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Slot Car Chassis  SatNav Adaptor  Venturi Wall

Slot Car Chassis:

This chassis was built during a period when I had a great interest in slot car racing. Unfortunately it was under development when I gave up racing so never really got to prove its potential. It is unusual in being an articulated design, the idea being to give better handling on tight circuits. The chassis is constructed from aluminium and features the ubiquitous Mura Gp 20 motor in a shallow “anglewinder” configuration using straight cut gearing. The red bands are for damping and for centering the front end. Unfortunately this car would be illegal for racing now.

SatNav Adaptor:

I designed this little gadget after finding I did not like having my SatNav stuck to the windscreen. I am not a fan of the mounts that plug into the 12V power socket either as I find these are not rigid enough. This device clips into a small recess in the dashboard of my Mazda 2 and allows the sucton pad of the SatNav mount to be stuck to it. The SatNav can be easily angled to allow use by either driver or passenger. The device is easily removed from the dash when not required. The version shown is a bit of a prototype on which the top plate is removable. However, I am currently working on an improved one piece version that dispenses with the screwed on mount plate. The pictures show the device with and without the SatNav mount fitted and in the car, with and without the SatNav fitted.   

Venturi Wall:

I had forgotten about this one until I unearthed it recently. Many years ago, watching a fence strain under the force of the wind made me wonder whether this energy could be harnessed without the need for moving parts. What if the fence were constructed of thousands of mini Venturis through which the wind would blow. Each Venturi would create a small negative pressure. If all these Venturis were connected to a common chamber or plenum, the combined negative pressure could be used to turn a small remote turbine for example, especially if used as part of a chain of similar Venturi arrays. The Venturi mouths would be square to give maximum wind capture over the Venturi area. Below is the original sketch I made of the idea. It is a bit basic, however, it gets the general idea accross. The shaded area on the Venturi stack detail drawing shows the low pressure area in the common chamber. I haven't a clue whether the idea would work, it was just an idea that went no further than that.