2 things:
- Converted a Ford Transit panel van into a camper van that landed up being way higher quality than it had any right to be for my first one. I then lived in it for 6 months through winter in the North East of England and it was great.
- Coffee table from a large slab of cedar, I flattened it with a router and a jig and several hours of patience, put a bevel on the top edge and it looks great.
Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
81–90 of 694 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#82An artificial heart:
https://news.ohsu.edu/2018/03/08/have-an-artificial-heart
I've also been part of (or lead) the design teams of several LVADS (one of which is in the Smithsonian), a dialysis machine (Outset), a surgical navigation camera for NuVasive, and most recently a couple soft tissue surgical robotics systems. First, Ottava from Auris/Verb/J&J, and most recently the Maestro from Moon Surgical: https://www.moonsurgical.com/
I can't decide which is coolest, Oregon Heart or Moon Surgical. What do you think?
P.S. I also completely re-plumbed our old home in Golden, CO both fresh and black. Including personally jackhammering up the basement floor, digging a 5ft trench across the whole basement and replaced the sewer pipe and roughing in a full bath I the basement before covering it all back up.
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#83kids
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#84Two children. Still amazed how they came to be!
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#85I make a lot of marijuana paraphernalia (stash boxes, rolling trays, pipes) all from wood. Its a great stress reliever (the wood work, not the weed - never mix the two), and people love them and buy them. With each new product, I try to add a new skill to it. So for my stash boxes [1] (I've only made 3 so far -- all prototypes), I have an "air-tight" lid that requires being within 0.001-inches, and the lid incorporat…
I assume that 1/10thou of an inch would disappear into the swelling of a wood product? How do you manage moisture and dimensional changes?
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#86Cliche response but has to be said, a daughter.
Even though lots of people are parents, being a good parent requires a huge amount of work before, during, and after their childhood. We should celebrate people who actively give their children a good household and life. Your life is going to be pretty turned upside by having children whether you invest your energy in them or not - might as well make something great out of it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#87[dead]
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#88I bought a house that was sold as "uninhabitable" in Amsterdam, pulled out all the interior walls, applied insulation, then taught my self plumbing and did the plumbing, redid the wiring, installed the gas heater, laid radiant heating. I built new interior walls and did all the interior finishing except for plastering downstairs and pouring cement over the radiant heating, which I had professionals do. Coolest single…
If I was an absolute beginner (which I am) I would be definitely very wary to do by myself the electrical wiring or the gas connections... while half-assing the rest can only look bad, those can kill you and your loved ones (neighbors need not apply).
Gas? Yes. Electric? Eh, if you are smart enough to program a computer, you are smart enough to read and learn how to do electric properly.
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#89Dunno why nobody has said anything like this, but I make some awesome bread (baguettes, mainly) and pizza.
What's great is not only that you get to eat the results, but whether it turns out well or badly, you get to repeat it all over again--and again, and again, and again.
Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
#90[deleted]