Propeller-Driven Theo Jansen Biped
This Theo Jansen robot model consists of a propeller driven Strandbeest biped.
Modern Mechanix
Punch Tape Programmable Metal Mill from 1952
This fascinating article from Scientific American describes one of the world’s very first numerically-controlled machine tools, a 3-axis Cincinatti Milling Machine Company “Hydro-Tel” painstakingly adapted for programmable electronic control two years before the first commercial silicon transistors.
The World’s First Helicopters
This is a wonderful collection of black-and-white newsreel footage, assembled by the company that invented the newsreel, showing a montage of early helicopter prototypes in all their wacky and frequently-terrifying glory. It’s a highlight reel, about two minutes long, and the various clips that went into it are indexed, annotated, and available for watching in […]
Open-sourced blueprints for civilization
Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that for the last two years has been creating the Global Village Construction Set, an open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform that allows for the easy, DIY fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a sustainable civilization with […]
The Locks of Manuel Guerra
Ray from the Hack Factory clued me into this guy’s work. In an era where locks are factory-made and bland, Manuel Guerra of Cuenca, Ecuador, made some beautiful pieces before his death.
Ski Tow for Sleds
Josh Smith of Pennsylvania built this tow rope with a friend. This project started as an innocent “oh, I have an engine” comment and has turned into a really awesome project. I first blogged about it here but decided it needed a permanent home. The winch is now fully operational and worked well during our […]
Homebrewed Gear Puller
Make: Online regular Craig Smith wrote in with a clever fix for his durable no-name electric drill: Six years ago I bought a cheap off brand cordless drill for work. My namebrand loving co-workers give me grief for it, but it does the job year after year at a fraction of the price. These are […]
