The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the industrial arts from metal and woodworking to CNC machining and 3D printing.
So says New Jersey tumblogger Wilbur Pan, who had this no-longer-cheap engineer’s square hand-engraved by artist Catharine Kennedy: “Before anyone asks, yes, this square does let me mark lines better after the engraving. I am sure of that.”
Yet another reason to own a stainless steel car. An “insane amount of time,” but the results are undeniably stunning; check out more pics in this thread at autopia.org. Rob Beschizza found that it’s been done at least once before.
Roland DG is a subsidiary of the famous Japanese firm that makes sythesizers, drum machines, and other electronic musical instruments. Since 1983, the DG (“Digital Group”) brand has manufactured business-class plotters, engravers, mills, and other CNC tools. The iModela iM-01 is their first hobby-class product.
We have covered these spherical ice molds before. I have used one, myself, and they work pretty well. A chunk of ice is sandwiched between two halves of a metal mold, and fast conduction of heat away from the ice, through the metal, causes it to melt wherever the mold makes contact. The mold halves slide on rods to maintain their alignment, and gravity does the rest. With a mold that starts at room temperature, it only takes a few minutes to make a nice shiny ice sphere.
Here’s yet another delightful mechanical curiosity from among Nikola Tesla’s nearly 300 known patents. Shown above is the sole drawing page from US patent #1,329,559, “Valvular Conduit,” issued 1920. You may have to stare at the upper section, for a moment, to figure out what’s going on: Flow from left to right, as illustrated, is against the valve’s bias—the stream is broken up and diverted in circular paths that return to interfere with each other. Flow from right to left, however, is not so impeded.
Mechanical sculpter Nik Ramage, in collaboration with Laikingland, created Fingers Mk II, a kinetic sculpture of fingers drumming, driven by a DC motor and a pair of AA batteries (included). [via designboom]
Photos of Steve Lodefink’s cool Pinewood Derby Racer
