Best products from r/EngineeringPorn

I have one and they're really cool, but are much easier to solve than Rubiks cube. The gears force a symmetry that eliminates a lot of possible colour combinations.

There's also a dodecahedron (which has a total of 8 different states), different cubes and an octagon. Which is the hardest to solve imo.

It's actually nice that they're a bit easier to solve. You would be a bit lost if you had to solve a Rubik's cube without a tutorial and once you know how it works it's a matter of repeating the same algorithms over and over. These are easy enough to solve in a few hours without any help.

Sure.

I got the Tread from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leatherman-Bracelet-Friendly-Wearable-Multi-Tool/dp/B018IOXXP8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485454972&sr=8-2

I got the adapter directly from Chronolinks: http://chronolinks.com/chronolinks-1/

The adapter goes in and out of stock (depending on size and color) on Amazon if that's how you prefer to do things: https://www.amazon.com/ChronoLinks-Leatherman-Tread-Watch-Adapter/dp/B01I8JE6MC/ref=pd_sim_469_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EAQ07TM5BDQDPK21P8FW

The adapter is pricey ($40 or so), but it's a pretty niche product and it's nicely CNC'd with no visible logos. I have the stainless version, and it matches the Tread just about perfectly.

I would say all told, I paid about $200 for my new bracelet (tread and adapter). A new steel bracelet for my watch would be at least that much (likely more), so I consider it a relative bargain.

I'm a bit confused by the number of people balking at the price of this stuff when it's really pretty normal for a steel watch bracelet, from my perspective.

Yes! Well reminded, I’d found it then gone off on a tangent and bought a book called “the boy engineer” which is pretty interesting too.

The cheerfully-named “nuclear war survival skills” book by the Oak Ridge national laboratory is what I was thinking of.

Here’s a link - Nuclear War Survival Skills: Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/094248701X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Mi6BCb8DZ4HT9

The YouTuber that makes the auger is called chucke2009.
He says that he actually got the idea from a book published by a welder manufacturer, so I may be wrong about where it came from, but the above book is pretty interesting none the less - I shows how to build a wood gasifier to run a generator, things like that!
He also builds a hench bench grinder from a truck axle, that’s pretty good too.

The development of fiber optic cables is incredible. I only know the very, very basics, from [this fantastic book](http://www.amazon.com/The-Idea-Factory-American-Innovation/dp/0143122797 "really amazing for so many reasons") which I can't recommend enough. It shows the pioneering of a ton of the most important current technologies (tubes, telephones, microwaves, satellites, cell phones, fiber optics, cavitrons and a bunch more), and the revolutionary environments and cultures that fostered that growth. Corning (of course) made the fiber.

Cables in general were amazing. We think of plastic as so cheap as to practically cost nothing, but back then (IIRC, can't find my book D:) the insulation was one of the most expensive parts as it was made from natural latex from the gutta-percha tree (god I wish I could find the book). As you can imagine it took a ton of work to make a machine to produce cables that were kilometers long. The first real transatlantic cable was laid in 1955 and working up to that required a huge amount of research and iteration. It was fundamentally made possible by polyethylene. The first test cables just randomly started turning into swiss cheese; turns out shipworms don't give a damn about what they eat. Steel jackets. Then the cables just started snapping. It's pretty damn hard to figure out why an underwater cable three miles long is snapping when you don't have cameras, underwater radio, or scuba... turns out that sharks sense and apparently have an innate hatred of electricity (jk) and attacked the cables. Copper shield, steel cable reinforcement, thicker cables. Works pretty good. Minimizing crosstalk and such took some effort. Then microwaves start replacing cables on land- can't do microwaves underwater. Everybody wants to upgrade the TAT, but its actually pretty fucking tricky making a cable out of a bit of glass 3600 kilometers long and a fraction of a millimeter wide.

No, that's overkill for what I do.

I since won a hackaday contest and got an amazing Weller soldering tweezers and iron. It's not fancy like what you posted (although if I did a lot of repair, I'd absolutely want that preheat and hot air) but it's so well designed it's never disappointed me. With only the one soldering iron, it'd be around $250 I think.

I did more teaching on cheaper, $50 soldering stations like this and I almost never can tell the difference. I recommend anybody getting into soldering pay around $50, doing a bit of research to make sure you don't get the worst $50 iron possible. Unless you really dive deep into the smallest, or most tricky components, anything adjustable that's significantly over 50 Watts (certainly not 25!!!) feels about the same as any other.

X-Tronic Model #3020-XTS Digital Display Soldering Iron Station - 10 Minute Sleep Function, Auto Cool Down, C/F Switch, Ergonomic Soldering Iron, Solder Holder, Brass Tip Cleaner with Cleaning Flux https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DGZFSNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_O6hHAbF8GP2MB

>To the extent that Huawei copies other parties' IP, it is unlikely to suffer consequences in China because it does not subscribe to international IP norms.

Yes but the Chinese market is so big they don't care and it is only growing. The US market is also huge but we already are disinclined to purchase Huawei products, yet they are still top 3 in phone sales globally.

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You asked how copyright laws handicap innovation? I'm speaking on the overall technological innovation of a society, currently the US' overall technological innovation is being hindered, in part, by copyright laws such as the DMCA and DRM.

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In the book, AI Superpowers, the author, Kai-Fu Lee, argues much the same, but in the specific lens of Artificial Intelligence. He goes in to explicit detail about many examples, much better than I could explain them. There you will specifically find the examples you demand, then you can go and tell him he has no idea what he is talking about.

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Edit:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-lawsuit-takes-dmca-section-1201-research-and-technology-restrictions-violate

https://www.eff.org/cases/green-v-us-department-justice

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-dmca-exemption-petitions-tinkering-echos-and-repairing-appliances-new

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/topple-track-attacks-eff-and-others-outrageous-dmca-notices

https://cdt.org/insight/the-cyber-hard-questions-in-the-world-of-cybersecurity-research/

https://cdt.org/blog/taking-the-pulse-of-security-research/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/12/closed-proprietary-felonious-toxic-rainbow-locked-technology

https://cdt.org/files/2018/04/2018-04-09-security-research-expert-statement-final.pdf

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/01/anyone-even-government-can-ask-patent-office-review-invalid-patents

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Interesting fact: The turbopumps were designed and manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. Rocketdyne's designs were always marginal and after the Challenger disaster Pratt was asked to redesign them. They were initially reluctant because they were in the running to build the shuttle motor but felt politics left them on the outside. It's in a very good book I have called "Advanced Engine Development at Pratt and Whitney: The Inside Story of Eight Special Projects, 1946-1971" with a bunch of other interesing stuff like a hydrogen powered turbojet for a spyplane and a high powered chemical laser.

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Engine-Development-Pratt-Whitney/dp/0768006643/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543586738&sr=1-9&keywords=pratt+%26+Whitney

I found something similar but the tracks and double flywheel of the video is much more awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-1589-Zecar-Windup/dp/B000L2JVKW/ref=pd_sim_sbs_t_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0K0JH4Q6HK3VV4HX45KV


I had a few of these Rev Tredz monster trucks when I was younger, they have quite a powerful flywheel.

http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Monster-ATTACK-Official-Series/dp/B001MNX7FY/ref=sr_1_8?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1413126689&sr=1-8&keywords=rev+tredz

I'm not sure where you looked, but they are not always that expensive. Also, you can buy yourself one of the rollerball refills to use until you can save up for the body of the pen. The refills are only like $8 :)

https://smile.amazon.com/LAMY-Swift-Rollerball-White-L334WE/dp/B00L1B8LZS

That's an excellent idea, except for a couple of small points: Moscow is nowhere near the ocean. So to get that snow to the ocean would create a carbon footprint that would cause more damage than the amount of amelioration the snow melting into the ocean would provide. And that brings me to the second point. The amount of snow in Moscow is very small compared to the vastness of the ocean. It would probably not help "combat" rising sea temps overall, but it would lower the temp of the water where they dumped the snow in for sure. If you would like to learn about climate change from a respected professional, let me suggest Michael E. Mann. Have a great day and keep up that thinking stuff!

Looking at the cubesplosion video in another comment below, and the structure of the cubes themselves as they disassemble, they look like the MoYu WeiLong GTS series ( https://thecubicle.us/moyu-weilong-gts2-p-9150.html ). Or the Gan 356 ( https://thecubicle.us/master-p-6974.html ) They're about $25 each. They have decent corner-cutting, and that would be beneficial here, however at that speed, Definitely want to get as close to perfect as possible...


EDIT: I opened the video and dove into the blog, turns out they're using this one;
https://www.amazon.com/Yulong-Smooth-Stickerless-Speed-Puzzle/dp/B00H9FSS58/
An incredibly expensive $4.55

Aquarium circulaters, immersion water heaters, some sort of plastic cover (limit evaporation), and a temperature probe to monitor water temp.

Sounds like a good weekend project, definitely /r/redneckengineering worthy

Found it through google using following keywords: "plan original tour eiffel"

If you like those drawings, this book is pretty neat

Yes.

GravityLight Home System GL02 Portable Self Powered LED Lamp
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M7SM0KE/

Works like this: https://youtu.be/iJUM4pCi71Q

It isn't a "much larger scale" like you imagine, and it may not need an escapement, but it is certainly reasonable to translate energy of motion into power.

If you want to get really abstract, you can imagine a hydroelectric dam as an analog to this, but the escapement concept would be replaced with the small inlet pipe of the turbine.

Wow, what a cool gimmick! It's too bad it's a kickstarter, so it's unlikely anyone will get something like what's being advertised.

If only there was a product available on amazon that did the same thing and is available immediately... Oh wait, there is!

Calculated Industries 6135 Scale Master Pro XE https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002O16VLA/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The scale master can measure actual length, as well as drawings printed to scale. It does cost a little more, but it's from a reputable company who has been making these for years, trusted by professionals.

interesting. reminds me of this thing i picked up in an Ace a few weeks ago: http://www.amazon.com/Crescent-ATR28-8-Inch-Ratcheting-Adjustable/dp/B008NM6VIC

granted you have to manually adjust the mouth opening but that allows for a greater range of possible nut sizes. OPs would be really good if you find yourself having to adjust a lot of nuts that have only a small difference in size.

You can buy fully assembled smaller ones for 200$. (Well, probably flat packed, but still way easier than building yourself.)

Here's one.

Looks like $1600 on amazon.

What separates this product from one like this?