Re: Avalon

["Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Comments, and News, interspersed.


>Original poster: "Gomez ADDams" <gomez-at-netherworld-dot-com>
>
>on that fateful day 8/11/00 9:24 PM, Tesla list uttered:
>
> > Original poster: "Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>
> >
> > Well, word came down from the city today. If all goes well we should be 
>in
> > the building as the snow melts :) (These things take a LOT of time, red 
>tape
> > BS and all that). But with 16 buildings sitting on 30 acres it's well 
>worth
> > it.
>
>In a word, "Wow".  How are you paying for this property, or have you come 
>to
>some kind of mutual benefit (via education) agreement with the city?
>

Mark your calenders, the countdown has begun.

The facility is owned by a bankrupsy court and with the environmental issues 
(can you say Superfund?) the property is useless to most everyone. Nobody 
has the quehones (or the blind foolishness) to touch it, that's WHY they 
havn't been able to sell it for 15 years.

It would take a lunatic to buy it.

I called the lawyer with an offer of $100,000 today, he accepted. lol

One of our members offered me $100,000 to start the aquisition of the Avalon 
facility. I have to send in a writted proposal, and $20K of deposit. The 
lawyer will take it to the court and if they accept my offer we pay the 
other $80K and close within a month. IF they decline then I get my $20K back 
and return it to the member.

The property sits in a renaisance zone and has no property taxes for 15 
years. With the monies availible from the government (DEQ, EPA, State, Fed, 
etc...) we will launch a massive cleanup effort on the property itself.
We will use the funds made from salvadge of the 2,000,000+ tons of steel and 
other junk in the buildings to fund the initial remodel. We will contract 
out the entire salvadge operation and get 20-50% of the revenue. 2Million 
tons of steel alone (not counting the hundreds of tons of stainless, wood, 
and God knows what else) at $45 a ton is $90,000,000 dollars. What could YOU 
do with 20-50% of $90M? We will use it to launch a $350M capital campaign to 
fund the creation of Avalon.

Not bad for a punk college kid, eh?



> > This entire building will be remodeled as a dedicated use, strictly HV
> > experimentation and research. What types of things should we be thinking
> > about in the early phases of design?
>
>How to pay for the machine shop.

lol, got it.

>
> > If you could make your dream Tesla
> > workshop, what would you have?
>
>Everything.

> > My thoughts are that, with the flat roof, a telascopic roof would be
> > feasible. With overlapping sections about 5' each riding on rails 
>similar to
> > a gantry crane, they could be either pneumatic or cable controled.
>
>Sounds great.  You must have won the lotto jackpot.
>

Actually, after a bit of structural review...this is not practical in the 
main HV lab. We will have the outdoor coil, and a openable roof in another 
area where we can use large coils. Not to mention my apartment is going to 
be on the top floor of the HV lab building.


> > Give me ideas guys, this is an oppertunity to make the dream Tesla 
>research
> > facility.
>
>OK, if I'm a-gonna dream, let me dream big.

I do, everyone should. You'd be amazed what you can accomplish.


Let's assume for the moment
>that Bill Gates decided to cash out of Microsft and get into building Tesla
>coils full time...

God help us......

>
>  I'd want non-ferrous, maybe even non-metallic walls.  (fiberglass panels
>over Sitka spruce framing?)

No, just the opposite. I plan on using a large old steel tank (about 75'dia 
and 40'high) for HV use. Remember Faraday?



>
>  I'd want lots of big porcelain insulators, for all kinds of purposes,
>not least of which making sturdy platforms to get my primary away from the
>rebar in the floor.
>

Yup....5'high 10X10 table.


>  I'd want the local electrical utility, and maybe a distributor or
>manufacturer of electrical switchgear, distribution transformers,
>insulators, etc, to come on board as sponsors.
>

As far as the local utility, maybe. But I'd rather have as much of avalon 
off the grid as possible.
We add sponsors every week. I think we have something like 20 for Geek-3 
alone, imagine what we'll have for Avalon? I'm thinking of Intel, Micro$oft, 
Sony, Tascam, LEGO, NSF, etc...


>  I'd want a flatbed load of Sitka spruce for building ridiculously large
>coil forms.
>

Yeah baby.... :)
Perhaps I should invest in some seedlings? Doesn't that only grow in Alaska 
or something like that?

>  I'd want a "compleat" (look it up) machine / tooling shop with nothing 
>less
>than:
>
>* an engine lathe big enough to turn a naval gun barrel
>

We got the room for it....

And a few smaller ones, with tapping and other features.

>* at least one precision machinist lathe
>

Good...Brand? Enco?

>* large knee mill
>

My Knees are fine, thank you.

>* heavy duty horizontal mill
>

Several, and Vertical mills

>* surface grinder
>

Given, for that nice 4th decimal shine.


>* big metal cutting bandsaw with built-in blade welder and grinding wheel
>

Yes, and counterweighted feed.


>* two drill presses
>

And a tapping machine.

>* a row of at least four grades of grinding wheels, 3-4 wire wheels and a
>   complete series of finishing, buffing, and polishing wheels, all on a
>   common shaft, driven by a single (1hp+) motor, mounted on a nice long
>   bench.

Cool, you wanna build it?

>
>* lots of carbide, HS steel, and ceramic cutters and bits for the above

Oh yeah, basic stock.

>
>* a gauge and measurement room, complete with granite surface table, 
>various
>   calipers, inside gauges, outside gauges, gauge block set, and so on

We will have a complete metrology setup, 3axis,air bearinged, 6"granite 
slab, oooooooohhhhhhhhhh


>
>* 100 - 400 amp arc welder with HF arc stabilizer attachment
>* 40 - 150 amp wire welder with gas
>* a plasma cutter and/or a gas cutting rig
>

and a sesame seed bun

>* an open account with the local Matco, Proto, or Snap-On tools dealer
>

We're already talking with them as a sponsor. :)


>* various woodworking tools, ala a well-equipped hobbyist wood-worker's 
>shop


Well beyond the hobbiest level, but yes.

>
>* no need to sleep, except when I felt like it
>

I wish.

>* an on-site kitchen & break room, well stocked
>

Dorms are across the quad, about 500' away. My apartment is upstairs.


>* temporary sleeping (not necessarily living) quarters for ten
>

>* a hot tub
>

hmmmmmm....it would give me a reason to start bathing again, more than once 
a year at least.


>* a certified massage therapist on call

Have you met Neemie? (our 6' female staff photographer, well known for her 
backrubs)


Well, we're writing budgets like mad....you'd be amazed of the things you 
DON'T think of. While you guys are dreaming about massive lathes...who 
remembered light bulbs? Brooms? A shop Vac? It's the nickel and dime toys 
that eat away your VC fast.

Chris "The Great Budgetter" Boden
President / C.E.O.
The Geek Group
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