Technabob » upcycle

Triumph Motorcycle Parts Used to Make Household Items Rock

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:14:22 +0000

I really like products that are made out of stuff that most of us would never think to make them from. These new Triumph Motorcycles product prototypes are exactly what I mean. Working for an exhibition for the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, designers took various parts from Triumph motorcycles and used them to make other stuff you might see around the house.

My favorite item is the record player made from the brake parts. The platter for the record is a disc brake rotor, and you can see what appears to be the caliper cover on the side of the record player. The bowl made from the spokes and center hub of the wheel is really cool too.

Wine drinkers with a penchant for Triumph will like the corkscrew that is made from the grip and handle bar of the bike. This one is cool in that you pull the brake lever on the handle to make the corkscrew spin. There are a few other cool items like cutlery made from brake and clutch levers, and a floor standing mirror made from motorcycle mirrors. See more of the collection over at Designboom.

Voting Machine Serves a Higher Purpose: Pac-Man

Technabob — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:35:30 +0000

So if you’ve ever wondered what happens to old electronic voting machines after they’re retired?

Since the Sequoia AVC EDGE voting machines were known for their insecurities and easy to tamper with, security researchers J. Alex Halderman and Ariel J. Feldman at the University of Michigan decided to turn the useless voting machine into something productive – a fully-playable Pac-Man arcade machine. They managed to reprogram this machine by reformatting the machine’s memory card, and installing DOS and MAME to play Namco’s venerable dot-gobbler. They say they could just have easily gotten it to run Linux.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Frankly, I think you should be allowed to play Pac-Man WHILE you vote. Maybe they can get working on that to increase voter turnout.

[via Make:]

Old Vhs Tapes Turned Into Slightly Less Old Hard Drives

Technabob — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:23:48 +0000

Need some additional storage for your computer? Then you might want to check out these wacky hard drives, fashioned out of old VHS tapes. Sure, VHS tape tech is definitely obsolete, but aren’t hard drives on their way out too? It just begs the question: why not a Betamax cassette with a 3.5″ floppy drive inside; or a U-Matic tape with a punch card reader built in?

So back to the topic at hand… The guys over at CentennialMerchant have been ripping out the guts of classic movie VHS tapes, and embedding new hard drives inside them. Ok, Star Trek: The Motion Picture doesn’t really count as a “classic.”

Was there really a need for a “Longer Edition” of this movie? All I remember is the original theatrical release had about 45 minutes of indulgent footage panning around the exterior of the Enterprise, and the second worst “futuristic” costumes in the history of mankind. The EPCOT Center employee wardrobe wins first prize.

Personally, I hated Top Gun as much as the next guy, but at least they have the original Star Wars trilogy available too.

The drives range in price from $104.99 (USD) for a 320GB model, to $154.99 for the 640GB model. And if you have a favorite movie, they’ll make one custom for you if they can find the VHS version for me. You can find them all over on CentennialMerchant’s Etsy shop.

Personally, I’ll only be truly impressed when they can cram an 8-inch floppy drive inside a Blu-ray disc.

3.5-Inch Floppy Disks Get New Life as Jacob’S Ladder Toy

Technabob — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:40:03 +0000

Remember those wooden Jacob’s Ladder toys you played with when you were a kid? You know, the kind where you flip the top block over, and then all of the other clacky blocks flip over on themselves? Here’s a clever modern take on the old wooden toy.

Created by artist ZacharyBear, this Jacob’s Ladder is made from a bunch of old 3.5-inch floppy disks, woven together to create this perplexing, noisy plaything. Check out the video clip below to see this thing in action…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can grab a set of these over on ZacharyBear’s Etsy shop for just $15 bucks. What’s the last time you really needed that set of Aldus Pagemaker 6.0 installer floppies anyhow?

Recycling at Its Wearable Best: Keyboard Earrings

Alisha K. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:21:59 +0000

Raise your hand if you don’t have or have access to an old keyboard. If you didn’t raise your hand, I’m pretty sure you’re an alien. For the rest of us… what’s a girl to do with all those old keyboards? They gather so much dust! But if you’re creative enough, you can turn ‘em into jewelry.

Unfortunately, however, in order to pull this one off, you’re gonna need more than just an old keyboard. While there’s a detailed tutorial available, it might just require materials or steps that seem foreign to you. If you have a dremel tool lying around, though, or are familiar with jewelry-making, then you’re a few quick steps away from your own keyboard earrings.

What keys to choose? Your initials? Arrow keys? A two-tiered set so you can use WASD? That would require some thought.

[Craft Bits via Crafty Crafty]

Toby Fraley’S Robot Sculptures Rock (and Light Up)

Technabob — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:30:53 +0000

I’m a sucker for robots – and I love cool lamps. So when I saw these cool robotic sculptures that light up, I just had to write about them.

Handcrafted by Pennsylvania artist Toby Atticus Fraley, these robot sculptures are assembled from vintage found objects (aka “Junque”), and lovingly reconfigured by Fraley to form one-of-a-kind artworks.

Each robot has a unique personality, ranging from rock star, to an amputee robot, to a Slim Pickens as Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong riding a nuke in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – ‘bot.

While they’re made up of a variety reclaimed objects, it seems that Toby has an affinity for old picnic coolers and vacuum cleaner parts. And while you can’t get a good sense of size from these images, just know that they’re very substantial, ranging in height from about 28″ tall, all the way up to a near-life-size 58″ tall.

Toby has also recently started to make some most excellent neo-futuristic remote controls for turning his robot lights on and off from across the room.

Fraley’s robots have made their way into the private collections of Grammy Award winning musicians, a Silicon Valley tech company headquarters, and a had a cameo in couple of TV scenes over on HGTV. Now you can own one of these wondrous creations for yourself.

A handful of Fraley’s robots are now available over at Uncommon Goods (priced from $1800 to $1900 a piece). Check out the complete collection over on Toby’s website.

Ann P Smith’s Robot Sculptures: Upcylcled Wonders

Technabob — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:18:16 +0000

Got a bunch of old electronic parts lying around? While they might end up in the trash heap for many of us, artist Ann P. Smith sees new life in old junk.

Smith takes broken down electronics and machine parts to create her amazing menagerie of animal and insect sculptures.

While they aren’t mechanical works themselves, many of her “robots” do feature posable joints, which she’s used to produce stop-motion animation of her critters.

Ann’s works are sold in galleries and shops around the US, and have been featured as illustrations in a number of magazines and other publications.

Find out more about Ann and her art over on her website burrowburrow. And when you’re ready to buy one of her pieces for your very own, be sure to check out her Etsy shop. Prices range from as little as $22 for simple insects, all the way up to $2500+ for her most intricate creations.

[via The Presurfer via designboom]