Opening really old lock boxes
[Barry Wels] is a locksmith. One day, he got a call from a museum that had a few 17th century strong boxes that needed to be opened. After a little probing with an endoscope, he decided they could be picked with a little bit of spring steel. So, what’s in the box? [Barry] is going to send in an update in a month or two.
An awesome Geordi La Forge VISOR. But don’t take my word for it.
[DrewSmith007] made a replica of Geordi’s VISOR from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Bonus: it’s autographed by Levar Burton.
Free mirrors for your laser cutter
If you have a laser cutter, your mirrors will get damaged, and they’re very expensive to replace. [Phil] sent in a neat tip: make your own mirrors from hard drive platters.
A proper M.U.L.E. remake
Combine Settlers of Catan with M.U.L.E.. That’s what this Kickstarter is trying to do, and it sounds freakin’ awesome.
This game is so cool
A few months ago, I mapped the surface of a video game moon. Since then, Kerbal Space Program had a huge update with a brand new moon. Over on Reddit, [InsanityCore] started mapping this new moon, so I rendered it. Go give [InsanityCore] some karma. He did all the hard work.
At the optics department of my University it is fairly common the usage of HDD plates as first surface mirrors.
My roommate is a huge fan of KSP. It *does* seem like a pretty neat game.
Careful with those boxes, haven’t you ever seen Creepshow? ;)
a properly calibrated laser cutter should not have their beams focused when bounced off the mirrors and should only be focused by a lens at the exit of the optics.
if the laser can damage the mirrors then you can use the laser cutter to make new mirrors.
you can buy mirrors fairly cheap from office copiers and laser printers.
beauty compacts and make up mirrors should work too just cut out small disks of mirror and have some in reserve
You’ve never actually use a laser cutter, have you…
beauty compacts? Are you for real? dude.. those are glass and have double reflection and loss and are not suited st all
I don’t think he’s thought his cunning plan of cutting the mirrors with the laser though…
Perhaps he needs to reflect upon reality.
WTF are you talking about?
1) those mirrors have two reflective surfaces which (as other readers pointed out) will reflect the beam at least twice (you should count with internal reflection) at different angles.
2) the internal reflection of those mirrors would easily burn the reflective coating in the backside of the mirror (2nd surface), rendering them useless only after a few minutes.
**JUNE** 1st?
Oh, wow. It’s like writing a check, right?
For those chests being centuries old, they sure as heck aren’t too careful with them!
I have some old locks. Just one over 150 years old. It still is a beast. Takes a lot of force to make it do anything, even after a week long soak in various solvents.
Just for reference, Barry is a lock *picker*. His primary job is not locksmith. Just some nit picking
so his primary job is nit-picking?
Did you see the wards? My god that isn’t a job for picking anymore. Besides he was tasked with a key. It’s an impressioner’s game now.
A proper MULE remake has been made. http://www.planetmule.com/
I played M.U.L.E at a the apartment of a FOAF back in ’85 or ’86. Interesting game, but I don’t recall the game system. He also had a neat coffee table he’d built over the weekend with 2×4’s.
The platter mirrors only last for a short time. Buy some nice NOS gold plated silicon or copper mirrors made by II-IV or Laser Power Optics and be done with it. You will never damage them at the low powers of small laser cutters and never have to realign once they are in. If you are spending a couple grand to build a machine (Average price) or even buy a cheap chinese one, what is $100 to $150 for good mirrors?
Says who?
And if it’s “says you”, got a source for that?
The originator seems to think they’d last as long, if not longer than the usual cheap gold ones as they need less cleaning, and are easier to clean as well, so there’s less likelihood of damage.
It is not true at all. The really high thickness of the HDD plates makes them very durable, on contrary to coated 1st surface mirrors.
Hey, was that a “Reading Rainbow” reference???? LOL!!
new official mapping mod is out for ksp 15.2 now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvoL2gG-QyQ
Thanks again for talking about my mod on hackaday.
Cheers!
Innsewerants