Technabob » engine

Miniature Fully-functional V12 Engine: for Truly Compact Cars

Conner Flynn — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:05:35 +0000

Normally you can find a V12 in the back of a Lamborghini or an Aston Martin, but you’ve never seen one this small. This is the world’s smallest V12 engine and it actually works just like the full-size versions.

It was created by Spanish engineer Patelo and took 1,200 hours to create out of aluminum, bronze and stainless steel. The detail is amazing. It’s really a work of art. The pistons measure 11.3 mm in diameter with a total displacement of 12 cubic centimeters. It powers up with compressed air injected at 0.1kg/sq cm.

In all there, it’s constructed from a total of 261 handcrafted pieces and 222 tiny screws. Now if we only had a tiny car to put this in we could have some miniature races. Watch it do its thing near the 8 minute mark.

[via New Launches]

Outboard Engine Drink Blender Runs on Gasoline: But Will it Blend?

Technabob — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:14:27 +0000

This has to be one of the most unusual household appliances I’ve ever seen. What you’re looking at here is an old Johnson outboard motorboat engine, converted into a blender. Why? Because nobody had done it before, I guess.

According to the description of this thing, this 1958 Johnson Sea Horse 18 outboard motor has had its guts replaced with a small Homelite 2-cycle motor, which powers the blender that’s been built into the top. All in all, it took the guy who made it 6 months to engineer and build this gas-powered blending beast.

Don’t believe that this thing actually works? Watch as its creator fixes an icy-cold cocktail with one pull of the starter handle.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Well, that answers that. If you want it, head on over to Etsy where you can get your hands on this thing for $2,800(USD), which also happens to make it the world’s most expensive blender. My only concern is the mixture of gasoline vapors, exhaust and tequila mix might make for one mean hangover.

Tony Hawk Tries to Ride Skateboard With 630hp V8

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:13:52 +0000

If you have never driven in a vehicle that had a lot of power under foot you might not know hard it is to keep a car in a straight line if you take off fast. I am not talking the 200hp V6 your mom’s car has. I am talking about cars with over 500hp. I can only imagine the level of dead I would be if I were to try to ride this crazy 630hp V8-powered skateboard.

The board was designed for an appearance Tony Hawk did in Australia. Apparently, the builders speed limited the thing so Hawk would survive the day and not ruin their event by dying. That thing looks like a death trap on wheels. Here’s a video of the skateboard being built (without Tony on it):

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I can’t even ride a normal skateboard without cracking my ass half off. Put a seat and a steering wheel on this thing though and we could go carting. That would be cool.

[via Jalopnik]

747 Jet Bed: Just Try and Sleep With All That Engine Noise

Technabob — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:21:53 +0000

How’d you like to curl up for a nice nap inside the engine cowl of a 747? Well ask, and ye shall receive…

The madmen over at MotoArt have taken the engine nacell from a decommissioned 747 jet engine and turned it curvy metal headboard. The bed has an 84″ diameter round mattress and boxspring that set perfectly inside the bifurcated engine jacket. And to make sure you don’t slice your head open on the aluminum edge, they’ve thoughtfully cover the sharp metal edges with some Plexiglas. For each bed, MotoArt cleans up the engine cowl’s paintjob and carefully polishes each one to a shiny mirror finish so you can look at yourself first thing in the morning.

Engine not included.

Strenco St-2 Steambot: Your Own Steam Powered Robot

Technabob — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:00:32 +0000

Batteries schmatteries. Electricity shmelectricity. Who needs modern energy sources when you can have scalding hot steam to power your gadgets? This unique robot from Germany gets its juice from good old H2O.

Strenco’s ST-2 Steambot lumbers along thanks to a tiny copper Wilesco steam engine that’s been implanted in his chest cavity.

Now don’t expect to just flip a switch to get this retro robot going. You’ll need pop his head off, fill him up with water, and light a tiny (stinky) Esbit fire in his belly before his mechanical innards get started.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And despite the wild gyrations of his internal steam engine, the robot moves at a snail’s pace once up to full speed.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Only 300 of these $600 (USD) limited-edition Steambots were created, so good luck finding one. A couple of places to start on your robot quest include MiniSteam, ManuFactum and General Robots.

Tech Demos From Next-Gen Star Wars Game

Technabob — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:11:16 +0000

The folks over at LucasArts are showing off some pretty cool new tech that’s planned for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, planned for next-generation consoles.

The first video shows off the enhanced AI engine (called “Euphoria”) which provides each enemy with a “central nervous system,” which makes them intelligent and emotional reactions to stimuli in their environment:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The second video shows off “Digital Molecular Matter,” which provides objects with much more realistic physical properties than seen in other game engines. Surfaces such as wood don’t simply break into pre-determined pieces, they actually splinter and fragment like they would in real life:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s pretty amazing what the hardware in today’s gaming systems can enable. Let’s hope these technologies make it to the final game, and that other developers follow suit.

[via TechEBlog]