After World War II, as early supersonic military aircraft were pushing the boundaries of flight, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that commercial aircraft would eventually fly faster than sound as the technology became better understood and more affordable. Indeed, by the 1960s the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union all had plans […]
Over on his YouTube channel [Tom Stanton] shows us how to build a Stirling Engine for a bike. A Stirling Engine is a heat engine, powered by the expansion and contraction of a working fluid (such as air) which is heated and cooled in a cycle. In the video [Tom] begins by demonstrating the Stirling […]
One of the simple pleasures of life is enjoying a drive to work… only to get stuck in traffic that you could’ve known about if you just checked before your daily commute. Who are we kidding? There’s almost nothing worse. [Michael Rechtin] saw this as a great opportunity to spruce up his living room with […]
[Jared] managed to find a professional FAA-certified flight simulator at an auction (a disassembled, partial one anyway) and wondered, what would it take to rebuild it into the coolest flight sim rig ever? In a video, [Jared] gives a tour of the system and highlights the potential as well as pointing out challenges and drawbacks. […]
The aerospike engine holds great promise for spaceflight, but for various reasons, has remained slightly out of reach for decades. But thanks to Leap 71, the technology has moved one step closer to a spacecraft near you with the test fire of their generatively-designed, 3D printed aerospike. We reported on the original design process of […]
Modern RC cars can be pretty darn fast. That’s fun and all, but it also makes it easy to crash them into things. This problem inspired [Narrow Studios] to whip up something to offer a bit of protection. The concept is simple enough—the RC car just needs some way to detect obstacles and stop before […]
It’s been awhile since we checked in with Canada’s Edison Motors, so let’s visit [DeBoss Garage] for an update video. To recap, Edison Motors is a Canadian company building diesel-electric hybrid semi-trucks and more. The last interesting thing to happen in Donald, BC was when it burned down in the 1910s. Well, they’ve thankfully moved […]
Thanks to [Radical Brad] for writing in to let us know about his recent project, building a street racing bike from square tubing and old bike parts. In this 50 minute video [Radical Brad] takes us through the process of building the Marauder v2, a street racing LowRacer. The entire build was done over a […]
If you’re designing a new jet-powered airplane, one of the design considerations is the number of jet engines you will put on it. Over the course of history we have seen everywhere from a single engine, all the way up to four and beyond, with today airliners usually having two engines aside from the Boeing […]