Freaking amazing!!!! so far it’s just (ha! ‘just’) a 4x4x4 cube of tri-color LEDs with a computer interface. Next project will be an 8x8x8 cube and maybe, just maybe a 13x13x13 version! Check the videos out.
Category: Mad Science
Chainsaw bike
You have to read the tech specs on this monster! Here’s a sample:
What makes the Dolmette unique in engineering terms is its 24-cylinder 2-stroke power plant. Nothing quite like it has been seen before. The combined power of 24 DOLMAR chainsaw engines is fed into to a 5-speed Harley-Davidson transmission by a series of twelve toothed belts.
Toshiba Develope Fuel Cell for Small Electronics
You can’t tell me that once these come on the market some modding geek with a bit too much pocket money won’t go out and buy one of these and hack it apart just to use the power supply on another device? Sounds like a perfect way to power an iPod Shuffle or whatever is going to be around in 2007, that’s when they are expected to hit the market.
he company developed fuel cell units with 100mW and 300mW output, intended to be used with portable audio players that have internal flash memory or internal hard drives. The company announced fuel cells for portable audio products back in 2004, and at that time stated that they intended for implementation of the technology some time during 2005.
The 100mW unit measures 75 x 23 x 10mm (H x W x T) and is about the size of a few sticks of gum. 3.5ml of pure methanol (99.5% pure) is injected into its tank, and it can provide life for roughly 35 hours. The 300mW unit measures 75 x 60 x 10mm (same) and provides around 60 hours of playback time from 10ml of fuel.
These fuel cells that were developed are a passive type that is suited for smaller products. Unlike conventional fuel cells that require the methanol to be diluted to under 30% concentration, these units can use methanol with no need to dilute it. The company is looking for basic adoption of the technology during or after 2007, and is accelerating development on all fronts, including manufacturing technology
The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 by Popular Mechanics
These books are a wonderful read, cover to cover you will find contraptions and ideas for solving all sorts of problems of every day life.
Many of them may have been practical years ago but are now jaw dropingly weird, but they will still make you knock away the cobwebs in your brain and appreciate the cleverness of these books.
Volume one is available from Project Gutenberg as a free download (its over 500 pages long!) as it’s now out of print but volume three you can buy from Lindsay’s Technical Books (a goldmine of almost forgotten information can be found there!). It would be worth looking for volume one on eBay just because having a nicely bound book is a heck of a lot better than a stack of papers held together with binder clips.
The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 by Popular Mechanics
The Boy Mechanic: Volume 3 from Lindsay Books
Estes Oracle Video Rocket
Not too bad, but only if you don’t want to hack your own camera into a rocket. For my personal taste, 9fps is too slow and jerky for an impressive launch video. It should also have a flip up mirror so right before burn out you get a shot of the horizion. I guess I had better start building my own shouldn’t I…
High Voltage Fun!
All sorts of nifty cool high voltage projects.
This section deals with the power supplies which output mich higher voltagethat is safe to touch (voltages above 75V DC). NOTE: High voltage power supplies are very dangerous circuits which should only be built by persons who know exactly what they are doing and do it safely. High voltage power supply can easily kill you if you do mistakes with it.