Month: January 2007

EasyStill Home Alcohol Making Kit

EasyStillIf your as lazy as I am the idea of not having to drive down to the local liquor store to get a bottle of booze is quite appealing. How cool would it be to have a distillery in your back room?

EasyStill is a tabletop distillation unit. 4 liters of mash or wine are added and the unit plugged in. No cooling water required no thermometer or other nuisance. The unit is fan cooled. If you forget the unit it switches itself off when the boiling vessel is empty. Warming up takes one hour, and then distillation takes 3 hours. This gives 1.4 liters of spirits of approximately 46% alcohol. Active charcoal purification takes place during distillation through a 500mm purifying tube. The spirits produced have the flavour of vodka and are ready to drink or flavour with essences or herbs. Those choosing the easy way connect up a timer so the process looks after itself.

[via ohqizmo]
EasyStill

Armoured Paintball Battle Tank

Well, now this would put the fear into your friends as you engage in a friendly game of paintball now wouldn’t it?

Experience the fun and excitement of driving tanks and amphibious vehicles over a variety of challenging courses set in a World War II bombing range.

Why not start your day off with an exciting drive in an Amphibious 4-track snowcat, followed by the thrill of driving an FV432 Tank, finishing off the session by taking on the enemy vehicle with your 40mm cannon!

Most confirmed kills wins.. can you kill him before he kills you?

Combine driving and paintball to make an action packed day of adventure! Sessions or days can be tailored to suit all… whether it’s a birthday, stag/hen party or a corporate event.

It’s sad that this is only in the UK…

[via Retro Thing]

Armourgeddon

The Wizard of Speed and Time Short Film

This a wonderful short live action/animated (using stop motion) that was made by a very talented independent film maker named Mike Jittlov. If you can get a hold of a copy of the full length film you should watch it. It’s a remarkably accurate portrayal of the adversity that faces indy film makers. Even now its pretty much dead on.

YouTube – The Wizard of Speed & Time v2.0
Mike Jittlov’s WizWorld

DIY Wet Cell Battery

Nice project, and best of all pretty safe.

One particularly photogenic type of battery was known as a “gravity cell,” because gravity is what held it together. Typically used to power telephone and telegraph circuits, it consisted of a solution of blue vitriol (known these days as copper sulfate and sold in garden centers for pond treatment) on the bottom and a layer of zinc sulfate on top, kept separate only by their slightly different densities.
At the top, the electrode gives off zinc ions, while at the bottom, copper sulfate is reduced into copper metal. Together these complementary reactions produce just over one volt; string five batteries in series, and you get enough power to run a flashlight or charge an iPod. Any movement disturbs the delicate layers, ruining the battery, but if you’re careful, you can drop in new crystals of blue vitriol as needed, and the battery will run for years.

Copper sulfate is fun to play with by the way. If it’s heated to drive out moisture and left to cool you get a nice exothermic reaction when you add a drop of water to the pile of powder. Your not going to heat a meal but it does produce a little steam.

[via MAKE]
Popular Science Gray Matter – Build your own battery