trash

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Viewing 25 posts - 51 through 75 (of 619 total)
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  • in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21025
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    This forum needs a steam catapult for bit cars !
    opps, just gave away an idea for the next comp 🙂

    in reply to: wanted:- ONBOARD WIRELESS CAMERA experts! #21129
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Oh dear, I’m on my way to Vic too on Monday Morning. But I’ll be down there for 3 weeks.
    I got to build some more digital television transmitters for SBS.
    Hahaha …. Got to love the irony of that !
    Not to mention all you kiddies down there that would just love to get your grubby little mits on all my TV transmitters and other assorted goodies, including TFT screens that are 1 x 1.5 inches. Oh, did somebody say Icom R3 ??? I’ll actually have that with me. If you have a TV transmitter, it can RX it.
    I’ll be down Lorne and apollo bay area. I probably won’t be logging into the forum during that time, so email is the best way to harrass me. trash0@hotmail.com

    Edited by – trash on 06 March 2005 22:46:47

    in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21139
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Spud guns are ok, they’re a lot of fun and not that scarey. I’ve even seen one built to fire 600ml coke bottles which gets a giggle.
    Compressed Air is an excellent accelerant, but it increases complexity.

    If you want to throw heavey stuff, a trebuchet is the weapon of choice. I have a design for a small catapault that I’ve been meaning to build for many years. It’ll throw a waterbomb a good 200 metres.

    in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21150
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    6 pounds of black powder. I pissed myself laughing … flashback to Hungary … “Common Borris, put more of the powder in there, we’ll show them tartars who’s da boss !”
    Of course the tartars came along and saw the hungarians blow themselves up …. but they were laughing so hard that even their horses couldn’t ride straight and they had to call it all off 🙂
    I’ll stick to steel for my cannons, or PVC for potato cannons.

    Got to love the size of their marx bridge though.
    Some serious voltage being generated there. I can think of a few people with tounge studs that I think need to be struck by lightening. 🙂

    in reply to: Aircraft #58732
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    I’m still here, though I’m often away working.
    I’m at home this week, but back in Victoria (Lorne) for the next three weeks.
    I still have a couple from the last batch which landed at $66. Customs got their grubby little mits on them and stung me. I have heaps of spare wings and fuselages too. Keep an eye on out ebay for them, you’ll probably find that they are cheaper to buy direct from Hong Kong. Just make sure you check the P&P they charge, some of them a sneaky on extra costs.
    I saw a shop selling them a couple of weeks ago, $140 each. I was trying not to gag !

    I was flying up at Teewah near Noosa heads at xmas and I was watching one of the (dumber) students learning to fly. I’ve seen people do it with RC planes. They make a turn, but the aircraft doesn’t respond as quickly as they thought. Rather than putting more effort into making the turn, they change their mind and try to turn back the other way. Again the aircraft takes time to respond, but now it has to stop responding to the first roll and roll back the other way taking twice as long to respond.
    Panic grips the pilot as the tree(s) now loom large. In a final act of desperation they realise their first turn was correct and try to turn that way, again the roll response is still slower than expected and SPLAT … they’re in the trees/hill.
    Now you’d think that the thought of broken bones would be enough to compell you to do the right thing when it comes to 1:1 flying 🙂

    in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21180
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Bugger the “RC” !!
    Which is more fun… skootin’ down Sydney Harbour in a Hovercraft or controling one while you stand on the beach. 🙂

    in reply to: anyone know about usb bluetooth dongles? #21181
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    won’t be long now before you start blue-driving. 🙂

    I used to take mine in the car with me and while I was stopped at a busy intersection, send out a message to every device it could find. “look over your should.”
    It would crack me up how many people you’d see looking around in the traffic.

    in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21549
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Strapping a jato to a car … I wasn’t sure about that one. I’ve seen jato’s used on Herc’s and a video of them being used in reverse to ‘short’ land (crash) hercs.
    Still, it was a hell of a lot of fun to see a raido controlled 1:1 scale rocket powered car !
    YEAH BABY !!! 🙂
    Another myth busted, though I would have loved to see that car fly !

    in reply to: anyone else watching “myth busters”? #21560
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Yep, the show has been around for a while, but I’m glad SBS is showing it so I keep on working out ways of stealing it from foxtel. 🙂

    The mobile phone at petrol pumps has always been complex bollocks. About 2 years ago I had some dip shit stop the pump on me and it was about $1.80. So I finished the call after 5 minutes and went in and paid for the $1.80 and went to the next station down the road.
    We had a safety OH&S email sent to us with this exact same kind of urban myth rubbish. When I approached the safety officer explaining that this email was as much bullshit as the “wearing contact lenses while arc welding” email. He got stroppy and accused me of being a young punk smart arse trouble maker. Which is a valid claim, but my RF engineering experience over rides his ability to post emails without thought.
    I even offered to blow up my mobile phone in the name of science but I was quickly dispatched.

    A second email on the subject was posted about a month later and it included a video (which I still have). After viewing it a second time is was instantly recognisable as a static discharge and the cause was from the driver’s seat/clothes.

    It was from a different person (a boss), but they aggreed that the video which has a woman getting back into her car was caused by static, not by her answering her phone. He subsequentially sent around another email explaining that he and I believed it was more dangerous to suggest that mobile phones were at fault and mask to real cause of static electricity. The solution was “Not to re-enter your car until you have finished fueling the vehicle. (That was 6 months ago)

    Tuesday morning I went to the safety officer’s desk and asked him which of my arse cheeks would he like to kiss ?

    What does amuse me is how ard it was to ignite petrol fumes. Even the fire brigade guys were over reacting to the expected fireball. I would have been standing well back with them.

    Here is the myth in it’s pure form:
    lets disect it: sorry uA 🙂

    “AKAIK, mobile phone use can cause ignition of fumes by the RF waves bouncing off multiple metallic objects (eg car, bowser, service station roof etc.) concentrating them and causing minor sparks. Same reason you dont put metallic objects in the midrowave.
    Just what I’ve heard thats all.”

    The last sentence acts like an active protien that validates it’s existance like a virus and gives it an excuse to live and propagate.

    There isn’t any truth in the previous sentences.
    mobile phones can cause ignition of fumes: No
    mobile phones can cause ignition by RF: No
    mobile phones can cause ignition by other means: possible, but unlikely .. shorted batter catching fire ?
    by RF waves bouncing off multiple metallic objects: RF usually bounces of metal and other non metalic objects depending on frequency.
    But this does not start fires or cause sparks.
    Even increasung the transmitter power to 1kW of a BIG microwave oven will still not cause objects to spack because they are ‘reflecting’ signals.
    To sugest that objects in a random environment could focus RF or any other energy is so astronomically impossible. Think of it like “the kindergarten death squad”. (20 kids with mirrors and one target) It just doesn’t happen randomly.

    concentrating them and causing minor sparks:
    concentrated RF or high power RF doesn’t behave any different to low power RF. The laws of physics don’t change just because you have more of something. (apart from gravity)

    Sparks in a microwave are cause by objects being in the ‘near field’. The whole oven is a faraday cage which contains the near field. The maths start to get complex as wave fronts add and subtract everywhere.
    Sparks only occur for one of 2 reasons.
    Firstly the metal (or conductive) object has to be resonant. A dipole would be a classic example, but edges edges of metal sheets etc can also be resonant. If you look at a dipole voltage and currents, you will see the ends of the antenna have high voltage and the center has high current.
    Sparks will be caused by a breakdown between two antennas side by side that flash over and in the center of the dipoles the current will cause the metal to heat and melt also a source of heat for fire.
    A CD in a microwave is a classic example.
    As the aluminium foil is vapourised and cut, the edges are detuned and no longer spark, but the areas that are resonant continue to sequentiall burn until the whole CD has no more resonant parts.

    in reply to: wanted:- ONBOARD WIRELESS CAMERA experts! #22456
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Sorry, I’ve been away working and holidays guys.
    I have several mini cameras both 1.2 and 2.4Ghz.
    The best antennas are either 1/4 wavelength if you want them short or 5/8th of a wavelength if you don’t mind them being long. At close range it won’t make make difference.

    for 1.2GHz 1/4 wavelength is 6cm long 5/8 is 15cm
    for 2.4Ghz 1/4 wavelength is 3cm long 5/8 is 7.7cm

    There are plenty of other options too.
    For long distance you can build some simple 1.2GHz transmitters that really kick arse and fit into a small space. They will transmit 1/2km easily. If you can handle the extra space and power requirements, then a small amplifier can be put on them to run them over distances of several kilometres.
    You can also build UHF transmitters or rip the guts out of a cheap $20 unit from the markets.
    I have a design which is crystal locked for stability and I have used it on rockets and balloons. Last one I built got a one way trip to the Wollombi National park. No hope of retrieving it from in there. They also work over several kilometres even on low power, and are excellent for reception on any TV.

    in reply to: what the hell is a canberra? #24774
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    I prefer – Skinhead Skippy, the Facist Kangaroo.

    in reply to: what the hell is a canberra? #25059
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    never let a good story or picture get in the way of the truth. Don’t ruin the moment 🙂

    in reply to: what the hell is a canberra? #39021
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    I love how they got the most vicious looking photo of a dingo they could find.

    I have a wonderful idea. Since people are way to stupid to train, you have to train the dingos.
    This is simple, use the same technique they use in Canada for black bears. Rock salt !
    You take a 12 guage shotgun shell and pull the lead shot out and reload it with rock salt. You then deposit it into a black bear/dingo and they learn extreemly quickly that humans mean pain. The sight of one human is enough to send them running.

    I’d also like to try this technique on tourists, but unfortunately they won’t associate the pain with the dingo, but rather, the guy with the gun. 🙂

    I’ve also thought about how to apply this to parking cops. But the problem is their skin is far too thick and the salt would ricochet right off them like wonder woman’s magic braclets ! 🙂

    in reply to: Soldering #25155
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    wow, did I write that ? 🙂
    cool. I’m glad it has helped.

    in reply to: Cybird – its a RC flying bird !!! #56664
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    probably need to right click them and “save as” and then try them in the windows media player Matt.

    Heheh… I know what happened to your rubber band powered bird. It was a homing ornithopter. It flew back to the guy who sold it to you and he’s sold it 5 or 6 times now. 🙂

    in reply to: Micro Hovercraft… #56663
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Give them a little bit of Time Jay-Z. The choppers still have some stupid electronics in them. They’re just not something you want to rush into. RC choppers are harder to fly than real choppers. I like the idea of being able to fly fixed wing first, to get the feel for the flying RC before moving onto something that is expensive to crash like a chopper.

    Hmmm Cavo: ever heard of Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”. Yep, out the window with them,
    I prefer “trash’s three laws of human stupidity”

    1: A human may program a robot to injure or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

    2: A robot can ignore orders given it by human beings when already programed to do previously.

    3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

    The third law doesn’t change because it’s kind of mute. The previous two laws will always overide it. In order for a robot to protect its own existence, it must first be aware of it. By this point in time it has already determined where the threat to it’s exsistance lies and you’re wishing you didn’t program in that third law. 🙂

    If my robosapien ever gets into my gun safe.
    lucky he’s not good at theft just yet. 🙂

    http://community.webshots.com/user/trash0

    in reply to: what the hell is a canberra? #25787
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Here we go again…
    yeah, the “kangaroo’s pouch” is a great aussie souvineer you see on sale at some of the airports.
    🙂 I wonder how many japs buy them and then reality dawns on them when they get home and realise that it comes from a male kangaroo instead of a female !

    Another favourite is “hairy bush nuts”. You see them growing everywhere.

    in reply to: Cybird – its a RC flying bird !!! #56384
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    sorry, I’ve only just picked up on this thread because I’ve been working out in the styx for 4 weeks. I haven’t got many new toys lately, so I guess I’m just going to have to detour via hong kong sometime next year.
    Might have to keep eveybody on the forum informed and in the few days I’m there take lots of photos and see if I can’t post a few things back for a few people.
    Yep, postage is a killer, though sending stuff surface can save a bit, you just have to wait 12 weeks for it to arrive.

    I’ve seen a few ornithopters getting around in my travels, but none of them have been RC. I figured it wouldn’t be long.

    I see that epsom have now made their tiny counter rotational helicopter remote control. A couple more years and these things will be on the toy shelves for sure.

    I’m lagging behind at the moment also because I’ve been playing a lot with hacking the “unwired” wireless modems. “wabbits”

    Next trip through hong kong I’m hoping will be in march sometime if I’m lucky.

    in reply to: Aircraft #55660
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

    in reply to: Anyone been to this place in Sydney ? #55608
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    It’s a shame. I have a VERY large area that I could use (aircraft hanger at bankstown) but I’m not convinced that I could make enough money to justify the lease. There are still a few planes paying what’s left of the rent.
    If there were as many Z fans here as in Hong Kong, they’d be enough cash left over to sponsor 10 ausmicros !

    in reply to: Micro Hovercraft… #55590
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    I don’t see any reason why you could not build a bit HC the same size as a bit car. It just requires a little bit of thought. A rudder is the hardest part to my thinking. Turning that tiny steering system upsidedown. But there are some cleaver people here I know could do it.
    The power plant is the part that stumps most people.
    I can think of 3 seperate ways to may it work.

    First is to simply make the tiny ducted fan. Put the fan on the motor and mount it in a small cardboard tube. Half of the air you duct into the skirt, the rest is let escape to provide thrust.
    Remember that hovercraft are frictionless vehicles so it does not require much of a push to make them move.

    The second method is to duct all the air vertically down into the skirt and then bleed it from the rear to provide thrust.
    1:1 Hovercraft skirts are different at the rear of the hovercraft than they are at the front. The reason is mainly to let water escape. I can draw a picture if somebody wants, anyhow a variation of this would provide thrust.

    The third is to build a centripital air pump.
    There are a couple of variations on how to let the air out of the pump, but it would work just fine however you do it.
    I do not know of any real hovercraft that use this method.

    in reply to: Micro Hovercraft… #55437
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    There is a picture of it on my webshots.

    http://community.webshots.com/album/92999857CtGlDi

    That photo was taken at Putney just down the road from where the guys meet at Homebush.

    in reply to: Micro Hovercraft… #55397
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Have you seen “timethetoolman”‘s bit HC ?
    I’m convinced it’s possible to build them even smaller. I have a 1:1 scale hovercraft and it would be very easy just to scale it down to something the size of a matchbox, ducted fan and all. Hmmm… looks like I have an idea for a competition entry ?? 🙂

    in reply to: “Winter Workshopping” Competition #29004
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    “Cars only, unless the car flys or floats”

    Lets see… do I have a Dolorian Mini-Z with a flux capacitor… the flaming tyre marks are going to look cool.

    I don’t think they put out a Mini-Z version of chitty chitty bang bang >;-/

    There is always the james bond car .. I’ve seen a mini-Z version of one of those ! I wonder if it can drive under water ?

    in reply to: Aircraft #55257
    trash
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    • Posts: 651

    Hehehe …. I can see the day’s down the park when we want to use the pitch and we’re waiting for the goons in the white PJ’s to finish playing their game.

    “Can you please get off the pitch or I’m calling in an airstrike !”

    I’m now just waiting to see his next project. The scale X-15 to be released from the wing ! 🙂

Viewing 25 posts - 51 through 75 (of 619 total)