Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

2012-06-14

Kinetic Creatures Cardboard Robots

Kinetic Creatures Cardboard Robots | TechNewsDaily.com


A designer-artist couple from Portland, Ore., figured out how to create walking robotic animals — an elephant, a rhino and a giraffe — using nothing but paper.


Lucas Ainsworth, an industrial designer working at Intel, and Alyssa Hamel, a public-school art teacher, took their inspiration from Dutch artist Theo Jansen. His Strandbeest (beach animal) creations are giant mechanical contraptions — in part made from waste, including plastic bottles — that harness wind power to walk on their own.



What are Kinetic Creatures? | Kinetic Creatures

The kits were prototyped, developed and are currently made using a laser cutter, but it takes over two hours and expensive laser-time to build each kit. Now that the designs are done, we are launching a Kickstarter project to cast the patterns onto die-cut-tools at a local cardboard manufacturing facility in Portland, OR.  Using a die-press, the time-per-kit comes way down. That means we will be able to share the Kinetic Creatures, using sustainable materials and 100% local manufacturing, with hundreds of Makers and art students.

Kinetic Creatures by Lucas Ainsworth & Alyssa Hamel — Kickstarter


Kinetic Creatures also...

encourage people to build with their hands, minds and imagination. Use sustainable and recyclable materials and support local manufacturing.

Kinetic Creatures takes a complex mechanical linkage, popularized in Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest, and makes it accessible through an easy assembly and friendly cardboard form.

A collaboration between Alyssa- a Visual Arts Teacher and Artist and Lucas- an Industrial Designer, the Kinetic Creatures are intended to encourage building and thinking creatively at home and in the classroom.


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2012-03-24

The Vortex Cannon

The Vortex Cannon - Student Science - YouTube

After weeks of pestering, we finally give in and let George build a vortex cannon - with surprisingly spooky cup flying results. For more information on the physics behind this head on over to http://www.urn1350.net/thescienceshow to listen to the full podcast!



Vortex ring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


A vortex ring, also called a toroidal vortex, is a region of rotating fluid moving through the same or different fluid where the flow pattern takes on a toroidal (doughnut) shape. The movement of the fluid is about the poloidal or circular axis of the doughnut, in a twisting vortex motion. Examples of this phenomenon are a smoke ring or a microburst[1][2]

Vortex ring toy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A vortex ring toy generates vortex rings – rolling torus-shapes of fluid – that move through the fluid (most often air, and sometimes water). [...] A vortex cannon generates vortex rings, typically using acetylene-air or hydrogen–oxygen explosions.[1]

Vortex Cannon! - Bang Goes the Theory Preview - BBC One - YouTube


Jem Stansfield builds a vortex cannon to blow a house of bricks over.



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2011-12-01

The Zoleco Eco DIY Sports Car

Wacky wheels: Zoleco Sports Car

Zoleco is a new start-up automobile company which hopes to integrate aerodynamics and energy conservation. Zoleco is also the name of its prototype vehicle which is capable of reaching top speeds of an impressive 200mph. Initial calculations show that using just 8.5hp, the car can touch 65mph with a huge 91.4mpg. If you look at other eco-friendly vehicles, you’ll notice that they don’t give as much mileage, examples being the fuel efficient Alfa Romeo at 54.3mpg and the 2011 Camry V8 at 19/28 city/highway. Zoleco uses a fiberglass body and incorporates innovative safety features that set it apart from the rest.

Zoleco



The purpose of this specialty car company is to create an outstanding, very efficient, energy conserving sports car. This futuristic concept car prototype is being built with a unique and exciting form of automotive design. By using the scientific approach of combining the laws of nature with practicality and common sense we can produce a car that is…
 
•  Sporty •  Fun to drive
•  Practical •  Eco-friendly
•  Exotic •  A great compliment to ones individuality.
This all comes together to help address the sustainability issues in the future of our personal transportation.

Read More:  The Car   |   The Man   |   Development Summary   |   Technical Benefits & Details   |   Engine Technology Research

Source: Zoleco

Zoleco is a home-built 151 mpg concept car

Canadian Zoltan Bod is a self-proclaimed "car and performance nut" who has built his very own, very efficient, 151 mpg (1.56 L/100 km) concept car. Dubbed Zoleco (which merges part of Bod's name with the word "eco"), it is designed with ergonomic considerations and seats up to four passengers comfortably. It also features a teardrop body shape and a three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine, along with thermal and braking energy recovery technologies, that conserve as much energy as possible. The result is a sporty and eco-friendly car that we're told is fun to drive.


The DIY Eco-Friendly Zoleco Concept Car from Canada

The future of the Zoleco is currently up in the air, as it could eventually head to production.

Zoltan Bod is considering selling a do-it-yourself kit for his Zoleco concept, allowing prospective buyers with some free-time and a bit of automotive acumen to create their own efficient car.




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2011-08-28

WikiHouse: Open Source Home Building

WikiHouse – the open source house « Ponoko – Blog
http://blog.ponoko.com/2011/08/25/wikihouse-the-open-source-house
  • WikiHouse is a new project trying to make house construction open source. With WikiHouse anyone could download plans to CNC mill and assemble a house.
Printable homes coming soon, thanks to WikiHouse | Geek.com
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/printable-homes-coming-soon-thanks-to-wikihouse-20110817
  • Computerization has had a major impact on just about every aspect of manufacturing and fabrication. It’s also led to a democratization of the process, enabling enthusiastic DIYers with a bit of know-how (and a little extra cash in their bank accounts) to create some pretty amazing things with devices like 3D printers, desktop laser cutters, and programmable CNC machines.
  • It’s this last piece of equipment that WikiHouse wants to help you put to good use. The goal of WikiHouse is to allow people to freely download “open source structures” which can be opened and modified using Google Sketchup. The plans’ building components are designed to be milled from 18MM sheets of plywood, and the resulting pieces can be fitted together like a giant puzzle. They’re even labeled during fabrication, making it perhaps a bit more like building an Ikea desk (though that can be puzzling at times). In addition to marking pieces for easy assembly, the CNC will even cut a wooden mallet that can be used to ensure a tight fight between panels.
CNC routing - using CNC routing with ponoko
http://www.ponoko.com/cnc-routing

  • What is CNC routing?

    CNC routing is one of the digital making methods available through Personal Factory.

    CNC (computer numerical control) routing is a type of subtractive manufacturing that carves a digital design file into a sheet of material.
WikiHouse.CC
http://www.wikihouse.cc/index.html
  • Download houses and components which are created and shared by an open community of designers from around the world. Individual parts can be combined or adapted using the free program Google Sketchup.
  • Click 'Make this House' from within Google Sketchup and WikiHouse generates a complete set of milling drawings from your model, which can be used by a CNC cutter to fabricate the house parts.
  • The parts are cut by a CNC mill using locally-sourced material. This is 18mm plywood, in the standard sheet size of 2440mm x 1220mm (8' x 4').
  • Set out the parts for each section onto the ground, assembling it like a double-layered jigsaw. You won't need any power tools.
WikiHouse.CC
http://www.wikihouse.cc/about.html
  • The first WikiHouse will be constructed in South Korea at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011. We are now looking for architects, furniture designers, product designers, craftsmen, and makers from around the world who are interested in contributing to the WikiHouse process.

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