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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?

#551

Post by voakbasda »

bradly wrote: post #537
voakbasda wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bandsaw mill, but I occasionally need to use an Alaskan style mill to square up logs that are too big. I have small foundry capable of casting aluminum, and I have plans to find a spot to build a proper cupola furnace that enables casting iron.

Sorry, I meant a kiln for the wood :)

Lol... I should have got that.... I do not have a wood drying kiln, but I have a small shelter where I stack boards over the winter. It ends up bone dry by the next year when I am ready to use it.

I have thousands of board feet waiting to be milled, so I plan on building a larger lumber drying "shed" at some point with some of the resulting boards.

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

#552

Post by kevinpet »

xyzelement wrote: post #534
btbuildem wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You seem ill-informed in your pet peeve. Miriam Webster defines civilian as "not military not police."

A dictionary reflects current usage. It does not reflect correct usage.

Police in the US are not governed by the UCMJ and have no affirmative obligations in the way military do. They are also civilians under the Geneva convention.

A professional police force only goes back about 200 years.

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

#553

Post by junon »

I learned PCB design from roughly nothing over the last 7 months to create a custom PCB that integrates with GitHub Actions for a CI/CD pipeline for my novel operating system's kernel test harness to test on bare metal.

It looks amazing and feels really good to have completed. Might do a write-up on it.

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

#555

Post by binarymax »

ac2u wrote: post #480
binarymax wrote: post #108

A shoe sole cleaner, which I call the "Sole Glo". Made out of mahogany and oak for the body, a small reclaimed motor, a couple toilet brushes, and some basic wiring with a pressure switch. It actuates when you step on it and does a great job of cleaning snow off your shoes. I've made 4 of them, plus the prototype.

A play on the hair product in 'Coming to America'? :)

Of course :)

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

#557

Post by yobityte »

swighton wrote: post #361

I made a baseball bat that uses explosives to add a bunch of energy to your swing and hit a baseball really far. It uses the explosive blanks normally used to shoot nails into concrete (e.g. ramset). It worked way better than I expected, didn't have a kick, and turned out to be just a really neat thing to look at while sipping a frosty beverage. I also made a video about it if you're interested: https://youtu.be/Puo6…

You're hands down my favourite creator. You come up with such brilliant solutions. It's really inspiring to watch.

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

#558

Post by netman21 »

It was a long time ago but I and 3,000 other people built the Edwin H. Gott, the last 1,000 foot ore carrier on the Great lakes. I got a summer job as a welder at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The Gott is on Lake Erie this evening. https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/EDWIN-H.-GOTT/CU...

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

#559

Post by e4e5 »

LesZedCB wrote: post #164

I like building bikes. I have four now that are all frame up builds, and I've used it to get pretty good at fixing and diagnosing issues too the point friends come to me. I've also learned to build wheels though that's very much a work in progress. I also roast coffee. I exclusively buy green to roast for myself and friends and haven't bought roasted coffee in over a year! I learned to sew and made a frame bag or two…

I've been thinking of making my own frame bags. You got any pointers for me? Completely new to the hobby but it seems fun
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