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Episode 39 of Project Binky is now up on YouTube!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So glad they've carried on with it. Can't believe it's been nearly 2 years!
Absolutely bonkers commitment when they could have just used a Link screen and saved about a year of their lives!
****ing hell they promised this one how long ago? Well I'll watch that tomorrow.
I have so much respect for their anal attention to detail. That is truly a mental amount of time getting gauges to be perfect. It's almost as though they are scared of finishing binky.
The attention to detail is a big part of the entertainment for me.
Such a shame that it won’t look stock when it’s finished though.
Good lord. Insane.
Such a shame that it won’t look stock when it’s finished though.
Because a mini with an MR2 drive train ever had a chance.
Phenomenal achievement to make their own dash instruments from scratch like that. Though, surely those solder tracks are going to lift with the vibration from the engine?
@squirrelking, indeed, but they've put so much effort into not compromising things, it seems a shame.
Phenomenal achievement to make their own dash instruments from scratch like that. Though, surely those solder tracks are going to lift with the vibration from the engine?
Now they have a working model that has been proven for functionality I figure they’ll outsource the completed board schematic design to a pcb manufacturer, it doesn’t cost that much for individual boards to be etched if you have done all the design work beforehand and can present the pcb etcher with a complete schematic
Good on them for such detailed work and design, I’m sure this entire process is a massive learning process for themselves and will help their other projects
Such a shame that it won’t look stock when it’s finished though.
Why?
I don't understand why they had to develop a 3d printer to print the solder. If the desire is to do everything themselves, just learn how to use a PCB schematic program, design the PCB (which they must have done anyway) and send it to any one of a dozen manufacturers who would do a better, more reliable job. It's not like they're making everything from lumps of steel.
The 3D printed solder let them rapid prototype it, meaning they didn't have to keep going back to the manufacturer and getting new PCBs made when they changed stuff halfway through.
In the time it took them to develop a 3d printer they could have had several iterations of a proper PCB.
Maybe, but it's their project and theirs to **** about with as they please. Sometimes it's fun to go the hard way.
There is going the hard way around and there's reinventing the last 40 years worth of tech. It's absolute madness but I've nothing but admiration (and a lot of jealousy)
Well worth waiting for, impressive.
@kramer yeah I see where you're coming from, they did talk a lot about that before the flared arches came out.
@richie_b I guess but maybe it was just a fun exercise to go through, maybe there was a perceived benefit to doing it that way? Who knows, I'm the last one to say anything about folk making a meal of a job though!
I have to admit to getting a bit bored about 1/3 of the way through - they just seemed to be faffing about and I was thinking there's any number of nice digi dashes they could put in this thing, so I went to bed. Can't help feeling they're a bit bored of it.
Does it get better?
They don't do any job lightly do they? I enjoyed it, but then I enjoyed watching them spending hours making a bracker.
New episode?! Too long to watch over breakfast. Sort of lost interest in the project but the banter is pretty good so I'll watch it soon I expect!
It's good. Lots of geeky detail and a very clever build.
2 years to make some new dials look like some old dials. That's either a descent to madness, or a level of obsessiveness that most aren't capable of. Perhaps that's even the same thing
2 years to acquire the skills required to build and make the dials work as needed (all the stuff that wouldn't make for good viewing no matter who presented it). Plus wrangle that old and sloppy CNC machine and deal with whatever sickness they picked up along the way working in a damp shed in a field.
Not too bad for men whose first love is bending/cutting metal and the smallest tool used to that point would be needle-nosed pliers or a half-pound ball-pein hammer.
they just seemed to be faffing about and I was thinking there's any number of nice digi dashes they could put in this thing,
😀 they said early on that the finishing would take 90% of the time but...
They're building a car project for themselves*, while filming it for us, they aren't doing any of this to please you or the public if you haven't already guessed. They didn't want to use a digi dash, if it would even fit, and its their choice when even they admit a digi dash would have been much much easier. I totally agree with them, a digi dash would have looked shite in comparison, unlike the master work they have created. No ones forcing you to watch this, there plenty of cat video's to watch if you just need to be entertained 😉
*ontop of running a full time business
I guess the problem is that if you didn't like the last episode you probably won't like this one. I thought it was well done, too deep in the detail and geekery for me to really enjoy in the way I enjoyed the main parts of the build but still interesting.
It reminds me now of cosplay builds, I really like those cosplayer videos. Not exclusively for the hot girls in lycra, you understand. But because of the sheer breadth of skill you see in it. Like, I could do some parts of it, I'm quite a competent person. But you end up with people who can do leatherwork and functional clothing but also do quality airbrushing and foam carving and 3d design and printing (2 different skills) and electronics and programming and sometimes some really clever mechanical stuff too and then in the end usually clever filming to boot, and the whole thing build on really good observation and initial design/vision. Sure, it's not always done to a top end of skill but to do 10 different things competently is more impressive sometimes.
So even though sure, I'm really not that into the actual gauges thing, I'm thoroughly impressed that the same people who basically created a mini out of sheet steel and welding wire, are also assembling gauges with tweezers, or doing a good job of trimming stuff.
For a much more 'that'll do' approach, take a peek at the madness that is Look Mum No Computer and his recent mini build 🙂
Many years ago I navigated for a bloke with a mini. We decided to tart it up a bit. I was on engine duty. It was lightened and balanced, forged pistons and straight cut drop gears went in. He wanted to fit a 40DCOE so that involved creating an airbox in the bulkhead to accommodate the trumpets. Which meant strengthening the bulkhead with square tubing. Which meant removing and rebuilding the instrument panel. So I had to remove all the dials and switches and remount them in a newly fabricated panel. The back was hand wired, point to point, like a vintage tweed guitar amp.
It looked lovely with its new paint job and hand cut slicks. Rolled it end over end on the next event. Hey ho.
I needed space for an air box on an autotest mini special and some instruments to make it road legal. I screwed a 1275GT instument panel to a piece of perspex and srewed the perspex to the car. Took about an hour. 3.65 diff with an instrument cluster designed for 3.44 meant the speedo overead somewhat which was handy when I used it for work.
It looked lovely with its new paint job and hand cut slicks. Rolled it end over end on the next event. Hey ho.
I have an MX5 project car and sort of similiarly, I've made it too nice. I spun it very gently into a tyre wall at my local track, didn't do any actual damage but all I could think afterwards were "I can afford to crash a shitbox £1000 MX5, but I've accidentally made a car I can't afford to crash." And it's not been back on track since, I'm going to have to sell it. Fit for purposeness is difficult, no sense in having a shiny hammer you hate to get dirty.
With Binky I'm sure that (assuming it's ever finished and capable) they will drive it as it should be, much like those priceless classics that get bent at historic events, but in particular it feels like they've made it kind of impossible to fix if they do bend it. Not without losing what they've made, it's too good to bodge straight.
It's about time they made another nice bracket.
In all seriousness though, yeah it's taking forever, but you can't help but marvel at their skill and willingness to learn new ones. I wish i had a tenth of their talent.
they will drive it as it should be
I don't think the limited steering lock will allow it to be driven as it should be. I see the car as fundamentally flawed. On my Minis I used to machine out the ends of the steering rack casing to get another cm or so of travel on the rack. Very short wheelbase in relation to track and limited steering lock will make it very difficult to go quickly in. The Clio V6 suffered the same.
I’m amazed at the list of Patreon supporters at the end, if each one is donating say £5 a month that’s a significant income stream for them.
@edukator, that's why I mentioned "capable", I still reckon they've painted themselves into a corner regarding the steering lock, unless there was something else going on in that video of it driving. But we'll see. In 20 years. Or maybe we won't.
I turned on to the latest episode with excitement. About 3 minutes in I thought, 'No I'm not watching more instruments creation, it's just not interesting ' and stopped watching. I think I am done with binky I'm afraid.
They didn't want to use a digi dash, if it would even fit, and its their choice when even they admit a digi dash would have been much much easier. I totally agree with them, a digi dash would have looked shite in comparison
The digi dashes we use in box cars are about 8-10mm thick. And the controller is about the size of a box of kitchen matches. They also come in about a dozen "standard" form factors, from tiny to ultra wide screen TV "i_can't_see_where_i'm_going_anymore". Some are also high resolution, almost like a mini gaming monitor.
Also, you can make them look *really* snazzy, if you have the time and the patience. One of the mock ups we have replicates the original amazon dash, add an overlay/frame and you'd be hard pressed to tell in normal driving. Even had the twitching/lag/overshoots from a mechanical instrument programmed in, just for the hell of it.
The Clio V6 suffered the same.
Drove one of those when they were still new and exciting, chances of being able to get it in the garage, nil. Turning circle of a crap minibus. I swear they never drove the Clio on anything other than a main road or a big open track before it went to volume. Just double checked and the turning circle was 13 m. About the same as a LWB Defender.
I think the dash they made was fabulous and agree any digi dash would have looked completly crap and out of place
I think the Patreon lists aren't generated/updated each video, they just add new slides to the end. I stopped mine once we got to a year plus between videos and I'm still on the latest one.
I still think that dodgy CNCed solder board is going to shake itself to bits once the car gets used.
that dodgy CNCed solder board
I thought that at one point it was meant to be for prototyping / development purposes only and they were going to replace it with a proper PCB once the design was finalised. But now that they've assembled the whole thing I guess it's staying. I agree with Simon - those unsupported "floating" copper tracks, held down only with a bit of spray glue from memory will vibrate themselves free and fatigue in no time.