Lunar Auto Repair Depends On The Sticky Stuff

October 19, 2009 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

lunar-rover-fender-uses-duct-tape

When you’ve got problems with your lunar rover you can’t just “trust the Midas touch”. Every unexpected repair that happens outside of the Earth’s atmosphere is a hack and it seems the common ingredient in each one is Duct tape. If you’ve seen the movie Apollo 13 you know it was used in making a square carbon dioxide filter fit into a round filter socket. [XD] let us know about another hack where NASA used Duct tape to replace a fender on the lunar rover during the Apollo 17 mission.

The rover kicks up a lot of moon dust as it cruises around on its wire tires. When a rear fender started to come loose it was secured with duct tape. We delighted in watching a moon-man tear off chunks of tape for the fix, shown in the video after the break. When the fender finally flew off of the vehicle, the engineers on the ground came up with a way to replace it using laminated maps and more duct tape.

We’ve been critical of the use of duct tape in the past. But when you’re in a bind, accept no substitutes.

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1480W Scooter Motor Guarantees Head Trauma

October 18, 2009 by Mike Szczys 79 Comments

[Jerome’s] been working on some improvements to an electric foot scooter he picked up from a friend. He ordered up a powerful brushless motor and some lithium batteries. His system uses a belt drive and at 33 volts it can reach 25 miles per hour.

He had some problems with too much torque when the motor was first started. This resulted in unintentional wheelies, which sounds really cool if you’re not the one trying to hang on to the scooter. [Jerome] is using an Arduino to control the system so he built in the ability to gradually ramp up the speed of the motor and also added the ability to control the speed via remote control. You should note in the video after the break that [Jerome] is test-piloting his build sans-helmet.

So, we spend a lifetime and countless sums of money filling our noggins with knowledge. This is a precarious investment since a rather small bump to the melon could corrupt all of that data and end the once spectacular cognitive power. If you’re smart enough to build a foot scooter that can go 25mph, be smart enough to wear a helmet when you ride on it!

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$4500 Book About A Car You Can’t Afford

October 9, 2009 by Mike Szczys 24 Comments

The folks over at Kirkham Motorsports have turned out two things of beauty. The first is a sky’s-the-limit milled aluminum car. The second is a book about the making of the car that runs $4500 per copy. Why so much for a book? The binding is milled out of a 35 pound aluminum billet.

The project spans a 2 1/2 year build cycle and showcases the gamut of craftsmanship. The extremely detailed build log is available at their website in PDF form. Of particular interest to us is Chapter 10: Milling. The sheer volume of machined parts for this roadster is mind-boggling. There’s also plenty of CNC pipe bending involved with the body work in Chapter 18.

Finish up your work this morning and spend the rest of the day with this fantasy creation. If you’ve got too much to do, why not shell out for the hard-copy version and devote your weekend to metal-working romance?

[via Makezine]

Hack A USB Port Into Your 2010 Prius

October 7, 2009 by Mike Szczys 46 Comments

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[Rosenberger31] did a nice job of adding a USB port to his 2010 Toyota Prius. He removed the access door on the console where the traditional “cigarette lighter” 12 volt port is located. A Dynex 12-volt to USB adapter was piggy-backed onto the power lines and the USB connector was then fit into the blank accessory plate next to it.

There is no data connection here, the port only provides 5v regulated power to devices plugged into it. None the less, it is still a pretty nice looking alternative to having a power adapter hanging out of the dash all the times. If you try this, heed one of the warnings from the comments and make sure you add a switch if you vehicle powers the 12 volt port even when the car is not running.

This makes us wonder: will this void your warranty?

The Subway Never Sounded So Good

October 7, 2009 by Mike Szczys 23 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivg56TX9kWI]

Reader [Philippe] tipped us off about this video showing a set of subway steps being turned into a piano keyboard (english translation). The creators wanted to make taking the stairs rather than riding the escalator a bit more fun. They added pressure sensors to each step, then covered them with white and black keys to resemble a keyboard. When a passenger puts their weight on a step, the corresponding pitch is played out loud.

We may have lied in the title as this doesn’t really compare to hearing Josh Bell play for pocket change at your train stop. But coming across this setup on an otherwise mundane commute would really brighten up our day.

ED, The Electric DeLorean

October 7, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 34 Comments

lrg-75-above_all_open_rear_angle

Who wouldn’t want a DeLorean, honestly it has to be the one of the coolest cars around, what with its gull wing doors and stainless steel siding. Joking aside [Tom Neiland] and [Dave Delman] went even further, creating eD, the electric DeLorean. It contains around 910 pounds of deep cycle lead batteries, custom transmission adapter plate, and a WarP 9 DC motor controlled by a water cooled 2000 amp Z2K-HV, all together to produce 200 horsepower reaching over 85 miles per hour.

The project cost ended up around $18,000 and they plan to add even more including a digital dash and Lithium batteries to extend the cars travel distance from the currently limited 30-40 miles on a single charge. Unfortunately the two couldn’t get their flux capacitor working, but we feel Dr. Brown would still be proud. Check out a video after the break and the writeup at Jameco.

[Thanks Tech Olive]

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A Bright Way To Cycle

October 4, 2009 by Jake W 19 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQrNmnU8kJk]

Want to be visible when cycling at night? [Neon Dean] came up with this possible solution, which he cruised on at Nuit Blanche. Its a bicycle with neon lights mounted on every surface possible. [Dean], who gave a similar treatment to his car, explained how it worked. All of the tubes take their power from a 12VDC battery he carries in a fanny pack. 12V is a far too low voltage to power the tubes, so a step up transformer is used to bring that number way up. [Dean] also decided to install a neon tube on each wheel. In order to deliver power to them, he mounted a rotor on each wheel, with two conductive tracks running close to the edge of each rotor. Two strips of steel act as brushes (in a manner similar to those on slot cars), and deliver the stepped-up power to the tubes. One creative, but perhaps not so bright, idea is [Dean]’s neon tube helmet.

NeonDeanBrushes12Vfanny transformer copy