Awesome Machine

By using a similar mechanism to the ones used in 3D printers, maker Josh Sheldon created an amazing robotic rig which can be used to guide a light source along a precise path. The result are some of the most beautifully smooth long-exposure light paintings we’ve ever seen.

A guy approaches an ATM to take out some cash, but the machine is clearly having some sort of technical glitch. Regardless of its problem, he decides to try and follow the on-screen directions as well as he can anyhow. (Thanks Stirling!)

While the object being milled serves no purpose other than to show off the precision of its fabrication, we’re still mesmerized as a solid hunk of metal was carved into a tiny desktop sculpture using a Matsuura MX-330 5-axis mill driven by Autodesk’s PowerMill software.

Time-lapse footage of one of Thunder Laser’s cutting machines as it precisely slices through a sheet of MDF plywood, gradually revealing the intricate latticework of a flat-pack model of the Eiffel Tower. We don’t really need one, but we want one of these machines in our office now.

If you thought that machine that could balance itself on a single point was cool, check out Andreas Eder and Tobias Glück’s robot, which can swing three pivoting sections upright and keep them balanced. It can’t hold on indefinitely, but we’d like to see you do better.

After teasing us with a bit of his latest modular ball-moving contraption, LEGO fanatic Akiyuki shows off the completed machine, which he and his pals recently showed off at Japan Brickfest. The six-headed monster is super awesome.

Even today, computers error out if you try to divide a number by zero, but check out what happens with this old Facit ESA-01 mechanical calculator when posed with that mathematical conundrum. We’re assuming the death spiral was only ended by unplugging the cord.

LEGO builder ElectryDragonite made this desktop vending machine using LEGO bricks, Mindstorms NXT controllers, and servo motors to dispense one of four different drink flavors, and has a working coin mechanism that rejects bad coins. It even keeps drinks cool.

Izzy Swan makes all kinds of crazy contraptions. His latest build is truly impressive – as it’s able to transport a passenger down the street using the power of a single Dewalt power drill which drive strandbeest-like legs and a wheeled platform.

Petri Perämäki demonstrates his precision at running an excavator, as he gently stacks a tower of individual nuts with heavy construction equipment. And if you had any suspicion that they’re magnetic, stick around ’til the end.

Kinetic sculptor David Bynoe created this cable-driven machine which can create crop-circle like drawings using sand as its medium. The machine was built for the Telus Spark Science Centre in Alberta, Canada.

Another impressive LEGO machine, this one built as a collaborative effort with multiple modules. It seems to go on forever, sifting countless little balls through thousands of LEGO components. See if you can follow the blue ball the whole way.

While you could go out and buy yourself a fancy 3D printer, why not build one yourself? Builder Arthur Sacek did just that, with a 3D milling machine made entirely from LEGO (except the drill bit.)