Cool Stuff Being Made: Products Made by Heat Treating
This week’s Cool Stuff Being Made video – heat treating! “You will see on this 18-minute video the many things that we use every day that are heat treated. As they say, heat treating puts the spring in springs. It also strengthens the metal used in axes, knives, saws, aircraft landing gears, jet engines, space ship launchers, computers, agricultural implements and oil drilling and refining equipment, to name just some. There’s also a scene toward the end that shows how many everyday things are heat treated. You see form one of the scenes the difference between a drill bit that is heat treated and one that is not. The former works while the latter fails.” Link.
John writes “Here’s how to make a device that is useful for visualizing the movement of small particles and for demonstrating slip planes, dislocations, defect holes, and the three states of matter. If you would rather not create your own, you can buy one for $50, but this DIY version costs about $8”. 
Devin writes “These pages are a nice guide to making high voltage items (toys?) out of trash! These two pages show how to make a Tesla Coil out of trash, and how to hook up TV flyback ransformers for all sorts of fun HV stuff (arcs, jacob’s ladders, capacitor-bank charging, coin-shrinking, etc.)” 
Hans Schepker’s mathematically correct glass and sculpture site is an excellent read – “All my stained glass work is based on geometry. Yes, it is math I am talking about! The following lines are a short explanation of the shapes I work with and a bit of theory around them.” Thanks 
Crabfu’s awesome steam powered creations – “These steam machines are real miniature live steam engines. Principles are simple, heat + water = steam, steam pushes pistons and provides power in a circular motion…. how you harness that work is up to you :) I use mainly stationary or marine engines to start. They use alcohol, gas, or solid fuel tablets for heat, and requires oiling on each run. Distilled water is recommended, and steam pressure can build up around .8 – 1.5 bars, or around 10-20 psi…. NOT a lot of pressure. They have safety valves which releases the steam at a certain pressure, as not to “blow up”, and typical running time is about 10 minutes.” 
“Mr. Anton Peterka along with his team, made his ’85 Yugo 45, using wood and coal for fuel. It’s not a new technology, 125 years old. The process is based on incomplete combustion of wood: due to lack of air, gases are created: carbon monoxide, the main fuels, hydrogen and methane. That mixture of gases is as flammable as gasoline fumes. To get the car moving, it is necessary to “fill it up with wood.” Thanks Nikitos!