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TEXT ONLY | CREDITS | APPLY FOR SCRAPHEAP 2005 | |||||||||||||
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| DON'T MISS SCRAPHEAP ON CHANNEL 4 EVERY SUNDAY, 6.30PM |  |
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Flame Flingers | |
Result | |
Anoraks' diary | |
Atoms' diary | |
Science | |
Related links | |
All challenges | |
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The Anoraks' diary Reign of fire Having had to miss one round, I was glad to get back to the heap and this time I knew the routine so I was ready for the early starts and long days. Our challenge was to throw a steel ball the size of a football filled with solid rocket fuel at a target up to 40m away and set fire to it. With previous events, we had some experience of what we were building, in this case it was all new to us, so when our expert Paul suggested the design, we were happy to go with it. After all, we could see the logic behind it. The key to our success would be the trigger. That bit we would leave to Paul, while we concentrated on building the rest of the machine. Our machine was based on an old London taxi buried right at the back of the heap. With permission, myself and Paul helped with the scavenging. It must have taken us a couple of hours, but we got it out. The good news was Marc drove it back so we knew all was okay with the mechanicals, which was a load off our minds. Marc and Lyndon did a stunning job scavenging in the hot sun so by lunchtime we had all we needed. Paul started on the trigger while the three of us started on the taxi. First to go was the rear section of the bodywork. We then had to raise the rear axle to allow enough clearance for the throwing arm. We did this in two stages: first we cut out sections of the rear suspension and folded the shackles back on themselves and welded them solid, this enabled us to keep the original geometry of the axle. This was important as we needed to retain the balance, the G forces at the end of the throwing arm would be huge. This done, Marc and Lyndon found an old lorry ramp which we adapted to go under the rear axle for extra lift and support. At the front, I cut off the hubs from the rear of a Fiat 127. I welded these to a bit of box and mounted in place of the front bumper of the taxi to create the pivot wheels. We used a bottle jack at the rear so we could raise the back. All we needed to do was push the front round and we had movement for aiming. We were now ready to mount the arm and trigger Paul had made to the rear axle. This was when disaster struck; Paul had made it all back-to-front. All was not lost, however, a bit of extra modification and some grinding and we were soon back on track. By the end of the build, we were all set, all we needed to do in tinkering time was paint it and fit some protection to the rear. Good job we did, too! Trial by fire After tinkering time, we watched the Up 'n Atoms go first. Their first shot hit the target straight in the middle. To say we were worried was a understatement. We knew our first shots would be for sighting and getting the trajectory sorted. The Up 'n Atoms managed to get as far as aiming for the 40m target but didn't get too close to actually hitting it. We hit the target with our second shot. It landed right in the middle of the target and it hit so hard it smashed the wood behind the petrol-soaked boxes. Our third shot was a disaster. We had adjusted the trajectory, but went too far. Shot three misfired and the ball landed on the taxi's fuel tank. Paul was quick to react and put the fire out. The fourth shot was again perfect. The ball bounced just before the target and hit it right in the middle. The fifth shot was to the 30m target, we adjusted the trajectory and crossed our fingers, perfect first time. The sixth ball was for the 40m target, we needed this to win. The ball came out, fell short and ran along the ground, stopping about a meter from the target. Shot seven was a misfire and shot eight came out perfectly but went far too high. It bounced and fell agonisingly short. Still, we had got closer so we were through to the finals. Geoff Turtell |
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