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Tim Hunkin is a British inventor who recently made a solar powered sign that wiggles. His design for it was to run it by wind. His solar solution is a great read.
The letters of the sign sway up and down as if they are bobbing about on the waves. There's nothing very complicated about the mechanism - its just one long crankshaft - but making it work by renewable energy has been less straightforward than I expected. I originally intended to make it wind powered. No electricity, just a geared down mechanical linkage to the crankshaft. I was worried about gales, so my first design was self furling (the propeller blades turn themselves out of the wind when it gets too strong). I was delighted to find I had a suitable worm gearbox and even a suitable propeller (from a petrol powered blower). It was a complete failure. I realised that what I had made was actually a very highly powered device for turning itself out of the wind, even in a light breeze.
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Solar Powered Wiggly Sign:
Tim Hunkin is a British inventor who recently made a solar powered sign that wiggles. His design for it was to run it by wind. His solar solution is a great read.
The letters of the sign sway up and down as if they are bobbing about on the waves. There's nothing very complicated about the mechanism - its just one long crankshaft - but making it work by renewable energy has been less straightforward than I expected. I originally intended to make it wind powered. No electricity, just a geared down mechanical linkage to the crankshaft. I was worried about gales, so my first design was self furling (the propeller blades turn themselves out of the wind when it gets too strong). I was delighted to find I had a suitable worm gearbox and even a suitable propeller (from a petrol powered blower). It was a complete failure. I realised that what I had made was actually a very highly powered device for turning itself out of the wind, even in a light breeze.
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Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 15, 2006 12:11 PM
Arts |
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Y'all may or may not remember that Hunkin is the genius behind the hilarious and fascinating "Secret Life of Machines" series. Totally unsanitized and full of great hacking and imagery, including making a light bulb out of a pencil, and men carrying a running piston engine on a sedan like a religious relic. Not to mention poking a hole in the oil filter while it's running and being sprayed with oil. Great stuff! All of them are available via torrent with Tim's blessing.
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Y'all may or may not remember that Hunkin is the genius behind the hilarious and fascinating "Secret Life of Machines" series. Totally unsanitized and full of great hacking and imagery, including making a light bulb out of a pencil, and men carrying a running piston engine on a sedan like a religious relic. Not to mention poking a hole in the oil filter while it's running and being sprayed with oil. Great stuff! All of them are available via torrent with Tim's blessing.
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I might be wrong, and I am too lazy to check, but isn't Tim the person behing the secret life of machines? It looks like his work. I just loved that show.
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That was a great TV series. It was one of the few shows I have seen all the episodes of.
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Tim is my hero! I use (my autographed DVD set of) his shows to explain machines to children and adults. Everyone loves them!
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Tim is my hero! I use (my autographed DVD set of) his shows to explain machines to children and adults. Everyone loves them!
Reply to this comment
Tim is my hero! I use (my autographed DVD set of) his shows to explain machines to children and adults. Everyone loves them!
Reply to this comment
Tim is my hero! I use (my autographed DVD set of) his shows to explain machines to children and adults. Everyone loves them!
Reply to this comment