DIY Cardboard Hasselblad Pinhole Camera
Check out this Hasselblad pinhole camera from Kelly Angood. It accepts 120 film and looks looks a little less conspicuous than an oatmeal container.
Retro
Blast From The Past: “SpringWalker” Running Exoskeleton
I am indebted to a commenter on yesterday’s skeletonics post for reminding me of G. John Dick and Eric A. Edwards’ SpringWalker spring-powered lower-body exoskeleton. Using the slightly half-baked terms I proposed yesterday, the SpringWalker is another notable example of a “passive” exoskeleton, i.e. one that amplifies the speed and range of a motion, but does not actually add power. An oldie but a goodie, the SpringWalker was patented in 1991, back when the term of a US patent was still 17 years, and is thus now out of patent. [Thanks, DanYHKim!]
Strobe-animated LED Phenakistoscope
In response to last week’s Codebox column on building 3D zoetropes, Lorelei Pepi posted a link to this most awesome strobe-animated phenakistoscope she built. Thanks, Lorelei! LED Strobe Animation Device More: Build a Phenakistoscope (Make: Projects) From MAKE magazine: Want to know how to build an auto-phenakistoscope? How about a laser light show in a […]
Fascinating 1953 Navy Film Series on Mechanical Computers
Before there were electronic computers, there were mechanical computers, and one of the most important uses of these was in directing gunfire on surface warships. Mechanical fire control computers took inputs from manned instruments that visually tracked enemy ships, and also considered variables such as wind speed and direction, the firing ship’s heading and velocity, etc. That information—completely in the form of physical displacements of mechanical movements—was cranked through a complex train of shafts, gears, cams, and differentials that computed the optimal firing solution, and automatically aimed the guns accordingly. This film series, produced by the US Navy in black-and-white sprocket-clatter 1950s glory, explains the general principles of mechanical computation, as applied to fire control systems, in clear and engaging language with nice animated diagrams. It’s been ported to YouTube in seven parts by user navyreviewer. Totally engrossing. [via Boing Boing]
Pssst. Hey, Buddy, Wanna Buy a Space Shuttle?
Because, in point of fact, they are. Not counting tax, title, and license, of course, which in the Space Shuttle’s case amount to some $28 million. When Discovery returns from its final mission today, some 21 museums will be waiting in the wings to see which one of will be the lucky recipient of Orbital Vehicle 103, artifact. Atlantis and Endeavour (OVs 4 and 5, respectively), are also up for grabs. Contending institutions include the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in Manhattan, Seattle’s Museum of Flight, Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, and the Smithsonian. More details and used-car metaphors at The New York Times.
Hack an NES into A USB Drive Dock for Retro Data Storage
Instructible user fungus amungus turned his broken Nintendo Entertainment System into a flash drive dock and modded his game cartridges with 8GB flash drives. Now when he inserts the game carts into the NES, the drives appear on his desktop. As a nice touch, he added custom icons for each drive so that he knows […]
Recreating a 19th century Japanese Tsuba
One of our readers, Jimy Soprano, sent us the links to this incredibly inspiring short documentary of classical Japanese metal artist Ford Hallam recreating a lost masterpiece by the 19th century Mito tsuba artist Hagia Katsuhira. Years ago, I went off on a Samurai sword/Iaido kick and obsessed over every detail of Japanese sword construction, […]
