Welcome. This issue’s cover shows a still from a deep hole drilling test video. (Since it’s January, I’m pausing my electrification conversion to start the year right with some fancy drilling.) The specific job, requested by our valued colleagues in Advanced Engine, was to drill a hole 6 mm in diameter and around 200 mm deep, which to add interest and drama intersected three other holes along the way. The concern was that long, skinny drills have a tendency to wander off track and break to begin with, and adding interruptions with curved surfaces was not going to help. I was asked to determine the number and type of drills to be used, the cycle time, and how far out of line the three intersected holes could be for everything to still work (i.e., the positional tolerance of the cross holes). The application was a cylinder deactivation system in a push-rod V8 engine with a cast iron block, but we made test parts from both iron and aluminum, while we were at it. The cross hole diameters and spacing were chosen to simulate what the drills would purportedly be encountering in engine blocks at a plant in Canada.
After a round of dealing with drill sales reps to get special drills — always a treat — we drilled a bunch of holes, listening for squeals and looking for smoke, and I wrote something up and gave a few presentations at various venues reporting the results. I recall that further work was being kicked around about a year before the pandemic, but after the pandemic everyone was talking about electric vehicles, most of the money to upgrade gas engines evaporated, and I heard nothing more. So the project fizzled out and has faded from memory, as often happens in this line of work, but I have at least salvaged a poetry journal cover from the wreckage.
Submissions have been up significantly for the last two issues, with the surge starting shortly after I removed my photo from the Masthead page. I’m happy about the increase because I receive more free poetry, plus it occupies more of my time and helps keep me out of trouble. So please keep them coming. The submission period for Pulsebeat 08, which will be posted in May 2024, begins February 1. Until May, enjoy the wonderful poems in this issue.
Pulsebeat Poetry Journal 