Oops, noticed that's in all caps... Sorry, I'm at work. Anyway, I've noticed myself being a mechanical nerd. I love cars, love motorcycles, love guns, love watches that are skeletonized so you can see all the gears and springs move. Am I alone? I have an Armitron Skeleton Watch and I can watch that thing move for hours. It's so awesome!
Anyone else like this? What unique mechanical toy do you have that you love to watch work?
Clocks in general (I've got probably 30 of them), steam engines(got a couple of them too.), and antique engines with exposed valves and cams. Video below shot this weekend after rebuilding the magneto.
Im mezmerized by it!
I'm with you. And turbines make me giggle like a schoolgirl.
Toyman01 wrote: Clocks in general (I've got probably 30 of them), steam engines(got a couple of them too.), and antique engines with exposed valves and cams. Video below shot this weekend after rebuilding the magneto. 1928 McCormick 1 1/2 HP
I find the croquet mallets and ball in the background funny for some reason.
Neat engine.
pinchvalve wrote: I'm with you. And turbines make me giggle like a schoolgirl.
Oh my, no moving parts to be seen, but that whine just sends shivers up my spine.
Virtually anything mechanical is a rush for me. A few oddball one's to note:
I am currently smitten with our new Samsung front load washer. Direct drive motor, self balancing with counter rotating weights. This thing spins at mach 3 with a full load of towels and you literally cannot tell it is even running with your hand on it.
I was in Italy this past spring on business and went into a Ferrari store/dealer. They had a few old race engines on display. Works of art.
When I was kid, I was amazed at how my sister's walking and battery operated dolls/toys worked. I was always trying to take them apart to figure out how they worked. Being 10 to 12 years old or so, I wasn't very good at getting them back together though. The one's I did get back together, never seemed to work right again. But I learned much from the experience.
I've been looking at ways to skeletonize my Desert Eagle Baby Eagle. I think putting a few holes in the slide along with some slices out of it would look pretty sweet if done right. Seeing the spring and mag and bullets in the mag would look pretty awesome. The problem would be getting some sort of acrylic in the handle to seal that part back up. Maybe clear acrylic grips and then do the material removal off the metal... I'll have to play with it and some chalk or something...
Where was that post with the tiny little alcohol powered sterling motors for your desk? That tish was off the hizzy
4cylndrfury wrote: Where was that post with the tiny little alcohol powered sterling motors for your desk? That tish was off the hizzy
New Xmas wishlist item
Conquest351 wrote: I think putting a few holes in the slide along with some slices out of it would look pretty sweet if done right. Seeing the spring and mag and bullets in the mag would look pretty awesome. The problem would be getting some sort of acrylic in the handle to seal that part back up. Maybe clear acrylic grips and then do the material removal off the metal... I'll have to play with it and some chalk or something...
In IPSC/USPA, they like to have light slides for faster cycling. Some of the gunsmiths made "firing pin inspection ports" in the slide to that end. I think they've gotten away from that now.
As far as the magazine, how about an ASP/Devel type window?
4cylndrfury wrote: Where was that post with the tiny little alcohol powered sterling motors for your desk? That tish was off the hizzy
http://www.lilliputmotorcompany.com/
pinchvalve wrote: I'm with you. And turbines make me giggle like a schoolgirl.
That thing would make mowing the lawn fun! I wonder what the turning radius is? 
1988RedT2 wrote: That thing would make mowing the lawn fun! I wonder what the turning radius is?
Never
Mechanical fascination is one of the reason I love bicycles, especially the top end carbon road bikes with Campagnolo drivetrains, and the top end dual suspension mountain bikes. Really cool, purely mechanical. Not sure how I feel about the new electronic shifting road gear though....
^^I was a bit skeptical of the electronic gear, until I rode a whiz-bang, multi-thousand-dollar Merida set up with it. Pretty cool stuff, for sure, and I can definitely see the appeal for cyclocross. So far seems very reliable, as well, which I guess is to be expected of Shimano. Interesting to wonder how the Italian's attempt would fair .
Check this out, too, guy in the UK has adapted Di2 to a few of his MTBs: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150113&start=0
Grtechguy wrote:1988RedT2 wrote: That thing would make mowing the lawn fun! I wonder what the turning radius is?Never
Probably the same turning radius as the Titanic. Really is a point and shoot ride.
slantvaliant wrote:Conquest351 wrote: I think putting a few holes in the slide along with some slices out of it would look pretty sweet if done right. Seeing the spring and mag and bullets in the mag would look pretty awesome. The problem would be getting some sort of acrylic in the handle to seal that part back up. Maybe clear acrylic grips and then do the material removal off the metal... I'll have to play with it and some chalk or something...In IPSC/USPA, they like to have light slides for faster cycling. Some of the gunsmiths made "firing pin inspection ports" in the slide to that end. I think they've gotten away from that now. As far as the magazine, how about an ASP/Devel type window?
Yeah, something like that. I used to have bookmarked a guy who skeletonized 1911's and they looked WICKED.
Luke wrote: ^^I was a bit skeptical of the electronic gear, until I rode a whiz-bang, multi-thousand-dollar Merida set up with it. Pretty cool stuff, for sure, and I can definitely see the appeal for cyclocross. So far seems very reliable, as well, which I guess is to be expected of Shimano. Interesting to wonder how the Italian's attempt would fair
thats right...cable-less shifting...never caught on, but was supposed to be instantaneous shifting
^Rad 
I'll take a set on one of these, thanks:
There was also Mavic's early attempt at electronic -
Purely mechanical things certainly have an appeal on their own. I own quite a few bicycles that range from friction to modern indexed shifting, and it's a lot of fun to tear them down to see how they work.
I've done the same with old cameras and shutter mechanisms. Now THERE is some interesting complicated movement. I still shoot with a couple all-mechanical cameras from the 1950s and 70s, and there is a certain satisfaction to breaking down a shutter, cleaning it, building it back up, and hearing that precise ka-chink as you take a photo.
(only the middle camera uses a battery)
I inherited my fathers curiosity of mechanical things. When he got his first automatic transmission car, hydramatic, he took it apart to see how it worked. Still worked after he reassembled it. I haven't gone that far but I do similar things. I like to repair things just to see if I can. When something is doing something that it shouldn't, I try to find out why.
Anyone up for a glass steam engine?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73txXT21aZU
Conquest351 wrote: Oops, noticed that's in all caps... Sorry, I'm at work. Anyway, I've noticed myself being a mechanical nerd. I love cars, love motorcycles, love guns, love watches that are skeletonized so you can see all the gears and springs move. Am I alone? I have an Armitron Skeleton Watch and I can watch that thing move for hours. It's so awesome! Anyone else like this? What unique mechanical toy do you have that you love to watch work?
I am exactly like this. It's all art to me. To take metal and plastic and make the sum of the parts greater than the individual parts amazes me.
oldsaw wrote: Anyone up for a glass steam engine?
THAT is what I'm talking about. You can see EVERYTHING! Awesome.
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