Doing some pictures for my blog....

This is John, KO-ed after working too long at the terminal. His interest in yx is evident in his tatoo-ed ikea boy model.


As for this, it is just random pictures we had taken so far. As you can see, there is nothing to be done this week. Which explains why we can go makan at JP, read online comics - OOTS, it is a good one. I will recommend it, as yx recommended it to me. And John is exploring his own SAE chassis... as the solar CAD is somewhat ready. =P

The near hit of a gold medal

Reached home early today, thanks to a ride from Roxanna to Bedok South. Never been up that hill before, and always wondered what lies behind. I finally got to know where it would lead to this afternoon. =)

As i went through my letters for this week, which my mom placed it in the mailbox i bought in Taiwan. i read the letter stating that i was not successful obtaining the Dr Leung Shiu Kee Gold Medal, and i was a tad disappointed as it was the first time in my life i came close to an award for studying. I hope to get the money and give a treat to the solar car team as i would not have gotten this close to a gold medal if not for their support and friendship. Intend to keep it a secret as much as possible, so that can give u guys a surprise treat. Too bad guys, you have till wait till i strike 4D or toto liao. BUT the treat at Surf & turf or fisherman's wharf is still valid, depending on whether the resturants are still in Darwin after... 6 years? .. ya.. the last time i was there was about 6 years ago.

Some good news for the solar car project: we are getting the room for building the assembly and welding jigs!! Finally we can proceed with hands-on. Hopefully the material for the carbon fibre shell and 4130 tubings will arrive soon too. The wait for starting work will soon come to a rest. heh. Its going to be a tight squeeze, but it looks like the car can be built on time. or rather, just in time would be the appropriate term.

Suddenly realised... i should go find the letter stating i am selected for as a candidate for the award, cos can go frame it up. =D Rare stuff in my inventry of personal stuff. The last time i get an award like this was the Best ship award onboard RSS Victory. =P

Woke up early to set a road marker in my life

Had been thinking about graduate studies for some time already. The reasons for it are plentiful, such as challenging myself, trying out research in the areas which i have interest in, provide myself a chance of inventing a patent with market potential, to enable me to teach at a tertiary level.

I think i would be interested in teaching higher levels, more fun as i can impart more information and also stuff apart from modules. Looking back at teaching sec 1 science and econs at 'A' levels, i find more satisfaction teaching higher levels as it is less of a one way thing. With higher maturity in the student, imparting knowledge gets easier.

Thus the road marker is set. Had just registered for the GRE or Graduate Record Exams on 24th Nov 2007. That would be a USD160 bet, and i aim to ace it so that my chances of studying in US for my PhD will be increased. It seems that after some research, the universities in US have a wider area of research i am interested in and more importantly, they view research as research, not as potential money spinners.

So i guess its time to hit the books again, especially after the WSC race in Australia. But will start by next week, time to borrow books from the library liao.

Progess, slow but better than no movement

Received a few good news these 2 days. Had accepted the fact that arrival of critical stuff will be delayed. At least it seems that by next week, most of the components we require will be on the way and i wish godspeed to all these components.

I guess being the project manager is demanding on patience, which I was rather short of years ago. But after the illness and having more years of wisdom as compared to before, i think my storage of patience had increased. =) Currently on the project full-time is yx, kx, bev (although now pre-occupied with external exams), foreign import John and me. WIth 2 new year 4s on their FYPs related to solar car, but their participation is somewhat limited by the modules during special sem. Which is the same reason why the year 3s cant join us actively too.

The stuff that are out of my control are the red tape when it comes to finances and also manpower. I guess being unpaid and not really appreciated by the University would be somewhat disappointing, especially when the team is hampered by the lack of support from the University. But i sincerely appreciate the efforts and participation of the people still putting in full-time in this project, and not to mention roy, who would be coming back once he goes on shift. But i will want him to pop over ONLY if he is not too tired, health is still of utmost importance. =)

Awaits Dawn's return after her PM cup race, of which will be happening on 1st Jul and i wish her team all the best! The only question will be when will her job at Exxon start, and i guess will have to wait till she knows the date before she informs me.. heh.. cos i guess she would be rather pissed that everyone asks her the same question. Then again, wouldn't that be the same question you would post to others if you know they just got a job? =P

Was out of this afternoon as i was feeling the flu bug was creeping on me, went back to hall and KO-ed. Slept till 7 plus in the evening and think i regained my health. =D

Hit by giant RED tape...

Kana hit by red tape today, its a HUGE one. hiaz... with the uber tight timeline we are having now, it is further worsen by the red tape at school. A bit pissed this afternoon when i realised that i cannot purchase critical components cos have to go through tenders and stuff, which takes DAYs.... and for this project, is already 6 months behind schedule due to no funding. NOw have funding and it is really DIFFICULT to get any money to buy stuff. All so time critical, but ..... hiaz.....
Oh well, contamplating doing stupid stunt... but will think trice before i do decide. heh..

Went to play soccer on the field just now, scored an own goal, created one, a magnificent cross for John to head in, and finally in the closing minutes, volleyed John's cross into the crossbar, which rebounds off the keeper's back and into the goal. Muahahahahaha ....

Tired, but happy that i went for the exercise.

The hunt for place for wedding dinner...

for my brother, that is. =P No no no... its not me who is getting married, its my elder brother. There was no intention of having a dinner, until my sister-in-law's parents decided that they wanted to fly down to join in the celebration. Hmmm... looks like its going to be a bigger event than my brother wanted. heh

So, thats why i am back at home for dinner, as we will be going to try out the dishes at Roland resturant at Marine Parade. heh heh... its free, for me at least. =P

Today was a good day, with one major hurdle cleared as we FINALLY managed to order the hub motor from Mitsuba, and this would not have happened without Kiyo's help. Thank you Kiyo!!! =D

Updated suspension system

We spent the past few days on updating the suspension design to AISI 4130 steel, and now, its time to unveil it....



John had created the steering knuckle (known as the upright in American lingo) with a fruity colour just for Yongxi. Awaiting quotation for the rod ends (John's recommendation) and bearings for the hubs. YX have also designed the hub and spindle, now awaiting the arrival of the brakes to determine the dimensions and we can CnC the steering knuckle, hub and spindle asap.

Presently at home, and my brother is getting married in Sep this year.yeah! hee hee... Wonder if he has fren doing the MC, else it would be me. At least i wont be the photographer this time round, so that i can join in the fun. Mom was looking at old photos of us...was laughing at my young self. Maybe will scan and upload it when i am free, but better not mention that i am free, cos my mom dug out the thousands of photographs i took when i was in the Navy. Really thousands cos i took more than 40 over rolls in my first overseas training trip in the Navy, and the photos i took in subsequent trips... plus the 20 rolls of Europe backpack trip... its gonna take a LONG time to get them into order. Wonder if the photos i took broke 5,000.... hmmm .. maybe 3000++ ba. Well.... its all in that A4 paper box, + the 6 completed albums that i actually sorted out.

Of crabs and Shell

Slept in late today, and thus only reach cad lab by 1040 in the morning. By then, John had the steering knuckle design up and ready for FEA. He used CosmosExpress from solidworks while i used VisualNastran for FEA. Mostly similar results for both software when the model is simple, but as the complexity increases, i think visual nastran has a better meshing algorithm. Think... but didnt go and compare though.

John optimised his steering knuckle design to minimise the weight of the knuckle, from 3.3kg to the 2.4kg at 5pm. I think it can be lighter, but will lead to difficulties in the CnC process. So.. oh well.

Went for dinner together with Wheng, yx, john and kx. Gave John a chance to try out Singapore's famous chilli crab, with hotplate tofu, baby kailan, drunken prawns (yx and wheng gave Thumbs up) and butter crab. It was a surprise celebration treat from Wheng. Thank you!! =D

Reached back hall with makan MU at the max. =) Received the email from Shell for the interview appointment. It is a self serve thingy as i got to choose between 2 dates and the timing as well. Actually wanted to choose 4th of July, but realised that the venue is at Pulau Bukom.... as compared to UE square for the interview on 3rd July... obviously i chose 3rd Jul, at 11 am so that i can have enough time to prepare myself and travel down too.

Hmmm .... excited as i have not had an interview for quite a long time liao. Third one in my life ba... 1st for the Navy, 2nd for Motorola, and now.. my third. Still rather undecided about what i want to do in Shell, but i guess it will be good experience to go for interview anyway. =) I wonder if they give sponsorship for further studies, cos i found myself interested in going for post grad studies, maybe a direct PhD. I guess further studies is only viable IF i can get a scholarship, and preferably in States or UK.

Oh well, its still the solar car as main priority, followed by 1~2 months of rest where i can finish my book and the website (hopefully i can afford it, running low on savings liao), then probably start my post grad studies or start work. Feeling that i will have a chance at further studies.. just wondering how would that chance come by... already on the look out liao. =P

Suspension revealed + Surf's Up

Re-designed the suspension system today with the help of John. With the change in material from Aluminium to AISI 4130 alloy Steel and using of rod-ends instead of ball joints simplified the design quite a bit. Iterated the geometry quite a bit and learnt quite a few nify tricks for solid works from John too. His practical experience was very useful. Having completed the design for the front suspension system, i had to go back to help wheng and so let John design the steering knuckle. =P

Went back at 4 in the afternoon so that i can help guide 50 over students from RC to Tampines Mall for a movie screening. From primary 1 to sec 1, thats a lot of them, and we watched 'Surf's Up'. It was a challenge to get everyone to listen and even harder to get them to behave, especially the younger ones with very short attention span. Have to keep reminding them, luckily the older ones set a good example for them to follow. Nonetheless, it was a good experience and fun too! Can see that they had enjoyed the movie and was chatting non-stop on the way back to the RC.

The movie was made for kids, thus the usual storyline to motivate children to work towards their goals and being happy, winning is not everything. While that was like a sub plot in my mind, i found myself being very amazed at the computer rendered graphics. It must have took a long time and probably a few super computers in series to animate and render all that stuff. Amazing.... and it is not only time consuming, but to get all the details in.. i wonder how many hours they spent on the entire project... hmmmm...

Busy and lull periods...

Was busy yesterday with all the sawing of the ribs for the carbon fibre shell assembly jig. Using the hand held jig saw to cut the frames into the correct shape was not easy. And there was only John and myself to take turns at sawing it all. Tiring it was, my back ached and entire arm was also aching... man.. am i getting old or what. Heh .. i hope it is the 'what'.. i need to exercise more soon.

Will start the morning swimming sessions by probably Friday. Need more sleep at night these days, think is cos i dont get afternoon naps liao, since i am no longer studying.

Today was a lull day, we went to Ngee Ann Poly to check out the space there and the welder + tube bender. We may have to use the space there if we dont get our own space soon, but i guess it will require permission from our school. Then its back to sending emails and waiting for replies from companies. One of the fun part was to track the letter to Mitsuba online... paid $26.30 for it, so better track it and get some satisfaction out of it. heh heh

Re-designed the suspension geometry to fit the chromoly steel chassis. Obtained better geometry and understanding of how to mount it with the aid of John. His experience is invaluable. Talk about shortening the learning curve. =) Thanks John. =D

Finally, some photos of progress

It has been quite some time since i had photos up on my blog. Managed to get some photos of what we have been doing so far.

We have Kai Xin working on her solar cells, apparantly laser cutting failed and thus we may not be cutting our cells unless we have more time on hand to try femto-laser cutting.

Setting up the jig for welding of chassis is underway and so is sawing of the blocks. Found out that the wood is HARD to saw, but we have to cut it down to smaller sizes before using the band saw to turn it into usable blocks. I had sore muscles (triceps) for 2 days ... looks like no IPPT is not such a good thing after all.

Finally, the makan at triple 3 resturant, of which the standards had dropped significantly... tsk tsk... nonetheless, it was a good dinner. Thank you Prof Butler!!!

Fishing ....

Today went fishing with yx and john. Its my second time with yx and 1st with john... ar then... hehehe. Going to Changi to fish, so met yx and john at tampines.

I went to post the order form to Mitsuba at singpost tampines, but realised that a registered letter which costs S$3.30 will take more than 1 week to reach, so i opted for the fastest way, and it cost $26++. Ouch!! But no choice, lets hope that the order form is accepted and we can get the critical hub motor.

So i was late in meeting them, so met at ntuc instead, where we bought bait, water and 12 cans of beer for yx and john... mainly John. haha. Looks like americans need beer, lots of beer.

Took bus 29 and alighted at one end of changi walk and walked towards changi village. Found a ok spot, a 'jetty' which was fenced and posted as dangerous, but we went in anyway. Lots of rocks and John had his sinker stuck in the rocks twice, and yx and i had one each. It as drizzling but as we were about to leave, yx caught one small fish, which was thrown back into the sea. John and i were empty handed but we headed to changi village for late lunch, and this proved to be a good move as the rain gotten much bigger as we reached the market.

Round 2 of fishing started after makan, buying the hole saw for the chassis tubing and some 4D buying. This time, all of us landed fish, and i got an eel, which was the only fish that died cos it twisted itself with the fishing line and ...... there was nothing i can do. HIaz......

Left at 7pm for home and took yx and john for dinner with my family. John enjoyed the nonya style steam fish the most among cereal prawns and pork ribs. Treated my dad, yx and john for father's day, helping me getting 2nd upper and helping out tremendously with the solar car project respectively. 3 birds with one stone.... heh heh.

Rather tired, was thinking of playing basketball tomorrow, but oh well.... didnt bring back my spare specs.. so probably not going. =P

the long red tape .....

The project is going on ... smoothly, although if the red tape is a lot shorter, we may actually get things done much faster. Quite a few things are time critical, and as the dragging for authorisation goes on, it might be the main delaying cause for the solar car.

Well, at least it is better than the sit and wait previously, at least now, we are building up the other parts of the car while waiting to clear this hurdle, and we WILL clear it!!!

Going out with john and yx pretty often, more so to let John try out new stuff. Esp on food and he was rather game for trying duck liver, though he seems rather resistant against trying pig's intestines. heh heh.

Today's roy's birthday, and i guess he is busy celebrating it secretly as usual. We managed to catch Butler on tues though. heh heh

i have high hemogoblin count

Went for doctor's appointment today and had a full blood count. Today's blood report was a bit late, so did not get to see my liver panel (a list of substance that can determine the health of the liver).

My hemoglobin was above normal, and the doc went... 'are u a smoker?' I was like. . hahaha .. me? a smoker? i avoid smoke like plague. =P So he went back to check my previous results, and looks like i have high hemoglobin count all along. so.. phew!

As for the project, things are moving on, more things are getting done and the possibility of the completion of the car is looking good. The present biggest hurdle is to order the hub motor asap. Hope that a surprise appears and we can breach that hurdle and move on to many smaller ones. =)

Balance .. art of enticipating crisis

Project mamagement is an art i will need to learn, or better, to master. With a limited budget, and now, dwindling manpower. It would be interesting to see what solutions will appear to tackle this problem.

Presently is still the same problem of obtaining the hub motor from Mitsuba, and likely will have to change to CISRO motor next week, IF still available. Manpower wise, we have lost Roy to SSMC, but i guess he can only help out during weekends. That is we can get the space and permission to do anything over the weekend. Likely to lose Andy by next week, this time to Keppel FELS.

We solved the printing problem, thus we can go ahead with the printing of the plans tomorrow. And order in the required amount of plywood also, looks like some calculations to do. Calling to Australia is required too... as we need the 4130 tubings asap. SO i guess i am getting to the critical deadline where the team will come to a stand still as we await for all the parts to arrive. and this is bad. hmmm......

Need to have everything taken down, else i cant remember too!! time to put that palm top of mine to better use. one question is how... hope my mind can answer that question by the time i wake up tomorrow... heh

Great news!!

Went for solar car team makan yesterday at Triple 3 resturant with the team, Butler, foreign import John and 4th year add-on Yuan Man. The place had changed quite a bit since the last time i been there. Unfortuately, i would say that the spread gotten smaller, no more lobster of the day and bread section was gone too! sigh....

However, it was the company that was fantastic, i had fun, chatting and stuff. We sat there from 730 all the way till 1030pm. So it was very enjoyable.

yongxi and i went back by MRT, and by the time i got back, it was 1140+. So as usual, i checked for the results for the fun of it and ..... got the message, that my results are not out yet. So i checked mail and stuff, went back to click again just for the fun of it..... Suddenly, i realised that my grades are out...was very surprised that it actually came out at the stroke of midnight. =)

Had met my objective of graduating in 4 years time, and the bonus was the 2nd upper class. It was a pleasant surprise to see that i obtained a B+, 4 A- and 2 A+. Heh heh. .. at least i manage to get a distinction in NTU.... although it was a GE, and the other was FYP. =) And i could not have had that A+ for FYP if not for the team who had undertaken the project together. Yongxi also had 2nd upper, while the rest of the team obtained 2nd lower. It was a happy day for all. =D

Went to Dynaglass today and learnt quite a bit, and looks like we will be fabricating the carbon fibre shell ourselves... learning new processes and more importantly, saving LOTs of money... phew!!! Maybe will be able to save up to $50k by DIY !! With the company supporting us. =) Yeah!!!

Busy day ... with sad news

Read on Ian's blog that he had passed away while undergoing stem cell transplant, thru lung infection. He had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, not sure which type though, but he was one brave guy to have fought on relentlessly. I guess he would be another person whom i had known, however briefly, to have passed on due to cancer.

I realised that life is short, but to move on, I salute them as brave warriors who been through much. But i will concentrate on the living, the band of cancer survivors who have carried on with their lives after treatment. Hopefully one day, I will be able to inspire not only people inflicted with cancer, but also everyone to live their lives to the fullest. Why be like Lance Armstrong when one can surpass him. =P

How to achieve that? I guess I will just live my life to the fullest, and pieces of the puzzle will fall into place one way or another. I guess the amazing thing about life is that once you decide to put in your best in doing whatever you do, opportunities will come.

As for today, the team got the lightbox up, further confirmation of the chassis and shell design, the TIG welder is found and John and I spent 45 mins or so vandalising the lightbox. We took turns to spray the interior black, but ran out of spray paint before the interior of the box was totally black.

Drove today, think it was about 4 months since i last drove... maybe more. BUt it was a short trip from the sweaty workshop to my hall, where yx and i transported the Asahi film back to the workshop. Next is to use the clean room for applying the coating on the solar cells.

blogging again....

Back in Singapore for more than a week already. But was too busy or too tired to write. Mainly was ... not in the blogging mood.

Things were exciting the past week. John, an american from cooper union, NY, joined our team for 2 months. With his experience in making cars, i think we will be able to speed up our construction process and hopefully, make less mistakes. heh.. i guess he will shorten the learning curve somewhat.

Results are due on Friday, at 1000 hrs predicted by Arjun and YX, i guess they are right. although i guess i will be trying my luck on thurs evening though. =P

It was fun in Taiwan. We went to Hualien, Tai chung, the Sun Moon Lake and of course, Taipei. Overspent a bit, mainly for stuff for family and friends. Bought a book and a shirt for myself ,..... ermm.. and a postbox and dice cup too! heh. Will post the picture if i remember to take it. =P


As for today, kai xin drove us around today to buy stuff, and we got what we wanted, tomorrow is yet another rush... think we would be spending more time on the car now, with the funds available. =) Although still not really enough yet.... but will do with what we have at the moment.