Eddie's Mind

06/05/2019

This is "A Storied Path", rescued from a long stint in storage after its first home in the Spertus Institute in Chicago, IL changed their children's center. Sometimes, I am lucky enough to get sculptures back to refurbish and relocate. Hopefully, it will have a new home locally, so children can engage and enjoy. See the original installation here: https://www.eddiesmind.com/a-storied-path.html

04/08/2017

This rolling ball sculpture is at West Point Military Academy in NY. It celebrates physics, astrophysics, and nuclear engineering by sharing themes related to subatomic structure all the way to the infinite realm of space. At the center of it all is a mechanical animation to emphasize the storied rivalry between Army and Navy. Check out Instagram for more images(), and be sure to like this page to see more details and video about this sculpture and others.

05/10/2016

Imagine the possibilities of this neat invention. One of the brushes could easily be a ball-track option. Just trace the track in the VR space and roll some virtual balls down the track. The future is just going to be wild. What would you create with this neat device?

Go here for more information: www.tiltbrush.com

02/24/2016

Here is an excellent video for . The first two and a half minutes is the most simple and easy to understand explanation of how gears work. It is certainly worth a watch. It shows the basic principle of why gears create continuous mechanical advantage over large forces. And as a bonus, at 2:36, worm gears are mentioned and shown briefly. If you watch keep watching, the video perfectly explains the most basic manual transmission.

I really enjoy these videos. These are the type of videos I watched as a kid to really gain an appreciation for engineering. Just hearing the old-timey voices and big-band soundtrack brings me right back(and I'm not even that old). Do you have the same memories?

Please share this link and if you have kids, definitely share this video and others like it with them. Maybe they will become interested in engineering too.

The transmission in the modern motorcar -- the mechanism that makes it possible to have three forward speeds and a reverse -- is a series of levers, levers t...

02/10/2016

A look inside The Emulator. Designed to educate about microprocessor architecture, it has 5 chain lifts and two screw lifts all driven by a single motor. The drive train of sprockets, chains, and gears is located within this enclosure.

02/03/2016

Please visit EddiesMind.com for more information about rolling ball sculptures by Eddie Boes. Please follow and share with your friends.

12/02/2015

Popcorn Tin FAIL... We bought a popcorn tin from a local fundraiser and was very sad to see that the product did not meet the expectation. The photos always show a full tin of popcorn with three flavors divided neatly, nearly to the top of the tin. This tin was barely half full... How disappointed. Well, at least we helped the group raise some funds, and I did get to eat popcorn.

11/18/2015

On Twitter, my inner engineering nerd started a hashtag called . You can go to twitter and search for that # to see the previous posts(and maybe get hints for today's post). My post today has a little quiz in it; find the 4 different worm gears in this drawer of random parts.

If you have children, see if they can find the 4 gears. The first kid to circle the four gears on the photo(click the image, click options, then download, and use paintbrush or similar program/app to draw) and e-mail me the answer will get a prize sent to them directly from Eddie's Mind. You can send the e-mail to: [email protected].

11/17/2015

Connecting steel with my magic torch.

11/11/2015

Drilling Stainless Steel in Slow Motion. With the correct set-up, perfect spirals can be achieved. This tells me my bit RPM, down pressure, and clamp set-up(being level and perpendicular) is right-on. I'm drilling a 1" x 1" x 1/8" wall square tube of 304 stainless with a 5/16" drill bit. I lightly coat the bit with tapping oil, evident in the pool when the bit touches down and the smoke coming off the spiral as the heat dissipates.

If you are interested in the full clip, with no speed changes, the strangely hypnotic video can be seen on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/MRfH38bMqhw

This footage was filmed with an iPhone 6+ with the slow-mo mode at 240 fps.

11/06/2015

A special thanks to all the new fans of Eddie's Mind this week! We far surpassed the goal of 300, thanks to you. Please continue to share any content you find interesting. I have big plans for the future and you all are an integral part of making it happen! So, many thanks!!