Fresh hacks every day
[Ralph Doncaster] has a geothermal heat pump which is responsible for providing heat for his home. He's been looking into some hacks that would make it more efficient and decided that the freon (R-22) needed to be tweaked. Some would say the stuff is bad for the environment, so he decided to go a different route. He replaced the Freon with propane, using this rig to make the fuel-grade propane … [Read more...]
A [Hank Drum], as explained here, is a steel drum-type instrument made out of a propane tank. The name comes from the [Hang] or [Hang Drum] which is significantly more expensive than that $40 or so an empty propane tank costs. Of course, you'll have to do some work to get it to play beautiful music, which can be seen in a time-lapse construction video after the break. The details of how this … [Read more...]
When the truck rolls up, everything seems normal enough. It's a generic oil tanker. But when the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey" begins to play and the side of the tank starts to open, you suddenly realize things are not what they seem. This is no mere tanker truck, it's a massive meat cooking monster dubbed the "X Grill". [Ken Foster], owner and creator of this $40K+ beast, worked with … [Read more...]
To put on a live pyrotechnic show at a music festival, [Chris] built the FireHero 3. The result is remotely controlled flames shooting up to 100 feet in the air. The system is controlled by a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino. A server runs on the Pi and allows a remote computer to control the system. The Pi sends commands over serial to the Arduino, which switches solid state relays that actuate the … [Read more...]
You can build a surprising amount of stuff from parts you can pick up at a hardware store. Sometimes, though, getting a project built from sections of pipe is very, very difficult. That's the case with [Lou]'s hardware store engine: despite an inordinate amount of cleverness, he just can't seem to get an engine made from pipe fitting to work and is now asking for some ideas from other ingenious … [Read more...]
Here's a fiery project which [Patrick] calls his Pyro Jam Can. It's the simplest Rubens' Tube build that we can think of. For the uninformed, a Rubens' tube uses flammable gas to reveal wave forms passing through the supply vessel. In the past we've seen projects with multiple columns, which very clearly show a standing wave. But this version lacks the resolution for that, so the wave is seen as a … [Read more...]
This is one piece I regret to have missed this year at Burning Man, however I certainly heard tales from any one who stumbled across it. [Christopher Shardt]'s Garden of Rockets consists of three kinetic fire art pieces with spinning propane rockets that you can control! [Christopher] decided to incorporate his Burning Man 2010 project, 4pyre², which is a 12 foot pipe with opposing propane … [Read more...]
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