Nice write up! I'd always wondered about that. The downside (as you mentioned) is needing to blow out the ash and slag to avoid inclusions, something that you never have to worry about with wax.
There are lots of little fiddly bits you cant get for classic cars, so a way to easily scan and reproduce would be immensely helpful.
I quite agree. Unfortunately classic(*) cars typically don't contain all that much plastic. For iconic cars like ye old shoebox (55-57') Chevrolet you can get re-pops for pretty much everything, for an obscure Packard or a Nash, not so much, and that means hunting for yet another burned out shell to scavenge parts from, Road Warrior style.
One of the effects of Prop 13 is that in California when your property goes up in value, your taxes go up no more than 2% annually, and when your property goes down in value you get a new lower cost basis for which to limit your annual increase from. This means that housing shortages that predominantly effect the young and entrepreneurs minimally effect the large voting block of older voters allowing rather unique real estate economic systems to form. Many of them encouraging a concentration of wealth.
This, this, a thousand times this. I'm actually in favor of Prop 13's intentions. Old people were getting priced out of their homes, fine. That's not cool.
...but back in reality, Prop 13 ALSO applies to many things besides the 2 bedroom home Grandpa has lived in since the 1970's. Prop 13 also applies to corporations...who...never...ever...die. Grandpa also gets tax breaks on his 12 rental properties, but the corporate loophole is the really awful one.
Yes, because a brittle PLA plastic replacement will totally work in most automotive applications....for about a minute.
There is EBM/DMLS (metal powder + lasers) but that's nothing you're going to buy at 'Maker-Fair', those are 3000lb industrial machines with price tags to match.
We had affordable housing in this country for a couple years. Everybody BITCHED about it! Fucking idiots. "STOP FORECLOSURES"??? You fucking dummies. You should have started foreclosures. Instead of keeping granny in her overinflated box paying the existing mortgage, help her walk away and get a new mortgage on some other house that was also foreclosed. But NooooO. You played right into the bankers hands, helped keep houses off the market, helped keep prices high, helped keep her higher debt slavery.
Certainly Not I. I bitched that they bailed out the banks holding the mortgage loans on all of those houses. If they hadn't, banks would have had to immediately sell the foreclosed homes at CURRENT MARKET VALUE.
As it was we had the worst of both worlds, banksters get a free pass for destroying the economy (since they could then hold on to those properties until prices improved, thanks in no small part to 0% government loans) and all the 'little people' still lose their homes (since they couldn't refinance to those loan rates due to being heavily underwater and/or they lost their jobs during the ensuing meltdown and jobless recovery)
It's even worse than I thought it would be, fortunately this isn't Windows and there are plenty of alternatives to choose from.
If you really want to run your favorite flavor of Linux "on a phone", this technology is already available. It's a bit clunky but it certainly does work.
Having major components of your vehicle that pretty much can't break is far more appealing to me than saving maybe 60lbs on a 4000lb vehicle. That's going to save you pretty much 0 mpg.
What does waste gas is the gearing. Having only three speeds (and in some cases no converter lockup) means more drive train losses vs CVT or 7-9 speed transmissions.
I'm not suggesting anything is wrong with their modeling tools, just that they simply don't care if it breaks 10-15 years down the road or is practically impossible to rebuild when it does.
When you take a large three speed transmission, add three more speeds, add a differential, and shove it all into a box about 1/3 the size of the original, it's not going to last as long. When they decide to reduce costs as well, it's not going to last half as long.
Alas, I'll gladly take the good old differential and transfer cases. You overdesign those just a little bit and their life becomes essentially infinite.
What he said. Unfortunately the people in charge of machine design these days usually don't. I can't think of a single 'modern' transmission that's as bulletproof as the older RWD designs were.
They have their shortest working lives in really hot places like Nevada or Arizona or the Australian outback, and tend to work longest in places that don't get very warm.
I couldn't agree more. The other factors that I'm aware of are
1. Whether you let it fully discharge. If you're going to leave it parked for an extended period (months) get a trickle charger or disconnect the battery altogether. Don't just let it go dead.
2. The more AMPs on the battery, the shorter it's lifetime. I'm not really sure why that is, but it's always been the case for me.
There already is such an animal and it's legal in all 49(*) states.
(*)
The great country of Mexifornia is of course doing what they always do, declaring random things illegal. You may now send your angry letters to El Presidente Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
The only reason Netflix and services like it work is because of Silverlight or certified mobile devices (which we're throwing overboard in favor of an as yet unnamed encryption plugin for HTML5 )
FTFY. Flash is a useful if dead technology, but corporate executives wisely declared it too insecure for streaming movies.
Apple built a cult following around top notch products. They repeatedly made good products.
*chuckle*
Apple built a cult following by taking other peoples products, painting them white, polishing them up and dumbing them down to the lowest common denominator.
Um...again. Gun owners...would like guns to be available.
That shield law protected manufacturers from being sued when their weapons were used in a crime. That seems quite reasonable to me, guns are doing exactly what guns are supposed to do.
If I were to hit someone over the head with my Swingline stapler would Swingline be considered at fault?
Also... Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler...
Hold on a minute here. Are you suggesting that we should hand out disproportionally unjust punishments to drug addicts just because it's difficult to catch them otherwise? Wow. If it's difficult, suck it up; you do get to conduct all kinds of crooked and shady activities just because real justice is beyond their grasp.
Slashdot Mirror
Nice write up! I'd always wondered about that. The downside (as you mentioned) is needing to blow out the ash and slag to avoid inclusions, something that you never have to worry about with wax.
<1970 that is...and may Lucas Prince of Darkness have mercy upon your soul.
I quite agree. Unfortunately classic(*) cars typically don't contain all that much plastic. For iconic cars like ye old shoebox (55-57') Chevrolet you can get re-pops for pretty much everything, for an obscure Packard or a Nash, not so much, and that means hunting for yet another burned out shell to scavenge parts from, Road Warrior style.
* if ('classic' = 1970)
This, this, a thousand times this. I'm actually in favor of Prop 13's intentions. Old people were getting priced out of their homes, fine. That's not cool.
...but back in reality, Prop 13 ALSO applies to many things besides the 2 bedroom home Grandpa has lived in since the 1970's. Prop 13 also applies to corporations...who...never...ever...die. Grandpa also gets tax breaks on his 12 rental properties, but the corporate loophole is the really awful one.
Yes, because a brittle PLA plastic replacement will totally work in most automotive applications....for about a minute.
There is EBM/DMLS (metal powder + lasers) but that's nothing you're going to buy at 'Maker-Fair', those are 3000lb industrial machines with price tags to match.
Certainly Not I. I bitched that they bailed out the banks holding the mortgage loans on all of those houses. If they hadn't, banks would have had to immediately sell the foreclosed homes at CURRENT MARKET VALUE.
As it was we had the worst of both worlds, banksters get a free pass for destroying the economy (since they could then hold on to those properties until prices improved, thanks in no small part to 0% government loans) and all the 'little people' still lose their homes (since they couldn't refinance to those loan rates due to being heavily underwater and/or they lost their jobs during the ensuing meltdown and jobless recovery)
It's even worse than I thought it would be, fortunately this isn't Windows and there are plenty of alternatives to choose from.
If you really want to run your favorite flavor of Linux "on a phone", this technology is already available. It's a bit clunky but it certainly does work.
Is Detroit really all that different from Oakland, other than the weather?
They're both virtually bankrupt cities full of rampant crime and poor people. One has just gone from virtually bankrupt to actually bankrupt.
Cobra Commander: Their ssssssyrup sssssshalll be all ourssssss for the taking!
I think we have different definitions of useless.
Having major components of your vehicle that pretty much can't break is far more appealing to me than saving maybe 60lbs on a 4000lb vehicle. That's going to save you pretty much 0 mpg.
What does waste gas is the gearing. Having only three speeds (and in some cases no converter lockup) means more drive train losses vs CVT or 7-9 speed transmissions.
Please be sure to tell the board of directors at Goldman Sachs, I don't think they got the memo.
Cable what? OTA + Netflix gives me pretty much everything I want.
Too bad the cable company is my only halfway decent choice for an ISP.
I'm not suggesting anything is wrong with their modeling tools, just that they simply don't care if it breaks 10-15 years down the road or is practically impossible to rebuild when it does.
When you take a large three speed transmission, add three more speeds, add a differential, and shove it all into a box about 1/3 the size of the original, it's not going to last as long. When they decide to reduce costs as well, it's not going to last half as long.
What he said. Unfortunately the people in charge of machine design these days usually don't. I can't think of a single 'modern' transmission that's as bulletproof as the older RWD designs were.
I couldn't agree more. The other factors that I'm aware of are
1. Whether you let it fully discharge. If you're going to leave it parked for an extended period (months) get a trickle charger or disconnect the battery altogether. Don't just let it go dead.
2. The more AMPs on the battery, the shorter it's lifetime. I'm not really sure why that is, but it's always been the case for me.
My 48 year old truck and 20 year old car both say you're wrong. My wife's 7 year old BMW however...already requires extensive maintenance.
Bradley Manning Says He's Sorry...that he didn't defect to Russia with Snowden when he had the chance.
There already is such an animal and it's legal in all 49(*) states.
(*)
The great country of Mexifornia is of course doing what they always do, declaring random things illegal. You may now send your angry letters to El Presidente Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
FTFY. Flash is a useful if dead technology, but corporate executives wisely declared it too insecure for streaming movies.
*chuckle*
Apple built a cult following by taking other peoples products, painting them white, polishing them up and dumbing them down to the lowest common denominator.
So you're suggesting we all become Hubologists?
For reference, see the works of Tom Caine,Chris Avellone and Interplay.
Democrats and Republicans? It was practically unanimous and the most of those crackerjack politicians never even read the bill.
Um...again. Gun owners...would like guns to be available.
That shield law protected manufacturers from being sued when their weapons were used in a crime. That seems quite reasonable to me, guns are doing exactly what guns are supposed to do.
If I were to hit someone over the head with my Swingline stapler would Swingline be considered at fault?
Also... Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler...
FTFY, SSDD for our corporate overlords.
Um..in exactly what way are they doing that? Gun owners presumably...want guns to stay legal. Gun manufacturers also...want guns to stay legal.
I really don't see a conflict of interest here.