Planning

Yes, even with a comprehensive plan that is executed to the best of your ability, your project may still end up being a train wreck. ☹

Plans may be needed for both the design and construction phases of a project. Let's see what the plans might be for designing a wheel spacer (when you don't already have a set of final dimensions for the spacer falling readily to hand and foot) and then making a new one or modifying an existing spacer:

• The front wheel needs spacers to align the center plane of the wheel with the steering axis.
• Are there any existing spacers that can be used to begin the process?
• If so, mount the wheel with those spacers and see how far off the alignment is. If all your spacers are too short then you may be able to put them on the axle and add other spacers (commonly washers in my garage, A/N "airframe" washers are very consistent in thickness and flatness and surprisingly affordable if bought in a reasonable quantity) to shim the wheel into alignment. Even if the shims only get it close (you lack the correct thickness shim for perfect alignment) it can still let you measure an accurate length for the new spacer, perhaps with the help of a set of feeler gauges to measure the gap that remains to be filled between the spacers on the axle. If your spacer is too long then you can use it to get measurements to the center line of the wheel from both sides and so determine how much the spacer would need to be shortened.
• Measure the over all length (OAL) of the stack of spacers/shims and write that number plus the size of the feeler gauge (if used) down and add them together for the total length needed. Along with that jot down the side of the wheel where the spacer is to be used. It is a good idea to be consistent with how you label sides. It is very common to do so based on how things will look to the rider -- is the spacer to the rider's left or right? If you are an equestrian then maybe you can use near side and off side. ☺
• Do you have appropriate spacers on hand that are too long and can be shortened to fit? If so, consider yourself lucky.
• If not, then do you have enough material stock of an appropriate size and specification you can use to make new spacers?
• If not, then you get to wait until the weekend is over to place an order for more material, because of course things went wrong Saturday morning so you were stalled for the rest of the weekend.☺
• Once you've got the material on hand, or some old spacers that can be shortened, then you proceed to the construction plan.
• This process may seem more complicated than needed for a wheel spacer. I had someone ask me to make a wheel spacer many years ago. I asked them if they had dimensions for the spacer. The reply was "no, can't you just drill a hole in some metal?" My reply was "sure, if you don't care if it fits properly or if the wheel is aligned." I then had to go through the process outlined above to find out what size spacer was needed.

The construction plan may be as simple as "shorten this existing 1" long spacer by .25" so it is .75" long". If that is the extent of the project you may be able to jump into action. But even a simple project may benefit from a more formal plan. For this spacer you might find it helps to have a plan such as:

• Find the spacer. Yes, you had it a moment ago, but where is it hiding now?
• Measure the spacer to make sure it really is 1" long. This may require a decision on tolerances and precision -- do you need to break out your micrometer that reads to .0001", is a vernier caliper precise enough, or is measuring with a 6" long scale to the nearest 1/32" going to be fine?>
• Make sure that you really do want it to be .25" shorter.
• How will you shorten it -- hacksaw, bandsaw, milling machine or lathe? Keep in mind the best option might be "take it to my friend's well-equipped garage and beg her to shorten it for me".g>
• Determine if you have the correct tooling and workholding equipment not only on hand but set up and ready to use.
• Decide if you have enough time to do the operation now, or does it need to wait until later? Breaking a single task into several sessions spread out over time may increase the chances for an error to occur.
• Mark on the spacer where it needs to be cut and indicate which side of the cut line you need to cut on (this is important as it is annoying when you cut on wrong side and the part is now too short to use). If mounting the spacer on a lathe or a milling machine set the cutter to the end of the spacer and set the dials/DRO to zero (if you are going to cut to .25") or to .25" (if you want to cut down to zero). g>
• Do you need to apply coolant or lubricant before you begin cutting?>
• Did you find your safety googles/face shield and put them on before you begin cutting?
• Shorten the spacer.
• Before removing the spacer from the workholding device, measure to see if it is the length you want. If it is too long, continue trimming and measuring until it is the correct length. If it is too short, toss the ruined part in the scrap bin and see if you've got another spacer to try again.
• Declare success (or give up for the day and come back when you are not so annoyed and distracted).

It is quite likely that you can do a mental checklist on a small job like this. But if the part needs to be shortened by something that is not an easily remembered number (what if you need to take .236" off instead of .250"?) then writing that number on a scrap of paper (or even better on the chalkboard/whiteboard that is mounted on the wall near the machine tool) can be a smart move.

Even with this spacer example, a hand-drawn dimensioned sketch may help to reduce error. Maybe you've got a mind like the proverbial steel trap, but on the other hand you may find that the distraction of finding where you put your sharp cutting tool or your safety goggles (or that spacer you had a moment ago) is enough to cause you to lose track of what you were doing.

If your task is larger, for example designing and constructing a complete vehicle or a large portion of one, then a more formal planning process starts to really pay off.

Some people want to skip the planning stages and jump right in to making something. I have a friend who has a knack for looking at a project, seeing several obvious courses of action, and then picking one that will "do the job" and getting to work without making a formal plan. I think being able to do that depends on having a sufficiently high level of expertise and experience before there will be any "obvious" options. On the other hand there are people who want to do extensive planning so as to decrease their likelihood of ending up in a train wreck situation. However, that inclination may lead to a case of analysis paralysis, where several equally-good courses of action are seen, but much time is spent dithering over picking "the best one" of those options. Sometimes the dithering process never ends. I can easily end up in this last category. ☺

Tools To Help The Planning Process

The easiest and least expensive tool is to spend some time thinking about what you want to do. One method I've used is to sit in a comfy chair with a cat on my lap and let my thoughts wander and see what floats to the surface. A hazard of this is that I am exposed to the Feline Somnolence Field which can make it difficult to stay awake. Another method is to wake up in the wee hours of the night with my thoughts racing uncontrollably, which makes it difficult to go back to sleep. If given a choice I much prefer the former method.

Once you've generated some thoughts try to start organizing them. You can write them down a pad or a text editor, put each thought on a separate 3x5 notecard (this makes it easy to deal them out in an impromptu game of Project Tarot to help you read the augeries for the project), use some flowcharting software like MS Visio, or list and organize them in a spreadsheet. I've also put the thoughts into Rhino3D as text grouped as surfaces which basically takes the place of the 3x5 cards as the text features can be easily dragged around the drawing window to organize them.

If you are not comfortable with typing and/or computers you may want to organize everything on paper in a ring binder or folder. I like to use programs on my PC as I can type as fast or faster than I can hand print, and the typed text is WAY more legible. It is also easy to edit and I don't end up with as many small scraps of paper with no-doubt important thoughts in a scrawl that I can't decipher. Even if largely using the computer, dedicate a spiral notebook to the project and use it to collect ALL thoughts/notes/dimensions etc when you are away from the computer. This will reduce the "scraps of paper" problem, and a notebook is much easier to locate than a small scrap of paper. A simple spreadsheet program is very useful. You'll want to create a spreadsheet with weights and locations of components for determining the Center of Gravity (or Mass). Anything that needs some calculations done I usually do in the spreadsheet so I'm not as likely to make undetected keying errors, and if you need the calculation on one project you may well need it on another one in the future, and you'll have the formulae already entered and ready to be reused. A complicated project may need a GANTT chart or PERT diagram, or you might be able to control the flow of the project with timelines written on a chalkboard or whiteboard. It is up to you to decide how elaborate and/or formal the planning process needs to be. I'll suggest that it may be best to err slightly on the “over the top” side of things so you are more likely to have more control/information than you need, than to have too little of it.

to be continued . . .

For more information email me by using

© 2023 Michael Moore