How Do They Knit a Chain-Link Fence?

I did not think it would be this simple, but it's genius. After preparing the wire just so, the wire is formed into a spiral that is quickly spun through the previous row. Only afterward it is flattened a bit so each chain link stays in place. This wordless run-through is from the National Film Board of Canada. (via kottke) 

Mining with Water

Derek Muller of Veritasium shows us how potash is mined. Potash is a bunch of potassium compounds that are mainly used as fertilizer.

The Turbulent History Of Boeing

The Boeing company has been around for more than 100 years, since William E. Boeing became interested in planes. For most of that time, the company was the gold standard in aircraft manufacturing. The Boeing company bought up other aviation companies any time it got the chance, and incorporated their experts into its research and development division. In the 1990s, Boeing acquired its most notorious rival, McDonnell Douglas. Many in the industry say that merger was the turning point for Boeing, although the general public wouldn't know for years. Boeing's corporate culture deferred to its engineering experts, while McDonnell Douglas was run to produce corporate profits.

Tweet of the Day

Making basketballs… pic.twitter.com/sYEGMWoYug

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 7, 2023

I'm surprised this much of it is done by hand. (via Everlasting Blort)

Stainless Steel Hollow Sections

If you enjoy the dry humor of engineering nerds, wait until you see three of them together! A Finnish industrial company called Stalatube wanted to show off their stainless steel hollow sections. That's a pretty esoteric product, and their engineer Pekka is not all that charismatic (and likely fictional), so how will they draw attention? They team up with Finnish madman Lauri Vuohensilta of the Hydraulic Press Channel and and Mythbusters' Jamie Hyneman, now a professor at  LUT University in Lappeenranta, Finland.

They put different grades of steel through Lauri's hydraulic press test, with the results you might expect. Then they go on to test the steel with heat. But that's not enough, so they take their samples to a testing facility where the steel is further tortured. Hyneman is duly impressed with the product, but that's still not good enough for Pekka. There's more to come; the second episode of this ad series will drop on October 6. Yes, it's an ad, but if you are going to watch a ten-minute ad for anything today, you'd want it to be this one. (via Metafilter)

John Deere

(Thanks, WTM!)

Tweet of the Day

İpek böceğinden nasıl ipek elde edildiğini adım adım anlatan bir video:pic.twitter.com/kfLwIevr7U

— Pratik Dünya (@pratikdunya) July 17, 2023

How silk is made, shown in a hurry. (via Everlasting Blort)

Why Every Radio Station Sounds the Same

Phil Edwards gives us a very thorough explanation of music radio's evolution in the age of deregulation. This video tracks my 1982-2006 career as a radio disc jockey (a term I now have to explain to younger people) and the changes the industry went through. It ain't WKRP anymore. I went through all these changes until I decided to just go home and blog, because that was more fun. But that's a personal story, and if I say any more, I'm just asking for someone to respond "Okay, Boomer." In this history of radio, you'll recognize how radio has changed no matter what era you discovered it as the easiest way to add a soundtrack to your day. If you're at all interested, there's a fairly comprehensive list of source reading at the YouTube page. (via Kottke)

Why Soda Cans are Shaped Differently in Hawaii

To find out why soda cans in Hawaii are different, you are going to learn more about soda cans than you ever thought you would. The reasons have to do with the confluence of product design, raw materials, shipping, and most of all economies of scale. Everything in the manufacturing industry has to do with economies of scale, where tiny little tradeoffs are made and the value of long-term investments must be compared to the value of short-term investments. The difference is also because Hawaii is unique, and that's what we love about it, even if you've never noticed the difference in their soda cans. (via Laughing Squid)

Treadmill Crane

Imagine the folks who built the Roman Colisuem, and all those beautiful medieval cathedrals. How did they get all that stone way up on the upper floors? For the larger stones, it would have taken a whole team of men to carry each one to those heights. But that wasn't necessary, because they had machines. Guédelon Castle is being built using 13th-century technology to build it. That includes a treadwheel crane, also called a treadmill crane. Using a large wheel with a person walking inside, they transfer the distant walked into lifting power through pulleys. Tom Scott demonstrates the treadmill crane at the Guédelon Castle construction site.  

This Truck Creates Earthquakes

The University of Texas has a truck that's built to shake the ground under it. It's officially the Large Mobile Shaker, but they call it the T-Rex, because its effects may remind you of the earth-shaking footsteps of the T-rex in Jurassic Park. That's cool, but why would you want to shake the ground? It's for research and testing. The research is on what parts of the country could be subject to what kind of damage in an earthquake, and the testing is for projects like construction, in case there are soft spots and flaws underneath. Tom Scott talks to Professor Ken Stokoe about they way they use the Large Mobile Shaker. Read more about the truck here.

Authentic

a

Found in Texas. It is illegal to sell Native American artifacts these days, so "souvenirs" are manufactured. And what better source than India?  (via reddit)

Why Microwaves are All Alike

Which microwave is best? It's a trick question, because they are all made by the same manufacturer. While the features may vary between price points, knowing this as a consumer can help you be just as happy with a less expensive microwave. But that's not the point of the video, because microwaves are just one product, and many consumer products are made and sold the same way. It's about fixed expenses and economy of scale. But is it a good idea? Fewer manufacturers can lead to lower prices, but also to monopolies, in which there is no competition and the manufacturer can set any price they want. And in the worst case, a single malfunction can lead to shortages, as in baby formula.

Testing Manhole Covers

 

You've probably never considered the testing procedures for manhole covers, grates, and other objects made to be embedded in roads. After all, they have to be tough, or anyone driving over them could meet disaster. The process is largely automated and is conducted by a robot that drives over them. This video from the company PAM has no narration and French text, but what information they give is pretty easy to decipher even if you don't read French. The robot drives over the test object ten times a minute, at 50 kilometers per hour, for a total of 5,000 drive-overs, to ensure the manhole covers will last 20 years. At least that's what I think it says. (via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories)

A Satisfying Look at Machines Doing Their Thing

Mass production can be a beautiful thing. This video is a compilation of machines that we rarely get to see, and the amazing way they get things done. You probably won't learn a whole lot from watching this (or you just might), but how they do what they do is almost like art. None of the clips are long enough to get boring. They just move on to the next machine. (via Nag on the Lake)

Tweet of the Day

pic.twitter.com/n5oONtk7Iq

— zebulon (@LiesZebulon) July 1, 2021

(via Everlasting Blort)

The Tiny Monorails That Once Carried James Bond

Tom Scott begins this video by telling us all the problems with monorails and why they never really caught on. So what good are they? There's a specific place for a monorail system where it works perfectly for its purpose. The secret was to make them small, and not use them to carry people. The upshot is that a failure in one industry could be just the thing for another industry. Oh yeah, James Bond figures in this video, too.

Expo

A good time was had by all. (via Bad Newspaper)

What the Toilet Paper Industry is Doing

Back in March, toilet paper suddenly disappeared from stores. The demand skyrocketed as the US locked down against the pandemic. Business Insider explains why that happened, and how TP companies responded to try to meet the demand. (via Damn Interesting)

3D Printing a House

It turns out that yes, you can print a house. Watch as a computer-controlled printer on a huge (10 meter square) scaffold squirts concrete in a precise pattern to construct a two-story house in Antwerp, Belgium. 

Kamp C, the provincial Center for Sustainability and Innovation in Construction, printed the first house in Europe. This is the first printed two story building worldwide. The house has a floor surface of ninety square meters and was printed with the largest 3D concrete printer in Europe.

The printer only did the basic structure, while craftsmen installed windows and did the finishing work. This house is a prototype, but some day, they might take this show on the road. (via Geekologie)