for erco - Man builds working car out of wood
Ron Czapala
Posts: 2,418
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/wood-car-build-diy-project-190822009.html
Putting all other do-it-yourself projects to shame, a Hungarian farmer spent the winter building a car made almost entirely of wood.
"I love to work with wood," Istvan Puskas, a 51-year-old from the village of Tiszaors, said in what should be considered the biggest understatement ever.
The frame, axles, gears and even the gas tankwhich Puskas fashioned from an old beer barrelare made of wood. The engine (from a Fiat 126), steering wheel (from an old Mercedes-Benz) and windshield are virtually the only parts that are not.
Putting all other do-it-yourself projects to shame, a Hungarian farmer spent the winter building a car made almost entirely of wood.
"I love to work with wood," Istvan Puskas, a 51-year-old from the village of Tiszaors, said in what should be considered the biggest understatement ever.
The frame, axles, gears and even the gas tankwhich Puskas fashioned from an old beer barrelare made of wood. The engine (from a Fiat 126), steering wheel (from an old Mercedes-Benz) and windshield are virtually the only parts that are not.
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Motor_Company
The termites and dry rot must have their panache.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eagle69er/3069342311/
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3859/Hispano-Suiza-H6C-Tulip-Wood-Torpedo.html
The museum guide told us that the entire body only weighs about 160 pounds!
But sunlight, wind, and weather would require refinishing regularly. Have you ever tried to maintain the 'bright work' on a sailboat?
Transparent polymers all yellow and breakdown in sunlight. I often wonder about the modern car's paint job as they all now have a 'clear coat' over the 'color coat'. You now see strange blushing, crazing, and blemishing. Before you just rubbed off the oxidized paint and waxed.
Not completely true. Acrylics and aliphatic polyesters and urethanes have very good resistance to sunlight (UV). I wouldn't be surprised if most problems with modern automotive clearcoats are due to the fact that they are "waterborne" finishes.
But the most interesting phenomena is when an old motor scooter spends its whole life parked outdoors in direct sunlight. It actually rots away from the rays of the sun. It may take 20 or 30 years, but it does disintegrate.
With varnished wood, any scratch or puncture invites moisture into the wood and it discolors and rots. Generally wood moves as it expands and contracts, so wherever there are right angle corners, the moisture barrier is broken and deterioration begins early. I would have to say it is the substrate as much aa the varnish that causes the maintenance difficulties. A deep, low-viscosity penetrating epoxy is optimal for wood.
But I still strongly belive that all clear plastic resins eventually yellow as they age.
Epoxy is generally not very good for exterior use unless highly stabilized and is rarely used as a wood finish. Classic "varnish" is basically made from cooked vegetable oils. Modern "varnish" is typically alkyd based. Neither are great for exterior use. Your scooters may use some type of ABS plastic which has poor UV resistance if not painted or otherwise protected. Polyethylene and polypropylene are also very quickly degraded by sunlight.
It seems that plastics with carbon black filler last the longest in direct sunlight, while clear plastics have the shortest useful life.
I do admit that modern clear plastics may not yellow anywhere near as much as their predecessors. But even if the clear coat remains non-yellowing, it does craze and blush in intense sunlight.