It arrived on a bracelet (which I took off) and put it on one of my well worn nylon straps (whic was a NATO, but has now been rendered comfortable); as shown below.
The watch feels nice, the bezel rotation (sadly following the sheep trend of being unidirectional so that kiddes at their desk who never dive feel better about its operation and can fantisize about impressing some chick with their knowledge) has a good feel (not too hard, not too soft) and the crown came with a surprising extra O-Ring seal I've not seen on many other watches with screw down crowns
The finish of the watch is good, with barely any "sharp" edges (compared to my Pagani); particularly the Crown is well finished not sharp or harsh and helps the watch to feel like something well over this price. The markers are all nicely placed and the shape is perfect modern dive design language. I've put below two macro shots of the finish of the crown and the edge of the dial
Frankly I don't know how they get it this good for the price, I can only guess that its electro-plated chrome finish on these points
As there are plenty of videos on YouTube about this watch I'll just add one final point about straps. The part of the watch back between the lugs is not well suited to straps (and you can see they've struggled to get the end links on too) because it has no bevel at the back. If you are going to have the drill holes close to the case then you need to account for this (as for instance Seiko does); note the finish of the edges in red arrows and the bevel identified with blue.
Finally I'm using the watch on a $14 leather two piece arrangement and it looks like this:
So now I have a watch that has a handy timer (a defining feature of a diver) as my daily driver; for days where I don't want to wear the little SandaTank.
So, I wanted to know the specific answer to the following question
but I know what sort of "intelligence" AI has so I thought I'd read that site and see what was said.
The reason for this failure is that AI doesn't actually know anything, all words are just tokens. So when the guy says "its all heat related" he's saying that its resistance NOT impedance at work. Resistance of a metal changes with temperature, while impedance is related to a magnetic field change "impeding" the flow of electrons. Impedance is the combined effect of resistanceandreactance in a circuit.
So when they guy doesn't explicitly write "no its impedance" (and wipe AI's chin after its spoon fed it) then AI doesn't notice and just keeps looking for the words that support the question; it doesn't know what a spiral is nor a core nor understand anything.
A good reading on this impedance stuff is found here.
Yep, AI was just like Homer Simpson and gave an answer while not knowing the difference between impedance and resistance when if it was actually reading and comprehending it would see that the answer was the opposite of what it gave.
Since high school (after over 10 years of punishment by Christian Nuns and Brothers) my philosophy of life has been the search for truth and the "minimisation of distortion of reality.
I have tried to live without hope, not expecting anything (either good or bad) but embracing what comes along each day.
This meme reminded me of that choice made long ago.
Longer term readers of my blog will know that I've spent a lot of time on philosophy; not as an abstract but for the very real psychological and physiological problems that confronted me.
For sure I could have committed intellectual suicide by refusing to think, by believing in a distorted reality where "God" was being merciful and loving, but too much harm was visited on me in quick succession to even remotely allow this to sit. I played no part in this, and especially that my wife was totally innocent of my prior sins so why was she punished (by death) as well as her whole family from her loss?
Christians (and perhaps Muslims and Jews) will say "this is a mystery" ... well where others see mystery I see just reality (genetics, age, illness ...); natural outcomes and statistics. To me the others are trapped in a living hell of an iteratively fictionalised character story built on the lines of Psychopathic narcissism, gas lighting and innate Stockholm syndrome.
I was well acquainted with Stoic views (from my studies of Greek and Roman history at school) but the philosophy of Albert Camus, perhaps this (link)is as good a place to start on Camus if you don't already know his work.
Being Stoic does not mean you don't feel pain, but instead it guides you how to attribute analysis and on how you should direct your responses. I've got a couple of articles on Stoic views here.
So, anyway, maintain your critical thinking, don't devolve into distortions of reality and be Stoic, be Absurdist and be a good human.
So, back in October 2024 my Wide Wheel wouldn't go, the back motor made a lot of noise and felt almost "seized" inside. I suspected rust and I suspected in it where it was found: between the stator and the magnets).
Keep in mind that I've had this scooter since 2019 and its seen a lot of use.
Accordingly there were lots of delays (what, with postage from China, two other motorcycles that needed work and changing tyres on the MX60 so that I still had an electric scooter), but eventually it all came together.
Firstly, I struggled to get the wheel apart. I looked at would I repair or replace the whole thing (after quite a few goes at trying to get it apart. The price of a the price of a whole rear hub wheel ($300 of course with a tyre fitted) vs just a tyre ($50) and a set of wheel bearings ($14 for the pair). I thought "ok, I'm willing to give it a go"; and so I decided that we had to go the hard way of cutting the tyre off.
To achieve this we (it was a two man job) used a good sharp knife, a pair of pliers to pull up what had been cut and some "penetrating oil" (spray can) to lubricate the knife as it cut. You can see the rust stain there where clearly some water (one doesn't need much) had made its way into the motor some how. I have a few ideas on that front, which I can't verify, but either way.
With the tyre off I was quickly able to remove the screws from the "right side" of the hub (sides being usually discussed from the perspective of the rider on the bike or scooter) and it came apart easily and pretty cleanly. You can then see the windings, the steel laminated metal sheets that form and hold the windings.
The problem was rust and tiny bits of broken magnet debris. Here you can't see is how tightly the magnets around the outside of them hold that stator in, meaning that just a little bit of surface rust becomes a problem. Probably not having used it for 3 or 4 months helped that rust expand (which is what rust does).
Extracting the stator requires the left side of the hub to be supported and a strong back (and a good grip on the shaft; so put the nut back on and a couple of big washers for grip) to pull it out. Do not pull on the wire.
The outside of the stator had some surface rust as well as the magnets. I used an abrasive bit on my cordless drill (also with very sparing use of penetrating oil) to clean up the outer of the stator and the inner of the magnet area.
Do pay attention to the wires and don't abrade / clean anything off the sides (there wasn't anything anyway).
You can see (blackened area to the right) that one of the magnets has had some of itself smashed off (by the build up of stuff that was in there) and its a hell scape in there if any bits break off because they'll be kept in dangerous places by the magnetic fields.
From there I decided to replace the bearings too, they tapped out nicely with a socket and the new ones tapped in cleanly too.
I thought that before ordering a tyre I'd check that nothing was wrong, inserted the stator and closed the wheel up gently.
So with everything prepared I re-fitted the motor (without the tyre) so back on the scoot and "test fire it" to see if it still worked.
All went perfectly.
However I want to take the time to reiterate a few things that are unexpected to those inexperienced in working with this type of motors.
just as the stator resisted being removed, it is strongly attracted to the hub, so care and strength is required when inserting the stator into the half with the magnets as it will suddenly and strongly get pulled into place. Be prepared for this and have a good grip and make sure the wheel side is held for this.
you MUST leave clearance under that wheel side for the axle to protrude through.
When my tyre arrived some other things became apparent
its a real tight fit and I should have used lubricant
you really need some long screws of the right type to insert into the holes in the steel frame to accurately line up with the screws that you'll replace
some sort of clamp system (big G clamps will do the trick) to pull the two sides together
some large washers to form a stack to keep the shaft pulled snugly against the other side and prevent it from moving back up
I didn't do 4 above and somehow my friend who was helping decided to use a spanner on the axle and turn it; and the stator had slid up ...
This quick movement (he's used to the oil drilling industry and heavy machinery) and ruined my motor. As the stator spun and the wheel half hub dragged on the wires that go to the hall sensors (a critical component in a brushless motor) and totally fucked those delicate connections.
Sigh ... so lesson here is "don't work like a gorilla, work like a watchmaker with electromechanical things."
I have tried to get the hall sensors out, but they are glued in and thus I'll never know what they are (to order replacements) or indeed be able to get new ones in.
The motor is now toast :'-(
By this time, when I went back to Ali I found that rear motors were not available (and they are physically different to the front).
The entire project sat in the shed until a few weeks back when I found another 2019 Wide Wheel in Facebook market place with a stuffed battery (seriously it was only good for 2km) for $200 and I decided to buy that to get a rear wheel.
However when I got the scoot I found that it was almost totally new, with very little apparent wear (well, the rims were bashed on the edges, because people don't know how to corner on) and so I decided to transplant my battery into it instead of just moving the wheel to my scoot.
The scoot had been put into ludicrous mode (explaining why the battery was stuffed) and almost none of the usual pre-ride prep work had been done (please see this article and its linked ones). Indeed the owner had done the classic 1980's bicycle brake cable adjustment which is both wrong and dangerous (see this article for how to properly adjust the standard calliper).
So, now I have a new 2019 model Wide Wheel (as well as a bunch of spare parts still on my old one) and it feels great to be still riding one. Getting a (basically) new scooter has been interesting to see how much (not much) my scooter has aged and experience a few small differences (such as the controller seems a little different on this model).
Lastly, I've written a lot about Wide Wheel scooters, so rather than list it, everything is here (all articles).
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