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Awesome Machines

Unbending Rebar

Unbending Rebar

We’ve seen how rebar is made; now watch how these metal reinforcing rods get a second chance at life after they’ve been bent. Created by JP Botelho, this machine can take even severely mangled lengths of rebar and literally set them straight. It’s an oddly satisfying process to watch.

10 Kinds of Motorized LEGO Doors

10 Kinds of Motorized LEGO Doors

Sliding, swinging, garage, barn. There are lots of different kinds of doors. The Brick Experiment Channel shows us how to make various kinds of doors using LEGO Technic parts and how to automate them to open and close with the twist of a dial. That sectional garage door works a lot like a real one does.

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Suction Cup Picking Machine

Suction Cup Picking Machine

This fascinating factory machine sits along a conveyor belt as it waits for individual items to arrive on the scene. It then lowers a series of suction-powered grippers to grab each one, and then shuffles them along to the next stage in the packing process. It uses VMECA’s Magic Gripper technology to work its magic.

Making a Flywheel Trebuchet

Making a Flywheel Trebuchet

Engineer Tom Stanton is fascinated by the way in which flywheels can store up energy as they’re spun up to speed. In this clip, he combines a flywheel mechanism with a sturdy aluminum trebuchet, creating a durable machine that can toss a tennis ball at fast as 180 mph.

Modular 3D Printed Marble Machine

Modular 3D Printed Marble Machine

Marble machines can be so much fun to watch in action. The 3D Printer Academy shows how they built a neat marble machine from modular components that hold together with 3D-printed thumbscrews. It took a little trial and error to get it all working smoothly and without jamming, but eventually, it worked perfectly.

Restoring an Old Gumball Machine

Restoring an Old Gumball Machine

MW Restoration paid 15 euros for a gumball machine that was in terrible shape. The machine was subjected to decades of wind and salt spray by the North Sea in Germany, along with what appears to be fire damage. But MW was undaunted and disassembled, sandblasted, repaired, and powdercoated the machine to make it look as good as new.

Making a String Art Machine

Making a String Art Machine

After seeing a video of an artist making string art portraits, engineer Paul Morris Hill wanted to see if he could achieve a similar effect with a machine. This video chronicles some of the trial and error he worked through developing the machine and its software, eventually arriving at a system using a grid of nails. Paul posted a full build log on Medium.

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LEGO Pan Pipe Organ

LEGO Pan Pipe Organ

Jamie’s LEGO Jams created this musical instrument that works sort of like a miniature pipe organ. It’s powered by compressed air stored in plastic soda bottles, which flows through plastic tubes and into a plastic pan flute. The real magic is made by the LEGO keyboard, which manages airflow by crimping and releasing the tubes. It sounds a bit like a calliope.

A Brief History of Vintage Pencil Sharpeners

A Brief History of Vintage Pencil Sharpeners

We don’t use pencils nearly as much as we used to, but we still enjoy sketching and drawing with a real-world writing instrument and not just on our iPad screen. This YouTube playlist of short videos from Rescue & Restore shows off a few very different antique pencil sharpener designs that date from the 1880s to the 1930s. Which is your favorite?

All-Track LEGO Crawler

All-Track LEGO Crawler

GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines created this unusual LEGO Technic vehicle that gets around on eight tank-like continuous tracks. It’s driven by eight large Powered Up motors and has articulated outer tracks that help it to climb stairs and maneuver on uneven, rocky terrain.

How Cranes Build Themselves

How Cranes Build Themselves

Art of Engineering explains how the tall construction cranes used to build skyscrapers are able to increase their own height. The process known as “climbing” a tower crane requires precision and patience and can be incredibly dangerous if not done properly.

What Are the Different Kinds of Construction Machines?

What Are the Different Kinds of Construction Machines?

We drive past construction sites all the time and see all kinds of heavy machinery. But most of us have no idea what the difference is between a bulldozer, a skid-steer, and an excavator. Practical Engineering offers a concise explanation of the jobs each of these machines is designed for.

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DIY CD + Water Bottle Bubble Machine

DIY CD + Water Bottle Bubble Machine

You can pick up a bubble-blowing machine for about $20. But if you prefer to DIY all the things, CrazyScience has got you covered. In this video, they show how they built a simple bubble machine by drilling holes in a compact disc, attaching it to a motor and battery, adding a small fan, and using a water bottle as a reservoir. Read the full build guide on Instructables.

More Fun with the Infinite LEGO Domino Circle

More Fun with the Infinite LEGO Domino Circle

A little while back, JK Brickworks built a circular LEGO machine that knocks over dominoes and stands them back up. In this video, he experiments with the concept a bit more based on reader comments. In addition to changing their face colors, he tweaks the machine’s speed, adds a second carriage, and swaps in a colorful rainbow of dominoes.

Improving Unnecessary Inventions

Improving Unnecessary Inventions

Matty Benedetto is known for making things we don’t need but seem like plausible products. After completing hundreds of projects on his Unnecessary Inventions channel, he revisited three of his earlier builds to apply new skills he’s gained. He started with a motorized ice cream cone spinner, and things get sillier from there.

Round Table Kinetic Movement Sculpture

Round Table Kinetic Movement Sculpture

At first glance, we thought these were costumed dancers, but these straw men are machines. Artist U-ram Choe’s Round Table is a kinetic sculpture featuring 18 headless characters supporting table on their backs. Its mechanisms are programmed to keep a rubber band “head” from rolling off the table. The piece was displayed at the MMCA Seoul in 2022.

Blow Molding a Giant Water Tank

Blow Molding a Giant Water Tank

Blow molding is an industrial process for making hollow plastic items like toy boats, water bottles, and storage tanks. This video from Yankang Plastic Machinery shows how a tube of warm plastic pours from a chute and is blown into two molds to form a massive 10000-liter water tank. We love how they just let it fall on the ground when it’s done.

LEGO Infinite Top Spinning Machine

LEGO Infinite Top Spinning Machine

A well-balanced top on a low-friction surface can spin for a long time. Brick Machines wanted to see if he could make a top spin indefinitely like the one in Inception by creating a motorized machine to get it up to speed. It took several iterations, but the final design and top combination turned in some very impressive spin times.

20 Mechanisms Explained with LEGO Machines

20 Mechanisms Explained with LEGO Machines

Engineering geeks will get a kick out of this video from the Brick Experiment Channel. Using LEGO Technic components, they demonstrated various mechanical principles, including a Schmidt coupling, a Scotch yoke, and a Chebyshev lambda linkage. Even if you don’t know what any of that means, it’s fun to watch.

Plastic Cup Machine

Plastic Cup Machine

Disposable plastic cups aren’t exactly the best thing for the environment. Still, it’s interesting to see how they’re made. This factory machine takes rolls of plastic and uses a vacuum and heat to thermoform thousands of cups an hour. After it spits out cups, spinning brushes sort them into rows for stacking and packaging.

How to Fix Curbed Rims… with a Robot

How to Fix Curbed Rims… with a Robot

If you’ve ever curbed the rims on your car, you know how awful it can look. But with the proper equipment and expertise, it’s possible to repair damaged rims. Wheel Restore USA shows how their diamond cut wheel lathe can make even heavily damaged wheels look as good as new by removing a thin layer of metal. They also have a wheel-painting robot.

Colin Furze’s Rhino Tank

Colin Furze’s Rhino Tank

Inventor Colin Furze has created some wild and wondrous things over the years, and his Rhino tank build looks awesome. But as you’ll see in the video for the hemispherical-wheeled tank, good looks don’t necessarily mean capability, and beauty is only skin deep.

Laser Cutting Nested Spheres

Laser Cutting Nested Spheres

It’s amazing what you can do with a precise laser cutter. This video from Tranyond shows how a powerful fiber laser can cut such fine lines that it can turn a flat sheet of aluminum into a series of nested spheres. The trick is that each cut leaves a tiny bit of metal on its edges to keep them connected when it’s opened up.

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