It’s been a long road for Youtuber “The Hacksmith” to go from inspiration to working prototype. Originally inspired by the exo-suit worn by Matt Damon in Elysium, his real working version is now in the testing phase. So far, he’s successfully lifted 170 pounds of concrete and steel. It’s built on a backpack-like frame with […]
MAKE regular Mike Pantrey, aka Mrsuperpants, returns with this cool page about building on-the-cheap DIY versions of the commercial systems used to make foam and/or “snow” for video, photo, and event special effects. He describes three iterations of his homemade CAFS and a method for making colored foam. [Thanks, Mike!]
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.
Though described as an “electronic instrument” and an “orchestra…composed of levitating balls whose physical height determines their volume,” London design group Poietic Studio’s “Floating Orchestra,” cool as it is, cannot possibly be producing the big, bold, brassy sounds of The Benny Goodman Orchestra that accompany their embedded video, above. Which naturally leads me to wonder what it really sounds like.
Instructables user rog8811 set out to build a functional replica of an old-timey manual boating foghorn. He shows you how to build the basic horn by cutting apart a PVC sink trap and hacking it on to a off-the-shelf air pump. Then he does something I’d like to see more of in my own and others’ project tutorials…
Ben Krasnow shows a handy demo of how to build an air muscle, which is based on this Instructable. This technique is just crying out to be paired with the HowToons Robot Hands from MAKE, Volume 19, also on the HowToons site.
Top 10 mechanical curiosities from the archives of Make: Online.
