Author: Zoe Skyforest

3814 Articles

Silencing A 3D Printer With Acoustic Foam Isn’t That Easy

September 20, 2023 by 23 Comments

3D printers are supremely useful tools, but their incessant whining and droning can be distracting and tiresome. [Handy Bear] decided to try some simple ways to quieten down their printer using acoustic foam, with mixed results.

The video starts by exploring two different acoustic foams; one black, one white. The latter was found to hold a flame when ignited, making it a poor choice for a 3D printer with many hot components. The black foam, advertised for use in automotive installations, was reluctant to burn at all, and so made a safer choice.

The UP Mini 3 printer is then disassembled to receive its soundproofing treatment. The printer’s various panels all got a healthy lashing of thick sticky insulating foam. This took some work, thanks to the need to cut around various ribs and screw bosses on the panels. Cut appropriately, though, the printed was able to be reassembled neatly with its foam hidden inside.

Unfortunately, the work didn’t have a great effect on the printer’s sound output. That’s perhaps unsurprising, given it still has uninsulated panels like the front window which are still free to radiate sound. The foam did help cut down on fan noise and high-pitch sounds from the printer, but the annoying medium and low pitched noises from the printer’s motors were still very audible.

Using an enclosure or a quieter stepper driver are probably more effective DIY methods to quiet a noisy printer; share your own ideas in the comments. Video after the break.

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Scaled-Up Matches Are Hilarious And Moderately Effective

September 20, 2023 by 22 Comments

Regular matches are fine for lighting candles and the like, but they’re a bit small and fiddly to use. After seeing some giant prop matches used in a stage play, [Handy Bear] decided to see if they could build some functional extra-large matches at home.

The build starts with a square wooden dowel, cut into lengths to serve as the main body of the matches. Regular tiny matches were then harvested for their flammable matchheads, made of potassium chlorate. Sourcing the material this way is far simpler than attempting a chemical synthesis from raw materials. Once roughly ground, the material was glued on to the end of the wooden rod to finish the match. [Handy Bear] then whipped up a giant matchbox to suit, using the ignition strips from multiple smaller matchboxes in the process.

Impressively, the monster matches work, and work well. They readily ignite when struck, and are able to keep a strong flame burning for some time.  However they’re not quite potent enough to fully ignite the wood, so they don’t burn down like the real thing. We could see these being a great way to light a campfire with less hassle than regular matches, even if they are a bulky solution to the problem.

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Powerful Nerf Blaster Aims To Fire 100 Darts Per Second

September 19, 2023 by 14 Comments

Nerf has made plenty of fully-automatic blasters over the years, but their toys typically lack punch, precision, and fire rate. [3DprintedLife] set about building a blaster to rectify that last shortcoming, aiming for design that could fire 100 darts per second.

The design uses half length darts which tend to fly a little nicer from high-powered blasters. It fires them using belts driven by powerful motors, similar to wheel blasters. The darts themselves are loaded into a drum magazine which has sliders to push the darts into the wheels as the drum rotates by.

It all sounds straightforward enough, but getting it all working in harmony is a challenge—particularly at a fire rate of 100 darts per second. The build video explains the trials and tribulations involved in getting near that fire rate, with darts getting shredded and magazines throwing out parts along the way.  A good helping of iterative design helps get everything playing nice, with the darts neatly leaving the magazine and flying downrange at great speed. The slow-motion videos of darts flying out of the blaster in rapid succession are a special treat.

Files are available via Onshape for those looking to dive deeper into the design. We’ve seen some other neat Nerf blasters before, too. Video after the break.

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Scientists Call Out Apollo 17 After Investigating Moonquakes Past

September 19, 2023 by 35 Comments

In the vast realm of space exploration, new discoveries often emerge from old data. Thanks to advanced algorithms and keen observers, the seismic activities of our closest celestial neighbor, the Moon, have recently been thrust back into the limelight.

Thanks to the effort of the NASA crew involved in the Apollo 17 mission, it’s possible investigate these phenomena today with datasets from the past. Recently, researchers working with this data turned up some intriguing findings, and published them in a new paper. It reveals that one unexpected source of moonquakes could be the very equipment that Earth’s astronauts left behind. Continue reading “Scientists Call Out Apollo 17 After Investigating Moonquakes Past” →

The Science Behind The Majesty Of Dancing Raisins

September 16, 2023 by 18 Comments

Have you ever thrown a handful of raisins into a tub of sparkling water? Or peanuts into beer? It seems like an altogether strange thing to do, but if you’ve tried it, you’ll have seen the way the raisins dance and tumble in the fluid. As it turns out, there’s some really interesting science at play when you dive into the mechanics of it all. [Saverio Spagnolie] did just that, and even went as far as publishing a paper on the topic.

The fundamental mechanism behind the dancing raisins is down to the bubbles in sparkling water. When dropped into the fluid, bubbles form on the raisins and attach to them, giving them additional buoyancy.  They then float up, with some of the bubbles shedding or popping on the way, others doing so at the fluid surface. This then causes the raisins to lose buoyancy, rotate, flop around, and generally dance for our amusement.

[Saverio] didn’t just accept things at face value though, and started taking measurements. He used 3D-printed models to examine bubble formation and the forces involved. Along with other scientists, models were developed to explore bubble formation, shedding, and the dynamics of raisin movement. If you don’t have time to dive into the paper, [Saverio] does a great job of explaining it in a Twitter thread (Nitter) in an accessible fashion.

It’s a great example of cheap kitchen science that can teach you all kinds of incredible physics if you just care to look. Video after the break.

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Open Source Rover Gets An Update For Easier Building

September 16, 2023 by 10 Comments

Once upon a time, NASA-JPL put out a design for an open-source rocker-bogie rover. It was an impressive and capable thing, albeit a little expensive and difficult to build. Now, the open source community has dived in and refreshed the design, making it cheaper and more accessible than ever before.

Many parts of the original design have either become prohibitively expensive, gone out of stock, or been discontinued entirely. The new version, developed by the community that formed around the project, focuses on using off-the-shelf parts to bring costs down. Where the original design could cost as much as $3000 to build, the new model slashes that bill almost in half. It also eliminates any need for anything custom fabricated, with no machined or 3D printed parts required.

Other optimizations include cutting the rover’s head out from the basic model, as it’s not necessary for a great deal of applications. There is also better fluid and dust ingress protection, and improved serviceability. The entire rover model can also be loaded in OnShape for those desiring to inspect it or make their own modifications.

Parts lists are on GitHub for those desiring to build their own. Alternatively, check out the original design to learn more. Video after the break.

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Toy Bulldozer Becomes Epic Terrifying Lawnmower

September 16, 2023 by 13 Comments

Regular lawnmowers are a perfectly fine way to mow your lawn, but they can be a bit boring. They’re also not always the best at tackling thick brush and bushes. [rctestflight] has a solution to both of those problems, in the form of a plant-munching bulldozer.

The concept is simple — it starts with a hefty miniature RC bulldozer. Weighing in at 27 kilograms (60 pounds), the beast has actual functioning hydraulics to control the blade and plow. It struggles somewhat with traction, particularly in muddier conditions, and can’t really dig much, but it nonetheless looks the business.

As cool as it was, [rctestflight] decided to employ it for some real yard work by outfitting it with a mowing rig. The ‘dozer was outfitted with a pair of sawblades, run by twin brushless motors for plenty of grunt. That gave the bulldozer the ability to mow through not just lawn, but even thick blackberry bushes and two-foot high weeds.

It’s not great at steering, but it’s able to destroy thick brush with reckless abandon. Fundamentally, it looks like a very fun way to mow an overgrown yard.

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