Fabric and Fan progress

I have been very slack in the last few months. My fabric is currently sitting in Auckland port at the complete wrong time of year. The boat pulled in on Saturday morning and was ready for pick up as of Saturday night. So i will call them on Monday to sort out the specifics like import tax etc.

Now the current situation is out of the way, let me fill in the blanks of the past two months! A month ago i purchased a Titan 6.5hp motor for $299NZD which was a bargain in comparison to a genuine Honda which would of set me back around 3 times as much. With the Christmas rush i haven't been able to progress as much as i would of like due to time and money. Hopefully in the new year with the fabric here i will finally gain some financial traction and time to boot.

A friend of mine Neil has a friend that will be able to help me out with bending my fan frame. Once that is complete and sitting on wheels i can progress to getting a new hub made up to fit the new motor. Hopefully these two steps will progress faster after the new year however i am at the mercy of generosity as they are favors and not jobs i am paying top dollar for.

Another purchase of mine towards the fan was a set of wheels from Trademe which set me back about $70 for a set of four. The photos displayed in the auction didn't accurately describe the wheels therefore we had to make modifications. As displayed in the middle photo below the wheel hub goes past the edge of the rubber which isn't ideal so Dad machined the outside down. The other issue with these wheels was the listed height which was slightly off which created a minor redesign of the frame aka raising the cage to stop the wheels from rubbing.

On the other front by the end of January i hope to have the fabric cut out which means i have to obtain the fabric, cut templates and proceed to cut each panel. Hopefully once i get started it will light a fire in my belly and i will progress rapidly.