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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?

#611

Post by QuinnyPig »

alberth wrote: post #205
hoofhearted wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. As I understand it, Amazon doesn’t actually own data centers; similar to how they don’t own warehouses. My understanding later on in my career shift to computer engineering was that Amazon is renting out the whole colo, and just owns their equipment. Amazon isn’t maintaining the datacenter infrastructure such as cooling and power, but instead it’s covered in their bill.

Isn’t this though wrongly taking credit. This is like saying “I sell cardboard boxes to Amazon, who uses my cardboard boxes to ship packages” … and then claim you built the logistics and online behemoth of Amazon.com I’m not trying to be a hater. But this story sounds more like you were a supplier to something Amazon built, not something you built.

I mean, that’s kinda what AWS is doing right now with its customers’ successes with gen ai, no?

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

#612

Post by Doxin »

avar wrote: post #370
tinco wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the gas heater checked by a professional who agreed to do the yearly maintenance. The electrical wiring you shouldn't do if you're not serious about electrical safety, and not reverent to the industry standards. I read the Dutch standards for electrical wiring, but it's actually hard to do it wrong if you have a small house and no complications like solar panels because building stores don't even sell wrong mat…

> I read the Dutch standards for electrical wiring Aside: Do you have a handy link to those standards? > it's actually hard to do it wrong [...] building stores don't even sell wrong materials. It's quite easy to get it wrong, e.g. buy stranded instead of solid wire, then plug it into a wago connector.

Wago's are rated for stranded wire aren't they? It's wire nuts you need to be careful about wrt stranded wire.

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

#613

Post by influx »

samtho wrote: post #591
appplication wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What approximate physical location are you in? This is my dream, but right now I’m wasting away in SF. I’ve been looking for properties with a stream but they seem pretty far between.

I own 4.2 acres in the Sierras north of US-50 between Kyburz and South Lake Tahoe at 5,600ft elevation. It was not easy to find, but there is a seasonal creek that runs through it fed by snowmelt. I had to drill a well 600ft down to find water year round, there are no utilities so I had to dig out for septic, get propane storage for generator power, and I have a gravel path via an easement into an adjacent property t…

How odd, you dredged up a memory of people finding stairs:

https://travelermagazine.net/stairs-in-the-woods/

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

#616

Post by dmos62 »

samtho wrote: post #591
appplication wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What approximate physical location are you in? This is my dream, but right now I’m wasting away in SF. I’ve been looking for properties with a stream but they seem pretty far between.

I own 4.2 acres in the Sierras north of US-50 between Kyburz and South Lake Tahoe at 5,600ft elevation. It was not easy to find, but there is a seasonal creek that runs through it fed by snowmelt. I had to drill a well 600ft down to find water year round, there are no utilities so I had to dig out for septic, get propane storage for generator power, and I have a gravel path via an easement into an adjacent property t…

Drop me an email if you're interested in those stairs.

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

#617

Post by aa-jv »

An RC airplane, built out of an old arrow I found in a field, some foam boards cut for the wings using the Kline-Fogelmann wing form [1], and various sundry electronics rescued from the parts bin, including a DVD motor to power the prop.

The feeling of elation I felt when I first chucked it into the sky and off it flew .. can't be explained. I've been making planes for 30 years, but this was my first KFM airfoil, and it was just so neat to see it fly around.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kline–Fogleman_airfoil

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

#618

Post by badpun »

zw123456 wrote: post #564

I know, I am way late to the game on this one. But WTF. I made a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, in 2001, spent an entire year doing it. Coolest F-ing thing I ever did. No money. No reason other than my curiosity. I learned Sooooooooooo much doing it. I used to have a github on it but no one looked at it but, it was one of those things. It taught me something about patience, and a ton about so many things, controllers…

How expensive are the tools and equipment necessary to pull this off?

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

#620

Post by a_f »

zw123456 wrote: post #564

I know, I am way late to the game on this one. But WTF. I made a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, in 2001, spent an entire year doing it. Coolest F-ing thing I ever did. No money. No reason other than my curiosity. I learned Sooooooooooo much doing it. I used to have a github on it but no one looked at it but, it was one of those things. It taught me something about patience, and a ton about so many things, controllers…

Would love to see a write up of this if you ever do one, had one
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