How to make a 3D pattern with rhombuses

In this tutorial, Thomas Anton Geurts walks us through the process of making a beautiful 3D pattern from small rhombus shaped pieces. It´s amazing how the simplest of shapes, arranged i certain ways, can create the most beautiful and stunning patterns. In this tutorial Thomas Anton Geurts gives us a step-by-step instruction on how to make a cutting board with this pattern. The cutting board is made of wood, but it’s easy to see that this technique could be used with almost any material. It may take a while to make it, but the result is gorgeous!

We thank Annika for sending in this tip, we really appreciate it!

How to make your own sausages

Chef, butcher, and charcutier Eric Finley from cookingupastory.com demonstrates how to make 3 different types of homemade sausages: Italian Chicken; Merguez Lamb; and Chorizo. We get to see how to grind the meat twice, mix in the spices the right way, and why poking small holes in the sausage casings are the key difference between store-bought sausage, and really great sausage. If you would like the exact recipes, you can find them here.

The fundamentals of animatronics

This is the most detailed and thorough tutorial we have ever seen on any subject online. Rick Lazzarini from Stan Winston School has decades of experience making state of the art animatronic puppets for Hollywood, and here he takes us through all the parts, joints, materials, techniques, servos, linear actuators, hydraulics, pneumatics, wires, rods, bearings, gears, levers and much more in this 3 hour marathon of a webcast from the convent “Son of Monsterpalooza”. If you want to build remote-controlled things, animated puppets or even robots, this is THE video on the web. Go buy your self some chips and soda, gather some like-minded friends, and just sit back and watch while this animatronic effects genius reveal all his tricks and techniques.

The super properties of graphene

In 2010, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester won the Nobel Prize in Physics. They had discovered something truly remarkable: a material that is stronger the steel, super conductive, transparent and able to make extremely fast super computers in the future. They discovered “Graphene”. In this video, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at Yale Dr. Ainissa Ramirez shows us what it is, how it works, and even how it was made. With the right patience you could, at least in theory, make your own graphene by only using a pencil and sticky tape! Although you probably need an atomic force microscope in order to make sure it really worked…ooh well…

This is one of many interesting videos in a series called “Material Marvels” that you can watch on Yale University’s YouTube channel.

How shape memory alloys moves when heated

“Smart materials” such as memory metals are really fascinating, and their full potential is far from known. In this video, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at Yale Dr. Ainissa Ramirez shows us how memory metals change phase and shapes with heat, and why this is so useful for robotics such as the Mars Rover and even in medicine. A must watch for anyone interested in making robots or health related inventions.

This is one of many interesting videos in a series called “Material Marvels” that you can watch on Yale University’s YouTube channel.