I'm too old to go back to college, particularly since I know their entire purpose is to keep you there so they get more money out of you, not to make you employable or able to think. College is a ripoff. I want to actually learn stuff which can solve problems or lead to a satisfying career. For me, that's got to involve amateur engineering, mechanical and structural. I'd like to learn CNC machining and build engine and suspension parts, then get them heat treated so they're strong. Considering most of the people I run into in business just care about themselves and have no scruples about cheating customers to maintain their lifestyles and comforts, I will probably need to do most of that myself. CNC equipment is coming down in price. I have a very high IQ for geometry. It is time I used that for my own benefit. I've said many times that the future of our collapsing world is in spare parts manufacturing, and in lightness. I see documentaries like Yank Tanks in Cuba and I see America in 10 years and wonder just how many people will be cobbling together cars running whatever fuel we can cook up. And what are the engineering requirements to accomplish that.
And the place to start all of this is a CAD program. Not AutoCAD. It was clearly designed by people who hate end users. It consistently remains awful software. I have never found a CAD teacher who could teach it. I suppose this means that either they don't exist, or they're in so much demand because its such a PITA software program that they're busy working for money, not teaching. Its probably the latter. AutoCAD is just one of many. I need to work with 3D, so I can design structures like vehicle frames, and then digitally stress test their joints to see where they're strong and weak and improve them in cost effective ways, well before I go and buy the equipment to do the job. This means I'm going to need some education in structural engineering too. I'm counting on the software to do the calculus for me, or find the formulas in the book. Most engineering problems have already been described in mechanical and structural engineering books. Civil too. There's no point mastering calculus if you're doing earth moving and drain pipe laying for a subdivision. I need to know the stressors on individual components in engines and suspensions and support structures of a frame. Not that interested in crash absorption. Sorry, just not. Dune buggies don't have that luxury.
Now that I know I'm just too clumsy for routine bicycle riding, this largely means motorcycles are even worse an idea for me. I'm really disappointed. Really disappointed. Been dreaming of them for ages, but my diabetes screws with lots of parts of my health, and obstinately insisting I should ride, with no health insurance, is likely to get me killed. They aren't completely useless, though. The engines, and the concept of lightness as a driving force, gives me reason to think seriously about buggies, street legal, for my commute. It is probably cheaper to start with a light car and make it lighter, such as a bubble car. Make it lighter and less comfortable, but lighter will use less fuel and be a good test of my craftsmanship and eventually wind up with a small roadster or convertible out of an ugly little car like a Geo Metro, which uses a water cooled 3 cylinder Triumph motorcycle engine, pattern built by Suzuki. I need to know a lot before I spend any money, including finding an overlay of the frame and its hardpoints (where the critical drivetrain and suspension mounts are and what holds them steady). Find where things can fail. Reinforce the danger points as I replace the monocoque frame with tubes welded into place. See about variable ride height at some point, and the trick magnetic suspension, maybe. Might be too heavy to bother with. Mechanical progressive suspension is probably lightest and more reliable, not having a computer.
A Subaru would almost certainly be cheaper. And heavier. And more comfortable and safer as well. Its not exactly the point. The point is I need a project I can get into.
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