Danger is My Middle Name
Last week, [Al Williams] wrote up a his experience with a book that provided almost too much detailed information on how to build a DIY x-ray machine for his (then) …read more Continue reading Danger is My Middle Name
Category Archives: danger
Retrotechtacular: Shake Hands with Danger
OK, you’re going to have to engage your safety squints and sit back to enjoy this one: a classic bit of safety propaganda from US heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar from 1980 entitled “Shake Hands with Danger.”
Actually, you’ll probably need to engage your schlock filters for this 23-minute film too, as …read more
The URL “Danger Zone”
Inadequate Security Policies with Uncategorized Sites
The challenge most email gateways face is how to protect against URL-based threats that exist within a “danger zone”— the period when phishing sites are allowed to sneak into the network as unc… Continue reading The URL “Danger Zone”
Swap Your Microwave for a High Voltage Stereo
When building a new project, common wisdom suggests to avoid “reinventing the wheel”, or doing something simple from scratch that’s easily available already. However, if you can build a high-voltage wheel, so to speak, it might be fun just to see what happens. [Dan] decided to reinvent not the wheel, …read more
Continue reading Swap Your Microwave for a High Voltage Stereo
3D Printer Warning: Heating Plastic To High Temps is Not Healthy
If you’ve ever tried to cut a piece of acrylic with a tool designed to cut wood or metal, you know that the plastic doesn’t cut in the same way that either of the other materials would. It melts at the cutting location, often gumming up the tool but always releasing a terrible smell that will encourage anyone who has tried this to get the proper plastic cutting tools instead of taking shortcuts. Other tools that heat up plastic also have this problem, as Gizmodo reported recently, and it turns out that the plastic particles aren’t just smelly, they’re toxic. …read more
Continue reading 3D Printer Warning: Heating Plastic To High Temps is Not Healthy
It’s Time To Break-Up The Data Monopolies
By far, the most important thought piece you may read all week comes to us via the MIT Technology Review author Martin Giles, in his superlative article ‘It’s Time to Rein in the Data Barons’
“Making the legal case for breakups will be hard, th… Continue reading It’s Time To Break-Up The Data Monopolies
The Engineering Case for Fusing Your LED Strips
Modern LED strips are magical things. The WS2812 has allowed the quick and easy creation of addressable RGB installations, revolutionizing the science of cool glowy things. However, this accessibility means that it’s easy to get in over your head and make some simple mistakes that could end catastrophically. [Thomas] is here to help, outlining a common mistake made when building with LED strips that is really rather dangerous.
The problem is the combination of hardware typically used to run these LED strings. They’re quite bright and draw significant amounts of power, each pixel drawing up to 60 mA at full-white. …read more
Continue reading The Engineering Case for Fusing Your LED Strips
How to Make a Human Crossbow
Say you have a team of French engineers, a lake in the summer, a wizened old machinist, and some gigantic bungee cords. What would you build? The answer is clear, a human-launching crossbow. (Video, and making-of embedded below.)
You can start out watching the promo video because it looks like a lot of fun, but don’t leave without watching the engineering video. What looks like a redneck contraption turns out to be painstakingly built, and probably not entirely a death trap. The [Rad Cow] team even went so far as to purchase metal cart wheels.
Everyone else on the Intertubes …read more
How to Make a Human Crossbow
Say you have a team of French engineers, a lake in the summer, a wizened old machinist, and some gigantic bungee cords. What would you build? The answer is clear, a human-launching crossbow. (Video, and making-of embedded below.)
You can start out watching the promo video because it looks like a lot of fun, but don’t leave without watching the engineering video. What looks like a redneck contraption turns out to be painstakingly built, and probably not entirely a death trap. The [Rad Cow] team even went so far as to purchase metal cart wheels.
Everyone else on the Intertubes …read more