A project I wanted to do required me to roll some steel rings from round rod of varying thicknesses and diameters. I looked at commercial rolling tools and even the cheapest ones, such as the offerings of Harbor Freight, were $80. But they didn’t have exceptional reviews and they would mar 1/4″ rod, something that […]
A really neat technique for visualizing the flow of fluids is called Schlieren flow visualization (pronounced: sh-lear-in). By using either special mirrors or lenses, the density gradients of a fluid can be seen. Examples would be the heat rising from a candle, or the aerodynamics effects of a bullet traveling through the air. This technique […]
I had seen this done in the past and wanted to give it a try myself. This is essentially a 2D printed image that is manipulated in such a way that when viewed an a specific angle, it looks “3D”, or simply like actual object. I started with a picture I took of a large […]
Wanting to do some experimenting in a vacuum, I sought out a low-cost vacuum pump. I found all kinds, but by far the least expensive, and best-bang-for-the-buck, was an aspirator pump. These can be run on either air or water. The one I chose will use water. I got a Thermo Scientific Nalgene water aspirator […]
Cryogenics is the science that deals with the study of very low temperatures. This is not to be confused with cryonics, or the preservation of humans by freezing them. Need your brake rotor to last 3 times as long? Perhaps you’re a machinist and you’d like to get several hundred more holes out of your […]
This is a showcase of various public aquarium websites:
I’m working on setting up a new 29 gallon freshwater aquarium. Right now I’m cycling the tank, or more specifically, I’m performing a fishless nitrogen cycle. I’ve added about 4.4ml of a 10% ammonium solution to reach a concentration of 4ppm in the tank. This should be adequate to start building of the good bacteria […]
Just received my first meteorite today! I was first intrigued by meteorites on my last visit to the Smithsonium in Washington D.C. a couple years ago. They’ve got a large and impressive collection of them. The cross sections of meteorites are very interesting as well. They’ve got a “crystal” metal structure unlike anything on earth. […]
I needed to be able to generate some frequency tones for project involving measuring vibrations. I just need to be able to generate a range of tones at specified frequencies. I found some nice online tools that did just that, so implemented my own here: http://nuclearprojects.com/tone/ It’s easy to use… just type in the frequency […]
If you’re like me, a couple times a year you’re find some old-school phone books unwantedly laying at your doorstep. Who uses these things anymore? Really? The only thing I do with them is throw them into the recycle bin. What a waste. If only there was a way to opt-out, like the “Do Not […]