James Dyson Award winner Christine Outram was at World Maker Faire showing off her winning Copenhagen Wheel design. The self-contained power-wheel captures and stores energy released when braking and cycling and stores it for when a rider could use a little assist. The wheel is controlled via a mobile phone. The Copenhagen Wheel
Instructables user LongToe, inspired by design student John Hobson, borrowed tools and techniques from plywood kayak construction to make this beautiful laminated Baltic birch bicycle frame. Best of all, he shows us how.
Check out this cool street side knife sharpener setup. I’ve been told this used to be a common occurrence back in the first half of the twentieth century.
Sometimes you don’t have the option of calling for an ambulance. That’s when something like the Zambulance comes in. Made by Zambian bicycle manufacturer Zambikes, this modified bike trailer is outfitted with a mattress and a tent-like curtain to offer shelter from the heat and rain. What used to be a 2-3 hour ox cart ride can now be accomplished in as little as 30 minutes.
No, this is not one of the sci-fi video game replica weapon props I keep posting about–it’s a real, functioning homemade coil-gun by Jason, aka YouTube user Larsplatoon, aka Photobucket and 4hv.org user Saz43, who has been working on it for two years. It’s billed as a “1.25kJ Coilgun,” but I dunno how that figure was computed. If it is muzzle energy then projectiles from this weapon deliver more kinetic energy than a .45 handgun but less than an M16 rifle, which I frankly doubt. But judge for yourself by clicking the embedded player below to be taken directly to the test firings at 2:50, in which various housewares get shattered and punched full of holes. I’m guessing 1.25 kJ is the theoretical maximum energy that can be delivered by the capacitor bank, and that the real muzzle energy is significantly lower.
Our friend Kyle Wiens of iFixit made it out to the annual Burning Man arts festival this year, with the goal of checking out repair efforts on the playa. The harsh environment of Black Rock Desert becomes home to purportedly the most populated temporary city in the world for one week of every year. Repair […]
This awesome trike was built by Kerry of the Netherlands, and it was featured in a charity bike ride. I’ve made a bicycle for the “12 inch race”, which is a ride for charity with 500 participants riding on 12inch bicycles. Our bike was based on a big front wheel, and powered by 2 people […]
