Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Popular Mechanics

ONLINE MEET OUR NEW ONLINE DIY EDITOR Timothy Dahl calls himself a DIY enthusiast, which is modest. Dahl gained an Internet following with his design and DIY blog, Charles & Hudson. And he’s now bringing his projects, tips, and product reviews to popularmechanics.com. Herewith, his credentials: DIY PEDIGREE “I’ve been a Popular Mechanics reader since my dad introduced me to the magazine as a kid. We worked through many projects together, and my dad still has an archived stash of his favorite issues.” FAVORITE TOOL “My everyday-carry Kershaw pocketknife. And I use my Bosch 12-volt compact impact driver on almost every project.” RECENT PROJECTS “I’ve always loved to wrench on classic 4x4 trucks, and recently acquired a rust-free 1989 FJ62 Land Cruiser. It’s taking up a lot of my time…

In a state about the size of Yosemite National Park, community is everything. Roger Williams, who was kicked out of Massachusetts for his beliefs, founded Rhode Island as a refuge for those who believed in the separation of church and government. Later, the state became known as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. Today, its largest city is bursting with maker spaces. Here are two of their directors’ favorite spots. HOWIE SNEIDER Executive director, the Steel Yard Collaborating creates value in a community, which is why we started our Public Projects program. Every neighborhood has a budget for things like bike racks, tree guards, and benches. When we retain the design and fabrication by connecting our artists with local manufacturers, the community also retains the money. FAVORITE CITY WALK…

FORWARD/BACKWARD STROKE (controls forward and backward movement) 1 Reach forward with the paddle blade and submerge it completely in the water—but not so deep that your hand goes in. 2 Pull the blade straight back, parallel to your boat. The blade should be close enough to almost touch the kayak. 3 Switch sides and repeat. (Reverse the stroke to go backward.) SWEEP STROKE (turns the front or back of the kayak) 1 Reach forward with the paddle blade opposite the side you want the boat to move. For example, if you’d like to turn right, reach forward with your left paddle blade. 2 Put the blade in the water and sweep it outward, arcing away from the front of the boat. 3 Repeat on the same side until the boat…

Volkswagen master technician Charles Sanville, known to the Internet as the Humble Mechanic, comes across as affable, friendly, and, yes, humble. But that’s not why he chose that title. “It’s about getting humbled, not being humble,” he says. “When I got started as a mechanic, an older guy told me, ‘About the time you think you know what you’re doing, there’ll be a car that’ll eat your lunch.’ Sure enough, soon thereafter I spent about two weeks trying to fix a Touareg.” In the name of minimizing your own mechanical frustrations, we asked Sanville to show us the foundational tools for a weekend mechanic. Here are his picks, informed by hard-won experience and many a Touareg. Flex-Head Ratchet “The flexhead ratchet is something I bought on a whim because I…

A Friday afternoon. A small classroom at a Secret Service training facility, a sprawling campus deep in the anonymous exurbs of Maryland. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., age of seventy-three, walks into the room smiling his wide Joe Biden smile— the bright white teeth, the cherry cheeks, the sparkle in the eyes—because he has just been joyriding in his 1967 Corvette 327 ragtop, a wedding gift from his father when he married Neilia Hunter on August 27, 1966. (Today he was being filmed for the online video series Jay Leno’s Garage, hosted by the peerless auto enthusiast and former Popular Mechanics contributor.) With him is his son Hunter Biden, age of forty-six, who has his mother’s strong, perfect jaw and deep, warm eyes. Filling in around them are a…

A Layout More than 6,096 heads of lettuce can grow in a vertical growing station like this one. To fit all those plants, the farmers grow them under Tesla induction lights, which are about 600 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than traditional high-pressure sodium lights, or under LEDs, which are even cooler. B Water Daniel and Milan add phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, and other crop-specific nutrients to the nutrient tank, and then a 1-hp pump hoists the water to the top of the station and across the growing platform. At the end of the platform, gravity assists the water on its way back to the pump, where it is recirculated. C Lights Version 1: Tesla Induction Lights Daniel and Milan initially outfitted their shelves with full-spectrum Tesla induction lights, which provide the plants…

parent only parent and kid kid only 1. To build our ice lantern as part of a Groovy Lab science experiment (see box, right), our first step was to make a bunch of zany oversize ice cubes. (You can find the silicone trays at kitchen stores.) Put anything you want in the cubes—we used Cheerios, food coloring, pebbles, Legos, leaves, and other stuff. We even froze a length of string between two cubes to be used as a handle. 2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil—this is your building surface. (Tip: Before you start building, make enough room in your freezer to accommodate your lantern when it’s finished for a final freeze.) Set a bowl of water next to your work area. Now you can start building your ice…

In the early 1990s it all seemed so simple. Post-Soviet Russia needed money. The U.S. Air Force needed to launch spy satellites. And General Dynamics, the company that built the spacecraft that put those satellites in orbit, needed an engine. This is how General Dynamics came to own the rights to a Russian rocket motor, a dependable workhorse called the RD-180. Over the years, the RD-180 has become the primary engine the Pentagon and the Air Force use to boost government GPS and spy satellites into orbit using the Atlas V rocket—a rather obvious problem now that relations between Russia and the U.S. have soured. Seeking an alternative, the Air Force funneled $133 million into two companies that might be able to build a replacement: Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United…

Q Does the U.S. still manufacture nuclear weapons? ANO. LIKE TELEVISIONS, laptops, and smartphones, they’re all made in China these days. But the great thing is that if we ever want some warheads, our eager-to-please partners in Beijing will send over as many as we need, special delivery— on the tips of missiles. All we have to do is pick up the phone and royally piss them off. Fortunately, though, that won’t be necessary. Despite the fact that we have ceased production of new nukes (and, indeed, have been steadily reducing the size of our arsenal from a high of 20,000 warheads to the current stash of around 4,700), we are still in a position to be a “net exporter” of USDA Prime mushroom clouds for the foreseeable future. Steven…

Q The stairs to our aboveground pool are splintery and loose. I want to replace them, but is there anything I should be worried about? JOE R., LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA A Anyone with a little carpentry experience should be able to build a small set of exterior stairs. There are plenty of resources online, but many of them overlook errors that first-time stair builders tend to make. (I’ve made those mistakes, so I know.) First, don’t skimp on the lumber. From there it’s all about precision. The main features of any stair are the treads [A] (what you step on), the risers [B] (the vertical wood between the treads), and the stringers [C] (foundational support pieces). When you mark off the stringer, do it accurately and consistently. Each riser and tread…

OWNER: Mariah Smith LOCATION: Annapolis, Maryland YEARS OWNED: 16 I BOUGHT IT right after I graduated from Vanderbilt University, before I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Military Police Corps. The Army had paid for college in exchange for eight years of commissioned service, which is how we had the money for this. My dad had dreams of helping me buy a sports car, like the 1969 Corvette Stingray he bought when he graduated from the Naval Academy. But I needed something sturdy enough to get me across the country with all my Army gear. I had always loved Broncos, and they were still easy to find in the early 2000s, but there weren’t many of them with a manual transmission. After a month of searching, my…

1 Lee, 36, and Nolan, 1, Apperson From: Ormond Beach, Florida Games together: Two. “He was here once before. He was a lot smaller.” From father to son: “My dad was Mr. America and Mr. Universe. All that. I played baseball through college. So sports and hard work are going to be passed down to Nolan.” OUR TRIP: Two days, three games, hundreds of dads and their kids. We asked them what they’ve learned from each other. THE STOPS: ▸George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa: Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees ▸Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland: Pittsburgh Pirates @ Detroit Tigers ▸Champion Stadium at Disney World, Lake Buena Vista: Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves 2 Jose, 43, and Ava, 9, Fuentes From: Bronx, New York Their trip: First spring training game together,…

01 HOW TO DRIVE STICK Every clutch is different. Some standard-shift cars have heavy clutches, clutches you can barely push to the floor without pulling a quad muscle. Others are so thin, the clutch so light and easy, they threaten to stall after you’ve let the pedal up no more than a few inches off the floor. Most are somewhere in the middle. But in the most important way, every clutch is the same, because every clutch has a sweet spot, that precise place as it travels up the floor where it catches, connecting the drivetrain to the motor to move the car forward. Before that moment, the engine is just on, spinning, idling. The clutch is the connector, but there is only one exact moment when it engages. Learning…

LIGHT-ACTIVATED CHICKENS Plants aren’t the only beneficiaries of LED color schemes. Light wavelength (which creates color) also affects the growth and behavior of livestock—in particular, chickens, which have thin skulls that light can penetrate, and four photoreceptors (humans have three). For this reason, as well as for energy efficiency, some chicken farming companies, such as Hillandale Farms’ Connecticut operations, have begun raising flocks under red, blue, or green LEDs. In general, shortwavelength light (green and blue) is better for the chickens you eat, known as broilers. Green lights are used on very young chicks to increase muscle and improve digestive and immunesystem development. Chicken farmers also use blue lights, which seem to have a calming effect and can penetrate the chickens’ thin skulls down to the pineal gland, stimulating growth.…

STUPID AMAZING Instagram on...LEED NOTABLE COUNTERPOINT By Mike Fairall of Mokulua High Performance Builder, whose Smith Residence in Kailua, Hawaii, was LEED’s 2015 Outstanding Single Family Home of the Year In Hawaii the need for sustainability is obvious. Making too much waste is a problem— we have to wrap ours in pods and ship it to the mainland. The sun and the salt air constantly attack our buildings. We have the highest electric costs in the country. So people want to build green. LEED makes their goals tangible. I can show my clients a LEED checklist of things I’m building, and when the project is done, an independent third party certifies it. And that last part is crucial. As sustainability grows in popularity—thanks to LEED’s pioneering work—lots of companies talk…

CEDAR POINT IN SANDUSKY, OHIO, an amusement park known for its outrageous roller coasters, currently holds five world records. This May, the park unveiled Valravn, a new coaster that will win six more individual records. Valravn is the tallest, fastest, and longest dive coaster in the world, and it also has the most inversions, the tallest inversion, and the longest drop for a dive coaster. In other words, save the corn dog for after the ride. THE VEHICLE Like other dive coasters, Valravn uses a short, wide train with three rows of eight people across. This allows every rider to be closer to the front so they can all better experience the free fall. The shorter train also allows Valravn to have tighter twists— kind of like making a right…

MODEL: HYPERTHERM POWERMAX30 AIR PRODUCED: LEBANON, NEW HAMPSHIRE TIME TO DISASSEMBLE: 3 HOURS, 30 MIN NUMBER OF PARTS: 250 NOTES: Plasma is the fourth state of matter, a gas so loaded with energy that electrons have come free, leaving most of the molecules within the gas in a charged state. Despite being the least well known state of matter, plasma is actually the most common: Scientists estimate 99 percent of the observable universe to be plasma. Much of that is in stars, but here on Earth, you can find it in televisions, neon signs, and plasma cutters, which send air through a highvoltage electric current to generate an arc of plasma that can cut metal plates as thick as those found in shipyards. In the home workshop, the advantage to cutting…

THE STATE OF THE GRILL, 2016 WE GRILLED IN a blizzard. We grilled in the dampness of early spring, the smell of cold mud competing with brisket. We grilled morning, noon, and night, dragging these contraptions in and out of the barn, running test after test, all so that we could deliver this report with timeliness and authority. Not that we’re complaining. And through it all, we learned that we are living in the golden age of grilling. So often we hear that things were better decades ago—the food was fresher, the sky bluer, and all you needed was a Weber in the backyard. But patio cooking has been reanimated. Across this great land people are searing, roasting, braising, and smoking like never before, learning from the Internet or those…

Why Kayak? TRAVELING IN A kayak feels like you’re tricking the universe. The boat has the impression of being vulnerable because it’s so small—an oceangoing boat that you can pick up with one hand. But once you gain some skills in it, the kayak is the safest, most seaworthy boat in the world. The universe thinks that you’re out there doing something dangerous, but really you’re in total control. I’ve traveled the world in a kayak, thousands of miles on many expeditions. I’ve gone around Cape Horn near Antarctica, through the gnarliest piece of ocean on the planet, even for big ships. I’ve paddled from Japan to Alaska, retracing the steps of Stone Age mariners. In 2012, I circumnavigated Ellesmere Island in the Arctic Circle on a 1,500-mile trip. The…

I was always a little uncomfortable with the ecological implications of car ownership, but when some friends began experimenting with running diesel vehicles on vegetable oil, I saw it as a way to be part of a much more environmentally responsible fuel-supply chain. I was definitely intimidated and wondered if I could manage a backyard conversion. My mechanic skills were limited, although there had been some bright moments: Once, working on a San Francisco stoop I repaired a motorcycle’s gas-tank valve with only J-B Weld and hazy memories of advice I’d once been given, and I replaced a car’s freeze plug successfully, albeit with a little handholding from a mechanic. Plus, I had serious concerns about the logistics of fuel sourcing. What eventually convinced me was another friend who got…