Author Archives: Moritz Walter

Building Pneumatic Actuators With 3D Printed Molds

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Pneumatic actuators offer interesting perspectives in applications like soft robotics and interaction design. [Aidan Leitch] makes his own pneumatic actuators from silicone rubber. His actuators contain embedded air channels that can be filled with pressurized air and completely collapse to a flat sheet when no pressure is applied.

The process is based on the research work of Kevin C. Galloway et al. on “Zero Volume Air Chambers”. The team found that they could pour a thin layer of silicone rubber into a flat mold, then selectively apply a pattern of mold release to the surface of the cured layer using …read more

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Anger Release Machine Is Built To Break

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Is your temper hard but brittle? Meet the Anger Release Machine: a ware-dropping spiral vending machine stocked with precious porcelain.

There’s a bit more engineering and user experience design behind [Yarisal & Kublitz’s] art installation than meets the eye. The Anger Release Machine drops your purchase from dangerous heights, but like every passive aggressive vending machine, it also does its best to infuriate you using controlled disappointment. Insert a coin, see the steel spirals turn, and just when you’re already dying of the suspense…

Release your anger right below in the comments! We feel with the person in the video. …read more

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Thermoelectric Dry Ice Generator Does Not Work (Yet)

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[Pabr] is trying to make dry ice the hard way by building a thermoelectric dry ice generator. The project is a well planned round trip through thermodynamics and cryogenics with a hard landing on the icy grounds of trial and error.

While dry ice can be obtained with simpler methods, for example by venting gaseous CO2 from fire extinguishers and collecting the forming CO2 flakes, [pabr’s] method is indeed attractive as a more compact solid-state solution. The setup uses a four stage Peltier element, which uses four Peltier stages to achieve a high temperature differential. With sufficient cooling on the …read more

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Real, Life-Sized Transformers

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Ever dreamed of a real, life-sized Transformer in your garage? The Turkish startup Letrons now offers you exactly that: Their animatronic Autobot drives like a car, transforms like a Transformer, and supposedly fights off space threats with its built-in smoke machine and sound effects.

Letrons’s Transformer seems to be built upon a BMW E92 coupé chassis. According to the company, the beast is packed with powerful hydraulics and servo motors, allowing it to transform and move fast. Sensors all around the chassis give it some interactivity and prevent it from crushing innocent bystanders when in remote-control mode. Interestingly, its …read more

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Forge Your Own Neon Signs With EL Wire

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Neon tube signs radiate an irresistible charm, which has been keeping them alive to this day. The vintage, orange glow is hard to substitute with modern means of illumination, but never trust a neon sign that you didn’t forge yourself. [NPoole] shows you how to build remarkably realistic faux neon tube signs from plastic tubing and EL wire.

After sourcing some polycarbonate tubing from a pet shop, where it’s more commonly used in aquariums, [NPoole] simply inserted some orange EL wire into the tubing. He heated one end of the tubing with a heat gun and twisted it off, sealing  …read more

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Possible Fire Hazard: Wanhao “Recalls” Duplicator i3 3D Printer

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Wanhao is reaching out to its customers and resellers, warning them of a design flaw in their Duplicator i3 that may cause fires. The printers suffer from an issue that causes crimp connections of the nozzle heater cartridge’s supply line to fail due to the mechanical stress in the cable drag chain. In their “Recall” titled note, Wanhao provides instructions on how to fix the issue.

Among the unlucky recipients of malfunctioning Wanhaos was [Angus Deveson] from Maker’s Muse, who received a unit that failed before he could record a review on it. Unrelated to the “recall”, [Chuck Hellebuyck] released …read more

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3D Printering: Aramid and Carbon Fiber Infused ABS

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Last week, we had a look at a carbon-infused PETG filament. This week, I’d like to show you two composites based on a more common thermoplastic in 3D printing: ABS. Among a whole lot of other engineering plastics, the french company Nanovia manufactures Kevlar-like aramid-fiber-infused and carbon-fiber-infused ABS 3D printing filaments. These materials promise tougher parts with less warping while being just as easy to print as regular ABS. Let’s check them out!

Lucky enough to obtain a huge pack of samples from Nanovia’s endless list of highly exotic filaments (Thanks Jacques!), I was able to run a few test …read more

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Mega-Plate Petri-Dish Let’s You Watch The Evolution Of Bacteria

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Rearchers of the Harvard Medical School built a 2 feet by 4 feet (61 x 122 cm) large petri-dish to visualize the evolution of bacteria. Their experiment induces mutations in E. coli bacteria by exposing them to gradually increasing concentrations of antibiotics.

Their assembly consists of a large glass tank with a thick agar at its bottom and a thinner agar on top of it, which acts as a mobility layer, allowing the bacteria to move around in the dish. The bottom layer is divided into 9 bands, which are treated with gradually increasing concentrations of antibiotics: No antibiotics in …read more

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Lifting The Secret Of The Wooden Rings

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Making beautiful things from epoxy and wood happens to be [Peter Brown’s] area of expertise. He was recently quested with reverse engineering the ring design of the Canadian manufacturer secret wood — a unique combination of splintered wood and epoxy — and achieved impressive results.

As it turns out, splintering wood on purpose and in just the right way is harder than not taping the kerf. [Peter] tried breaking wooden boards in half over his knee, in a vise, he kerfed the wood to make it crack more straight, he tried thin boards and thick boards. Eventually, he got the …read more

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Lifting The Secret Of The Wooden Rings

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Making beautiful things from epoxy and wood happens to be [Peter Brown’s] area of expertise. He was recently quested with reverse engineering the ring design of the Canadian manufacturer secret wood — a unique combination of splintered wood and epoxy — and achieved impressive results.

As it turns out, splintering wood on purpose and in just the right way is harder than not taping the kerf. [Peter] tried breaking wooden boards in half over his knee, in a vise, he kerfed the wood to make it crack more straight, he tried thin boards and thick boards. Eventually, he got the …read more

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