A Weapon That's Equal Parts Terrifying and Awe-Inspiring
September 14, 2022 3:41 AM Subscribe
I'm getting a little tired of engineering-bro youtubers with seemingly unlimited budgets making terrifying weapons for the clicks.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:38 AM on September 14, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:38 AM on September 14, 2022 [11 favorites]
This kind of seems like Flanderized Mythbusters. We used to watch Adam, Jamie, and the Build Team inadvertently engineer all manner of terrifying devices in the course of their testing, but now it seems like we're just cutting to the chase and building a dangerous flamethrower/knifethrower/laser-powered lawnmower/robot-that-has-no-e-stops-and-lots-of-spinny-bits because that's cool and it gets the views.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:45 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:45 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Criticize all you like, but this thing is going to revolutionize Thanksgiving dinner.
posted by mittens at 4:48 AM on September 14, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by mittens at 4:48 AM on September 14, 2022 [12 favorites]
A stupid design with an idiotic choice of materials and yet he still got it to work. I am amazed.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:52 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:52 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure this was in a Punisher comic.
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:18 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:18 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Kid's destined for BattleBots or robotics competitions. Seems I spent a bunch of wasted time as a kid learning to throw knives into trees.
If they can, let them. Like OMG 10 years old and I was building cannons that fired flaming tennis balls across the street and the house on the other side. We also chased each other around with bottle rocket bazookas, put roll bars on go-karts, strapped model rocket engines to wheeled toys.
Kid's lucky.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:35 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
If they can, let them. Like OMG 10 years old and I was building cannons that fired flaming tennis balls across the street and the house on the other side. We also chased each other around with bottle rocket bazookas, put roll bars on go-karts, strapped model rocket engines to wheeled toys.
Kid's lucky.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:35 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
In re. the Flanderization: this is what Mythbusters would have looked like without a budget or producers or a full TV channel repackaging the content for mass consumption.
The “engineering-bro” comment leaves me a bit confused.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:42 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
The “engineering-bro” comment leaves me a bit confused.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:42 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
The machine has announced it will be going pro.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:45 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 5:45 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
The “engineering-bro” comment leaves me a bit confused.
There's a lot of YouTube channels where a bunch of dudes (and it's almost always dudes) build something outrageously dangerous, ostensibly to show how they solved an engineering problem, but really because the algorithm rewards "LOL Danger" videos.
I really liked this guy's earlier projects and I never considered him to be in that genre. He has a calm, science-teacher-explains-things voice and I especially liked how he kept revisiting the same non-glamorous project (generating power from rain gutters) over and over again showing how he iterated on the design. But given that those videos never cracked 50K views and this one already has 1.5M views, I guess you can't argue with what the algorithm wants.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:24 AM on September 14, 2022 [12 favorites]
There's a lot of YouTube channels where a bunch of dudes (and it's almost always dudes) build something outrageously dangerous, ostensibly to show how they solved an engineering problem, but really because the algorithm rewards "LOL Danger" videos.
I really liked this guy's earlier projects and I never considered him to be in that genre. He has a calm, science-teacher-explains-things voice and I especially liked how he kept revisiting the same non-glamorous project (generating power from rain gutters) over and over again showing how he iterated on the design. But given that those videos never cracked 50K views and this one already has 1.5M views, I guess you can't argue with what the algorithm wants.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:24 AM on September 14, 2022 [12 favorites]
because the algorithm rewards "LOL Danger" videos
I mean: maybe? Or maybe people, not algorithms, reward "LOL Danger" videos?
I don't honestly believe that this video is getting more traction than his other ones because of nefarious doings by Alphabet, Inc. It seems way more plausible that people are more inclined to click on "full-auto knife throwing machine" than "generate electricity from rain gutters". You can be unhappy about that all you want, but there doesn't have to be an algorithmic conspiracy to explain that humans like spectacle.
Also, as a person who still watches Mythbusters regularly, you have serious rose-tinted glasses on with respects to what they were doing. I love the whole crew and everything they did, but they routinely had episodes that were a transparent excuse to blow something up or build a dangerous machine or, oh, I dunno, build a giant flamethrower based purely on a random ad campaign.
posted by a faithful sock at 6:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [15 favorites]
I mean: maybe? Or maybe people, not algorithms, reward "LOL Danger" videos?
I don't honestly believe that this video is getting more traction than his other ones because of nefarious doings by Alphabet, Inc. It seems way more plausible that people are more inclined to click on "full-auto knife throwing machine" than "generate electricity from rain gutters". You can be unhappy about that all you want, but there doesn't have to be an algorithmic conspiracy to explain that humans like spectacle.
Also, as a person who still watches Mythbusters regularly, you have serious rose-tinted glasses on with respects to what they were doing. I love the whole crew and everything they did, but they routinely had episodes that were a transparent excuse to blow something up or build a dangerous machine or, oh, I dunno, build a giant flamethrower based purely on a random ad campaign.
posted by a faithful sock at 6:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [15 favorites]
If you're tired of dudebrogineers, can I suggest Xyla Foxlin Making a Bulletproof Ball Gown?
posted by Molesome at 7:00 AM on September 14, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Molesome at 7:00 AM on September 14, 2022 [13 favorites]
engineering-bro youtubers with seemingly unlimited budgets
I know enough about robotics to recognize most/all of the components he used (including the Teknic servo motors and Garmin LIDAR-lite). The most expensive parts I saw on that machine cost something like $100-200.
I expect the entire project budget was less than $10k.
posted by ryanrs at 7:06 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I know enough about robotics to recognize most/all of the components he used (including the Teknic servo motors and Garmin LIDAR-lite). The most expensive parts I saw on that machine cost something like $100-200.
I expect the entire project budget was less than $10k.
posted by ryanrs at 7:06 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
And yet the tooling is well over $100K. Did you look at that fucking garage?
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:12 AM on September 14, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:12 AM on September 14, 2022 [7 favorites]
Yes, the house and the his engineering education were probably also expensive, but I'm not counting those as project expenses.
You can also outsource all the machining and 3d printing to brokers (that's what I do since I live in a condo).
posted by ryanrs at 7:24 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can also outsource all the machining and 3d printing to brokers (that's what I do since I live in a condo).
posted by ryanrs at 7:24 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
The other way to look at it is the outlandish explosive/flaming/stabby machine ad views help pay for the more interesting and oddball engineering projects. Equipping workshops definitely ain't cheap, and I know several that this is what they do to make a living.
I'd still rather have channels explaining science and engineering to lay people - and usually making it look fun - than yet another unboxing channel or fashion 'influencer' even if the price is also catering to the general public's murder machine fetish sometimes.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 7:35 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'd still rather have channels explaining science and engineering to lay people - and usually making it look fun - than yet another unboxing channel or fashion 'influencer' even if the price is also catering to the general public's murder machine fetish sometimes.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 7:35 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm getting a little tired of engineering-bro youtubers with seemingly unlimited budgets making terrifying weapons for the clicks.
*quietly puts away gold-plated machete launcher*
posted by storybored at 7:40 AM on September 14, 2022 [18 favorites]
*quietly puts away gold-plated machete launcher*
posted by storybored at 7:40 AM on September 14, 2022 [18 favorites]
Engineering and math are really tough for me. What I liked about this is he acknowledged some of the tough work to make this build, but most liked how much he involved his kid in such a tough challenge. Influencers breaking stuff or opening a sponsor item or just giving away cash for clicks is noxious and gets for more eyeballs than “science dad doing something tough and fun.” I know there are jackass-esque engineering channels out there but this didn’t feel like that.
More of this content! Definitely going to check out his other projects, too
posted by glaucon at 7:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
More of this content! Definitely going to check out his other projects, too
posted by glaucon at 7:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
I just looked at his channel because I remembered watching the rain gutter power videos and was like, oh, the knife video is from the same guy? The bell siphon rain gutter video I watched first? 12 million views. Yeah, it's almost two years old, but given some of the other high-performing videos I think this is more complex than "algorithm likes ultraviolence mech weapons."
That said, I get being tired of "YouTuber builds ridiculous, hilariously dangerous contraption" videos. I don't watch nearly enough maker videos myself to be tired of the trope but I do recognize it's a trope.
posted by chrominance at 7:52 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
That said, I get being tired of "YouTuber builds ridiculous, hilariously dangerous contraption" videos. I don't watch nearly enough maker videos myself to be tired of the trope but I do recognize it's a trope.
posted by chrominance at 7:52 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
A weapon to surpass Metal Gear!
posted by genpfault at 8:10 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by genpfault at 8:10 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
changing the discussion up, and hoping for a physics or knife-throwing person to weigh in...
as someone who in his teenage years tried and failed at this, I've wondered why is the knife spinning at all? Seems like it makes it way more complicated than it should. Like, if you had a knife that was properly weighted and balanced, you could hold it by the hilt, snap your arm and wrist forward, and the knife would fly point-first and true to the target.
what am I missing here?
posted by martin q blank at 8:14 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
as someone who in his teenage years tried and failed at this, I've wondered why is the knife spinning at all? Seems like it makes it way more complicated than it should. Like, if you had a knife that was properly weighted and balanced, you could hold it by the hilt, snap your arm and wrist forward, and the knife would fly point-first and true to the target.
what am I missing here?
posted by martin q blank at 8:14 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
That is sharp.
posted by clavdivs at 8:15 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 8:15 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
As a teen I used to throw ninja darts which had a trailing ribbon that added a little stability via aerodynamic drag.
It's been a while, but I think there was a certain distance at which it would stop tumbling and fly true to the target.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2022
It's been a while, but I think there was a certain distance at which it would stop tumbling and fly true to the target.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2022
what am I missing here?
Just a layman here but I would guess the spinning adds stability and helps the knife stay straight. If you tried to launch it blade first it wouldn't stay that straight in the air. So you'd end up attaching fins to it and now you've invented the cross-bow bolt.
Or you'd have to change the design of the projectile to more cylindrical and tapering to a point. But then you'd find that it tumbles through the air and doesn't go very far so you'd need to find a way to make that cylinder twist as you launch it. Then you'd invented bullets.
The thing is going to rotate regardless so you want to impart that rotation yourself so you have some control of it.
posted by VTX at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2022 [6 favorites]
Just a layman here but I would guess the spinning adds stability and helps the knife stay straight. If you tried to launch it blade first it wouldn't stay that straight in the air. So you'd end up attaching fins to it and now you've invented the cross-bow bolt.
Or you'd have to change the design of the projectile to more cylindrical and tapering to a point. But then you'd find that it tumbles through the air and doesn't go very far so you'd need to find a way to make that cylinder twist as you launch it. Then you'd invented bullets.
The thing is going to rotate regardless so you want to impart that rotation yourself so you have some control of it.
posted by VTX at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2022 [6 favorites]
hmmm. good points, clever explanation. :)
I play ultimate frisbee and I guess it has something in common with a disc -- the spin is what keeps it level and stable. rotational momentum, like a bike wheel, too. I was thinking that something with the heft of a knife, it wouldn't matter, but physics doesn't play around, I guess. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 8:27 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I play ultimate frisbee and I guess it has something in common with a disc -- the spin is what keeps it level and stable. rotational momentum, like a bike wheel, too. I was thinking that something with the heft of a knife, it wouldn't matter, but physics doesn't play around, I guess. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 8:27 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
< opens tab > search: industrial 120v servo
posted by zenon at 8:32 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by zenon at 8:32 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've been watching [super low tech] axe-throwing videos recently because Irish pole-dancer & axe-lobber Ceola McGowan was entering an axe competition in Canada and that's news for us. That led me to an analysis of axe turns vs distance by middle-school science teacher Bruce Yeany.
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:48 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:48 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
now it seems like we're just cutting to the chase and building a dangerous flamethrower/knifethrower/laser-powered lawnmower/robot-that-has-no-e-stops-and-lots-of-spinny-bits because that's cool and it gets the views.
Nobody works that seam better than Colin Furze, and not even his Spinning Belt Of Knives can surpass the all-time pinnacle of the genre that is Cake O Matic.
posted by flabdablet at 9:08 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
Nobody works that seam better than Colin Furze, and not even his Spinning Belt Of Knives can surpass the all-time pinnacle of the genre that is Cake O Matic.
posted by flabdablet at 9:08 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
search: industrial 120v servo
Teknic servos are cheap and have decent documentation. They are probably the easiest for a hobbyist to get started with. The larger ones are totally capable of amputation injuries, so be careful.
If your application has more advanced engineering requirements, chat with Maxon. They are not so cheap and not so easy to use if you're starting from scratch. But if you want custom a custom motor meticulously crafted by Swiss elves, they have you covered. Prices start at several hundred bucks, with no real upper bound.
posted by ryanrs at 9:57 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
Teknic servos are cheap and have decent documentation. They are probably the easiest for a hobbyist to get started with. The larger ones are totally capable of amputation injuries, so be careful.
If your application has more advanced engineering requirements, chat with Maxon. They are not so cheap and not so easy to use if you're starting from scratch. But if you want custom a custom motor meticulously crafted by Swiss elves, they have you covered. Prices start at several hundred bucks, with no real upper bound.
posted by ryanrs at 9:57 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
*quietly puts away gold-plated machete launcher*
But...are the machetes gold-plated, or the launcher? (I need to know if I should switch to platinum plate, so my video gets more clicks than yours)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
But...are the machetes gold-plated, or the launcher? (I need to know if I should switch to platinum plate, so my video gets more clicks than yours)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I like the video, though I'm also a bit tired of YT "makers" often defaulting to weapons as their go-to thing to build. That said, I'm strongly convinced a small suburban backyard is not the place for developing a machine to throw deadly objects, especially given the target is only slightly lower than the fence.
posted by maxwelton at 10:59 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 10:59 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
The resourcefulness and effort are impressive, making it is mildly insane, selling it is irresponsible. It's just ridiculously dangerous.
posted by theora55 at 11:05 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 11:05 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
But...are the machetes gold-plated, or the launcher?
Yes.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:22 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yes.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:22 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
While the build was enjoyable to watch, I would have liked to see a lot more attention paid to safety protocols and more appropriate testing spaces.
It was not clear that they had a plan for if a knife bounced off the wood block at a strange angle and came back at them. What if during the test run a knife unexpectedly missed the target and went over or through the slots in the backyard fence? Even some more safety features in the trigger button would have been nice, such as a two-button "arm and fire" configuration to avoid misfires. I think making it "fully-automatic" was over-the-top and unnecessarily dangerous.
I'm a fan of backyard engineering, but when you bring projectiles into play I think you should test those in an isolated field with clear warnings and lots of empty space, that is if you cannot access a firing range for the safety of you and the people around you in the first place.
posted by Wandering_Boots at 11:31 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
It was not clear that they had a plan for if a knife bounced off the wood block at a strange angle and came back at them. What if during the test run a knife unexpectedly missed the target and went over or through the slots in the backyard fence? Even some more safety features in the trigger button would have been nice, such as a two-button "arm and fire" configuration to avoid misfires. I think making it "fully-automatic" was over-the-top and unnecessarily dangerous.
I'm a fan of backyard engineering, but when you bring projectiles into play I think you should test those in an isolated field with clear warnings and lots of empty space, that is if you cannot access a firing range for the safety of you and the people around you in the first place.
posted by Wandering_Boots at 11:31 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
You laugh, but I get all my circuit boards gold-plated. It's pretty, prevents corrosion, and solders well. ENIG adds about $30 to the price of a custom circuit board.
One of the big changes I've seen in this industry over the last decade is that it has become much easier and cheaper to create one-off devices with engineering standards in the same ballpark as commercial/industrial goods, and it's not completely, insanely expensive. For example, $1,000 buys quite a bit of CNC machining in China, done to very high standards (better than US domestic shops). For circuit boards, you can get 10 copies of a custom 6-layer board, with ENIG and 3/3 design rules (<0.1mm resolution) for $250.
It's not free. It's not cheap like going out to lunch. But building cool hardware is becoming much more accessible to ordinary people, the way software has been for a long time. A lot of this is due to advanced automation, which can bring economies of scale to manufacturing 1,000 devices even if each device has a different design.
For example, you can batch together 3D printed parts from a dozen different customers as long as they can all be printed with the same plastic filament.
For circuit boards, you can batch together the different designs from many customers, so long as they all have the same number of layers, same thickness, etc. You combine all the designs into one big circuit board, make it, then chop it up and send each customer their piece.
Anyway, this is the background context on why there are nerds building laser-guided knife-throwing machines in their backyard. It's not because this guy has a milling machine in his garage (though that helps). It's not because the youtube algorithm elevates dangerous videos (though that helps). New small-scale, high-tech manufacturing is making a lot of crazy hobby projects much more feasible than they were 10 years ago.
posted by ryanrs at 11:34 AM on September 14, 2022 [6 favorites]
One of the big changes I've seen in this industry over the last decade is that it has become much easier and cheaper to create one-off devices with engineering standards in the same ballpark as commercial/industrial goods, and it's not completely, insanely expensive. For example, $1,000 buys quite a bit of CNC machining in China, done to very high standards (better than US domestic shops). For circuit boards, you can get 10 copies of a custom 6-layer board, with ENIG and 3/3 design rules (<0.1mm resolution) for $250.
It's not free. It's not cheap like going out to lunch. But building cool hardware is becoming much more accessible to ordinary people, the way software has been for a long time. A lot of this is due to advanced automation, which can bring economies of scale to manufacturing 1,000 devices even if each device has a different design.
For example, you can batch together 3D printed parts from a dozen different customers as long as they can all be printed with the same plastic filament.
For circuit boards, you can batch together the different designs from many customers, so long as they all have the same number of layers, same thickness, etc. You combine all the designs into one big circuit board, make it, then chop it up and send each customer their piece.
Anyway, this is the background context on why there are nerds building laser-guided knife-throwing machines in their backyard. It's not because this guy has a milling machine in his garage (though that helps). It's not because the youtube algorithm elevates dangerous videos (though that helps). New small-scale, high-tech manufacturing is making a lot of crazy hobby projects much more feasible than they were 10 years ago.
posted by ryanrs at 11:34 AM on September 14, 2022 [6 favorites]
[insert obligatory "so preoccupied with whether they could" reference here]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:44 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
You people are the reason we can’t just run around blowing things up for fun.
Well, you and the ATF. The FBI … state law enforcement … local law-enforcement … neighborhood watch … HOAs …
You and all them.
*waves fist at HOA*
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 11:51 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
Well, you and the ATF. The FBI … state law enforcement … local law-enforcement … neighborhood watch … HOAs …
You and all them.
*waves fist at HOA*
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 11:51 AM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
My first thought watching this is the you guys are getting paid? meme.
Maybe the recommendation engine promotes weapon building videos, but I am sure people want to watch weapon building videos.
Sex, drugs, and violence.
I’ve build countless engineering projects and showed them to many many people. The most popular are always the drugs and violence ones. I don’t show my sex engineering projects to strangers.
When people come to my house the projects that draw the most interest are the home made whisky still, the psychedelic mushroom grow-op, the tuned slingshots, the high powered (can go supersonic) silenced potato gun, the home made rocket motors, and whatever I may be working on that involves fire, dangerous chemicals, or just throwing something very fast against a target.
Those are are fun projects that took some research and many failures to get them right, but in general are just iterating on we’ll known stuff.
Very few people have shown interest in my most sciency projects and the ones I am most proud of because of how complex they are. These I automated bio active habitats for reptiles, tarantulas and isopods. The self sustaining feeder insect farms, the energy harvesting wireless instrumentation around the house, the 3d printed mathematics and physics toys, and anything that requires more than 3rd grade math to explain.
If I were getting paid by how interested people are in my hobby projects I would abandon the automated fern farm project (my first ferns started from spores just got done having sex and reached the sporophyte stage!) that has taken me hundreds of hours over a year, and would build an 18 foot barreled burst disc “potato gun” to shoot 3/4 kilogram concrete slugs at the hills behind my house. I did it before and it took me 2 weekends to build. This time I would spend an extra couple of weekends to add some servos and sensors to make it more scary.
Insert clever Segway.
I think videos that show failure after failure, despair and frustration as part of the process are hugely valuable to get people interested in doing and learning stuff. Videos where everything seems easy are bullshit. If you want people to do stuff, you must encourage them to fail often.
On the other hand making it seem that one needs a quarter million dollars of equipment and materials to build stuff is also bullshit. I like videos where people make do with what they have to make awesome stuff.
I have accumulated literal tons of tools and materials over the last 30 years. Mostly cheap, mostly used or discarded. Whew I spend money is in measuring instruments, but that is my fetish. You know how insane washing machine and electric drill motors are? Same with the precision stuff inside printers.
Sometimes I want to start a YouTube channel about my projects, but I am happy having no face out there in the internet.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:28 PM on September 14, 2022 [13 favorites]
Maybe the recommendation engine promotes weapon building videos, but I am sure people want to watch weapon building videos.
Sex, drugs, and violence.
I’ve build countless engineering projects and showed them to many many people. The most popular are always the drugs and violence ones. I don’t show my sex engineering projects to strangers.
When people come to my house the projects that draw the most interest are the home made whisky still, the psychedelic mushroom grow-op, the tuned slingshots, the high powered (can go supersonic) silenced potato gun, the home made rocket motors, and whatever I may be working on that involves fire, dangerous chemicals, or just throwing something very fast against a target.
Those are are fun projects that took some research and many failures to get them right, but in general are just iterating on we’ll known stuff.
Very few people have shown interest in my most sciency projects and the ones I am most proud of because of how complex they are. These I automated bio active habitats for reptiles, tarantulas and isopods. The self sustaining feeder insect farms, the energy harvesting wireless instrumentation around the house, the 3d printed mathematics and physics toys, and anything that requires more than 3rd grade math to explain.
If I were getting paid by how interested people are in my hobby projects I would abandon the automated fern farm project (my first ferns started from spores just got done having sex and reached the sporophyte stage!) that has taken me hundreds of hours over a year, and would build an 18 foot barreled burst disc “potato gun” to shoot 3/4 kilogram concrete slugs at the hills behind my house. I did it before and it took me 2 weekends to build. This time I would spend an extra couple of weekends to add some servos and sensors to make it more scary.
Insert clever Segway.
I think videos that show failure after failure, despair and frustration as part of the process are hugely valuable to get people interested in doing and learning stuff. Videos where everything seems easy are bullshit. If you want people to do stuff, you must encourage them to fail often.
On the other hand making it seem that one needs a quarter million dollars of equipment and materials to build stuff is also bullshit. I like videos where people make do with what they have to make awesome stuff.
I have accumulated literal tons of tools and materials over the last 30 years. Mostly cheap, mostly used or discarded. Whew I spend money is in measuring instruments, but that is my fetish. You know how insane washing machine and electric drill motors are? Same with the precision stuff inside printers.
Sometimes I want to start a YouTube channel about my projects, but I am happy having no face out there in the internet.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:28 PM on September 14, 2022 [13 favorites]
You people are the reason we can’t just run around blowing things up for fun.
Well, you and the ATF. The FBI … state law enforcement … local law-enforcement … neighborhood watch … HOAs …
"Our *four* ...no... *Amongst* our foes...are such elements as law enforcement, HOAs ... I'll come in again."
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:37 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
Well, you and the ATF. The FBI … state law enforcement … local law-enforcement … neighborhood watch … HOAs …
"Our *four* ...no... *Amongst* our foes...are such elements as law enforcement, HOAs ... I'll come in again."
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:37 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
MetaFilter: I don’t show my sex engineering projects to strangers.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:07 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:07 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
MetaFilter: I don’t show my sex engineering projects to strangers.
I, and likely everyone else, was just rushing to comment exactly this.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:38 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
I, and likely everyone else, was just rushing to comment exactly this.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:38 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
I feel like this should have been a Michael Reeves gadget instead, more ludicrous than lethal. Like, say, a teddy bear that fires rapid-fire thumbtacks at people's ankles unless their socks are a certain color.
posted by delfin at 8:50 PM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by delfin at 8:50 PM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
YouTube actually has a fairly restrictive policy on firearms builds and modifications. Enough that that the US gun culture was in an uproar when it was put into force, and ended up putting their gun videos on PornHub for a while (sorry, no links, I'm a work...)
posted by Harald74 at 12:11 AM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 12:11 AM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
This might be the right thread to re-post How to Build Your Everything Really Really Fast.
posted by Harald74 at 3:36 AM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 3:36 AM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
a teddy bear that fires rapid-fire thumbtacks at people's ankles unless their socks are a certain color
or perhaps until their socks are a certain colour.
posted by flabdablet at 3:41 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
or perhaps until their socks are a certain colour.
posted by flabdablet at 3:41 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
Man. This reminds me of a lost (to me, anyway) video from the halcyon days of youtube garage warfare tech.
I want to say it was a group of guys called the Chaos Barn or Chaos Factory or something.
They built (and then, overcome with their sins, destroyed) a machine that launched 4x4 timbers through the air - with a range of something like a half kilometer?
It was similar to this but larger - it used two or possibly four rotating tires. The 4x4s would drop into the track via a magazine and fly gracefully through the air until they punched a giant hole in an old refrigerator or a truck or something.
It was glorious and terrifying. +1 karma for anyone who can point me toward that video.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:30 AM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
I want to say it was a group of guys called the Chaos Barn or Chaos Factory or something.
They built (and then, overcome with their sins, destroyed) a machine that launched 4x4 timbers through the air - with a range of something like a half kilometer?
It was similar to this but larger - it used two or possibly four rotating tires. The 4x4s would drop into the track via a magazine and fly gracefully through the air until they punched a giant hole in an old refrigerator or a truck or something.
It was glorious and terrifying. +1 karma for anyone who can point me toward that video.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:30 AM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't remember the half kilometer part, but that does sound familiar from back in the "early railgun" days
If you like the machinistry but not the guns, I'll link to Robin Renzetti for all your reference-shoulder and "wicking Loctite 290" desires.
posted by rhizome at 11:05 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you like the machinistry but not the guns, I'll link to Robin Renzetti for all your reference-shoulder and "wicking Loctite 290" desires.
posted by rhizome at 11:05 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
Knives have the kind of shape which should make it possible for them to exhibit a truly bizarre, shocking, and difficult to grasp phenomenon called "The Dzhanibekov Effect or Tennis Racket Theorem" as they spin.
posted by jamjam at 2:06 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 2:06 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yep - first thing I looked for was whether the launched knives spin or not.
The spinning adds angular momentum - so if you have the ranging correct (for distance accounting for spin velocity) once the tip hits, the angular momentum in the handle transfers and drives the tip deeper.
I wonder how fast/ robust the LIDAR ranging system is - can he run around and still 'stick' knives or does the throwing need to be fairly stable?
As for the penetrance, I'm not impressed at all. A decent leather jacket would prevent those little knives from drawing blood, much less sticking.
posted by porpoise at 6:31 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
The spinning adds angular momentum - so if you have the ranging correct (for distance accounting for spin velocity) once the tip hits, the angular momentum in the handle transfers and drives the tip deeper.
I wonder how fast/ robust the LIDAR ranging system is - can he run around and still 'stick' knives or does the throwing need to be fairly stable?
As for the penetrance, I'm not impressed at all. A decent leather jacket would prevent those little knives from drawing blood, much less sticking.
posted by porpoise at 6:31 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah at the end of the video there's a little mention of how spinning knives stick but not-spinning knives don't, and how now they've got a throwing machine they want to do some testing on throwing parameters etc.
posted by nickzoic at 6:42 AM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nickzoic at 6:42 AM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
I wonder how fast/ robust the LIDAR ranging system is
Garmin LIDAR-Lite v3 HP specs
Range: 40 meters
Update rate: 1,000/sec
Typical accuracy: +/- 2.5 cm
So these sensors have excellent range and speed, but kinda borderline accuracy for knife-throwing, imo. Maybe the real-world accuracy at close-ish ranges is better than the spec sheet promises, though.
posted by ryanrs at 8:44 AM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
Garmin LIDAR-Lite v3 HP specs
Range: 40 meters
Update rate: 1,000/sec
Typical accuracy: +/- 2.5 cm
So these sensors have excellent range and speed, but kinda borderline accuracy for knife-throwing, imo. Maybe the real-world accuracy at close-ish ranges is better than the spec sheet promises, though.
posted by ryanrs at 8:44 AM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
at +/- 2.5cm, I'm thinking that longer heavier knives would be more suitable than those little 7" ers.
That update rate is impressive, I guess the sheer power of those little motors is what's disappointing.
I wonder if there's a viable design using electromagnetic "pulses" to impart forward and angular momentum to a knife?
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on September 16, 2022
That update rate is impressive, I guess the sheer power of those little motors is what's disappointing.
I wonder if there's a viable design using electromagnetic "pulses" to impart forward and angular momentum to a knife?
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on September 16, 2022
You can get lidar sensors that trade some of that speed and range for more accuracy. For example, laser tape measures are tuned more for accuracy/precision. I don't know any specific devices off the top of my head, but they should exist.
To throw the knife faster, they might have to switch to more powerful, smaller motors, smaller belts.
For a machine like this, you have a fixed length of track and you need to do 2 things:
1. accelerate the motors + belt + electromagnetic gripper + knife as fast as possible.
2. decelerate the motors + belt + electromagnetic gripper (no knife) back to stopped.
Right now, it looks like the mechanical moving parts weigh a lot more than the knife, so scaling up the whole contraption just dumps more and more power into accelerating/decelerating the mechanism, not just throwing the knife.
But if you can reduce the mass of the motor armature, gears, belts, etc, then you are rewarded with faster acceleration and deceleration, and more energy is transferred to the knife.
Using larger knives as porpoise suggests also moves the energy balance more to the knife. You end up with a slower throw, and less range, but it hits harder.
There is also the issue of linear speed vs spin rpm. That's something they say they are going to investigate--how rotational energy is converted into penetration. This is a fine area for sciencing, and maybe they can even pick up a high speed camera mfg to sponsor their channel.
Another avenue for improvement is overdriving the motors, like 5-10x their rated continuous power. Since the machine is very low duty cycle (short pulses of motion), they should oversize the motor controller vs. the motor size, and run the motor at much higher than rated power. I don't know that the Teknic integrated servos will let you to program that kind of abusive pulse overloading, the drive electronics probably aren't powerful enough. So you might need to mix and match a big controller with a smaller motor. You will need detailed thermal mass specs to know exactly how hard you can push your motors for 500 milliseconds. This is where a motor supplier with deeper technical expertise will shine (e.g. Maxon).
Anyway, that's what I'd do if I was trying to optimize this knife machine for better killin'. Which is not actually a useful goal given this wildly impractical device, mind you. But if DARPA wanted to give me a grant, sure, I'd play around with it.
posted by ryanrs at 10:42 AM on September 17, 2022
To throw the knife faster, they might have to switch to more powerful, smaller motors, smaller belts.
For a machine like this, you have a fixed length of track and you need to do 2 things:
1. accelerate the motors + belt + electromagnetic gripper + knife as fast as possible.
2. decelerate the motors + belt + electromagnetic gripper (no knife) back to stopped.
Right now, it looks like the mechanical moving parts weigh a lot more than the knife, so scaling up the whole contraption just dumps more and more power into accelerating/decelerating the mechanism, not just throwing the knife.
But if you can reduce the mass of the motor armature, gears, belts, etc, then you are rewarded with faster acceleration and deceleration, and more energy is transferred to the knife.
Using larger knives as porpoise suggests also moves the energy balance more to the knife. You end up with a slower throw, and less range, but it hits harder.
There is also the issue of linear speed vs spin rpm. That's something they say they are going to investigate--how rotational energy is converted into penetration. This is a fine area for sciencing, and maybe they can even pick up a high speed camera mfg to sponsor their channel.
Another avenue for improvement is overdriving the motors, like 5-10x their rated continuous power. Since the machine is very low duty cycle (short pulses of motion), they should oversize the motor controller vs. the motor size, and run the motor at much higher than rated power. I don't know that the Teknic integrated servos will let you to program that kind of abusive pulse overloading, the drive electronics probably aren't powerful enough. So you might need to mix and match a big controller with a smaller motor. You will need detailed thermal mass specs to know exactly how hard you can push your motors for 500 milliseconds. This is where a motor supplier with deeper technical expertise will shine (e.g. Maxon).
Anyway, that's what I'd do if I was trying to optimize this knife machine for better killin'. Which is not actually a useful goal given this wildly impractical device, mind you. But if DARPA wanted to give me a grant, sure, I'd play around with it.
posted by ryanrs at 10:42 AM on September 17, 2022
It’s perfectly fine not to comment if you think something sucks.
I think this whole channel is terrific and have a vague sad regret that my own dad’s irregular attempts to do fun shit like this with me were mostly subverted by poverty and alcoholism.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:24 PM on September 17, 2022
I think this whole channel is terrific and have a vague sad regret that my own dad’s irregular attempts to do fun shit like this with me were mostly subverted by poverty and alcoholism.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:24 PM on September 17, 2022
It's not that the topic "sucks" - just playing around with extrapolations and tossing ideas around!
posted by porpoise at 8:27 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by porpoise at 8:27 PM on September 17, 2022
As to coil guns and purely elecro-magnetic propulsion....
ArcFlash Labs GR-1 Anvil Portable Gauss Rifle - YouTube
World’s First Commercial 3D Printed Coilgun - EMG-01A - YouTube
ArcFlash Labs EMG-02 CoilGun: Making SciFi Weapons Into Reality - YouTube
Be careful what you ask for.
Fedora hat wearing... I still have a a rather hard time coming up with a rotating forward thrown knife blade through purely electro-magnetics with anything that isn't circular. in some way or another to impart the angular momentum vs the linear momentum. Without going into the deep weeds where it doesn't reall matter energy wise. A slug trower at high velocity will beat anything else, the pointy sticking thing is irrelevant.
Electro-magnetic only knife thrower is more art as in "hold my beer" but it's not going to be pretty. More like really hard to actually pull off. You would be better off doing fancy robot arm that throws a knife like a human than trying to build a thing compactly. Once you go that compact, other things (like spin) just don't matter.
Don't get me started on boomerangs or ballistics, past a point, it doesn't really matter. Except as an art project sort of thing.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:29 PM on September 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
ArcFlash Labs GR-1 Anvil Portable Gauss Rifle - YouTube
World’s First Commercial 3D Printed Coilgun - EMG-01A - YouTube
ArcFlash Labs EMG-02 CoilGun: Making SciFi Weapons Into Reality - YouTube
Be careful what you ask for.
Fedora hat wearing... I still have a a rather hard time coming up with a rotating forward thrown knife blade through purely electro-magnetics with anything that isn't circular. in some way or another to impart the angular momentum vs the linear momentum. Without going into the deep weeds where it doesn't reall matter energy wise. A slug trower at high velocity will beat anything else, the pointy sticking thing is irrelevant.
Electro-magnetic only knife thrower is more art as in "hold my beer" but it's not going to be pretty. More like really hard to actually pull off. You would be better off doing fancy robot arm that throws a knife like a human than trying to build a thing compactly. Once you go that compact, other things (like spin) just don't matter.
Don't get me started on boomerangs or ballistics, past a point, it doesn't really matter. Except as an art project sort of thing.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:29 PM on September 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah you're right, an EM knife thrower is silly when linear EM is available as a tech.
I recall the 80's had all kinds of circular saw blade-like throwers. In the movies.
I still want to make a hand portable "two roller" style fully automatic dart thrower.
posted by porpoise at 6:05 PM on September 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
I recall the 80's had all kinds of circular saw blade-like throwers. In the movies.
I still want to make a hand portable "two roller" style fully automatic dart thrower.
posted by porpoise at 6:05 PM on September 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
« Older Hark! A Duck | New "Our Bodies, Ourselves" website Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by oddman at 3:55 AM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]