Hooprail

The "hooprail" is a handy kick scooter. It's just a hoop, and a teflon slide strapped under a shoe.

You rail slide the hoop's inner surface. Your fingers glide along the hoop to steer.

Conveniently, you can wear a hooprail over your shoulder. It can hang flat against a wall or door.

A high performance version uses a mini-board strapped under a shoe. This board has two cap-shaped wheels and the rail engages the notch shaped gap between them. This version has less friction because the wheels press against ball bearings.

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Skewboard

Skewboard is a weird skateboard with two skew tilted wheels. Despite its weird design, it steers in a fashion similar to a standard skateboard.

In order to steer a tilted wheel, you want to tilt the body forward or rearward. Tilting the body sideways would actually just keep a tilted wheel going straight.

Skewboard achieves this by setting the two wheels skew to each other rather than directly in line. Thus, when you tilt left/right, it includes a component forward/rearward. In turn, this makes the front wheel steer one way and the rear wheel steer the other way.

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Omnispinbot

Omnispinbot is a simple gearless robot which can go in any direction. It has only one motor, attached to one flexible flap-like foot. It is inspired by Homer Simpson spinning on the floor. The foot "slaps" the floor, causing the body to spin in place.

However, turning the motor on and off adjusts how strong the "slaps" are, imparting body tilt. This tilt means that instead of spinning in place, the robot moves in a direction 90 degrees from the tilt. The contact bump becomes a tilted wheel.

Omnispinbot avoids a need for gears by operating on different principles to provide mechanical advantage. A slapping flap is used instead of a wheel, letting the motor's weak torque build up angular momentum between slaps. The geometry of the body means that the slaps have a long moment arm compared to the small radius of the contact bump.

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Simplified Tilt Chimes

I'm waiting on the measuring cups to come in. In the meantime I've come up with a simplified Tilt Chimes instrument. It's just a block of wood with the chimes mounted along the far edge.

I rest the block on a leg, with my palms on top to tilt it. With water in the cups, this bends pitch by up to a third.

I strike the chime stems with my fingernails. This is softer than hammering with a spoon, but it works well with resting my palms on the block. It also allows playing chords and very rapid arpeggio patterns.

Since I already have a suitable wood block, this instrument is very simple to construct. I just use four screws to mount the four cups to it. The only tool necessary is a screwdriver.

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Watercup TiltChimes

"Watercup TiltChimes" are a simple DIY instrument with an interesting expressive sound.

Each chime is a measuring cup partially filled with water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0eq8aRXakQ

Tilting gives a range of about a third - for example: C, C#, D, D#, E.

The cups are mounted to a board with one corner cut out, and a long bolt acting as the pivot point.

The board normally rests on the bolt and the cut corner for a small tilt angle. You tilt the board with your left hand for lower pitch. You tilt the board with your right hand for higher pitch.

You hammer the cups with spoons. It's possible to hammer while also tilting the board with the same hand.

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R/C Frisbee or flying ring

I think maybe an R/C flying ring (like Aerobee) might be a good configuration for a high speed glider. But how do you implement the maneuvering system?

My idea is to use internal weight shifting. The result is a sturdy glider that's easy to launch and catch, and which can even land vertically.

Inside the body is a tube with some ball bearings. These are manipulated with an electromagnet. Because the entire vehicle body is spinning, the electromagnet goes 'round and 'round. Pulsing the electromagnet attracts the ball bearings to a specific place around the rim. This shifts the center of mass to produce a maneuvering torque.

Note that gyroscopic effects help keep the spin axis stable, but also must be taken into consideration when calculating the desired position of the ball bearings. Also, the received torque depends upon angle of attack so the algorithms required for usable control are non-trivial. It's definitely more complex to figure out than traditional control surfaces. But it has the weird ability to remain controllable at 90 degrees angle of attack - it can coast straight down under control.

I suspect a flying ring might be offer advantages in the transonic regime high speed gliders are approaching, compared to straight wing designs.

Even if there are not really compelling advantages to an R/C flying ring glider, I think it's cool anyway because it's weird and elegant.

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Help! My internet search skills are failing me. Are there musical instruments which use the principle of tilting a pan partially filled with water? Here's a demonstration of what I'm talking about:

Measuring Cup with Water Chime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0eq8aRXakQ

With a larger pan, you can get a really interesting sound by swishing the water around the pan.

When I search for water bells or water chimes, I get floating bells/chimes, which don't take advantage of this effect at all.

When I search for water drums, I also get floating drums which don't seem to have an interesting sound ... floating just seems to be a gimmick, maybe?

The closest I've found is a type of "water gong", which is a vertical pan that's partially lowered into water by pulley ropes. This has the pitch altering effect I'm after, but the vertical motion is very slow and deliberate compared to water swishing around a tilting pan.

Any ideas?

I feel like this principle is too obvious and often experienced by anyone washing dishes ... I mean, I think anyone who has washed dishes regularly at all has rediscovered the interesting sound. Surely? And there are plenty of experimental musicians who use pots and pans for percussion, right?

So, I'd appreciate finding examples of folks using this for tonal music.

Thanks!

#music #DIY #DIYinstruments #gizmo

I haven't drawn sketches yet, but I think I've come up with a good invention - a simplified scooter I call a "hooprail".

It's like rail sliding an endless rail, because the rail is a hoop. You wear a shoe with a low friction bent wire strapped underneath ahead of the heel.

The hoop is large enough for you to glide your fingers along it for steering. Essentially, the hoop acts as its own steering handlebar.

Your other foot is used for thrust like a kick scooter.

Not only is the "hooprail" insanely simple, it's also handy. It can hang flat against a wall or door. You can wear it over your shoulder. You can't do that with a normal scooter or skateboard.

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Monolimba

The "monolimba" is a like a kalimba with only one to a few tines, but with keys to control pitch. It's held like a symphonie hurdy gurdy, with your left hand reaching over the instrument to press keys through finger holes. Your right hand twangs the tine(s).

The basic principle is like plucking a ruler over the edge of a table. Pitch is determined by the length of ruler beyond the edge.

The edge position is defined by the thickness of four stacked wedges. Pressing a key makes the stack thicker, raising pitch. There are four keys, providing 16 different pitches. You can further tweak pitch by partially pressing a key.

Two identical sticks let you pluck notes more quickly, or you can pluck both at the same time for a beat effect.

Four sticks of different thickness could be tuned to different notes, allowing chords and more complex polyphony.

The wedge key system enables precise note changes, but all sticks are stopped to the same distance ... so it's a bit like a slide guitar.

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Fantasy weapon: DISC FLAIL

The disc flail is a hybrid of mangual (flail) and disc mace. A short disc mace is attached to a longer stick with some rope or a chain. The result is a weapon with the range of a montante (two-handed sword) but it's handier to carry and much less expensive. It's best for adventurers who may need to fight off multiple opponents, and obviously better if you're wearing decent armor so you don't accidentally cut yourself.

Here is a video showing suitable techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IV1IzE5TEA

Colonel Mustard could makeshift one out of a candlestick, some rope, and a wrench.

#gizmo #MyArt #fantasy #WorldBuilding