Amazing Inventions!

[Mr.B]

I suppose this should have been posted in the "Techie" thread, but it was so amazing, I started the thread here to share with all.

Watch the short video and I'm sure you'll enjoy this technological wonder of yesteryear!

The Writer Automaton, Switzerland
(Video by BBC and lesterfontayne)

[Mr.B]

Well.......16 views, no replies. Hope ya's enjoyed it!

[O Really]

I had no idea those things were built back then.

[O Really]

3-D printed gun - that works.
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/ ... ally-works

[rstrong]

3-D printed gun - that works.
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/ ... ally-works

It was built using the process of laser sintering of various powdered metals.

From a comment about it on Gizmodo:

DMLS is prohibitively expensive and extremely slow. About a month ago I tried to get this part for a burner I'm developing for my employer done with DMLS in "aluminum" not even Stainless from which it will ultimately be cast with.

It's less than 6" diameter and less than 1" high with 1/8" thin walls.

Time to build: 24 hrs. Cost $5,600.00 plus shipping from one of the biggest 3D printer outfits in the US. All DMLS printers if you can find one (are built by EOS systems). I learned a lot in 2 days of contacting many places.

The extreme high cost is due to time and power. A typical EOS machine sucks 900 AMPS per hour. So the electric bill is astronomical.

For the time being, DMLS is strictly used for Aerospace and Military.

My gross guess on this gun is that it took no less than 3 ~ 4 days to make parts at a cost upwards of $15,000 based on the thickness/size of the parts.

You can get a real gun for a lot less...

It's also worth noting that the folks who created the gun are only firing it from a distance, rather than holding it in their hands. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

Still, it's a good indication that like the first impractical airplanes, automobiles, home computers etc., practical versions will be along soon.

[O Really]

Yeah, as the article said, it isn't so much about what's practical today, but what is possible.
Sorta like the first personal computer I had, or had regular access to. HP85. Cost $3500 in '81 or so. Cassette tape drive, printed on something like cash register paper. Didn't do much but we thougt it was soooo cool. But once something becomes real and possible, development takes off.

[Mr.B]

Here's a gal that's good with her hands.......

Marooned

An ambitious yuppie finally decided to take a vacation. He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and
proceeded to have the time of his life. Until the boat sank. The man found himself swept up on the
shore of an island with no other people, no supplies...Nothing. Only bananas and coconuts.
After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has
ever seen rows up to him. In disbelief, he asks her, "Where did you come from? How did you get here?"
"I rowed from the other side of the island," she says. "I landed here when my cruise ship sank."
"Amazing," he says. "You were really lucky to have a rowboat wash up with you."
"Oh, this?" replies the woman. "I made the rowboat out of raw material I found on the island; the oars
were whittled from gum tree branches; I wove the bottom from palm branches; and the sides and stern
came from a Eucalyptus tree." "But-- but, that's impossible," stutters the man. "You had no tools or
hardware. How did you manage?"
"Oh, that was no problem," replies the woman. "On the south side of the island, there is a very unusual strata of alluvial rock exposed.
I found if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that for tools and used the tools to make the hardware."
The guy is stunned.
"Let's row over to my place, " she says. After a few minutes of rowing, she docks the boat at a small
wharf. As the man looks onto shore, he nearly falls out of the boat. Before him is a stone walk leading
to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white. While the woman ties up the rowboat with an
expertly woven hemp rope, the man can only stare ahead, dumbstruck.
As they walk into the house, she says casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down please;
would you like to have a drink?" "No, no thank you," he says, still dazed. "Can't take any more coconut
juice." "It's not coconut juice," the woman replies. "I have a still. How about a Pina Colada?"
Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk.
After they have exchanged their stories, the woman announces, "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable.
Would you like to take a shower and shave? There is a razor upstairs in the bathroom cabinet."
No longer questioning anything, the man goes into the bathroom. There, in the cabinet,
is a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to
its end inside of a swivel mechanism.
"This woman is amazing," he muses. "What next?"
When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but vines--strategically positioned-- and smelling
faintly of gardenias. She beckons for him to sit down next to her. "Tell me," she begins, suggestively,
slithering closer to him, "we've been out here for a really long time. You've been lonely.
There's something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for all
these months? You know..." She stares into his eyes.

He can't believe what he's hearing: "You mean-- ?", he swallows
excitedly, "-- I can check my Facebook from here...?"

[Wneglia]

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