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Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#461

Post by AndrewKemendo »

shimon wrote: post #311
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary difference is that "Venetian plaster" process is specifically intended to mimic the look of marble or stone and so the method doesn't really veer too far outside of that for materials or process. These kind of artists seem to only use quartz or other "smooth" acrylic plasters and pigments that don't have the same structure and are generally thin and temporary (less than 20 years expected age) - so not lim…

Thanks for elaborating - that sounds really cool.

Thank you for asking! The art world is kinda funky.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#462

Post by jokethrowaway »

tracker1 wrote: post #389

I spent a few years when I was younger learning to cook better... pretty much immersed myself in it when not working. Watched a LOT of cooking videos, the entire Good Eats series, and more. Never made anything especially cool, just got pretty good at sauce work, and understanding how some ingredients and techniques come together. I might have gone to cooking/culinary school in the evenings, but never did well in form…

Similar story, I used to be really into cooking and baking.

I still have photos of sourdough bread, pizza, croissants, cakes, elaborate dishes...

And then I started having weird health issues (auto immune crap, aka doctor speech for "we have no clue what we're talking about but you're screwed") and debilitating stomach pain. I was on a 95% vegan diet and I switched to paleo, which seemed to help a bit but still caused occasional pain. After suffering for 2 years and tired of doctors not finding a solution, I tried the carnivore diet.

I pretty much cook the same steak every day and then some eggs or some more meat.

If I eat vegetables I get the taco-bell treatment. If I eat too many carbs over a short period of time I feel bloated and my gallbladder is not happy. Fruit is ok but I'm not a fan of getting too much sugar into me.

Goodbye croissants.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#464

Post by wpietri »

irrational wrote: post #314
wpietri wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew a very smart guy with an attitude like that. He decided to run the electric wiring for an artist's co-op he made out of surplus shipping containers. When the city inspectors eventually popped by for a surprise visit, it was so far from code compliant that they pulled his electric meter on the spot. Being very smart, he was sure he was in the right, so I hear he fought with the city for years over it, in the me…

Hopefully you are reading and learning from the same place licensed electricians are learning from. Sounds like this guy didn't go to the right sources.

A lot of their learning is from experience.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#465

Post by poyu »

whstl wrote: post #460

A modular synthesizer! I designed the case in CAD, put it online for free, and it got kinda popular in the DIY synth community. Some companies are making it. I built all modules from scratch with my own circuit designs too. Mostly novel designs, especially in oscillators and filters. A lot of JFETs being used to control voltages, amplitudes, etc. It was unstable and non-linear but had its charm :)

As a DIY synth nerd, do you mind sharing them? :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#466

Post by btbuildem »

kulahan wrote: post #248
xyzelement wrote: post #196

This may or may not fit into the OP's intention but some of my favorite physical achievements are repairs that might be impressive for a random suburban dad :) 1. Two years ago our basement flooded a week after we bought the house. I ended up tearing out the now-saturated carpet and put in vinyl plank flooring. Mainly straight forward but requires planning and at some points tricky sawing. It's cool when people come…

I get what you're saying, but even HVAC guys are civilians :)

Huge pet peeve of mine, this militaristic way of thinking. Even police are civilians -- every one is, except for actual soldiers. Cops love to refer to everyone else as "civilians" but they're just hired security with extra perks.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#467

Post by jacquesm »

fcoury wrote: post #184

I used to be deep into the mechanical keyboards rabbit hole. On of the nicest switches out there are worn in with time, so I created a machine that wore them in by pressing them multiple times. Never got to finish it but used it quite a bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWl4Hy6DAc

For a nice analogue of that: At the Steinway factory they have a machine that breaks in the actions of new instruments, it's a giant eccentric wheel that presses the keys and releases them again once per revolution, they let it sit for a few hours.
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