Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Popular Mechanics South Africa

AM I THE ONLY ONE who understands the concept of celebrating a ‘birthday month’!? Surely there are others like me out there? I really don’t feel like it’s a lot to ask. It entails your loved ones, friends and co-workers making you feel extra special for the entire month in which your birthday falls – or, well, at least up until your actual birthday day. (It’s really not my fault that mine falls on the very last day of the month.) Yep, you guessed it – I’m a May baby. One of my friends last year took it upon himself to text me a unique birthday message every single day of May, and went to great effort, I think, to create a fresh nickname for me in each new note.…

THE SITE Way to go, car companies ON JANUARY 23, automotive editor Ezra Dyer posted the story ‘This Kid Asked Each Car Company to Send Him a Decal’ to popularmechanics.com about a six-year-old car-loving boy named Patch Hurty. After finding a Ford badge on the side of the road early last year, Patch started a letter-writing campaign: With the help of his mom, Lindsay Hayes Hurty, he wrote to more than 50 companies, asking for a spare logo or decal for his collection. He included a coin from his piggy bank, and a photo of himself with one of the company’s cars, when he could. Almost every single company wrote back, sending swag and letters – and returning his coin. ‘The near-uniform response is a happy surprise,’ Dyer wrote. ‘After…

1. RUN WINDOWS ON A MAC Got a game that only runs on Windows? Does your school use Windows-only software? The easiest method is an application like Parallels (±R1 300), which runs a fully functional Windows operating system on your Mac like any other app. To sound cool, use the technical term for this: virtual machine. 2. LIE FOR CHEAPER HOTELS Virtual private networks (VPNs) are apps that route your internet connection so that sites think you’re somewhere you’re not. I pay $40 a year for Private Internet Access’s VPN. Hoteland flight-booking services are known to change prices according to a customer’s location. Compare prices with the VPN set to the origin and the destination. When you’re ready to buy, use a browser in Private or Incognito Mode. Go into…

Is there a space version of motion sickness? Yes. And it’s actually the inverse. When you get queasy from, say, trying to read in a car, it’s because your eyes say you’re still, but your vestibular system can feel that you’re moving. In space, your eyes see movement, but without gravity, your body can’t discern it. This is also why VR can make people feel nauseated – so if you want to know how susceptible you might be, give VR a go before you leave. Hygiene – is that a thing in space? Lack of water (and gravity) makes ‘showering’ impossible. So you have a sponge bath. And forget about laundry, though that’s not as bad as it sounds. ‘If you were wearing your pants on Earth for six months,…

Phoenix fast facts Length: 4.9 metres Total mass: 88 kilograms Burn time: 15 seconds Peak thrust: 700 kilograms Oxidiser mass: 34 kilograms (nitrous oxide) Fuel mass: 7 kilograms (paraffin wax) Altitude: Up to 20 kilometres Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2 716 km/h) Flight time: ±140 seconds EACH CONTROLLER IS ASKED: ‘GO, OR NO GO?’ IT'S A GO. here are few things as exciting as a rocket launch countdown. Even more so when it happens in our own backyard, at the top secret Denel Overberg Test Range (OTR) in the Western Cape. Security at this vast complex, outside Arniston, is extremely tight, and our briefing is very clear about what we can and can’t do. No one is allowed to film or photograph the experts seated at mission control during the…

PACKAGED RAMEN NOODLES didn’t get their reputation as broke-varsity-kid fare because they come dried and in a bag. That’s standard for most pastas. Packaged ramen noodles got their reputation because they’re easy and cheap. In fact, they’re so easy and cheap that ramen noodles are a standard cooking element in the most spartan environment imaginable: prison. Commissary Kitchen, a 2016 Kindle cookbook from one half of the rap duo Mobb Deep, contains recipes for ramen pad Thai, ramen chilli, and even a ramen wrap containing Doritos, canned sausages, and hot sauce. (It also contains the sentence, ‘This ain’t no conventional cookbook. I’m not here to tell you about pinches of salt and shi*,’ which is hilarious.) Assuming you do not work as a correctional officer, your desk, break room, or…

RYOBA-NOKOGIRI One of the most useful Japanese hand saws; it’s double-edged, with rip teeth on one side and crosscut teeth on the other. It’s often difficult to start a rip cut, especially for a novice, but using a ryoba allows you to define the start of the cut with the crosscut teeth and then turn the saw over and continue with the rip cut teeth. Having both types of teeth means that, if needed, you can cut all your joints with just this one saw. DOZUKI-NOKOGIRI Dozuki means tenon. This is the next most useful saw and is the most widely adopted Japanese hand saw in Western woodworking. It can cut extremely accurate shoulder lines on woodworking joints. The teeth are very small, and these saws have a back spine…

Before there’s a patent, there’s an idea. Before that, there’s a person with a problem to solve. (5) I’m an electrician by trade. I went to a union apprenticeship, and I’m still union. I ended up on a job at Merck pharmaceuticals. They have a lot of substations with a medium voltage, which goes anywhere from 2 000 volts up to 35 000 volts. (6) On these systems, when you’ve turned them off, the cables and equipment still retain energy. So you need to discharge them. Ground clamps attach to cables with an eye bolt or a T-handle. They’d often be in very hardto- reach areas. And we wear arc flash suits, which kind of resemble a big bulky thing you’d see the bomb squad wear. So now we’re trying…

DERAILLEURS ARE THE transmission of your bike. When you shift, they guide the chain to the correct gears. Whether you’re fixing a particular problem with your chain or simply giving the system a tune-up, here’s how to do it. 1. Start by putting your bike on a bike stand to get the rear wheel off the ground. Turn the pedals by hand and shift through your gears. If there is a lag between when you shift and when the chain moves, the tension on the cables going from your shifters to the derailleurs is off, and you need to unscrew the barrel adjuster (the black cylinder on the derailleur cable) to increase the tension. If the chain jumps between gears on its own, tighten the barrel adjuster to add tension.…

WRITE TO US popularmechanics@ramsaymedia.co.za WINNING LETTER ADMIRED MENTOR I recently purchased an old, very neglected drinks cabinet with money I earned working part-time for a craft-beer company while studying medicine full-time. I have never restored furniture, but my dad has been restoring and building everything from floors, cupboards, cars and a beautiful bookshelf for all my medical textbooks. His hands are like sandpaper and his garage his refuge. Unfortunately, he has terminal cancer and has about a year or two left, which breaks my heart, but I’m going to use my run-down cabinet as a way to learn from him and carry his handyman legacy forward. He has already shown me how to heat and strip the varnish off the cabinet and how to use his Bosch sander. I thought…

This little charger is the future Amidst the typical excess at the annual Consumer Electronics Show – a roll-up OLED TV, an Alexaenabled toilet – one company touted a new product likely to become a tech essential. The Anker PowerPort Atom PD 1 is the size of that underpowered USB plug that comes with your phone, but puts out enough power (30 watts) to charge a laptop. How? Instead of typical silicon components, the Atom uses a material called gallium nitride, which can operate at hotter temperatures. Being able to pack only one of these to charge your headphones, laptop, phone, and camera is the convenience promised by moving everything to USB-C connectivity. The best TVs have a new name Buying a TV isn’t any less terrible today than it…

1 / Porsche’s electric vehicle The Taycan will have a range of 500 km and go from zero to 100 km/h in less than 3.5 seconds. But the spec that has my attention is the 350-kilowatt charger that, Porsche says, gives 100 km of range in four minutes – a Tesla on a Supercharger takes ten minutes to do the same. That’s the difference between having to kill a little time at a rest-stop coffee shop and having enough range before your drink is ready. 2 / The Freewrite Traveler This distractionfree writing tool is basically a keyboard and e-ink screen, similar to what you’ll find on an Amazon Kindle. It shows you nothing except what you’re typing, then sends copies of that work to your Dropbox, Google Drive, wherever…

GARMIN MARQ COLLECTION The new MARQ collection is a celebration of 30 years of Garmin International, and it has brands such as Breitling and Omega in its sights. The collection consists of five smartwatches – Driver, Aviator, Captain, Expedition and Athlete – that combine high-end mechanical bodies and build quality with smartwatch internals. While each watch has its own unique functionality, all five boast scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass, tough titanium cases, and a range of features that include notifications, activity tracking, heart-rate sensors, built-in music storage and Garmin Pay. With the introduction of this range, your hunt for a high-end hybrid smartwatch that specialises in a specific activity is over. Garmin has told us that the MARQ collection will be coming to South Africa, but local pricing and availability dates…

MIKE MASSIMINO crewed missions to the Hubble telescope in 2002 and 2009. His ride was the Space Shuttle, whose combination of solid and liquid fuels will also be used by NASA’s forthcoming Space Launch System, which will carry humans to deep space. With liquid-fuelled rockets, you can throttle the rocket, so they actually start up the main engines with six seconds to go in the launch count. They’re located at the bottom of the shuttle, so it sort of tips the vehicle forward a little bit. Then it comes back. And when it’s upright, you’re at zero. The solid rockets ignite – they are like giant sticks of dynamite. Before the shuttle clears the tower, you’re already going 160 km/h. It accelerates from zero to 28 100 km/h in only eight…

Do you have to be fit to go into space? Being in space doesn’t require any particular level of fitness. Long trips, however, will likely require some preparation. For example, long stays in space accelerate bone deterioration – and part of the remedy, per NASA, is resistance training. So starting a gym routine before departure can help develop a routine you’ll need in space. Will I need vaccinations? No, but you may undergo a pre-trip quarantine to keep terrestrial bugs from spreading in space, where medical resources are limited. Can I bring a service animal? Sorry, no. They take up precious resources, and the poor things would probably hate microgravity. Plus, think about the bathroom situation up there. What kind of food can I expect? Bite-sized snacks to reduce floating…

AZEBIKI-NOKOGIRI Most often found in the ryoba style, featuring short, curved blades with teeth on each side. This saw is typically used for starting a cut in the centre of a panel. The short blade also allows easy access into tight or awkward areas. SOKOMAWASHIBIKI-NOKOGIRI Sokomawashibiki translates loosely as ‘bottom’. These are curve-cutting saws, originally used for cutting the bottoms of wooden buckets. The curvature of the blade facilitates cutting a curved profile and can be used for both hardwoods and softwoods. ANAHIKI-NOKOGIRI Used for log or beam cutting in both green and seasoned woods. Typically, they are used for general construction or timber framing, but can function well in the workshop for the rough cutting of rough-sawn hardwood or softwood lumber. MAWASHIBIKI-NOKOGIRI Translated, it means ‘turning cut’. These saws…

My daughter asked me why nails bend, and I was stumped. What should I tell her? – Aaron T That’s a good question, and kind of a tough one to simplify. Nails bend when they’re not struck square on the head. How much they bend depends on two factors. The first is the slenderness ratio. That’s the length of the nail relative to its diameter. When there’s more nail sticking out of the wood, the slenderness ratio is higher, and it’s more likely to bend when you hit it with your hammer. It might help for her to picture a plastic straw. A long straw bends easily, and a short one does not. The other factor to consider is the stiffness of the material used to make the nail. If…

Easy ways to do dif ficult things IF YOU’VE GOT a move coming up, don’t take your clothes off the hangers and fold them just to put them in boxes. (Especially if you had to buy those boxes – they’re not cheap!) Instead, get a pack of 120-litre garbage bags with drawstrings and some twist ties. Sort your clothes into groups of about ten, keeping similar items together. To pack one of the groups, twist-tie the hangers together, cut a hole in the bottom of one of the bags, and pass the hangers through it. Then pull the bag down over the clothes and pull the drawstring to tighten the bag around them. Now they’re easy to carry, kept clean, and you won’t have to rehang them all when you…

PAINTBRUSH CLEANING Here is a quick tip that will save you from throwing away what was once a perfectly good paintbrush because it was left after use, and all the paint hardened in the bristles. Take a ziplock bag that is tall enough to fit your longest brush. Then simply place the hardened brush, or brushes, inside. Add in some paint stripper mixed with thinners, seal it all up, and leave overnight. I generally use paint stripper to thinners. I’ve found that it’s a good idea to hang the bag on a line using clothes pegs. The next day, you’ll be able to massage the mix into the bristles to start the physical cleaning process. Then, remove them from the bag and wash them thoroughly using warm, soapy water. Afterwards,…

Master Lock 4-Dial Combination Lock: Has a 40 mm-wide brass body, 6 mm diameter and 26 mm-long shackle made of cut-resistant chromeplated steel. (Set your own combination.) Master Lock 3-Pack Keyed Locking Cable: Pack includes three 1.2 m coiling cables, each with pin-tumbler cylinders and vinyl protection covers. (Sold in purple, blue and transparent.) Master Lock Luggage Lock: Has a 30 mm-wide metal body and a 3 mm-diameter shackle made of flexible vinyl-covered braided steel. (Set your own combination; TSA accepted.) Master Lock M1 Excell Padlock: Boasts a boron-alloy body that is 50% stronger than standard padlocks, and a 45 mm laminated steel core with a titanium-reinforced outer body. The octagonal boron-carbide shackle is highly cut resistant. Master Lock Solid Brass Padlock: Features a 50 mm-wide solid brass body that’s…

IN THE NOVEMBER 2018 ISSUE, I tested a bunch of big, expensive gaming PCs. These are the tools of millionaire Twitch stars and eSports champions, and they were powerful and cool. They were also the size of a dorm refrigerator, and as loud. There’s no other way to fit the board, graphics card, and cooling systems required for all that processing power. Since then, I’ve been playing the same games on an Nvidia Shield, a box the size of a paperback. It has USB ports for my keyboard and mouse, and HDMI for a monitor. Via an app called GeForce Now, the Shield connects to a distant warehouse of computers that do the work of those big gaming PCs. It feeds the graphics and sounds over the internet, giving me…

Thereare more ways to make coffee than there are types of coffee… Well, maybe not, but sometimes it seems that way. Some techniques are good, some bad, and some are average. You’ve probably got your tried-and-tested method, but we’re here to nudge you outside of your comfort zone, to try something a little different. Who knows – you might just end up with the best cuppa joe you’ve ever tasted… As it goes with many DIY tasks, it often comes down to the choice of tool, and there’s one piece of coffee-making equipment that has built up somewhat of a cult following. The mighty moka pot is a coffee maker that empowers you to make perfectly brewed coffee at home, relatively simply. How it works is ingenious, yet pretty straightforward.…

Part three THOUGH REMARKABLE IN their design and the quality of work they deliver, the subject of Japanese hand saws isn’t well known, certainly in South Africa, and so I’ll do my best to demystify the topic. The Japanese pull-style saw, or nokogiri, has in the past twenty to thirty years become a widely accepted and popular hand tool in some sectors within the Western woodworking world. It’s likely that the first woodworking saws to make it into Japan probably came from China via Korea. After arriving on Japanese shores, expert craftsmen decided to change the angle of the teeth to enable the saws to cut on the pull stroke. Unfortunately, the specific reasons why this modification occurred weren’t historically documented, but it’s presumed to have been a logical and…

IT’S NOT OFTEN that a product that targets the DIY and weekend-warrior market gets my attention. But Bosch’s new PBD 40 Benchtop Drill Press really impressed me. Although this unit is marketed under the Bosch ‘green’ DIY range banner, it could well enter the Bosch ‘blue’ Professional range with only a tiny amount of refinement. In fact, the PBD 40 is such a great machine, I invested in one for my own workshop. For those with limited space, this press is easy to store under your bench, and it weighs in at only 11.2 kg. The wheel-style quill drive took a little getting used to, only because I have spent many years using the old three spoke/golf-ball type handle. If this is your first drill press, you will very quickly…

IN MANY FACETS OF LIFE, we strive to improve ourselves. Maybe you want to run a faster 5K, or read more books, or visit a place you’ve never been. And yet, when it comes to home or automotive projects, we tend to reach a point of stasis. Even if you’re handy, there’s a fear that can discourage you from trying. I say be brave. Tackle that project you don’t think you could possibly handle. What’s the worst that could happen? Okay, don’t think about that, because the answer may be electrocution, fire, or toilet geysers, possibly all at once. But the upside is a sense of accomplishment that is pure and unadulterated and probably all out of proportion to whatever you did. I’m not sure Thomas Edison’s first flick of…