Pedal powered computer
The OLPC Afghanistan team rigged up this pedal-powered generator for the OLPC.
DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!
The OLPC Afghanistan team rigged up this pedal-powered generator for the OLPC.
Tiny metal spheres are needed for tiny ball valves and tiny ball bearings, which are needed for all kinds of miniaturized machines. Hollow spheres are lighter, and thus have less inertia, and thus can be made to move faster in these very small applications, where response time is often critical. But how do you make a hollow metal sphere 2mm across? Turns out you can do it with one of the lost foam processes I’m always going on about. Tiny styrofoam beads are first coated with fine metal powder and a binder, then heat-treated to evaporate both binder and bead, leaving only a fragile hollow metal powder shell, which is then sintered into a continuous shell at higher temperature. The sintered shells can then be polished in a tumbler to the same exterior finish as regular ball bearings.
If you should have the opportunity to visit Paris’ Musée des arts et métiers, you’d be wise to clear your schedule for the day. Even after reading Brian Jepson’s recent post covering this maker’s museum, I was unprepared for the sheer size, depth and general awesomeness of the collection. From early astrolabes and handmade scientific […]
Heeding the call of stonewashed lumber, experimental musical instrument maker Bart Hopkin and his percussionist friend Joyce Kouffman head out to the beach in this video to show us how to build a driftwood xylophone.
These impossibly creepy artifacts are dental training mannequins collected by Steve Erenberg of Radio Guy. Be warned, Steve’s site is chockablock with incredible medical, scientific, and industrial antiques he’s collected, mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a major click-trap.
NASA – NASA publishes 100 experiments performed in space (on the ISS)… Advances in the fight against food poisoning, new methods for delivering medicine to cancer cells, and better materials for future spacecraft are among the results published in a NASA report detailing scientific research accomplishments made aboard the International Space Station during its first […]
Not sure what to do with that old gas guzzler? How about turning it into a giant ball? That’s what artist Keny Marshall did with this 1983 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.