Daily Links: June 30, 2012

Today's interesting links, Saturday Edition:

- A quick video of NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle: Gizmodo

- Here's a list of reasons why many ocean researchers can relate to the show Firefly: Deep Sea News

- An MIT Open class (free online teach-yourself class) to learn to make a coffee can radar: MIT

- If you've ever wanted to learn how to make molds and castings with silicon and resin, here's a great Youtube channel: YouTube

- At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, KMel robotics put on an amazing lightshow using quadrocopters: io9

Daily Links: June 29, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- Aquaponics is a neat idea for growing food in a renewable, cost-effective way: Hack a Day

- Adam Savage's latest video from his shop - his self-made Indiana Jones bullwhip: Tested.com

- This is good proof that you can make even the most boring things look interesting - a storm trooper chair: Craziest Gadgets

- Building a pick-and-place machine (used to build electronic circuits) with 3D printed parts: Helium Frog

- NASA recently discovered that Saturn's moon Titan likely has a hidden sub-surface water ocean under its crust: io9

Daily Links: June 27, 2012

Today's interesting links: 

- A great TED talk about the arduino and the maker movement it's created: TED

- The entomology department of one of my favourite stores in New York, Evolution: The Evolution Store

- A beautiful chess set built using Nixie tubes.  I want one: Lasermad

- Tindie is essentially an Etsy for electronics.  Check it out: Tindie

- Here's a map of all the space agencies on Earth. There is a fair few: Pillownaut

Daily Links: June 26, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- A collection of great, weird, antique machines: Boing Boing

- SpaceX testing their latest Merlin engine derivative, the Merlin 1D.  You might want to turn your sound volume down: Space.com

- This video put out by NASA's JPL has been making the rounds.  Mars Curiosity Rover's 7 minutes of terror: Youtube

- A great time waster:  Pick a plot of land in Australia or New Zealand and build it up with lego (Only works with Google Chrome): Build With Chrome

- How a microwave oven really works, courtesy Bill Hammock, the Engineer Guy: Youtube

Daily Links: June 25, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- The physics of Slinkys.  Very interesting video: io9

- There are plants that can withstand outer space for over a year.  Radiation, airlessness, and everything: Physorg

- Amazon Supply, which used to be SmallParts.com, is a great place to get prototyping materials: Amazon Supply

- A big collection of chemistry videos.  Always interesting stuff: Periodic Videos

- An Instructable for an 8x8x8 LED cube.  Neat stuff if you have the time: Instructables

Daily Links: June 24, 2012

Today's interesting links: Sunday Edition

For this week's Sunday edition of Daily Links, in addition to the regular assortment, I'm going to include a few links to longer videos worth taking a look at.  If you need a nice relaxing Sunday, I can't think of a better way than to watch any that appeal to you.

- This is a clever, albeit slightly precarious idea for storage on your bicycle: Boing Boing

- The Chinese have successfully completed their first manual docking with a space station: Washington Post

- Tour the solar system from home. Video: TED.com and the software: NASA

- Human powered quadrocopter.  Amazing, exhausting looking stuff: Gizmodo

Videos:

- A fascinating documentary regarding the development of the XB-70 Valkyrie, a strategic bomber prototype from the 1960's: (~45 minutes)

- The "As Yet Untitled" Adam Savage project from Tested.com: (~20 minutes each)

• On the Subject of Man Caves
• On the Subject of Getting Started Making
• On the Subject of Being a Geek Dad

- Wired's Chris Anderson talks about DIY unmanned autonomous vehicles.  Intruiging stuff:  (~30 minutes) Fora TV

- Bill Stone talking about cave exploration.  It's one scary profession:  (~60 minutes) Google Video

Daily Links: June 23, 2012

Today's interesting links, Saturday Edition:

I'm going to change things up a little bit for this Saturday edition of the daily links and make it a little more substantial.  As well as my usual links, I'm going to include a few projects that you can get started on, if not finish, this weekend.   Enjoy!

- Want to go on a trip to the moon?  Do you have $100 million? Engadget

- Here's a website all about one of the most amazing modern materials, aerogel.  There are even recipes on how to make your own (note: it's not easy) Aerogel.org

- Ben Krasnow back with another great result: home-made pop rocks: Youtube

- Check out today's Google Doodle, a tribute to Alan Turing on the 100th anniversary of his birth.  Google

Get started on some projects:

- Build an over-the-shoulder camera mount for a go-pro or similar camera: Instructables

- Build a window hanging garden.  Great for those of you who don't have garden space outside: Youtube

- Build a simple Stirling engine that runs on the power of a candle: Instructables

- Build a bag alarm, for those of you who worry about stuff getting taken from their shoulder bags: Make

- Build my algae farm/bio reactor that I talked about a few days ago!  It took me all of 10 minutes: Mechanical Mindspace

Daily Links: June 22, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- Those of you who saw the DIWire CNC wire bender, here is a bill of materials and instructions on how to build one for yourself: Pensa NYC

- Here is the (mostly) complete flight manual for the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane: SR-71.org

- A beautiful amplifier made at home: Make

- Air Canada made its first ever biofuel flight, said to reduce emissions by up to 40%: PhysOrg

- For those coffee fanatics out there, here is a large collection of different brewing techniques: Brew Methods

The Magic of Making Movies

A lot of people don't like to know how movies are made.  They feel that it ruins the magic.  But to me, knowing what goes on behind the scenes is half of the wonderment.  I find it completely fascinating to see all the different techniques, art forms, and engineering involved in creating a good film.  Here's a relatively short look at a few of the things I love about the industry.

Set Design:

I once visited a set in Melbourne, Australia for a surprisingly high budget fan-made film based on the Firefly series.  There were Browncoats everywhere, working hard on putting together the perfect spaceship set pieces. Sadly they wouldn't let me take pictures, but I have to say that what they had put together made it seem like you really were in their universe.  From the general shape of the spacecraft, to the minute details in the cockpit, it was totally immersive.  It's interesting to know that these amazing set pieces are created for the sole purpose of facilitating the story of the film and the work and craftsmanship that goes into these things can be spectacular.  I mean, where else could you go to have the chance to walk around in a spaceship or other cool fantasy setting?

Here is a way-too-quick set tour of the original Serenity from the Firefly TV series, originally found on the Discovery Channel website: (watch the special features on the Serenity DVDs for a better tour)

Firefly set tour given by Joss Whedon

Prop, Miniature and Costume Design:

The work that prop departments put into the objects and costumes that go into films can be quite staggering.  To give you a brief idea of the kinds of things that are involved in all of this, have a look at this production video for The Hobbit in which Peter Jackson takes you on a tour of their main film studio in New Zealand:

A tour of Stone Street Studios by Peter Jackson

Perhaps sadly, practical effects (miniatures, robots, and real explosions) are being replaced more and more by special effects (computer graphics.)  The art of building miniature models and using them for filming is slowly dying out as it is quicker and cheaper to simply build a virtual model.  This is somewhat understandable as computers can often do much more than models, but it's a shame that it's killing things like this:

Scale model used for the film Moon.  See more at Model Miniatures

Location Shooting:

I would love to be a location scout.  You would get to travel to some properly amazing places, all around the world.  Look at the Lord of the Rings for instance.  Mostly shot in New Zealand, the locations chosen for the film are truly epic.  But it's the logistics involved in doing a big location shoot are just astounding to me.  Have a look at these two location shooting behind the scenes videos, again from The Hobbit:

The Hobbit Location Filming part 1

The Hobbit Location Filming part 2

The Rest:

There are many more interesting aspects when it comes to creating films.  These include camera techniques, audio mixing, and final editing, among many others.  It is always fascinating to see masters in their respective art contribute to the grander picture of the film, and I find it especially captivating to see how it all comes together for a final product.

Obviously, you also have the usual aspects of movies, such as choosing the right actors, creating a good script, and so on.  But to me, that's the boring stuff.  Sure I have my favourite actors, and I love a few well scripted movies, but when it really comes down to it, those aren't strictly necessary.  For example, the Fifth Element is one of my all time favourite movies, not because it has a good script (it doesn't,) nor because I like the actors in it (ugh, Chris Tucker.)  It's one of my favourites because Luc Besson directed a wonderfully stylized piece of art.  The settings, costumes, and that little bit of camp all came together perfectly to create a properly enjoyable film.

Final Thoughts:

As much as I enjoy watching movies, I often enjoy watching the behind the scenes content more.  Director commentaries as well are full of very interesting little bits of info regarding how a particular shot was filmed or the struggles with certain aspects of a shoot.  More often than not, my favourite movies aren't my favourites because of their stories or acting, but because of the care and the detail that went into their production.

Let me know how you guys feel about knowing what goes on behind the scenes.  Do you agree with my statements or feel that the magic is lost once you know how it was all faked?

If you stand in the "I love to know" arena, here are a few good links that you will probably enjoy:
- The Hobbit production videos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
- The Abyss had one of the most difficult shoots in the history of cinema. Here's the making of: Part 1
- Tested.com has a short tour of legendary effects animator Phil Tippet's studio: Tested.com

Thank you all for reading.

Daily Links: June 21, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- The Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is on this weekend.  Definitely check it out if you're nearby: Make

- This man designs and builds some of the most impressive miniature mechanical art pieces.  Check out his website (which is in Polish) to see more examples: Make

- If you ever go to New York, Evolution is a store in SOHO you absolutely must visit.  Natural history relics such as fossils and minerals and even real human skeletons: The Evolution Store

- Courtesy my friend, a how-to guide on building your own propane metal forge: Popular Science

- One of Adam Savage's current projects - a Rocketeer rocket pack: Tested.com

Daily Links: June 20, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- An interesting look at growing plants in lunar soil: Boing Boing

- Physics news for those interested.  Recent research has been showing that the Standard Model may be flawed: New Scientist

- A great interview with Adam Savage.  Interesting read with lots of good pictures of his workshop: Indoor Boys

- Pratt and Whitney testing a new gear-driven jet turbine for use on regional jets.  Interesting way of doing it: Evil Mad Scientist

- The properly epic looking Sea Orbiter is slated to begin construction this year: InHabitat

Daily Links: June 19, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- Look at these fascinating aircraft designs which Airbus and Boeing have patented: Aviation Week

- Here's another project for you and me to try.  An inexpensive, small greenhouse: Instructables

- An interesting comparison in the size of past, present, and future spacecraft: Supernova Condensate

- For all you coffee fans out there, here are a few videos done by the Intelligentsia guys: D4D

- Bill Hammack, the Engineer Guy produces a bunch of videos about modern engineering marvels, such as this one about the atomic bomb: Youtube


Thanks again for reading!

Algae Farm (Bio Reactor)

It seems my curious mind got the better of me once again.  Out of boredom a couple of weeks ago, I decided to put together a simple algae "bio reactor."  The term "bio reactor" has never really sat well with me, since it makes the whole thing sound much more impressive than it really is.  Put simply, it's nothing more than pop bottles filled with water with a small air pump to aerate and encourage algae growth.  Here's my version, with a materials list, instructions, and observations:

Finished product, after a few days of growth

Materials:

- 1 liter pop bottle (x2)
- small aquarium air pump.
- small aquarium air stone (x2)
- 1 meter of air hose (silicon or PVC)
- T fitting for air hose
- small pieces of foam
- 2 liters chlorine free water
- liquid plant food (any brand)
- algae water (a few mL, from a pond or store bought)

Process:

1. Gather all necessary supplies. The air pump, air stones, hose and T fitting can all be inexpensively purchased at your local pet store.
2. Peel the plastic off the bottles and clean them up as much as possible
3. Cut two lengths of hose approximately 30 to 35 cm in length (long enough to reach the bottom of the bottles) and attach them, with an air stone on the end of each, to the top ends of the T fitting. Attach the remainder of the tubing to the bottom of the T and to the air pump.
4. Fill the bottles most of the way full with clean chlorine free water. If you are going to use tap water, make sure your local area doesn't use chloramine to make it potable.  If not, you can leave tap water sitting in an open container for a day so the chlorine can evaporate away before using it.
5. Add the algae water and a few drops of plant food to each bottle
6. Insert the air stone ends of the hose into the bottles, stuff the ends up with the foam, and turn on the air pump.
7. Make sure the bottles are in an area where they will get a lot of sunlight. Wait a few days, and the water will begin to turn more and more green as algae growth proliferates. In fact, it might go crazy, like mine did:

Crazy growth, after about 2 weeks

Observations:

I had to wait about 6 days before it began to show signs of algae growth.  It began to get a darker and darker shade of green as each day went on.  Interestingly, if I turn off the pump and let it sit over night, the algae seems to settle into 3 distinct layers.  I'm not sure what the significance of this is, but perhaps it has something to do with there being different types of algae growing at the same time, with different densities.  This picture gives you a decent idea of what I mean, although it doesn't show up all that well:

Algae layers after sitting overnight

I'm still not entirely sure what to do with this now, and I probably should have considered that beforehand. Its only real use to me is to look neat, and perhaps scrub away a bit of CO2 in my basement. I could simply use it as a fertilizer (although I should look into this first before I try).  Or maybe I could also separate the algae with a centrifuge and then squeeze the oil out of it to use as a bio fuel, but I have a feeling I would need a lot of it.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Relevant Links:

- NASA's Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) project: NASA
- Instructable similar to my project: Instructables
- Wikipedia article on Algaculture: Wikipedia
- 7 tips for growing algae: Wikihow

Thanks again for reading!

Daily Links: June 18, 2012

Today's interesting links:

Sorry I'm late with today's update - I haven't been near a computer all day.  So without further ado, here they are:

- An intriguing kickstarter to develop a new spacesuit: Kickstarter

- A great forum to help you throw a motor onto your pedal bike: Motor Bicycling

- If you've ever wanted to design and build your own satellite, here's an interesting shop that sells components for Cubesats:  Clyde Space

- The guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting.  A very interesting read: Icamtuf

- Here's one I'm rather fond of.  A Kickstarter project for a space exploration documentary.  Check it out: Kickstarter


Thank you all for reading!

Daily Links: June 17, 2012

Today's interesting links - Sunday Edition:

- A great way to kill a lazy hour.  Adam Savage on problem solving: Fora TV

- This is a little too ambitious, I think.  Recording a folk album on the moon: Kickstarter

- An absolutely fascinating look at some of the largest machines ever built to assist the formation of the jet age: Boing Boing

- Need an idea for a project?  Try Google Patent Search: Google Patent Search

- Elon Musk gives a tour of the SpaceX facilities: Youtube


I should have a project post coming up soon.  So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Daily Links: June 16, 2012

Today's interesting links, Saturday Edition:


- The Abyss is one of my favourite movies.  Here's a series of fascinating making of videos for the film: Youtube

- Lego Cuusoo is a place where you can vote on and upload custom Lego sets.  If they get enough votes, Lego will look into building and selling the set! Lego Cuusoo

- It's amazing what can be made with a bit of time and ingenuity (in this case, a cosmic ray detector): hardhack

- This one's time sensitive! Live feed of the LeMans 24 hour endurance race.  It's mostly in French, but sometimes in English (it's a French race after all): LeMans TV

- Make Magazine's weekend project - Extreme LED throwies: Make

Daily Links: June 15, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- Interesting details about China's "space station" in low earth orbit: Jalopnik

- If you haven't heard of Sugru before, check it out.  it's pretty amazing stuff: Sugru

- ArduSat, an Arduino powered satellite.  An interesting concept, with many big hurdles to overcome: Kickstarter

- The Picopter quadrocopter.  Looks like a lot of fun: Instructables

- A vacuum powered wall climbing device.  Scary stuff: PhysOrg

Daily Links: June 14, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- These autonomous flying machines pick themselves up after crashing: Gizmodo

- Something a little different.  Two time Formula 1 world champion on the David Letterman show: Jalopnik

- Adam Savage talking about one of his latest movie prop replica projects.  Inspiring stuff:  Tested.com

- The Shopbot Desktop.  A little out of my price range, but I want one! Shopbot

- For the proper geeks out there, listen to the podcasts on Geek a Week: Geek a Week

Stuff You See at Colleges and Universities

Today, I was up at the university (the University of Victoria) with my camera, and I had a bit of time to kill while waiting for my friend’s graduation ceremony to finish.  So I wandered around for a while and it struck me just how many awesome things there are to see.  It reminded me that colleges and universities are great places to visit, if only to see some of the great projects and places. To kill time, I took a few pictures of the types of things you can see:

Periodic Table of the elements - with most of the elements inside

In the chemistry building, right in the middle of the hall is a periodic table filled with samples of all of the non-radioactive elements.  Its neat to see things like pure samples of platinum or titanium.

Greek and Roman artifacts

Near the Greek and Roman Studies offices, there are numerous cabinets and display cases showing off ancient art.  Anything from pots to statuettes to coins, there's a lot there.

The University's big new telescope

This 80 cm telescope is one of the biggest in Canada.  The Physics and Astronomy department has an open house for the public to use the telescope every Wednesday night (I happen to be a host for it.)

Staircase!

Even the architecture is often  worth seeing, like this 6 story staircase.


This is just a small sampling of the things worth seeing.  I didn't even have the time to go into the engineering buildings, where there's nothing but interesting projects going on.  There are all kinds of other things around, such as a greenhouse for plant experiments, classes full of dinosaur bones, and the obvious libraries full of knowledge.  And this is just one school of the countless around the world.  In fact, I might start posting about great things to see at different colleges and universities in the future.


This is probably obvious to those of you who are going or have gone to college, but pass on the word to those that don't know.  Tell them to ask nicely and the staff and students will often be happy to show you what they're working on.  So go visit your local school and have a wander around on a rainy day.  

Daily Links: June 13, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- What do you get when you mix Minecraft with Shapeways?  Mineways!

- The world's largest optical telescope will be built in Chile: io9

- World's smallest commercially available atomic clock (although good luck getting one): Symmetricom

- The B9Creator.  A home 3D printer that uses a DLP projector and light-curing resin to create very high resolution prints: Kickstarter

- NASA today revealed a prototype for a new Lunar Rover: Florida Today

Daily Links: June 12, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- A cheaper electric bicycle.  Interesting concept, but the verdict's still out: Engadget

- Inventgeek is an interesting site with a bunch of different projects: Inventgeek

- McMaster-Carr is a great place to get parts for projects and prototyping: McMaster-Carr

- Wired is covering all the latest in the ongoing privatization of space: Open Space | Wired

- A beautiful video of Dassault Mirage 2000 military jets: Youtube

How to Start Making Things

This morning, I woke up to see the guys at Tested.com had posted a new interview with my favourite maker, Adam Savage.  Titled “Getting Started Making” I knew it was going to be interesting.  The video [seen here] inspired me to write a quick column about how I go about “making things.”

A lot of my friends are interested in building and creating their own things.  Be it a coffee table, a robot, a custom motorcycle, or a copy of their favourite movie prop, they all have in common a desire to create something.  But a lot of them don’t know where to begin.  They feel they don’t have the skills or the time to commit to putting something together. So I’m going to outline a few different ways of getting started, and offer some useful tips to help.

To begin with, you have to know what you want to build.  When I was a kid, I would always get the urge to build something, but I never knew what.  Eventually, I would just get frustrated and go play in the mud, or some such.  So it is important that you know what it is you want to build.  You also have to understand that the project doesn’t have to be done in a week.  Sometimes you might only be able to work on it an hour or two here and there, but that's fine.

Secondly, you need to have a very good understanding of what it is you want to build.  I don’t mean to say you necessarily need to have all the skills required to successfully complete the project, but you need to have a good picture of what you want the final result to be.  Typically, I like to iterate the design in my head a few times, before I even begin to write anything down or draw pictures.  Once I have a slightly better understanding, I will throw together some quick sketches or mind maps of what I want the project to be.  

From here, I generally like to throw together a quick 3D model on the computer using a number of different tools such as Solidworks or the free SketchUp.  This gives me a manipulable 3D picture of where I’m headed.  Then I begin rapid prototyping.  In the last few years, rapid prototyping has been growing exponentially, especially for the home workshop.  With the advent of low cost 3D printers, and the aforementioned free 3D modelling software, it has become quicker and easier than ever before. However, most people still do not have free access to these tools.  If this is the case, I recommend just sticking to the tried and true methods.  You can build a scale model out of cardboard, using nothing more than a sharp knife and hot glue. Or you can carve a scale model out of styrofoam with a sharp knife, or even better, a hot wire foam cutter (If you don’t have one, make one!)  Or, if you happen to have, like me, 17 metric tons of lego and meccano lying around, use that!

Once you have a decent prototype put together, iterate some more.  Keep looking at it, thinking about it, and making all the necessary changes here and there.  Ask for advice.  Don’t ignore critical input, it will only make the end product better.  Keep doing this until you are ultimately happy with the design, and then you can move on to building the final product.

When you begin to construct the final piece, unless it’s a simple project, build three or even four copies of the more complex parts if possible.  That way by the time you’ve put together the last one, you’ve made all the mistakes on your earlier ones, and are left with at least one perfect piece.  More importantly, don’t ever worry about not having the necessary skill set to accomplish your goal.  There is no better way to acquire the requisite skills than by learning while you build.  

Finally, enjoy the process, and enjoy the end result regardless.  The designing and construction and work you put in are all part of the story that the final object will tell.


Here are a few tips and links to resources that might help in your journey:

- Making anything is basically learning how to take one object, shaping it how you want, and joining it to another.  This is transferrable for anything from woodwork, to sewing, to electronics, and so on.

- Build models.  Model airplanes, model boats, model anything.  Build them from kits, or from scratch, or a combination of the two; it’s a great way to learn painting techniques and joinery.  Tamiya offers some very interesting mechanical kits for you to try.

- Browse websites such as Make or Hack A Day or the Replica Prop Forum or Instructables.  These are great places to get ideas and learn new techniques for almost anything.

- Pepakura is a great tool.  With it, you can import 3D models and it will convert them into printable 2D patterns that you then cut out and glue together to make yourself a physical 3D object.  A great learning tool.

- Visit your local college or university and wander around the halls of the engineering and physics or even art buildings.  Staff and students will often be more than happy to take you on a tour of the different projects they’re working on.

- Maker Spaces are a great place to meet like-minded people and to get access to great tools that most home workshops lack.  Tools such as CNC milling machines, metal lathes, laser cutters, and so on.  Here is a database of maker spaces around the world.  If there isn’t one near you, start one!

- Maker Faires and Mini Maker Faires.  These happen all over the world, so try and find one near you and go have a visit.  Great place to talk to other makers and to see some incredible projects.

- Check out things on Etsy.  There are some truly wonderful creations people have come up with on that website, most of which you can buy for yourself.

- If you have access to a 3D printer, go to Thingiverse and check out all the 3D files you can download and print out for yourself.  If you lack the printer, try Shapeways or Ponoko!  They can print things off for you in many different materials.

- Electronics are not that difficult.  In fact, they generally follow some very basic rules.  Pick yourself up an Arduino microcontroller and learn to build a robot or automate a greenhouse, or whatever suits your fancy. Digikey is a great place to get components.

- Looking for places to get materials?  Go to your local hobby store, hardware stores, and flea markets. Go to garage sales and drive around residential areas - people often put “free junk” along the road.  Or try going to businesses in your local industrial park and ask if they have any scrap materials they’re looking to get rid of. Or try places online such as Ebay or Craigslist. Most importantly, use your imagination.

- Experiment and don’t let a project's difficulty stop you from trying it!


Thanks for reading! I will post more in-depth descriptions of how I work on an ongoing basis.

Daily Links: June 11, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- Quadrocopters are becoming more and more amazing.  Here's a great TED talk on the subject: TED.com

- A huge number of different line designs and other patterns printable on regular paper: printablepaper.net

- Adam Savage on why it's important for children to be makers: tested.com

- Weta Workshops is one of the last remaining model making companies for film.  Wonderful work: Weta Workshop

- Google patents search.  One of the best places to find info and get ideas for projects: Google Patents

Coffee Coffee Coffee!

I first started really drinking coffee when I was living in Melbourne, Australia.  I was 21 at the time, and had never been exposed to a place with so much coffee culture before.  During my nearly year long stay in the city, I was living in a hostel and cleaning the common areas to pay for my room.  Without fail, each day I would find enough money in the chairs and couches to pay for a latté and a muffin at my all-time favourite coffee house, Cafe No. 5.

Ever since then, I have truly enjoyed the beverage.  In my opinion, there is no better way to relax than with a good, high quality cup of coffee.  However, I have always been faced with a proper dilemma: I don’t have money to buy coffee every day, but I want to drink a good cup every day. So, lately I have been trying numerous different ways of making good coffee at home.

I own a terrible coffee maker which I no longer use for a few reasons.  Primarily, it doesn’t get the water hot enough to properly brew the coffee and accordingly, the coffee isn’t even hot enough to enjoy when it’s ready.  Additionally, it uses a glass carafe which sits on top of a heater.  Rather than keep the coffee “warm” it more just burns it, which is not exactly ideal.  Needless to say, I was looking for a better solution.  

The simplest solution I could conjure up was the standard pour-over method.  I’ve been using this method for quite some time now and I have achieved some great results.  

My super cheap solution

Basically, I put a bottomless cup lined with a paper coffee filter on top of my coffee mug and pour hot water, just off boil over top.  The brew drips down into the mug and the whole process takes about 7 or 8 minutes from the time I begin boiling the water.  Here is a wonderful video explaining the proper method and the intricate chemical processes that occur during:

 

Although the pour-over method has been effective for me, I’m not completely satisfied with it.  My main complaint is that I do not own either a high quality filter such as the Kone, or a proper pour-over kettle.  As much as The Kone filter is something I would like to own, it costs about the same as a week or two of groceries (depending on how thrifty I’m feeling.)  Similarly, a proper pour-over kettle - which would hopefully stop me from spilling everywhere - is well out of my price range.

To get myself out of this predicament, I am going to design and build a siphon coffee maker, as described on Wikipedia. These typically cost hundreds of dollars to buy new, but I am confident I can build one for less than ten.  Here is a video demonstrating your standard siphon brewing in action:  

The key points with siphon brewing are as follows:  The heated vessel needs to be air-tight, with only a path for the water to travel to the coffee grounds.  Once the water begins to boil, it is forced through the tube into the other vessel.  Once the coffee has brewed for a minute or so, the device is removed from the heat and the coffee will flow through a filter on the end of the tube, back into the original vessel, and you have your finished coffee.  My solution is going to be a variation of this using an erlenmeyer flask with some copper, or perhaps glass, tubing.  I threw together a quick model to give a better idea of what I mean:

Preliminary Siphon Brewer Concept

I’m in the process of finding a suitable flask so that I’ll be able to put this together.  I look forward to testing it and letting you know how it works out.  Updates to follow!

Daily Links: June 10, 2012

Today's interesting links:

- The first talk of Adam Savage's that I watched.  Very inspirational to me: ted.com

- Ocean exploration is almost as exciting as space exploration.  This project aims to make it cheap and accessible to all: openrov.com

- Ever wonder what the layout of a Formula 1 car looks like?  Check out this Sauber F1 car that was sliced right down the middle: youtube.com

- Behind the scenes on The Hobbit movie.  This is the first of seven (so far) making of movies.  All of them are worth a watch: youtube.com

Daily Links: June 9, 2012

Today's interesting links:


- An interesting news article about China's latest space activities: Physorg

- Tesla Turbine project - looks relatively easy to build: Instructables

- Replica Prop Forum - fantastic repository of everything from movie props, replicas, models, and so on.  Great place to learn building and modelling techniques: therpf.com

- The Makey Makey - watch the video on kickstarter.  Brilliant:  Kickstarter

- The mechanics of skeletons is quite fascinating to me.  If you agree, you'd like the Bone Clones website: Boneclones

A few of my assorted projects

Here's a quick post about a few different projects I have going on right now.  I will go into more depth for most of these at a later date.

- I recently built a very simple algae culture "farm."  A lot of people like to call these "bio-reactors" but I feel that makes it sound way more cool than it really is.  It's essentially some bottles that have algae growing in them.  I have yet to decide on a use for this algae...  oh well.

- I've been working on building a model sized jet engine for quite some time now.  It will be a fully operational engine about 24 cm in length.  This project is a little more expensive than most of my others, so it's pretty slow going.

- I had to build a fully automated lifting bridge for a project at school.  I will have a detailed post on this later, but here is a quick teaser image:

I went with a tilt style bridge for this project

- Last year, I had to design and build a scale model of a food cart for a Thai food restaurant for another school project.  I will have another detailed post for this at a later date.

- I've been on a bit of a coffee kick lately.  I've been trying all different kinds of ways of brewing coffee.  I'm in the middle of putting together a siphon coffee brewer, similar to the one demonstrated in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHz-NIPTvf0.  I have also been working with a classmate to develop and build an espresso machine.  This will be an ongoing project, which we will work on throughout the year.

- To get experience using PID controllers for the espresso machine, the same classmate and I are planning to build a sous-vide cooker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide

There are many more projects which I have worked on, and currently have going that I will most likely talk about another time.  Keep coming back to see any updates!

Daily Links: Jun 8, 2012

Today's interesting links:

Mechanical models database.  Pretty great: KMODDL

Tested.com's weekly podcast.  Tech, Culture, and whatever.  Always worth a listen: Tested.com

Bigelow Aerospace is working on some amazing space stations: Bigelow Aerospace

Concrete Lathe project.  Great info about revisiting making machine shop tools with concrete: Concrete Lathe 

Daily Links: Jun 7, 2012

Today's interesting links:

Adam Savage explains his new T-Rex skull:  Tested.com

Interesting book on Maker Spaces:  CoolTools

Watch the Community video game episode?  Here's the game!  You're Welcome:  Reddit

Ben Krasnow making aerogel in his home shop: YouTube

Introduction

Welcome to my new blog Mechanical Mindspace!  I am a mechanical engineering student in university, currently focusing on school, but doing as many extra-curricular projects as I can.  Here are a few types of things I will be posting on this blog:

- My projects - mostly mechanical engineering related, but really a mix of everything to do with technology, modelling, movie props, etc.  You name it, I probably have some sort of interest in it.

- Daily links - I'm going to make a post full of interesting links to other blogs or videos that I find interesting.

- Research - Information on things that I'm interested in and have done some research into.

Lunar Module Model

My first post on this blog is going to be about a Grumman Lunar Module model I built last summer. The LM has always been one of my favourite real spacecraft.  The design process involved in its creation is absolutely fascinating to me.  I purchased a very cheap $10 Revell 1:100 scale kit [ http://www.revell.com/germany/space-sci-fi/80-4832.html ] from my local hobby store, and spent a lot of time reworking it to make it look as good as possible with the limited resources I had available.  Sadly I did not take many photographs of the process, but here are a few that I took with the terrible camera on my phone:

Base coats on both ascent and descent stages

A little bit of filling/modification on the ascent stage

This first images skip over a lot of the prep-work I did on the general shape and details of the model.  I spent a fair few hours sanding edges, adding details, smoothing imperfections and so on before I even put the first coat of primer on.  Then I repeated that process two or three times before I was ready to begin final details.

Nearly finished painting the main body

Here is the main portions of the ascent and descent stages all painted.  This was taken before decals and clear coat had been applied.  Extra details such as antennas and base were still forthcoming at this point.

The finished model before final clear-coat.  Notice the custom made base

The final model.  All details had been added by this point.  The only detail missing was a couple coats of clear. I custom made the base using modelling clay (Super-Sculpey I believe) and coated it with a mixture of charcoal powder and tile grout to get the texture right.  I then added the "moon rock" which is actually a small meteorite. 

Overall, I am very pleased with how this model turned out.  Considering it cost me a mere $10 for the kit, I really have no complaints.  Some day I would like to do another in a larger scale, offering even more detail.