Blessings

This journey by two amateur university students would not have been possible if were not for some of the most generous and benevolent men. One of them was a wise and experienced man in the electric motor business, Uncle Ali. We bought motor for the machine from him in March. While searching for the materials, we visited his shop multiple times to learn from him about operational knowledge of electric motors and model definitions in the market.

Meantime, we bought a tempered shaft and spindles, in order to prepare them and cut necessary key-slots as per our design, to transmit power from the motor to the toroid. We bargained for a cheap deal with a workshop near Uncle Ali’s shop. Later, we bought joining parts such as: silicon glue, nuts and long metal threads to cut into bolts. Much of our saving was depleted by then. So, when it was time pay for our motor & gear-box setup, Uncle Ali noticed us nervously laughing while counting our money outside his shop. He probably overheard us joking that, what a major legwork it would be for us to walk 5 kilometers carrying an approximately 40kg motor-setup on feet; since, we would not have anything left in our pockets after paying for this.  

Because, when we were handing-over the purchase money, Uncle Ali said that, he did not need the money right then and gave back about 40% of the cash. We promised to pay him back within next two months. We shaked on it like men, and left with the motor-setup hiding our teary joy. Gladly, we were able to return the money within 35 days.

Carrying different parts & tools weighing about 50kg in total, from our apartments to the university by walking and on public transports proved to be very difficult. Indubitably, annoyed quite a few people during the morning-rush. That is why, we summed up some money to transport the motor setup in an Uber ride. Though, the first two drivers outright refused to carry such heavy load. Nonetheless, we were glad and relieved to bring the all required parts to our university laboratory.

The mild-steel rusts rapidly in the humid weather of Dhaka. Thus, we started searching for “spare” paint mixtures soon after. Since, the expensive marine-grade epoxy paint (highly erosion resistive water repellant coating) consisted of 3-part chemicals & pigment, and were sold in gallons. We contacted multiple painters and shops all over Dhaka, to buy only a small amount (just enough for the parts). We remember visiting countless places and waiting for hours after our daily university classes, just to get turned down in the end. Finally, our persistence caught the eye of a shop-keeper of a major paint shop. He was able to gather some spare amount of each chemicals from different painter-contractors to sell us in small bottles. We were super excited to acquire actual ship-body paints for our machine at a reasonable price.    

Meanwhile, our supervisor Dr. Ahmed used all his authority to convince the administration to designate a spot for us in the underground Fluid Laboratory. With the favor from the university construction contractor we dug up the concrete floor and installed a strong base for the bearings to uphold the moving toroid. We bought dinner for the two laborers who helped us that evening.