Tired of replacing the food mixer every few years? Build your own & repair when needed.
Scanned from a 1970s Meccano manual. More here. Previously: How to make everything ourselves: open modular hardware.
Mechanical 3D Printer
April 22, 2015 by Filed Under: 3D printers, Craftsmanship, DIY, Random
“3D printing allows me to create products more swiftly and more efficiently than ever. But these products don’t feel mine. They are merely a product of this new technology. I love technology but how can I reclaim ownership of my work? Perhaps by building the machine that produces the work. Perhaps by physically powering the machine, which I built, that produces the work.”
Instead of building a traditional 3D printer, Daniël de Bruin decided to harken back to a past when pantographs and mills ruled the shop floor by making a device which doesn’t require software or electricity to work its magic. His 3D printer is driven by a 7.5 pound weight. “The weight allows me to be connected with the process because there’s no external force involved like electricity; it’s still me that’s making the print,” says de Bruin. “By physically building and powering the machine, the products that come out of it are the result of all the energy that has gone into it.”
For those who complain about the speed of FDM 3D printers, de Bruin says his machine is actually faster. It all comes down to a nozzle diameter of approximately 2mm – rather than the 0.35mm – 0.4mm which is the standard for most 3D printers. While there may be a slight loss in quality with his process, he says his old-school machine can print objects using clay material, pasta, starch bio plastics, and pretty much any material that can fit through the extrusion nozzle, which doesn’t require heat.
See & read more at Daniël de Bruin and 3Dprinterworld. Seen at the Milan Furniture Fair. Related: Human powered 3D-printer.
The Kume Shade: DIY Insulating Curtain
March 18, 2015 by Filed Under: DIY, Insulation, Random, Windows
The Kume curtain is a simple and inexpensive home-made insulating curtain that can help save money, keep our homes cozier and be kinder to the environment.
The Kume is a roll-up curtain that is composed of four distinct layers.
- A front panel which acts as the first layer and seals the perimeter of the window opening when the curtain is closed
- A moisture barrier which prevents indoor humidity from reaching the window and condensing on the cold glass and window frame
- Wooden battens which maintain the fabric stretched out and thereby ensure that the curtain fits tightly against both sides of the window opening (the battens also create air pockets which further reduce heat losses through the curtain)
- A back panel which acts as the final layer of insulation and helps seal the perimeter of the window opening when the curtain is closed.
Why is a Kume curtain so effective at reducing heat loss?
- Still air is one of the best insulators found in nature, and the Kume curtain contains a lot of it. First, between the fibers of the thick polar fleece that is used to make the curtain, and second inside the thin spaces that are created between the front and back panels by the battens.
- When closed, the Kume curtain fits tightly against the top, bottom and sides of the window opening. By doing so it traps a layer of insulating air between the glass and the curtain, and prevents the cold air that forms against the glass from seeping into the room.
- A Kume curtain basically works just like a good down jacket on a cold winter day. The air that is trapped in the thick layer of down creates an effective insulating layer, and the tight fit of the jacket around your waist, neck and wrists keeps your body heat in, rather than letting it leak out into the cold environment.
See and read more (including construction plans) at Kume Insulating Curtains. Via BuilditSolar. Thanks to Frank Van Gieson.
Building Dry Stack Stone Walls
You might take them for granted when you see one, but building dry stack stone walls is not for sissies: [Read more…]
The Dobsonian Telescope
April 10, 2014 by Filed Under: DIY, Telescopes
“The design of this telescope is called a Dobsonian, after its inventor John Dobson, who passed away earlier this year. Dobson’s life took an unusual trajectory. He went from being a self described “belligerent atheist” to a monk in the Vendanta society to co-founding the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers. Most of his life was spent bringing the night sky to people around the world and teaching people how to make their own low-cost telescopes.
As a monk, Dobson could not afford expensive materials. He kept the design inexpensive by using a simple mount and cheap materials: wood and cardboard. My Dobsonian was made by the now defunct Coulter Optical Company out of particle board and a cardboard concrete form. Its large 13.1 inch mirror makes it perfect for looking at nebulas, galaxies and star clusters even in light polluted urban areas.”
Frugal Digital: Repairing, Hacking, and Repurposing Electronics
Frugal Digital is a project that focuses on creating digital solutions in low resource settings like that of developing countries:
“Silicon technology is mostly about a culture of excess. It’s about the fastest, and the most efficient, and the most dazzling gadget you can have, while about two-thirds of the world can hardly reach the most basic of this technology to even address fundamental needs in life—including health, education, and all these kinds of very fundamental issues.”
“We work on projects to set the framework, create tools and provide inspiration for frugal innovators around the globe. Frugality is a way of thinking that optimizes given resources, up-cycles and has the spirit of improvisation. We aim to apply frugality to digital life and create solutions that are inexpensive, adaptable, use available resources and create valuable knowledge along with new solutions.”
Working with local tinkerers, Frugal Digital already made some interesting machines, mixing parts from different objects. A low-cost cell phone became the heart of a multi-media projector for education, while an alarm clock was rebuilt as an easy diagnostic tool to improve healthcare. Their community radio station introduces “air tweets”.
Via iFixit, who brings more good news for digital tinkerers: there is absolutely no shortage of disposed electronics.
