Egeria: On playa TODO list -- Saturday, July 26, 2003 at 01:33:34 (PST)
Egeria 2003 TODO -- Friday, July 25, 2003 at 20:48:45 (PST)
Egeria 2003 DONE -- Friday, July 25, 2003 at 20:36:59 (PST)

[Items that begin with -> can be started ASAP on our first day, and can be done in parallel with other things.  The main thread, though, is the fountain itself, of course.  I've tried to put time estimates too, to give us an idea.  If nothing is done in parallel, we've got 21-23 hours of work.  We've got two days -- saturday and sunday -- to have it fully running.  Some of monday, too, if we're struggling.]

[2 hr] -> Get bricks [bman Ranch] and fuel [Kimric's hardware store]
    bricks might have to be loaded by hand, if there's no forklift around
    since this is my truck, this might have to be two trips, I'm sad to say...
[2 hr] -> Build/cut out parts to the wall
[1 hr] -> Trench to electrical box -- should be done by bman by the time we get there!
    if not done, someone can babysit this
[1 hr] -> Build fuel housing and set up fuel
    trench from fuel housing to fountain -- use electrical trench?
[1 hr] Run the piping for propane, naphtha, and electrical
[1 hr] -> Assemble all the supports/gussets

[1 hr] Placement by bman
[1/2 hr] Draw wall lines, mark torches, set things out
[1/2 hr] Dig shallow trench from fountain to wall
    this is for some hoses to run over the plastic, under the bricks
    also should include a small well for the small pump to sit in
        [this pump pumps spilled water back into the fountain]
[1 hr] Lay plastic
[1/2 hr] Place base plate
[1 hr] Lay bricks on top
    fold the edges back to make room for the wall, when ready
[1 hr] Assemble fountain
    this is where we'll need a bunch of extra hands to lift the bowls [15 minutes]
[1 hr] Assemble piping and hoses in fountain
    lay pipes, hoses, electrical lines in trench
[1 hr] Place fish and bust
[3 hr] Assemble wall
    assemble wood squares, attach top
    staple plastic, tack on thin plywood
[2 hr] Erect torches
[1/2 hr] Install little pump
[1/2 - 2 hr] Paint wall [if needed]

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Notes for those who worked on Egeria last year:

I'm thinking of building Egeria slightly differently.

Since we're using only one pump, and since it's not noticeable just sticking it right under the fountain, we don't need to trench under the plastic under the fountain.

Also, the parts of the courtyard wall are easier to transport as plywood and 2x4s.  This means having to build the wall from scratch on-site.  Not ideal, but it would make packing much easier.  We might paint the plywood first, however.

So on that note, I think we can build pretty much everything else without the wall in place, and have the wall being built by someone while others do the rest in parallel.
====================

So.  Egads, this sounds really simple!  Could it be this easy?  ***KNOCK ON WOOD!!!***

Honestly, folks, I think this is going to be pretty straight forward.  Also, Burning Man seems really on the ball these days, so getting placed probably won't be an all-day drudgery, nor will getting the trench done.

Trips to the Ranch take a while.  It's, what, 15-20 miles from the site???  [This includes slow dustless driving to the gate!]  Hand-loading bricks went really well last year.  And I'll talk to Metric about just having the bricks delivered...  [Might be possible!]

Getting the fuel, too, will be a bit of a trip, but hopefully someone will need to make a trip in town and can do this.  Our truck should be able to hold all the barrels.  Naphtha is about 64% the weight of water.

What else???  Can anyone think of anything I'm missing?

I'm planning on getting up there on friday or possibly thursday before the Event starts.  [Thursday would be better to make sure all our ducks are in a row...]

Kiki

PS If anyone has a digital camera that can be set to take pictures periodically [say, every minute] PLEASE bring it!  I'd like to get some good time lapse of assembly this year.

Also, PLEASE bring video cameras!  I think you'll have to register them with Burning Man -- check the "Press here" on the main Burning Man website.  The deadline is really soon, so check it out.  [If you don't, talk to me.  Still bring it, and register on-site, but the footage can't be used for promotional purposes...  Long discussion we can have on the playa... :) ]

Here's the todo part of this post.  The list might seem long, but it's really not all that much stuff to do.  And most of it can fall by the way-side if need-be.  I'm not going to stress any of it.

SUPPORTS: I'm thinking of painting the supports white [over the black from last year.]  Mostly because it means not fighting the white dust, but also because the fish will look more like they belong with the supports.  In general, I think a white base will look much better.  I've budgeted money for paint, so I will do this in Rust-O-Leum to abate the rampant rust.

This means Egeria will need to be disassembled completely, and the rust ground off.  I'm trying to finish up the piping before we do this so we can test it.  When that's done, we'll put out the word for folks to come help take her apart, and possibly help grind rust.

TRANSPORT: Currently, I'm looking for a two-axle trailer.  I'm right now as I type working out just how much space I realistically need.  It's a bit daunting, esp. since so much of the space is misc. piping and hoses.  This is hard to measure and figure...

SUCTION REDO: I've got the parts to redo the suction feed.  Tom McCarthy acquired a full hot tub repair shop, and has been selling parts to me like a dealer to a junky. :)  I need only to cut the pipes and glue it together.  I'm planning to run a suction pipe from each tub with a simple gate value to balance the load.  I have a feeling that in theory this is a dumb way to do it, but I'm hoping in practice it won't mean constant fiddling with the gate valves to balance the suction...  In any case, this new configuration will mean cleaner lines and the pipes will be more hidden.

BUCKETS: The buckets need replacing, since they were stored in a stack by a stand of sheet metal that fell over and crushed them.  I've pounded them back into shape a bit, but they're ugly and I'd like to do better this year.  I know of some larger feed buckets which would be nicer.  Scott is currently researching these.

RADIATORS?: I'm toying with the idea of putting radiator[s] in line with the pump.  Egeria gets damn hot damn fast.  This might eek out an hour or two more run time.  I pulled a transmission fluid radiator out of a junked forklift at the Shipyard.  It has nice 1" NPT fittings ready to go!  No hope of getting 5 more like it, however. :)  Bill the Junkman also gave me a big radiator from an air conditioning unit.  It's a bit big and would have to be built into the courtyard wall somehow, but it should also help.  Need to figure out how I'd want to attach it...

VOLUNTEERS: I will need folks to help me dismantle Egeria in a few weeks.  I'd like to take her apart for the painting.  I'll let you know when I'll need your help!  Those who want to help grind rust and help paint are esp. welcome!  Shouldn't be a big deal.

SPOTTERS: I will also need spotters at the Event.  Let me know if you're interested and I'll keep a list.  Remember, spotting is the funnest part of working on the firefall!  if you worked building her but didn't help spot, you're missing all the praise and kudoes given by those playing!  It's the best part of working on a firefall!

THE EVENT: I'd like to leave friday night before the Event starts, depending on what time I can get off by then.  Then assemble her saturday and sunday before, ready to go Monday night.  With the new piping, I'm pretty sure this is doable.

And that should be it!  I'll let you all know when I'll need the last bit of volunteer help, then see you on the playa!

Kiki

PS I have one small project that I'm considering doing.  I want to make a giant toaster with mattresses for the bread!  This idea keeps haunting me, so I might just have to do it!  The alternate, easy, and "at least I'm going to do this one!" is to make a sandwich of mattresses with ham and cheese and lettuce blankets.  A sign would read "please make the sandwich in the morning." :)

Just wanted to give you all a ping on Egeria and what's been going on!  My mailing lists have been down, so forgive me that I haven't sent this out earlier.

This posting is in two parts: DONE and TODO.

Really this is just stuff I have to do, but figured you all would be interested.

First of all, Egeria is currently set up at the Shipyard and fully functional.  We've actually run her four times since being set up in March!

PIPING: We've completely redone the internal piping.  Things are MUCH easier to set up now.  It's all unions or compression fittings.  Basically, it all drops in and snaps together now.  Very clean and tight!  Whew!

Every time I hook up the piping, I send boocoos of thanx to Allen and all the work he did while Scott and I were in Reno.  I am always just flat out amazed at how difficult it is doing the piping in that confined space.  You all will be proud to see what we did!  Things are so much cleaner and easier.

FUEL: Naphtha has gone up to $5.45/gal.  We've tried running her on Wal-Mart camping fuel, which is $2.82/gal, however, she ran through twice as much fuel!  So it was no savings. :-p  We think the reason is because the camping fuel is more efficient, and so burns at a lower temperature -- so we have to crank it up to get flames to spill over the spouts.  We're going to experiment with mixes of the two, to help the flames spill over.

Talked with NetChem today about fuel.  They might be able to mix to bring up the flash point!  No sure what this would cost, but it's exciting!  I'm also talking with them about getting the mixer and then dropping the fuel pump suction line into both and adjust.  This would be ideal.  They're sending me MSDSs on all chemicals involved.

Also, they can deliver to the playa!  Wow, that takes a big load off!

GRANT: For those who don't know, I applied for -- and it was accepted! -- a grant to refurbish Egeria and bring her back this year.  Yay!  This is good because bringing her back added up to a major chunk of dough!  As it was with building, it would not be possible to bring her back without the grant.

PLACEMENT: Burning Man wants her placed in the 3:00 plaza -- one of the two plaza areas.  Even better!  I'm excited about the placement because it's nearly as good as the Keyhole!  She will be surrounded by the City, and looking out across to the Man, weeping all week.

The plaza, however, is 300' across!  This means all the piping work to the fuel housing [propane lines and naphtha lines] all have to be nearly 150'!  MUCH longer than the 50' of last year!

WATER TEARS AND CROWN: On my plate for the moment is running two water lines for Egeria's crown and crying eyes.  I've already got the connection, I just need the fittings and piping.  This almost done!

The crown will use a sprinkler nozzle with 1/2 spray pattern.  Should be nice!

I think that's about it for now!  I'm piddling with her every now and again, but things look good so far for a much less stressful setup this year!

Kiki

PS While I have the microphone: for those who don't know, I competed on Junkyard Wars a few months ago!  What fun!  It sure opened my eyes to what can be accomplished in 10 hours with a crew of 4!!  The season opens on August 27th, and our episode airs Sept. 17th!  So I'll be having a big JYW party when we all get back!

Modifications to the script and pages by Kiki.