Kids these days will never appreciate how good they have it. Smartphones with built-in computers? Bah, back in the day we had to be content with clunky boxes, big screens, and a wad of wires. Even then our computers wouldn’t connect to ‘World Wide Web’ without a dial-up connection. Ah, the good ol’ days, right? While we can’t bring’em back, artist and designer Rocky Bergen has made something easier for kids and (kids-at-heart) to enjoy. Using the wonders of modern computers, he has made a variety of papercraft models featuring old computers, game consoles, and many other old pieces of technology. These models, which feature the likes of the Apple…

Ah! The early days of flight! Experimental flights, experimental aircraft and, most interesting of all, experimental engines. Since 1903 there have been all matter of engines from air-cooled to liquid-cooled, inline, v-type, rotary, piston, turbine, and more. A bump in the 100+ year history of the aircraft engine is the Curtiss Number 3, a V-8 water-cooled, electric-start engine that would power the AEA Silver Dart experimental aircraft. It’s an engine that won’t make any ‘best of’ lists but one that did set the stage for many a decision about powered flight to come. Erich Weidenhammer, aka ‘Erich with an H’ on Thingiverse, has captured a recreation of the Curtiss No.…

I can’t quite call myself old enough to have experienced the golden age of the phonograph, ya know since they date back as early as the mid-1800s.  But with the (continual) resurgence of vinyl records, now with the age of hipsters and vintage music enthusiasts, I figure this would be a nice opportunity to see how these timeless music storage devices are made. In this video by Insider, they take a trip to BrooklynPhono’s vinyl record pressing plant to explore how the New York-based factory makes up to 3,000 vinyls a day: The whole video is a treat to watch, but for those who want the short version, here’s the…

Tumbling across the crust of the stinjin’ bog, a band of the small creatures amassed toward the hill. In the distance five of the machines broke the horizon, sun at their backs and the blood of a thousand worlds pumping through their veins to these sound of these links. Tianhua Xu – He may be the master of highly detailed art featuring characters riding atop beasts. Really though, all pieces are masterfully done. Book sculpture – Bethan Bickle calls herself a creative problem solver shown best in her sculptures illustrating the books they are built on. 100 Days of Poetry – 100 graphics created by graphic artist Notty as if…

VELO3D announced the availability of a new alloy of aluminum for use in their Sapphire series of metal 3D printers. The California company has been quietly developing new materials for the Sapphire system, which recently gained a new, tall option. The stretch version of the Sapphire 3D printer sports a 1m tall build volume, and can 3D print any of VELO3D’s support metal materials. We’ll have some thoughts about that machine in a future post, but before we can get to that they’ve already announced a new material, Aluminum F357. Anodized Aluminum Aluminum is available in a number of alloys for 3D printing, but the most frequently used aluminum powder…

Designers, artists, and 3D professionals across different industries know there’s nothing better than a powerful computer that cuts through your processes like warm butter. Whether it’s 3D CAD, animation, video production, or complex simulations, a computer with hardware and software tailored to the work you do makes work life that much better. And that’s MAINGEAR’s focus. This week, they announced its newest high-performance computer build, the Pro WS Workstation – a desktop tower that comes in either pre-configured or customizable flavors allowing you to optimize your rig for your software needs. CPU options abound and bring huge power with Intel Core i9 8-core and 18-core options or AMD Ryzen 16-core…