I always find it important to have inspiration when learning new skills. I’m currently trying to train on CNC mill work for the EV conversion project and I remembered this video from Kirkham Motorsports a few years ago. Kirkham Motorsports produces state of the art aluminum monocoque Shelby Cobra replicas as well as their own CNC billet aluminum 427 engines for them. They posted this 3-part series of videos to YouTube detailing the entire process starting for a giant forged aluminum block.
It seems the Mars Curiosity Rover is inspiring a lot of fan works. The first one was the interactive panoramic of the Gale Crater made by combining the images beamed back with Google street view. Now we have a remastered high definition version of the rover’s descent into the atmosphere thanks to producer Bard Canning. He went back and increased the frame rate from 4 to 30 using interpolation and enhanced the colors and detail frame by frame.
Some of the latest technology in suspension damping has to do with magnetorheoligical shocks. Your traditional shock is filled with oil that is forced through valves in order to provide resistance to velocity otherwise known as damping. The amount of damping force you get is dependent on the viscosity of the oil, the size of the valve and how fast you are moving it through the oil. The oil viscosity and damping are pretty much permanent once the shock has been assembled.
Magnetorheological fluid is an oil that has magnetic microparticles suspended in it. What makes this interesting is that the fluid’s effective viscosity can be changed by exposure to an electromagnet. This electromagnet in turn can be controlled by a computer capable of dialing in the perfect amount of damping for the road surface the car is about to encounter. GM has featured magnetorheological shocks on the Cadillac CTS-V, the Corvette ZR-1 and the Camaro ZL1 and it’s starting to find its way on to more Cadillac models. A very similar technology is also used on the Ferrari 458 Italia and some of Acura’s models.
The folks at MIT have recently patented a new use for magnetorheological technology. Their plan is to use it to clean up oil spills. The basic concept is that magnetic particles are given a surface treatment that allows it to repel water and embed in the oil just like the magnetorheological suspension fluid. Removing the oil then simply becomes a matter of putting a magnet to it. The particles can even be removed from the oil and reused once it’s been collected. Like I mentioned in the rapid prototyped eagle beak story, there is a balance in all things even engineering. Our high demand for automobile usage is what puts the oceans at risk for oil spills. At least something we’ve developed to make your car handle better can also help safely remove oil from our oceans.
Here’s an extra “Science is Cool!” video. It’s two spiral electromagnets in magnetorheological fluid with music speaker currents flowing through them.
This is the amazing story of a Bald Eagle named Beauty. Beauty’s story starts tragically. Somebody literally shot her in the face and left her for dead. That’s so ridiculously terrible it sounds like it would be a joke answer to the question of “What’s the most unpatriotic thing that one person can do?” Beauty’s bullet wounds left her without the upper half of her beak which meant she couldn’t eat, drink or care for herself. Luckily she was brought into the care of Birds of Prey Northwest who were able to keep her alive but they weren’t able to find a way to repair her beak. That’s where Nate Calvin of the Kinetic Engineering Group stepped in to volunteer his services. He scanned what was left of Beauty’s beak and then was able to model a replacement for her. The new beak was created using a rapid prototyping 3D printer and then attached with dental epoxy applied by Nate’s personal dentist giving Beauty back the life that was taken from her.
Beauty’s New Beak via Birds of Prey Northwest
There are a lot of religions and philosophies that believe that there is balance in all things. It’s a tragedy that a terrible human being used technology that mankind has built to harm this beautiful animal. Thankfully somebody was able to turn that tragedy into triumph using some of the same knowledge and innovation. I’d like to think that any problems that man creates for himself are also within our ability to fix and solve. That’s why I studied engineering and it’s also the core motivation for this entire Flux Auto project. Global warming and energy production will be a generation defining challenge in the not-as-distant-as-you-may-think future. Lets do everything we can to make sure we’re ready to take it on.
Chevrolet made this promotional video in the 1930’s to show how a differential works. Sometimes the best tutorials of technologies are from when they were first invented. You probably won’t find a better video about differentials anywhere. Fast forward to 1:50 to skip the intro.
