making

Many makers have found uses for the telescoping brass tubing from K & S Engineering. This tubing is available in sizes from 1/16" up to 21/32" (modeltool.com is one retail source), and one of the useful features of this material is that each adjacent size telescopes neatly into the next. I use the tubing to make small organ pipes and tuned bicycle horns, generally working with the thin-wall (.014") variety, and I have developed a few techniques to adjust the fit between adjacent sizes, making airtight slip-fits and press-fits of adjustable tension, and also snap-together fits. These techniques all involve stretching or compressing the brass, and they don't involve the use of gaskets or adhesives. Whatever the tubing is to be used for, these techniques might give a maker some useful ideas for future projects.

Len is a longtime friend of The Steampunk Workshop, fellow Wimshurst maker, and the creator of The Majectic Bellophone, among many of accomplishments. - Jake

Big Wooden Ball Project from Mike Leuis on Vimeo.

I love, Love! LOVE! the use of industrial equipment to make art. A custom built crane/lathe/mill truck for making big wooden balls? Be still mah heart! (via Make)

A friend of mine recently turned me on to the incredible resource Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library, or KMODDL, run by the Library at Cornell University. The site has many, many models of different mechanical movements, designs, gears- and enough brassy bits and whatchamajigs to keep your boiler steamed for awhile. To top it all off, many of the designs have not only movies, but downloadable CAD files; which so far I have used on a laser cutter (brag) and a 3D printer (BRAG! BRAG!).

Even if you aren't using KMODDL to, you know, make stuff...It's still awful purdy.

(shown above is Darts Chamber Wheel Mechanism- click for the amazing video)