I set out this morning to build a lap top Maximite. There are lots of
jobs a Maximite can do. Literally hundreds. Not just EFI and EFIS.
Auto pilot any one?
Another job is measure the compression of a rotary engine 10 times a
second so one gets a nice pressure curve. If you buy this tool from
Mazda it is $300 or more. This is used to detect leaking rotor seals
both apex and side seals.
Interfacing it to two automobile racing weight scales gives a low
cost aircraft engine dyno as the Maximite can read the wheel weights
at high speed and average the readings. The torque and RPM give the
net HP out of the prop.
Another job is get pressure wave shapes out of the intake manifold to
make sure your engine is tunned properly.
The idea here is change the runner lengths until the torque peak
matches the prop torque requirements. Best done with a ground
adjustable prop pitch.
So I decided to put the Maximite in a steel box and mount it under
the Gear Head keyboard. The box is made from air conditioner 24 gage
sheet galvanized steel. Cheap, easy to cut and bend with no bend
allowances because it is so thin. It is also readily available
everywhere.
Here are some pictures. Pretty much all self explanatory.
Ask away.
I may build these Maximite boxes for sale. Let me know if you are
interested.
Our Lamar Instruments web site is now:
www.LamarInstruments.com <http://www.LamarInstruments.com>
<http://www.LamarInstruments.com> <http://www.LamarInstruments.com>
<
http://www.LamarInstruments.com
Paul Lamar
Nice job Paul,
I made one for mine out of rhino plastic, my keyboard is one of the
flexible roll up types and a 8in touch screen.
I since I have also purchased the micromite and the LCD screen for it
to make a EFIS and another maximite for my EFI and EI controller.
They are pretty neat and work great.
David Mikesell
Mike do you care to share some of that source?
I am glad to see there is at least one other person with vision out
there :-)
I thought a lot about this and there were very few people out there
with vision. The Wright brothers had it and so did Kenichi Yamato
with the Mazda rotary.
Dave Garber, Abel Ibarra and Russ MacFarland on the TTC project. Lou
Ross on the Ford based gearbox. Reginald Joseph Mitchell for a life
devoted to fast airplanes like the Schneider Cup racers and the
Spitfire. Charles Lindberg for seeing the possibility of flying long
distances.
It takes vision to see the possibilities and perseverance to see it
through..
These are the achievers.
Not something one can learn in school.
Paul Lamar
Nice job Paul,
I made one for mine out of rhino plastic, my keyboard is one of
the flexible roll up types
and a 8in touch screen.
I since have also purchased the micromite and the LCD screen for
it to make a EFIS
and another maximite for my EFI and EI controller.
They are pretty neat and work great.
David Mikesell
Are the photos on the website or did they not attach?
if I had the funding for half of my "visions" it would change the
game.
In other words, I think there a tons of visions (visionaries?) out
there who have things in life (in my case raising an autism diagnosed
child) that prevent them from realizing visions. Of course a lot just
have "pipe dreams" as well, but all I'm trying to add to this train
of thought of yours, Paul, is that those people you mentioned (the
likes of Mr. Hughes, etc) all had vision, but perhaps just as
importantly, they also had gumption. Seems to me it's the combination
that really separates those that do from those that don't.
Personally, I am focusing my resources on other things at the moment,
and prioritizing my dependent above my engineering and hobbying, but
one of these days that won't be as necessary, and these visions of
mine will combine with my gumption and I'll be on board with you in
actually doing some truly innovative creation.
I can hardly wait. I've created many innovative engineering projects
out of necessity so far in life, and am SO anticipating the time in
my life to do so for fun and the pleasure of doing and creating new
forms of flight and power just to see what happens.
Thx for the reminder, Paul.
Best regards-
Jess Loop
The photo's were attached to the first message in the thread.
Here they are again. They are not on the web site.
If you are using a cell phone you may not get all the photos.
However there is a comprehensive article on how to use computer
captured
intake runner data to tune your engine on the web site.
http://www.rotaryeng.net/fund-of-intake.html
Paul Lamar
I am curious on your thoughts about the pros/cons of putting
together a controller+screen+keyboard+sensors like this VS. putting
together sensors to plug into a last generation (or even current
generation phone/tablet) android?
Most people have a 2-3yr old phone they don't use as they got
"the newest flagship device" as part of their cell contract. My 6yr old
son has my old galaxy s2 and s4 phones as "toys" since I don't have a
use for them anymore.
For the general public a "phone" is less intimidating than a
"programable microchip". You could still market the sensor package as
well as sell the software through the app store.
Just curious,
Narfi Willem
Well they are very powerful with probably an ARM processor.
The huge market for them has resulted in a lot of R&D on this
processor.
The problem is the one hundred I/O pins on the processor are
not brought
out of the tablet or phone. You might find a USB accessory board
that has these low level control pins but the serial interface
slows the I/O down.
Most of the tablets and phones have an incomplete USB interface.
The phone/tablet USB can be connected to a computer and the
computer can
read and write files in your tablet or phone.
However the phone/tablet cannot read a USB hard disk as far as
I know.
I think it is an android OS or apple OS problem. Full Linux
ubuntu can be ported
to android or apple devices I think. But then the GUI goes away and
the Linux GUI is used I think. I have not done that yet.
There may be some Microsoft phones/tablets than can do this. I
am not
willing to buy a Microsoft product. Not the I/O! Just
reading/writing
a USB hard disk.
Mikro Electronica has a very powerful (and expensive) ARM board
for machine
control but their IDE (integrated development system) is no
where near as easy to program or as as powerful as the Maximite.
I have one. Here are some pictures. The BASIC machine control
language
is more or less the same as the Maximite. I like the Maximite
version better as it is easier to program hardware interrupts.
I have been on Mikro's case to implement a Maximite style system.
I spoke with them at Embedded world in 2014 and 2015 in Nurnberg
Germany.
Paul Lamar
Easy access to pins was an issue I considered. As for the USB
interface I think
most devices now can function as USB powered hosts.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/host.html
"USB Host
When your Android-powered device is in USB host mode, it acts as
the USB host,
powers the bus, and enumerates connected USB devices. USB host mode
is supported in Android 3.1 and higher.
"
I think android is around version 6.x now.
Sorry to go off topic somewhat, you are doing great work
and it's fun reading about your projects.
Narfi Willem
Thanks.
I have android 4.2.2 kernel version 3.4.5
So all I need is the right USB cable?
I tried a male to male adapter. did not seem to work.
What app does one use to see the hard drive.
I have AnExploer did not seem to work. did not see the hard drive.
Paul Lamar
I haven't actually played with it much, Ill see what I can figure out
when I get home tonight.
I am not sure which device you have, but a quick google should verify
rather or not it is USB OTG (on the go) capable. (from what I understand
the android OS is capable, but it does require the device to have the
proper hardware as well.
I have a rooted phone and use the ES File Explorer app which seems to be
the most popular and robust for file browsing on (and off) your device.
Narfi Willem
Thanks. Any down siding to rooting?
Paul Lamar
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