Awesome Machines

Next time you go to the deli and it takes them 5 minutes to slice your meat, ask them to replace their machine with the TEXTOR TS700-UB. This industrial slicer spins up to 2000 rpm, cranking through pepperoni, bacon, and other meats, and neatly stacking them in the process.

Mr Machines compiled this footage of high-power demolition machinery as it rips apart industrial equipment for scrap. The part where it tears up the red truck like a dog with a chew toy is especially impressive, as is the bit where one cuts through steel beams like snapping twigs.

The Titans of CNC: Academy rightfully brag about their electronic machining equipment and skills by transforming a hefty 218 pound billet of aerospace grade titanium into a stunning sculpture of a lion’s head. In the end, they milled away over 100 pounds of material to reveal the metal king of the jungle.

After building a LEGO Technic machine that could bale hay back in 2017, The Brick Wall decided it was time to build a version that could create squared-off bales. The new machine offers impressive engineering, and is accompanied by a wagon for stacking and transporting bales.

As part of a campaign for Starbucks, Adam Savage was asked to help build excitement for their Nitro Cold Brew coffee. Naturally, Adam couldn’t resist doing something overly dramatic, and built a liquid nitrogen-powered engine for delivering a sweet cream topper. Disclaimer: This is not how Starbucks makes theirs.

This ridiculously complicated Rube Goldberg machine from DaksDominos uses dozens of ping pong balls, Hot Wheels tracks, string, dominoes, toilet paper rolls, plastic cups, glass bottles, and popsicle sticks to perform a simple task – dispensing a length of Scotch tape.

Wolf Zipp shows off his working scale model of the SLJ 900/32 Wowjoint, a machine used to transport and place large sections of bridges. it has pneumatic lifts, wheels that can drive in any direction, and a cantilever system for crossing bridge pillars. It’s not fast, but it is impressive.

Ever wonder how the machine at the bowling alley resets pins so quickly after they’re knocked down, and how the ball gets back to you? The appropriately named Matt Bowlin explains how all the systems work together to get you ready for your next frame.

Digg compiled this sequence of various activities which are particularly enthralling to watch, from an artist twirling hot glass, to a baseball being crushed in slow-motion, to an endless model railroad. We’ve seen many of them before, but it’s fun to watch them back to back.

Chain-reaction machine builder Sprice Machines’ latest overly complicated setup starts out with a set of chattering teeth, and along the way features penguins on a escalator, and a variety of ramps and other tricks, all contrived to provide his dog Ramen with a squeaky toy to play with. The fail footage at the end is fun to watch too.

Music label INDUSTRIAL JP presents a hypnotic, close-up look at the metal bending machines at Goko Spring Co. which take spools or stiff wire and convert them into tiny springs. We could seriously put this on repeat and watch it all day long. The track is Goko Bane by Sountrive.

When we want to crack into the delicious lollipop treat known as Chupa Chups, we just usually tear into the wrapper by hand. But it can be a bit frustrating at times, so Japanese YouTuber なんとか重工 (Somehow Heavy Work) turned to an industrial lathe to handle the task for him.

LEGO expert Sariel shows off one of his neatest creations yet, a motorized mechanical zoetrope, which displays an animation when you look through the slits at the posed minifigs as they whiz by inside. A cool spin on a classic moving picture device.

From the looks of things, musician, and instrument designer Wintergatan has nearly completed the build of his long-in-progress follow up to his original marble machine. After showing us the amazing marble elevator, he’s ready to play some percussion with the intricate contraption.

Telegraphs were once the fastest way to send messages over a distance. While they’re long since obsolete, DIYprojects decided to build a modern take on the paper strip telegraph, using an Arduino Mini, a motor, wood, and a pen to write down text messages. Build guide here.

Bakery automation company Fritsch shows off its Multitwist – a machine capable of taking dough and twisting it into a number of programmable shapes. It can crank out thousands of pretzels, braided rolls, twists, and other ready-to-bake pastries per hour.

In this promotional spot for CAD/CAM software developer Open Mind, they demonstrate how a 5-axis CNC mill can transform a solid block of metal into a replica of a basketball net, by gradually carving away bits of metal until only a woven net remains. Skip to 1:06.

Designed by Shunji Yamanaka for the Future Robotics Technology Center, this incredible work of mechanical engineering can transform between walking, rolling, and spinning, and even climbs stairs. The robot was designed as a study for potential future vehicles. More here.

Have you ever gotten a box from Amazon that’s way too big for the item packed inside? The CMC Cartonwrap 1000 solves this problem by scanning the item to be packed inside, then making a custom-sized box for it. It’s not ideal for fragile items, though it looks like they’re working on that.

The aptly-named Brick Experiment Channel decided to see if they could make a paper shredder using only LEGO components. While the motor and gearing was pretty simple to set up at first, getting Technic gears to actually shred paper took some serious experimentation.

We had to go back in time to 2010 to find the original video of this crazy device, but the payoff was worth it. Forssa1’s crazy spinning contraption is loaded up with RGB LEDs and looks like some sort of inter-dimensional travel portal when activated. More here.

We’ve seen industrial machines that can bend wires into shapes, but thanks to 3D printing and low-cost controllers like Arduino, you can make your own desktop machine now. How to Mechatronics shows us exactly how. Grab the full instructions, models, code, and schematics here.

Martin Molin is known for his amazing music-making marble machine. He’s been working on an even more complicated machine for years, and has been documenting the build. This conveyor belt assembly is one of the more enthralling parts he’s completed so far.