These people from GreeneMotor brought out a number of motorcycles and scooters that they converted entirely to electric power. They claim that you can ride 450 miles on a single dollar’s worth of juice — even at California rates. Thumb your noses at the Prius crowd — you’re really green now. At least you’d be the first person on your block with an almost totally silent ride.
GreeneMotor [Greenemotor.com]
The guys over at the Crucible created this BMW-car-powered land speed motorcycle in their spare time and are hoping to set some records with it later this year. In this picture, the front fairing has been removed so the crowd can see their sweet engine installation.
The Crucible is a community learning center where Bay Area residents come to learn blacksmithing, welding, woodworking, metal casting, and all sorts of interesting — and almost lost, in some cases — skills. We’ll definitely have more on the crucible here on Toolmonger later.
Really. We’re not kidding. A person runs in the “human wheel” on the left, which powers this 30-foot-tall nose picker. It’s called “The Disgusting Spectacle,” and the line is at last 20′ long to give it a whirl.
Tracks + boiler = seriously cool RC vehciles! I saw this little sucker a few minutes ago in the robotics pavilion. A few seconds after I took this picture he set up a bunch of miniature logs and ran them over. Nice.
We’re readers (and big fans) of Robot magazine, and they’re here at Maker Faire in force today located over in the robotics pavilion. We stopped to say hello, and you should, too. Even if you’re not here at the Faire, check out their website where you can subscribe. We do!
Robot Magainze [BotMag.com]
Yep — this is just what it looks like: a massive walking robotic giraffe that can actually carry three or four people on its back. We’ll see if we can’t get some better pictures (and maybe some video) later.
These guys have converted numerous Priuses (Pri-i?) from pure Hybrid to plug-in mode, allowing them to achieve 100+ MPG in daily driving. The best part: they’re putting together a kit to help you do it, too! There’s a lot of re-programming involved, so they’re hoping to provide you all the tough stuff so all you’ll need is some tools, time, a Prius, and a desire to shun gasoline like the plague.
We’ll bring you more information about this when we get back into the office, as I’d imagine a number of you’ll be interested in trying this yourselves.
I just saw a spinner kick the living crap out of this mean-looking beer keg smasher — knocking him out of this weekend’s competition. A word to those of you who haven’t seen a live competition of this sort: it’s a lot wilder than it looks on TV. These robots knock parts off each other and send them crashing into the lexan shields at an alarming rate. You can clearly hear a “THWACK.” Wow!
We saw this over in the robotics pavilion this morning, and it’s just what it looks like: a drum kit wired with actuators to play itself. It’s quite appropriately named “Animal.”
Here’s our new friend Eugene with a telescope he and some students from around the Bay Area built entirely from scratch. The kicker: it’s computer controlled so it can be tele-operated. Eugene’s dream is a world covered with these inexpensive, remote-controlled ’scopes connected via a computer network so users can experience dark skies — somewhere in the world — any time of the day or night and even from urban areas.
Linuxastronomy.org [Eugene's Site]
We’re back at Maker Faire today with more drill/drivers to test and more live coverage of the event. Today: some sweet robot fighting!
We’re almost ready to wrap up Saturday’s Maker Faire event, and we’ve seen literally thousands of people in Toolmonger’s space checking out the drill drivers we brought — and at least a few hundred of ‘em took the time to fill out the review forms and give us their opinions on the tools. It’s been a great time, and we’ve learned a lot.
Remember, Maker Faire continues Sunday at 10 a.m., so if you haven’t made it out, don’t wait. I mean, c’mon! The place has a “robotics pavilion” as well as lots of fire, lightning, and all sorts of cool stuff — as well as a chance to try out a ton of drills. See you there.
As you can see above, they guys behind us got their massive Tesla coils in operation, producing some spectacular results. And yes, it does interfere with the broadband. But we don’t care. It’s awesome!
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a homebuilt cathode ray tube clock. This one was built by tinkerer Eric Schlaepfer. The clock to the left incorporates a classic nixie tube display. Eric likes to call them “anachronistic clocks.”
Reader Paul stopped by to see us here at Maker Faire and told us about this tool he bought yesterday from Harbor Freight: the “Wonder Winder.” As Paul said, you just stick your extension cord in the end and wind away to roll it up in the attached cage.
It’s $22 right now at HF, but Paul said he’s seen it on sale recently, so you might keep an eye out.
The guys from Surplus Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, are set up just ten or fifteen feet from us at Maker Faire, and we got a chance to swing by this afternoon. They carry all sorts of crazy stuff, including high-power hydraulic linear actuators. If you’re looking for high-end hydraulics for cheap, they look to be your source. The best part, though: they have a catalog and do mail order.
The Surplus Center [Corporate Site]
This is one of Tim Hunkins’ “arcade” machines. The two seagulls rotate above the game and the screen below shows a downward view from the seagulls’ butts — complete with a target. The player then presses a button to make the bird poop a mint candy.
Tim trained as an engineer, then moved on to cartooning and writing the famous “Secret Life of Machines” show. Now he creates these cool, whimsical coin-operated arcade machines.
This one was the only one portable enough to bring to Maker Faire, but some of his others include a dog walk simulator (in which both the user and the dog receive a point-of-view-based screen) and a vacation in chair experience (where the “player” receives the experience of an entire vacation in just a few minutes). Most of his machines incorporate his stop-motion filmmaking work.
Good stuff!
www.flickr.com
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What's In Your Kitchen Tool Drawer?
Tool Talk #53: Old Hardware Stores & Pocket Knives
Tool Talk #52: Listener Calls & Reader Projects
Tool Talk #51: DIY Wedding Rings & Heirloom Shopsmiths
Tool Talk #50: Router Safety & Pointless Tools
Tool Talk #49: Bookcases & Ending Laziness
Tool Talk #48: Christmas & (Paint) Strippers
One Beer Projects: Repairing Wood Surfaces
One Beer Projects: Fixing Simple Problems With Your Dryer
One Beer Projects: Winterizing/Storing Your Bike
One Beer Projects: De-Badging Your Truck
One Beer Projects: Staining Your Fence
One Beer Projects: Doing Your Own Brakes
One Beer Projects: Balancing Your A/C For The Summer
One Beer Projects: Installing A Dimmer Switch
Hands-On: Milwaukee M12 Power Port
Hands-On: Caterpillars Fix Wiggly Outlets For Good
Head 2 Head Hands-On: Bosch SPS10 vs LI3000 SmartDriver
Hands-On: Striker Magnetic LED Light
Hands-On: Dremel Duo Kit -- Dremel Driver
Hands-On: Elmer's ProBond Wood Filler
Hands-On: Duo-Fast DF350S Framing Nailer
Hands-On: Watco Danish Oil - Cherry Finish
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 5: Engine Teardown
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 4: A New Transmission
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 3: Building An Engine Stand
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 2: Pulling The Engine
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 1: The Truck
How-To: Cut Angles With A Circular Saw
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 5) -- Complete!
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 4) -- Installation!
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 3) -- Fabricating Engine Brackets
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 2) -- GM Performance Parts
