Modeling a shuriken fidget spinner in Sketchup Chris Long 2017-05-05 | Following on from my recent video modeling a more typical finger spinner / fidget spinner in Sketchup, here's another version based on a shuriken.You can download the Sketchup file here:http://www.oview.co.uk/resources/shuriken-spinner.skpI've uploaded an 'actual size' JPG of the template to here:http://www.oview.co.uk/resources/shuriken-actual-size.jpgwhich you can download and print. I've also written a blog post explaining how to print this at the correct 100% scale, which isn't as easy as it should be:http://chrislongsmakingthings.blogspot.com/2017/06/actual-size-shuriken-spinner-template.htmlWatch me make a spinner from this template here: youtube.com/watch?v=r0NlWyYUlRALow-priced bearings: http://amzn.to/2pSQaEpExpensive zirconium ceramic bearing: http://amzn.to/2qgQ8rqDisclosure: if you buy via these links, I will get a small commission -thanks!The earlier Sketchup modeling video is here:youtu.be/OtV2YAMYaGMThe rendered image at the end of this video was done in Blender - I exported the Sketchup shuriken model into Blender and built a very simple scene around it. You can get the original rendered image and the Blender file below:http://www.oview.co.uk/resources/shuriken.pnghttp://www.oview.co.uk/resources/shuriken.blendBlender is highly-addictive, free 3D modelling software - get it here:blender.orgIt has a much steeper learning curve than Sketchup but it can do a lot more.Have fun!
Bouncing Line Chris Long 2025-02-28 | Just five minutes of a bouncing green line making interesting patterns on your screen. It could be relaxing, mesmerising or maybe headache-inducing, let me know in the comments.
Fixing a Bosch battery charger Chris Long 2025-02-06 | This charger is quite old and decided to go 'pop' recently, so let's have a look inside and see if it can be fixed.
A sphere trapped in a cube #3dprinting #onshape #cad #printables Chris Long 2024-12-18 | A fun 3D-printed toy where the truncated sphere in the middle spins feely inside the cube cage. Just a quick design-and-print project as I'm learning my way around the processes.You can get the STL files from Printables: printables.com/model/1112990-captive-sphereAnd the OnShape model is here: cad.onshape.com/documents/0ce5679b54a54d67e927282a/w/b93025279a20b0d5bbda6f98/e/633744981db981c6dc3eb224
Hole Measuring Gauges for Digital Calipers Chris Long 2024-12-03 | A quick demo of some hole-measuring jaw extensions I made for my digital calipers. I've been learning CAD and needed to get accurate measurements of the distances between the hole centres on a small circuit board, and came up with this idea to make it easier, which also gave me another project to practice my CAD skills on. Let me know what you think - have I re-invented the wheel?The STL file is now available on Printables: printables.com/model/1102641-hole-measuring-gauge-for-calipersAnd on Thingiverse: thingiverse.com/thing:6864356OnShape CAD model: cad.onshape.com/documents/927e7378937c50fa04b21cb5/w/6ce62e0a13c49e2474470450/e/bbef8aad1211814f22325255DSO138 oscilloscope kit: jyetech.com/dso-138-oscilloscope-diy-kit
Iron filings in your corn flakes #scienceexperiment #foodshorts Chris Long 2024-11-18 | Corn flakes (and other breakfast cereals) have added iron, which you find in the dust with a magnet. Just a fun experiment, nothing to be fer-ightened about. Check out the slightly longer video for more info.
Magnetic Corn Flakes Chris Long 2024-11-11 | Corn flakes, like many breakfast cereals, are 'fortified with iron'. This video shows how you can extract some of that iron using a magnet. Other breakfast cereal brands are available #notsponsored
Happy Halloween #halloween #vampire #lostinstatic Chris Long 2024-10-31 | Vampires have no reflections, and you can't screenshot them either! Have a great Halloween.
Diverging sun rays do not mean the Sun must be close #science #globe #flatearth Chris Long 2024-10-24 | A short video you can use to educate anyone who claims that diverging 'crepuscular' rays from the Sun prove that the Sun must be close to Earth. In fact even perfectly parallel rays will appear to diverge, as anyone who has seen railway tracks should already know, but this is a nice simple demonstration using Blender, the free 3D modelling app.
An easy way to find major scales on a piano keyboard Chris Long 2024-10-22 | If you've always wonderd why piano keyboards have some white notes and some black notes, and why they're laid out the way they are, then maybe this video will help to make everything a little bit clearer.These are just the idle musings of a computer nerd with an interest in music, I'm not a musician in any sense of the word. Music is extremely mathematical, though, which I guess is why it appeals to so many techy people.
3D Printing from Below #3dprinting #3dprinter #3dprint Chris Long 2024-06-03 | Edited highlights of my recent video showing 3D printing onto a piece of clear acrylic, seen from below.
3D Printing from Below #3dprinting Chris Long 2024-05-31 | Messing about with my 3D printer... what does the extrusion process look like from underneath? Printing on to glass (actually clear acrylic) to find out...
The best 3D printer Ive ever used Chris Long 2024-04-25 | My experiences with the Creality Ender-3 S1 Plus 3D printer - the first and therefore the best 3D printer I've ever used. This is more a review of my experiences getting started in 3D printing than a review of the printer itself.
Weird POV Effect - trying out OKLab, hidden line removal, blurring and IRL Chris Long 2024-03-23 | More explorations of the weird POV effect (which really needs a better name) prompted by comments on earlier videos. This one looks at:- how different colours affect the effect if the lightness is held constant according to the OKLab colour model,- how hidden line removal affects the ease of seeing complex 3D shapes,- how blurring the image affects the effect,- and whether the effect still works when used in a physical flicker-book/flipbook.If you're new to this, the 'effect' is that you can't see the cube or any of the other animated shapes if you pause the video - your eye/brain only sees them as a change from one frame to the next, but no individual frame contains a cube or a sphere or whatever.Contents:00:00 Colour spaces and OKLab demo06:25 Test pattern with 35 OKLab colours11:30 3D shapes with hidden line removal15:00 Blurred images15:30 Real life flicker-book/flipbook16:34 Outro
More Weird POV Effect Experiments Chris Long 2024-03-10 | More experiments inspired by comments on earlier videos, this time looking at:- the effect of mixing pure red, green, blue and white with each other- how the complexity of the wire-frame shape affects the effect- how the maths involved in rotating the shape can lead to it erasing itself.You can download the software and play with it yourself - visit my GitHub at github.com/ChrisBLong/POV and either build it yourself from the source or just download the version 2.0 executable from github.com/ChrisBLong/POV/releases/tag/follow-up-v2.0Learn more about the classic game 'Elite' here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) and explore the source code here: bbcelite.comBlender is the leading free 3D modelling and animation package: blender.org
Jiggle it #weirdpoveffect Chris Long 2024-02-28 | More 'weird POV effect' - you can see the spinning cube if you hold your device still, but if you jiggle it, just a little bit, the cube seems to disappear (try pausing the video too).Smartphone in Hand by Langtik from The Noun Project (CC BY 3.0, thenounproject.com/browse/icons/term/smartphone-in-hand)
Weird POV Effect - Follow Up Chris Long 2024-02-23 | A much longer video digging in to some of the more popular comments on the original Weird POV Effect video, covering dinosaur vision, migraines, various screen resolutions, text and colour effects.There's also a ten-minute demo of how the XOR operation works with colours in computer graphics systems.See the playlist for the earlier videos in this series. The custom-written/hacked-together software used in this video is a fairly simple C++/Win32 application, available on GitHub here: github.com/ChrisBLong/POV. Follow the Releases link to download the program.00:00 Intro00:25 T-Rex vision01:12 Higher resolution version02:48 Line width vs speed?03:21 On-screen text06:10 Text at high-resolution07:20 Now in colour!10:08 Migraines11:55 Deeper dive into XOR24:40 The end
Bad Apple!! but its not there when you pause, version 2 #badapple Chris Long 2024-02-15 | My version of Bad Apple based on the 'weird POV effect' technique. I've made two versions, this one is based on the full black-and-white frames of the Bad Apple original, which results in severe strobing - DO NOT WATCH if you are photosensitive.Although you can clearly see the animation when the video is playing, when you pause you just see random(-ish) noise.How it's done: starting with a black frame, each frame of Bad Apple is added (using exclusive-or/XOR) in sequence, so that each frame you see is the XOR 'sum' of all the other frames up to that point. This has an interesting result at the end of the video, after Bad Apple has played through twice.The strobing is caused by the large areas of white pixels, which cause every pixel in those areas to flip between black and white on every frame (incoming black pixels don't cause any change). For a more relaxing experience, watch version 1, which only draws the outline of the shapes on each frame.00:00 Photosensitivity warning00:05 Bad Apple!! - first play03:43 Intermission03:48 Bad Apple!! - second play
Bad Apple!! but it disappears when you pause, version 1 #badapple Chris Long 2024-02-15 | My version of Bad Apple based on the 'weird POV effect' technique. I've made two versions, this one is based on an edge-detected version of the Bad Apple original, which results in some flickering effects - CAUTION ADVISED if you are photosensitive.Although you can clearly see the animation when the video is playing, when you pause you just see random(-ish) noise.How it's done: starting with a black frame, each edge-detected frame of Bad Apple is added (using exclusive-or/XOR) in sequence, so that each frame you see is the XOR 'sum' of all the other frames up to that point. This has an interesting result at the end of the video, after Bad Apple has played through twice.The shimmering effect is caused by the white outline on each frame overlaying some existing pixels so that every pixel along the lines flips between black and white on every frame. You can also watch version 2 of this video which is based on the full original frames of Bad Apple - this results in extreme strobing which is NOT recommended for anyone who is photosensitive (or pretty much anyone else, to be honest).00:00 Photosensitivity warning00:05 Bad Apple!! - first play03:43 Intermission03:48 Bad Apple!! - second play
Weird POV effect 2 - Whats my password? Chris Long 2024-02-08 | Following up last week's 'Cube or no cube?' video, many comments asked about rendering text against the random noise background, so here's a video exploring that.As with the previous video, every frame is just random noise and if you pause it that's all you'll see. The spinning cube and the text are only visible as changes from one frame to the next.I've embedded a fictional username and password in this video - let's see how easily humans can receive the messages, and maybe some of you clever people can post-process the video programatically to see how easily our robot overlords will be able to eavesdrop on us.It's just a bit of fun - I don't really think this effect (would it be called 'video steganography'? 'Temporal steganography'?) has any serious security applications.
Only there when its moving Chris Long 2024-02-02 | There's a longer video about this effect at @ChrisBLong
Weird POV effect Chris Long 2024-02-01 | A short video demonstrating an interesting persistence of vision (POV) effect where objects being animated on a random field of black and white pixels are only visible when they're moving.The graphics were generated by a simple Win32/C++ app that you can find at github.com/ChrisBLong/POVEDIT:Some related stuff that has come up in the comments:Bad Apple but it disappears if you pause it: youtu.be/waF0LQ5S0BUA game called Lost in the Static using a very similar effect: silverspaceship.com/staticThat game's dev credit's Sean Howard for the idea: http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=56I've learnt so much from stuff these comments, thanks to everyone who took the time to add their thoughts.
One weird icon Chris Long 2024-01-08 | What's this icon meant to represent? #shorts You can find some discussion of the Cooper 'Falling Body' photo at these links:reddit.com/r/UnexplainedPhotos/comments/2fdv27/the_cooper_family_photoquora.com/What-is-the-mystery-behind-the-Cooper-family-photo
Seiko Kinetic Capacitor/Battery Swap Chris Long 2023-11-21 | Watch a complete amateur attempting to fix an old Seiko Kinetic watch, replacing the old capacitor with a rechargable battery. Everything does not go smoothly.
Laptop RAM upgrade Chris Long 2023-09-21 | This old Lenovo Yoga only had 4Gb of RAM and was getting a bit slow, so follow me as I upgrade it to 16Gb. It's a pretty simple thing to do if you're careful and take your time.
A look inside an £85 Honeywell HR92 wireless radiator valve. Chris Long 2023-05-26 | Dismantling a Honeywell HR92UK thermostatic radiator valve controller, using BF&I. Is it worth £85?
Fixing a Stabila tape measure Chris Long 2023-05-18 | My kids did their best to ruin my favourite tape measure, but I wanted to try to save it...
Weird printing/publishing mistake Chris Long 2022-06-08 | I've never seen this before... some kind of stock tag was left on the paper as this book was printed, leaving the text running over the top of it. If you work in the printing industry, I'd love to know how this happened!
Blown LED Bulb Chris Long 2022-03-09 | Having a look inside a bulb that went bang. What part of the electronics failed? Place your bets.
LodeMaster - product development Chris Long 2021-11-25 | A quick look at a prototype device that shows how busy your computer is as you're working. If this looks like something you'd be interested in owning, leave a comment and let me know! Any other comments or ideas welcome too.Would you buy one of these at US$20? US$40? A nice carbon fibre one for US$100?Should it be wired or wireless? A battery-powered one connecting via WiFi could easily be made.How about one with 16 miniature analog guages showing CPU load, or a full colour screen showing a variety of computer performance info... maybe even a 'new email' indicator?Let me know!Take a look at lodemaster.com for the latest news and updates.
Seiko Dancing Hands repair and demo Chris Long 2021-05-28 | My Seiko 'dancing hands' watch from the early 90s needed a new battery and, as it turned out, quite a lot more work as well. Enjoy the journey with me, or skip to 15:20 if you just want to see the demo.00:00 - Intro00:53 - Strap removal03:30 - Case back removal07:00 - Crushing disappointment07:28 - Talking head waffle09:07 - A minor repair15:20 - Demo21:21 - Chimes
SSC Tuatara vs helicopter Chris Long 2020-11-05 | An ultimately inconclusive attempt to verify the speed that the pursuit helicopter was flying at whilst filming the now infamous 331mph Tuatara record speed run. Shows the FlightRadar24 data available for the helicopter, but unfortunately the data turns out to be incomplete.See also SHMEE150's video: youtube.com/watch?v=3daTG4_JS_4and Engineering Explained's: youtube.com/watch?v=4jqCdBKl0ME
Timex Ironman Watch Repair Chris Long 2020-07-16 | This Timex Ironman watch was ticking away quite happily, but none of the buttons would work. In this long-form video, you can follow along as I dismantle the watch to try and diagnose the problem. Is it repairable?This is an affiliate link to the H&S 155 piece toolkit I use in the video: amzn.to/391IzrS00:00 - Intro01:50 - Strap removal03:30 - Case back removal07:00 - Movement removal07:39 - A problem is found11:35 - Is it repairable?13:30 - Trying the easiest thing first14:25 - Further disassembly16:52 - A look at the circuit board17:43 - Soldering21:24 - Putting the pieces back together24:22 - Testing times25:36 - Final reassembly28:56 - Strap replacement30:02 - Wrap-up
Driving Upside Down in an F1 Car Chris Long 2020-04-16 | It's often said that if a car can generate its own weight in downforce then it can drive upside down on the ceiling of a tunnel. But cars also need traction to maintain their speed...This video uses a simple online upside down driving simulator to explore what's REALLY needed to drive upside down. A Formula One car can do it, but can any other cars pull off the same trick?You can play with the simulator here: http://www.oview.co.uk/f1-invertedand get the code here: github.com/ChrisBLong/f1-invertedHave fun with it, and please leave a comment with your thoughts!------------------------------------------------Links to other videos and stuff mentioned in the video:The Leicester physics paper is here: www108.lamp.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/pst/article/download/1903/1804 and was published in a pretty informal undergrad journal: le.ac.uk/physics/study/undergraduate/physics-special-topics-journalDriver61's video: youtube.com/watch?v=tFZ9loSAIPADoug de Muro on the Saleen S7: youtube.com/watch?v=REFhjdnIFjERadical SR8 wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_SR8McLaren F1 wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_F1
The Chaos Game Chris Long 2019-11-27 | The Chaos Game is a simple algorithm that generates some very surprising fractal patterns from a sequence of random moves. This video shows a bare-bones implementation of The Chaos Game using JavaScript drawing to an HTML 5 Canvas; you can try it for yourself at http://www.oview.co.uk/the-chaos-game.Learn more about The Chaos Game and all the variations that are possible by reading the Wiki page:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_gameThe code for the web page is available on GitHub here:github.com/ChrisBLong/TheChaosGameYou can grab the code from GitHub or just save it from your browser. If you're interested in coding, try editing the code to change how it works and see what other patterns you can make - there are some ideas on the Wiki page, or just experiment and see what happens. For example, the point doesn't have to move half-way to the chosen vertex each time - what happens if you move one-third of the way, or two-thirds? Can you find an interesting way to colour-code each point?
How to Keep Your Biscuits Fresh Chris Long 2019-05-01 | A very quick video showing how you can open a packet of biscuits and re-use the top to close the packet tightly again, keeping your biscuits fresh for a long time.This is a method I've developed over many years so I thought it was about time to share it with the biscuit-eating world.
Farer Lander GMT Automatic Chris Long 2019-04-02 | A brief look around my newest watch, a Farer Lander GMT Automatic. This isn't a sponsored video, I bought the watch with my own money.Manufacturer's page for this watch: farer.com/products/landerPrice: Around £1100 - £1200 depending on strap choice.Feature summary:Case: 39.5mm diameter, 10mm depth, serial numbered. 316L high grade stainless steel. Polished case and rim, brushed lug tops.Dial: Sea green sunray triple step, ghost white numerals 14 times over printed with Super-LumiNova outline and dual time markers, gun metal silver outer rim with second track, date window.Hands: Astronaut silver vintage curved outlined with Super-LumiNova infill, burnt orange second hand with British pillarbox red GMT hand.Crown: Solid bronze tapered crown featuring embossed Farer 'A'.Movement: Swiss Made ETA 2893-2 ‘Top Grade’ movement.
Lava Lamp - How It Works and Time Lapse Chris Long 2018-10-16 | A tour of a lava lamp, an explanation of how it works, and extended video of it warming up and fully working. The speeded-up section really looks like lava erupting from a volcano.Wikipedia article about the history of lava lamps: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lampMathmos website: http://www.mathmos.comLava lamps to buy on Amazon UK (affiliate link): amzn.to/2RTcYQoThanks for watching!
The Cuckoos Egg by Clifford Stoll Chris Long 2017-11-23 | If you've enjoyed watching Cliff Stoll on Numberphile, you'll enjoy this book, which he wrote back in the late 80s. It's the true story of how he hunted down a mysterious hacker who was intruding into the networks he managed.The Numberphile channel is here: youtube.com/user/numberphileA recent video with Cliff: youtube.com/watch?v=9yUZTTLpDtkBuy this book on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/2A3f3TqBuy this book on Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/2hYQAYAISBN: 1416507787Enjoy!
Finger Spinner Sandwich Chris Long 2017-09-14 | How to make several plywood finger spinners at once, whilst also avoiding tear-out. It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, but that's because I made some silly mistakes; the idea seems sound enough.I know spinners aren't the new hotness any more... I shot this video several months ago and thought I might as well post it. I hope you find it interesting and/or useful!You can get the template I use in this video from my blog post here:chrislongsmakingthings.blogspot.com/2017/06/actual-size-template-for-standard.html
Making a really simple catapult / slingshot Chris Long 2017-07-04 | I found a perfect forked branch and decided to try and make a catapult from it, just like I had always planned to when I was a kid. It was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.I got the rubber tubing from Amazon here:http://amzn.to/2tNhF5g (affliliate link)for just a couple of pounds, delivered.I had planned to say 'let me show you its features', but I forgot. Go and visit youtube.com/user/JoergSprave for lots more about slingshots!
Tape measures have loose hooks - why? Chris Long 2017-06-19 | Exploring why the hook on the end of a tape measure is always slightly loose.
Wooden Shuriken Spinner Build Chris Long 2017-05-29 | Follow me making a shuriken fidget spinner/finger spinner based on the Sketchup template I made a couple of weeks ago.Create or download the template via this video: youtube.com/watch?v=BwYBXm9iJDE
Constructing a fidget spinner template with a compass and ruler Chris Long 2017-05-18 | You don't need Sketchup to construct a simple fidget spinner template - here's how to do it with just a compass and ruler.
Basic intro to Sketchup toolbar settings Chris Long 2017-04-13 | My recent video on modelling a fidget spinner in Sketchup used a couple of non-standard but very useful toolbars, so here's a very quick guide showing how to customize your Sketchup toolbars.
Making a wooden fidget spinner/finger spinner Chris Long 2017-04-13 | Having modelled a finger spinner in Sketchup, this video shows how I used the template to make a real finger spinner from a piece of cherry.Amazon Affiliate links:A single 22mm Forstner bit: http://amzn.to/2pTMELCA full set of 16 metric Forstner bits: http://amzn.to/2qzJVW8The Sketchup modelling video is here: youtu.be/OtV2YAMYaGM
Modeling a wooden fidget spinner/finger spinner in Sketchup Chris Long 2017-03-28 | Follow me creating a 2D template for a three-lobe finger spinner in Sketchup. The dimensions I use are for standard 608 bearings (22mm outer diameter) but you can easily use the same method to create any size/shape spinner in Sketchup.You can download the Sketchup file created in this video from here:http://www.oview.co.uk/resources/finger-spinner-youtube.skpLow-priced bearings: http://amzn.to/2pSQaEpExpensive zirconium ceramic bearing: http://amzn.to/2qgQ8rqDisclosure: if you buy via these links, I will get a small commission -thanks!If you don't already have Sketchup, get it here:sketchup.com/downloadHave fun!
DCS World - Mustang cold start, low-level flight and landing. Chris Long 2017-03-09 | A quick flight in the P51 trainer in the basic DCS World install. DCS World is an amazing military flight sim (and more) that you can play completely free - see digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/products/world/. There's loads of downloadable content that you pay to add to the basic install, but I've enjoyed just playing the free version for now. I recorded this mainly as a test of the OBS screen recording software, but maybe someone will get a kick out of it.
A football rattle for Amy Chris Long 2017-02-22 | Based on Steve Ramsey's design (youtube.com/watch?v=PyciVpmVm1w) which he just calls a 'noise maker', these have always been known as 'football rattles' in the UK.So far I've just made the basic components, and Amy's going to help me finish it - sanding, gluing, varnishing (or maybe waxing) etc. She has a homework task to make 'a toy that moves', so we thought this would do.Just like Steve's, it's really quite surprisingly loud!
Tiger Tickle Time Chris Long 2013-10-07 | A keeper spends a few minutes playing with a tiger. We were visiting Howlett's Wild Animal Park in Kent (http://www.aspinallfoundation.org/howletts) when we saw this keeper going in to the tiger's enclosure.
