Awesome Satisfying

This powerful laser from ACCURL cuts through thick-walled metal tubing with ease. Its fiber laser head synchronizes with a second machine that turns the tube for smooth cuts all the way around. It can also cut holes in the sides of tubes and slice through I-beams. A smaller version cuts thinner tubes even faster.

This blacksmithing video from Knives Project starts with the satisfying process of ripping apart a molten-hot ball bearing to steal its outer ring. Then, he proceeds to forge and hammer the piece into a flat bar and grind it into a very large blade. The finished piece is somewhere between the size of a bowie knife and a machete.

A gravity well is a cone-shaped device that pulls marbles or other small balls into its center like a vortex. JBV Creative built a version of a gravity well connected to an elevator, so as spheres drop through its middle, they head back up to the top and start their journey all over again. It’s incredibly satisfying once he drops thousands of steel balls into it.

The engraved markings on camera control knobs often have painted details to highlight functions. Camera repair technician Ryan Jones of RJ Repairs shows how he restores these details on a vintage Leica by applying Testors enamel model paint using a dental pick and then removing the excess using a Q-tip. It’s so satisfying to see the crisp shapes after cleanup.

This fidget toy from Humango Toys is made from interlocking plastic ovals, which can stretch and squeeze from an oblong shape to a palm-size puck. Its tactile interactions help provide sensory stimulation and can reduce boredom and stress. It comes in small and large sizes. Beware of knock-offs. This is the original.

There’s a whole YouTube sub-genre of carpet-cleaning videos. This one from Change Cleaning Services is quite satisfying. Like most of these videos, it starts with a rug so caked with mud that we assume they did it themselves. After saturating it with water and cleaning foam, then scrubbing it endlessly, two cartoon characters are revealed. Best watched at 2x speed.

We’ve seen what happens when introducing a red-hot metal sphere to a jawbreaker. So what do you think will happen if you place a molten copper ball into a glass filled with popcorn kernels? Snap Object has the answer. After a slow start, things really get going once a little oil is added to the mix. We’re impressed that the glass didn’t crack.

Mark Rober has been frustrating porch pirates and other thieves with his trick glitter bombs for a while now. To wrap up the series, he teamed up with a local news outlet in San Francisco to set up a bait car and backpack, covering thieves with glitter and fart spray and tracking the stolen goods to help identify the criminals behind the break-ins.

It’s been a long time since we needed floppy disks to store data. But we still enjoyed watching this retro factory video posted by StirlingEngineering, which shows how they used to produce 3.5″ floppies. It’s a satisfying 5-minutes sequence of mechanical ear candy.

Get your daily dose of engineering porn with this video from Uwe Krumm GmbH. The company makes precision tooling for manufacturing, including the press brake tools shown here. It’s a hypnotic and satisfying 6-minute sequence of sheet metal being bent into complex shapes through the simple application of force.

Are you hungry? Then, you might not want to watch this video of a cook fixing a batch of Japanese spherical pancakes in a specially-designed griddle. The finished product looks delicious, but it’s the precision with which the chef deposits the batter and flings the completed treats out of the mold that makes the clip genuinely satisfying.

We always enjoy watching factory videos showing how everyday items are manufactured. This video from Process X doesn’t disappoint, offering a look inside Japan’s IPS Pliers Co. The factory mass-produces pliers by heating, stamping, and punching steel rods, plating them, bolting together their parts, and then dipping their handles in a PVC coating.

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.

Using lasers to clean metal can be very satisfying to watch. But with a powerful enough laser and a dirty enough surface, it can also be a feast for the ears. This short video shows how a fiber laser not only removes dirt from a rusty hunk of metal, but it sounds awesome doing it. Be sure to turn your volume up for maximum enjoyment.

Lighting a bunch of matchsticks at the same time isn’t something any of us need to do, but it does make for a cool video. This compilation of DIY project hacks from Ideias Incríveis and 5 Minute Crafts includes a few other ideas that aren’t that useful. Still, there’s no question that they’re all satisfying to watch.

For dental health, it’s important to brush your teeth a couple of times each day. If you’ve ever been curious how the toothbrush you use came to be, check out this video. Process X takes us inside the Lapis factory in Japan to see how they injection mold plastic pellets into toothbrush handles, then attach and prepare nylon bristles in the most satisfying way.

There are chefs with knife skills, then there’s Ryota Togishi. In this clip, the kitchen blademaster shows off his skills by cutting impossibly thin slices of bread, tomato, cucumber, and bacon. An extra-sharp Japanese knife certainly helps, but it also takes incredible dexterity to cut with such precision.

We’ve seen how Crayola mass-produces crayons. The Nippon Rikagaku Kogyo factory in Japan has a more hands-on process and uses different materials, including rice wax and rice oil, to make its Kitpas bath crayons. Process X shows us how ingredients are combined into a thick paste, rolled smooth, then poured into forms before applying labels by hand.

This satisfying cooking video from Indonesia’s Vinostar Channel shows us how to make a yummy and appealing candy using just three ingredients. All that’s needed to make these orange jelly candies is orange juice, agar powder, and sugar. It looks simple, but like any dessert, getting it right requires practice and precision.

Cannons are generally designed to fire iron cannonballs. Ballistic High-Speed shows us there’s no good reason they can’t fire bowling balls too. In this satisfying slow-motion video, you’ll see what happens when a bowling ball meets various objects at speeds over 300 feet per second. You definitely would not want to be on the business end of this thing.

One of the more entertaining LEGO bricks is the 1×4 spring shooter that fires tiny plastic projectiles. Brickstory Builds thought it might be fun to assemble a bunch of these bricks and make them fire together. After building a wonderfully satisfying train, he built a wall of 400 and attempted to trigger them all at once.

There’s just something about molten hot metal that gets us excited. In this video from Mega Process, they take us inside of a facility in Korea that produces huge metal bolts for industrial use. They start with long rods of steel which they cut down to bolt length, heat and shape the heads, then machine the screw threads.

With so many nooks and crannies and moving parts, pianos require regular cleaning and maintenance. Josiah Jackson, aka The Piano Doctor volunteered his services to clean a vintage piano with decades of dust and grime. After finishing the laborious task of removing dirt from under its wires, he gave it a full tune-up.