Have a look at this fantastic animated video that portrays a very realistic possibility of the future of 3D printing.

Although I find the title disagreeable, I really like this post on SolidSmack (@SolidSmack) about 3D printing. I think that desktop 3D printing is well on its way to becoming a reality in many homes, I just don’t imagine it actually fulfilling the needs of so many of the consumer products we’ve all come to depend on in our day to day lives. Instead it will be a tool for creative people and DIYers to integrate into their already productive hobbies and pastimes.

I completely subscribe, however, to the second half of Josh’s article about the future of 3D printing, and I love the vision of the future provided in the animated video above.

How to Build A Jumbo Jet Engine

An interesting look inside a Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in the UK, and a fascinating and detailed examination of the design and construction of the components and assembly of a jet engine.

This is part 1 of 4. See part 2 for some nice examples of computer modeling and simulation. Be sure to watch parts 3 and 4 for a review of the incredible communication network by which they monitor the performance of thousands of engines via satellite in near real-time.

(If you have shared this lately or seen it elsewhere, please inform me because I can’t remember who shared it with me.)

Who knew Ice Cube was an aficionado of architecture?

Amazing robot that balances on a ball.

devinck:

Amazing clock By Bruce Aitken - via therhumboogie

Have you ever seen an ingenious invention and thought: “now why didn’t I think of that?” More here.

Hat tip: Kontraptionist

“Plenty of robots can fly — but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.”

Also, check out a couple of more videos and an interview with the project manager for Festo SmartBird projecton on GrabCAD.

I’m really impressed with this design of a hemispherical omnidirectional gimbaled wheel drive system.

Apparently, it’s a “rubber hemisphere that spins on its axis very, very fast. When the hemisphere is vertical, it’s just like a spinning top, but by tilting the hemisphere so that one of its sides makes contact with the ground, you can vector torque in any direction near-instantaneously, depending on which side of the hemisphere you use.”

Read more at spectrum.ieee.org

I love the post-apocalyptic look of this motorcycle. The Magpul Ronin is an experimental motorcycle project based on the Buell 1125R sport bike. Photo links to a detailed article on TopSpeed.com.

Musical Furnishings - guy makes tables and chairs that make music.