(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

Technical video to accompany my PhD thesis: Mechanical Techno: extended turntable as live assemblage, completed between September 2022 and December 2025 at London South Bank University.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

This video explores some of the challenges in designing early bicycles and how concepts such as wheel circumferences, gear ratios, and torque were used to solve problems.

I feel that the engineering of bicycles is a great way to connect some basic mathematical ideas into mechanical problem solving. Playing with properties of circles and ratios as a way to make a bike move faster builds a context to bring these geometric ideas into something physical and creative.

The story also shows how creativity and engineering don’t follow a linear path. Seeing novel solutions, failed experiments, and missed opportunities give us a great framework to inspire us and guide us through new problems.

(Direktlink)

How do you move one of Sweden’s most beloved wooden churches down the road? With a little bit of engineering, a lot of prayer — and some Eurovision for good luck. The Kiruna Church — called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish — and its belfry are being moved this week along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route east to a new city center as part of the town’s relocation. It’s happening because the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the town.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

The Buffalo Bicycle S2 is a robust, utilitarian, and serviceable bicycle made to help the most remote communities on the planet. What makes it unique is that it has two chainrings, chains, and two freewheels. Today, we will closely examine the S2 and show how its revolutionary engineering makes it even more reliable and useful than the original Buffalo Bicycle with its one-of-a-kind drivetrain.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

Without listing every bridge, there’s no true way to list every type of bridge. There’s too much nuance, creativity, and mixing and matching designs. But that’s part of the joy of paying attention to bridges. Once you understand the basics, you can start to puzzle out the more interesting details.

(Direktlink, via Book of Joe)

(Direktlink, via Book of Joe)

Das Experimentalfahrzeug Schlörwagen (auch „Göttinger Ei“ oder „Flügel auf Rädern“) war eine Entwicklung des deutschen Ingenieurs Karl Schlör von Westhofen-Dirmstein (1910–1997). Schlör gilt als Erfinder des „windschnittigsten Familienautos der Automobilgeschichte“.

(Direktlink)

To understand how duct tape is engineered, Bill dissolves the tape in solvent to reveals its three components — plastic backing, adhesive, and cloth reinforcement. He explains the function of each part, highlighting that the adhesive is a viscoelastic substance — a substance that can act like a liquid or a solid and it can behave elastically. It is these behaviors underlying the characteristic behavior of duct tape: adhere when light pressure is applied, hold tight, then let go when peeled from a surface.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink, via Core77)

Fridge from 1963pic.twitter.com/nEuZI0b73s

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 23, 2024

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

Through regular visits to Germany, meeting builders and small independent manufacturers he was extremely fortunate to meet some incredible people who gave me a glimpse into bicycle manufacturing in Germany.

Inevitably, the name Diamant would crop up over and over, in the way that Raleigh would in the UK or Schwinn in the states. There were crumbs pointing to the former GDR everywhere, and in trying to learn a bit more about the cultural landscape of framebuilding in the former GDR all roads eventually led back to Diamant…

(Direktlink | Danke, Alexander!)

Building and testing various Lego machines to sink multiple Lego boats and ships in a large fish tank. Throughout the video, it becomes increasingly challenging to sink the Lego ships.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

Das Mecanum-Rad ist ein Rad, das einem Fahrzeug omnidirektionale Fahrmanöver erlaubt, ohne mit einer mechanischen Lenkung ausgestattet zu sein.

[…]Im Gegensatz zum Allseitenrad stehen beim Mecanum-Rad die Rollen in einem anderen Winkel als 90 Grad zur Hauptachse.

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink, via Massimo)

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

(Direktlink)

Um die neue 1400 Tonnen schwere Brücke 34 Meter in Endlage zu schieben, wurde eine spezielle Verschubkonstruktion mit hydraulischen Zylindern verwendet. Hier als Zeitraffer.

(Direktlink)

Das Kuriose an Tiefkühlpizza ist ein ähnliches wie bei Sauce Hollandaise aus dem Tetrapak: beide haben geschmacklich fast nichts mit ihrem vermeintlichen Original gemein, sind aber trotzdem irgendwie auf ihre Weise auch ganz geil. Ich mein, was wäre die Welt ohne eine ehrliche TK-Pizza, die man sich vor ihren Gang in den Ofen noch individuell mit irgendwelchen Sachen belegt – und dann nach dem Backgang über alles noch kalten Ketchup knallt. Das ist doch ein völlig eigenständiges Gericht! Und das entsteht so:

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

Und:irgendwer baut derartige Produktionsstrecken. So einen Job hätte ich vielleicht auch ganz gerne gelernt.

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

I have spent the last decade collecting every keyboard I could find. And in that time my collection has grown to include small keyboards, big keyboards. …There is a single keyboard that has continued to elude me to this very day. That is the giant keyboard. It’s a fully functional keyboard using giant switches and I really want it…and since I couldn’t buy one I spent the last year in 12,000 pounds to figure out how I could make one.

(Direktlink, via Laughing Squid)

(Direktlink