Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i Popular Mechanics

MY WIFE AND I got a save-the-date in the mail for my cousin Harry’s wedding. Next spring. Harry was in our wedding 16 years ago as a little boy, walking the ring up the aisle with a shy grin, then dancing at the reception in his good shoes until way past his bedtime. Harry’s in the Middle East right now, serving in the United States Army National Guard. ROTC helped him through school, and now he’s filling his end of the bargain. From the looks of his Instagram, he’s with a great bunch of soldiers and making a decent time of it. The first thing he texted his mom (my aunt) when he got over there was “Mom! I saw camels!” But she worries about him, of course—we all do.…

THE FIRST THING the late Senator John McCain chose to say in his farewell address, read to his fellow Americans upon his death in August, was: “Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead.” McCain embodied the relationship that has long braided America’s armed forces with her elected officials. The last two veterans of World War II serving in Congress retired recently, taking with them the comity born of surviving that conflict. But in this most politically polarized year, a new wave of veterans—character wrought in this century’s bloody conflicts with shifting enemies defined not by nationality but by ideology—are running for office. Ninety-one are seeking national office for the first time.…

YES, ALTHOUGH DOING so requires ingenuity, money, and, perhaps most important, a decided inability to take a hint. First off, you still own your land, no matter how much lava the angry fire gods have seen fit to slather on top of it. Thanks to a process called inflation, you might even enjoy that ocean view you’ve always coveted. Janet Babb, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, explains that, due to inflation, a lava flow that starts out only six or eight inches deep can wind up 30 feet thick or more. You’ll need some heavy equipment to deal with grading and preparing to build on all that brand-new rock, as well as a special survey to see how solid it is. “The main concern with…

LAST FEBRUARY, in a questioning room at Newark Airport, border officers told Rejhane Lazoja, who was returning from Switzerland, to unlock her iPhone 6s Plus. She refused, and the agent took it and kept it for 130 days. That’s not unusual for a border crossing in 2018, where the Fourth Amendment is flexible. What is unusual is that in August, her attorney filed something called a motion for return of property. Meaning, she asked the court to compel border agents to delete the information copied from her phone. It was the first time that motion had been used for data, not just tangible property. I thought we settled this in 2014 with Riley v. California, in which the Supreme Court acknowledged that the ones and zeros tied to our names…

Is it okay to lean a ladder against a gutter when cleaning it out? I saw a roofer do that, but I thought it was verboten.Ralph B., Duluth, Georgia It’s not exactly verboten, but it is definitely nicht eingute idee.(As the son of German immigrants, I couldn’t help it.) The ladder can dent the gutter, scratch it, or bend it, especially if the ladder is placed between gutter brackets. The skimpier the brackets, the greater the risk. Most people who take this risk lack the proper equipment. The best tool for this situation is a ladder stabilizer—a wing-like contraption that bolts to the ladder and spreads out the load while holding the top away from the wall. On older houses with extremely large soffts, sometimes even a large stabilizer doesn’t…

Before there’s a patent, there’s an idea. Before that, there’s a person with a problem to solve. A forklift with a flat platform that allows a person using a wheelchair to operate it and incorporates additional control mechanisms for disabled drivers. (1) LAST NAME Greenfield (2) FIRST NAME Harlan (3) PATENT NO. 10,023,447 (4) I was a teacher for ten years at the James Rumsey Technical Institute in Martinsburg, West Virginia. I taught materials, distribution, and warehousing. We were very involved in a program called SkillsUSA that encourages education of a skilled workforce. (5) We had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., to petition our legislators not to cut funding for trade schools. Money was really hard then, and is still hard now. At a reception for SkillsUSA participants,…

George Westinghouse has as spotless a reputation as any luminary in American history. He invented the air brake that dramatically increased the safety and efficiency of train traffic, successfully championed alternating current, and built the first safe, high-voltage distribution system. The Westinghouse geared turbine engine improved marine shipping, and he was granted patents that safely advanced natural-gas-well drilling, metering, and distribution. But even Westinghouse didn’t always get it right. Natural gas was so plentiful in the Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh where he made his home that he put down a natural gas well in his yard. There was just one problem: Very few people (one might argue no one) really understood how to do this safely. The gas pressure was so great that in the middle of the night…

1 Preparedness Your local fire department is the perfect example of preparedness. When a call comes in, no one rummages around to find the truck key, nor does the squad roar out, only for the truck to run out of gas. There are only a few key things to know for preparedness: Think through every job beforehand and try to make one run for supplies. Make an inventory of your bits and blades before beginning. If anything is dulled, damaged, dirty, or missing, deal with it now, not mid-project. 2 Execution Keep tools, hardware, and materials off the floor as you work. I use a couple of sawhorses spanned by a piece of plywood for nearly every job I do, from construction to replacing a sink. I’ve written before about my fondness…

I WAS OFF-ROADING in a pickup in northern Michigan and came off a jump from a large sand hill and did a bootlegger turn at 55 mph. The centrifugal force spun the vehicle and peeled both rear radial tires off their rims—the tires were completely flat. I couldn’t get the bead to seal to reinflate the tires so I took a nylon tow strap wrapped around the center of the tire and put a jack handle through the tow strap, twisting it to compress the tires and reseat the beads. I was able to reinflate the tires with a 12-volt pump, and we were on our way. —Shawn Campbell, machinist, Brighton, Michigan WHEN I WAS an airborne traffic reporter in D.C., we used a white Cessna 172. Behind the rear…

THE TOOL Maybe you want to make a wooden picture frame to give your mom, or to smooth out the paint on your bike after you took a spill in gravel. For either project, you’ll need sandpaper. Sandpaper is measured in something called grit—the abrasive particle attached to the paper. The lower the number, the scratchier the sandpaper, and the more material it removes. HOW TO SAND No matter what you’re sanding, the process is always the same: Start with coarse paper, then work your way up through finer grits to smooth the surface. For instance, if you’re smoothing out that picture frame, maybe you would start with an 80-grit paper. Move the paper in the direction of the wood grain all over the frame. But be careful! You don’t…

p. 7 Earth: Getty Images; p. 8 pancake: Getty; p. 14 hikers: David Scott Holloway; p. 21 Getty; p. 30 Traci Dauphin; p. 31 prop styling: JJ Chan; p. 48 prop styling: JJ Chan; p. 49 Hendrix: Getty; p. 50 fan: Alamy; p. 63 Studio D; prop styling: JJ Chan; p. 68 Eric Ogden; p. 69 Getty; pp. 70–71 Luckey, Musk and Grimes: Getty; pp. 72–73 Cuban, Westinghouse: Getty; p. 79 prop styling: JJ Chan; hand model: Kevin Witt; p. 80 Getty; p. 81 pothole: Alamy; light: Getty; pp. 82–83 mower, spaghetti, mouse: Getty; pp. 84–85 prop styling: JJ Chan; p. 86–87 Hanks, quiz/No. 13: Everett Collection; awl: Getty; pp. 88–89 space, Kelly, sandpaper: Getty; p. 90 RAD: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.…

ONLINE Check out our “We’ve Been Wrong Before” series on crazy historical theories about how our world worked—like the 1800s’ theory that Earth was expanding. Find it at www.popularmechanics.com/weve-been-wrong-before. INSTAGRAM Love our DIY content? Follow us on Instagram for 60-second project tutorials @PopularMechanics THE PODCAST ON THE MOST USEFUL PODCAST EVER, host Jacqueline Detwiler is gearing up for the New York City Marathon with expert advice from the New York Sports Science Lab. Download the latest episode on Apple Podcasts.…

Charles Anthony (MD-3) Jim Baird (IN-4) Tobi Beck (IN-4) Willie Billups (TX-33) Flynn Broady Jr. (GA-11) Randy Bryce (WI-1) George Buck (FL-13) Angel Cadena (CT-3)a Sean Carrigan (SC-2) Cam Cavasso (HI-1) Gil Cisneros (CA-39) Jesse Colvin (MD-1) Dan Crenshaw (TX-2) Jason Crow (CO-6) Richmond Davis (MD-7) Dan DeBono (NY-3) Ron DiNicola (PA-16) Jeff Dove (VA-11) Chuck Enderlin (GA-3) Margaret Engebretson (WI-7) Daniel Feehan (MN-1) Steve Ferrara (AZ-9) Jared Golden (ME-2) Andrew Grant (CA-7) Mark Green (TN-7) Gerhard Gressmann (SC-6) Ken Harbaugh (OH-7) Wayne “Gunny” Harmon (IN-7) Mary Jennings Hegar (TX-31) Juan Hidalgo Jr. (CA-51) Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6) Dave Hughes (MN-7) Art J. Jones (IL-3) Ronald Paul Kabat (CA-20) Robert Kennedy Jr. (A L-1) Joseph Kopser (TX-21) Steve Kraus (OH-9) Russell Lambert (CA-46) Alan LaPolice (KS-1) Wayne Liebnitzky (FL-9) Beau Liegeois…

FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, AND TWITTER are waging an unseen but highly charged war on foreign hackers. Just as the Defense Department contracts private companies to build nuclear submarines, social media companies hire digital private eyes to find fake posts meant to influence the way Americans think about certain issues or candidates. One firm, FireEye, worked with Facebook to unearth fake pages during the summer buildup to this month’s midterm elections. The company reported a network of more than 650 fake accounts created in what was determined to be an Iranian government effort. Lee Foster, FireEye’s manager of information operations analysis, explains how they track down the offending accounts. POPULAR MECHANICS: When you’re looking for foreign influence campaigns, where do you start? LEE FOSTER: Forensic indicators. There’s the content-related side, where we’ll…

A /Speck Presidio Sport LIKES: Preserves the tactile feedback of the side buttons, which is surprisingly rare. The exterior is a good balance of stickiness for grip, and slickness for sliding the phone in and out of your pocket. DISLIKES: Antimicrobial treatment feels like a gimmick. $45 B /Pelican Shield LIKES: The two-piece design of this case sandwiches the phone between front and rear plates, covering the front with more plastic than other cases. If you break the case, Pelican will replace it. DISLIKES: Poor fit lets the phone shift around, and the case’s raised edges make it diffcult to type near the edge of the screen. $60 C /Urban Armor Gear Monarch LIKES: Mix of leather, metal, and plastic makes it easy to grip without being sticky. A notch…

Base price: $20,910 Accelerant: A launch gear, which solves the sluggish takeoff endemic to CVTs Or: There’s a six-speed manual In case you were worried that the demise of Scion meant we’d see no more gleeful Japanese weirdness out of Toyota, I give you the Corolla hatchback. Toyota claims that the front end was inspired by a philosophy they call “under priority catamaran.” I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like an obscure track from a Yokohama-based Jimmy Buffett tribute band, and I want to buy a T-shirt that says that. I imagine that many Toyota shoppers will drive both the Corolla and its crossover brethren, the C-HR. Both have a 2.0-liter four-cylinder and start at about $20,000. But the Corolla has more power—168 versus 144 horses—and…

BOOSTED BOARD There are lots of imitations, but the originator brand’s build quality and power make this the Tesla of electric skateboards. 7 miles range; $750 (Mini S) ELECTRIC SCOOTERS If Bird, Lime, Skip, or Spin aren’t renting scooters via app in your town, you can buy a Ninebot KickScooter. 15 miles range; $600 LITHIUM CYCLES SUPER73 The closest thing to an electric moped. Laws about license and registration vary by state and mood of the officer. 25 to 30 miles range; $2,800 (Original 2018) SOLOWHEEL GLIDE 3 The smallest method of transport is a gyroscopically stabilized unicycle that folds up to the size of a large pizza. 30 miles range; $900…

Price: $22,395 Engine: 1,262-cc V-twin Drive: Six-speed chain HP: 158 hp at 9,500 rpm Weight: 518 lb, wet Tank size: 5.3 gallons, or about 200 miles The 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260 S is a perfect touring motorcycle, and not just for two people. Set it to Urban, Touring, Sport, or Enduro, and the bike optimizes the suspension, torque, and throttle response for that ride. The quick-shift transmission means you can up- and downshift without using the clutch, which is helpful in fast-response moments. I’ve driven other touring motorcycles that have the Multi’s luxuries—heated grips, cruise control, keyless ignition. But none tied them together into a fastas-hell, all-in-one motorcycle like this.…

ONE OF MY SUMMER JOBS in high school was taking care of the buildings and grounds of a cluster of office/warehouses near an airport. I spread oceans of mulch and painted every wall three times over. Mostly for lunch I’d pack a ham sandwich in an Igloo, but sometimes I’d go to Louie’s Lunch Truck. Louie parked in a sandlot at the end of the runway, his station wagon pulling a white trailer with a kitchenette and a few seats inside. Louie—big, damp, grouchy—would sit in there grilling the only item on the menu: hot dogs. Workingmen would pull up in pickups and sit inside for a spell, down a couple of dogs and relish packets and an RC Cola, then go back to work. The hot dogs were pretty…

“PEOPLE HEAR ‘nonalcoholic beer’ and think the worst,” says Bill Shufelt, cofounder of Athletic Brewing Company and Taproom in Stratford, Connecticut. “The standard commercial production gives you a bland or metallic taste. There hasn’t been a satisfying option with no compromise.” That may explain why nonalcoholic beer makes up only about 2 percent of the beer market. Shufelt took this as a challenge—and an opportunity: to create beer with no alcohol but so much flavor that anyone would enjoy drinking it. That’s what the craft beer renaissance that many of us are enjoying in the United States right now is built on: flavor flavor flavor. Lighter brews like session ales (the name reportedly comes from mid-20th-century England, when factory workers drank low alcohol beer during their allotted “drinking sessions”) and…

MAY 2002 Musk founds Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). APRIL 2004 Musk invests $6.3 million in electric-car company Tesla Motors, joins the board of directors. JULY 2006 SpaceX lands a NASA contract to deliver cargo to the ISS. AUGUST 2006 Musk invests in SolarCity, a solar panel company. MARCH 2008 Tesla introduces its first vehicle, the Roadster. SEPTEMBER 2008 The Falcon 1 becomes the first privately built liquidfuel vehicle to reach orbit. OCTOBER 2008 Musk becomes CEO of Tesla. DECEMBER 2008 SpaceX lands NASA contract for 12 flights for $1.6 billion. MAY 2012 SpaceX’s Dragon supply vessel docks with the ISS. APRIL 2015 Tesla announces Powerwall batteries, a home system that stores energy generated from solar or other renewable sources. AUGUST 2015 The Tesla Model S P85D scores a 103 (out…

The low-slung building on Evans Avenue with the greenhouse roof blends into the surroundings in an uninspiring stretch of Denver, all nondescript retail and pockets of ranch homes. It’s a hydroponic farm, run by partners Jake Olson and Lauren Brettschneider. The produce is all on tables at waist height, and the plumbing is subtle and minimalist. There is no soil anywhere. From the street it’s easy to miss Rebel Farm; inside, it looks like an Apple Store hosting a farmer’s market. One afternoon this summer, Kimbal Musk, a tall, lanky man in a cowboy hat, ducked in through the front door. He was here to see about the produce for his Denver-area restaurants. Unlike, perhaps, the average restaurateur, he’d brought a couple of assistants, who used smartphones to photograph his…

The door is sticking. Check the top corner, where the free-swinging edge (not the hinged edge) meets the jamb. Examine the jamb to look for scrapes that indicate the sticking point. Look for other obvious problems such as a loose hinge. Put down a tarp to catch wood shavings, paint scrapings, sawdust. Scrape away paint from the doorjamb, then sand the scraped area smooth, or tighten a hinge. Lubricate the door-hinge pins while you’re at it. Also: It swings open by itself. If some genius over-planed or sawed the door, leaving a monstrous gap between it and the jamb, screw a small, thin wood block to the upper corner of the jamb to take up the gap. Adjust the thickness of this shim by sawing it on a table saw,…

1 QUICK! The power goes out. You… A. Curse. B. Grab a flashlight, if it’s dark. C. Curse and grab a flashlight. D. Exclaim, “The power’s out! Let’s see if the circuit breaker tripped.” 2 A wall cabinet is attached using a drywall anchor that has pulled out and you want to reattach the cabinet. You… A. Empty the cabinet to reduce the load on it, then begin. B. Get your stud sensor. C. Grab your drill, drill bits, drive bits, and some long screws. D. All of the above. 3 YOUR NOT-HANDY BROTHER CALLS YOU TO SAY THAT HE HEARS AN “UNGODLY” THUMPING SOUND IN THE WALL. YOU… A. Ask if he’s experienced rodent problems. B. Ask if he’s noticed the sound during the heating season only, when the…

THIS SUMMER, researchers at Harvard, the University of Rhode Island, and Baruch College announced a new invention. It’s called the Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron sampler (RAD), and it allows them to study sensitive marine life without, well, squishing it. The 3D-printed device has five transparent arms that measure 20 inches across. When a jellyfish or other interesting creature comes close, those arms close together to trap the animal inside, where cameras and other sensors are focused to allow for remote observation. That means researchers will be able to study deep-sea creatures without even getting in the water. In the future, jellyfish catchers will be bigger—much bigger!—and able to work as deep as 36,000 feet below the surface of the sea, where they’ll be mounted on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and submarines.…

Big questions. Answers you can’t find on the internet. WHIP OUT the marshmallows and start sharpening sticks. Actually, they do about what you’d imagine they do—run like hell. Interestingly, however, many of them likely enjoy a bit of a head start. Just as children somehow sense the approaching apocalypse that is the annual “back to school” period, animals pick up subtle cues that wildfire season is in the offing. Experts aren’t certain precisely what tips them off—a smell, certain sounds, the increased presence of high school burnouts wantonly flicking their Bics in the backcountry—but something sets animals on edge and helps them stay ahead of encroaching flames. Small critters, such as mice and moles, may burrow into the ground, which keeps them cool enough not to cook. Other fauna retreat…

BACKWARD FLAG BREWING Torie Fisher, a 13-year veteran of the Army and the National Guard, works with veteran-focused organizations to create recipes to symbolize their causes. The first beer, which launched in July, is Something’s Missing, an IPA designed with Marine veteran Rory Hamill to benefit the We Defy Foundation, which provides an outlet through Brazilian jiu jitsu and fitness training to combat veterans suffering from life disabling injuries or PTSD. BEARDED VETERANS CLUB GROOMING CO. Founded in 2015 by veteran Chris Orr, BVC sells mustache wax, beard oil, and other products to help care for “freedom beards,” the facial hair many veterans grow after returning to civilian life, when they’re no longer under the grooming restrictions of active duty. BLACK RIFLE COFFEE In 2015, Evan Hafer, a 14-year Army…

Base price: $960,000, but all have been sold. Engine: Twin-turbo V-8 Horsepower: 789 Weight: 2,886 lb Zero to 60: 2.6 seconds Top speed: 208 mph Electric drive: None Named for: Threetime F1 champion Ayrton Senna, who raced for McLaren. I’M CALLING IT: The McLaren Senna is one of the all-time greats. Fifty years from now, you will see it plastered on posters and headlining Pebble Beach auctions. It’s a rare club, populated by the likes of the Ferrari F40, the Porsche 959, and the Senna’s ancestor, the McLaren F1. To join, a car has to have performance that seems decades ahead of its time. And that’s what you get, a million-dollar wedge of wings and diffusers that you could race at Le Mans and then drive to the nearest Starbucks.…

Easy ways to do hard things ▶ Everyone has used a magnet to pick up an errant ferrous object. If you find yourself doing this a lot, consider getting a pickup: a broad, flat magnet designed specifically for this purpose. Some come with long telescoping handles, others with releases that eject the items that have been picked up. In either case, make it even more useful: If you’re picking up items that you want to recover—say, fasteners, and not metal shavings to go in the trash—invert a Ziploc bag over the end of the pickup before getting to work. When you’ve gathered all the metallic items, simply turn the bag right-side out, and you’ve got them gathered in a secure container. FROM—THE—ARCHIVES (1944!) Inverted Saucer Prevents Soggy Salad ▶ To…

THE MAKER CLAY BUSH HIS COMPANY SALVAGE GOODS MY PARENTS WERE hippies who practiced recycling—even drained our bath water to use in the garden—and I grew up valuing the inventiveness of home craft: I was about eight when I saw my mom tie-dyeing and remember watching the absorption of the coloring into the fabric and thinking, That looks so cool. And after a Mister Rogers episode about batik, I set up a little station using leftover wax from my family’s candle-making and boxes of Rit Dye. Once I was doing ink drawings in bed, spilled it on my sheets, and became fascinated with the surface design it created. When it came time to go to college, I went to the Appalachian Center for Craft, where I studied fiber arts, printing,…

⋆ USA MADE Topo Designs Klettersack Backpack Includes a laptop sleeve and an ice-axe loop. $169 Lululemon Outpour Shell Breathable rain and wind protection. $248 Lululemon Metal Vent Tech Pullover Insulating. Won’t smell if you miss a few washes. $98 Fjällräven Abisko Trekking Tights Through brambles or yoga, these tights are tough. $175 Timberland World Hiker Boots Waterproof leather that looks even better as you wear it. $160 ⋆ USA MADE Topo Designs Trip Pack Sleeker and smaller and perfect for a day hike. $89 Toad & Co Earthworks Women’s Skinny Pants Organic spandex for a slim, flexible fit. $79 Darn Tough Hiker Micro Crew Socks Durable, comfortable wool. Lifetime guarantee. $22 Keen Terradora Boots Flexible and supportive, in the woods or on the sidewalk. $140 Costa Sarasota Sunglasses Relaxed…

FEATURE GRILLE-LESS FACE Model X Although the 2015 Model X’s general design recalled a fourdoor car, it had radical details—and its mouth was missing. After a few years of distance, the decision is akin to the MacBook Pro losing the DVD drive. Lose the unnecessary allusions to the combustion past. It’s how von Holzhausen and crew earned those Falcon Wing doors. FEATURE POP-OUT DOOR HANDLES Model S In most modern luxury cars, you can approach the vehicle, key in pocket, and tug on the door handle to open it. Approach a new Model S, and its flush-to-the-door handles extend out in invitation. The idea is functional, too. Sunken door handles benefit aerodynamic effciency. FEATURE WRAPAROUND WINDSHIELD Model X The glass sweeps back past the crown of the driver’s head. It…

Like most car manufacturers, the Tesla factory uses a piece of equipment called a servo press, a line of machines that molds metal into parts for the car. Tesla bought the best one it could find, from a company called Schuler. There are 35 like it in use around Europe, but Tesla has the first one in the United States. The machine started out exactly the same as the other 35—it was capable of moving 12 sheets per minute. Pretty quick. But not quick enough for Musk. First, his engineers at the Tesla factory in Fremont made the machine fit in a smaller space by shortening the conveyor belts at the end of the press and added two additional belts. Then they increased the speed at which the machine transfers…

What Handiness Is EVEN WELL-MADE THINGS are, from the moment they’re created, heading toward oblivion. Handiness arrests that process and makes those things right again, putting to work a well-stocked toolbox and giving you the readiness to use it on small repairs and projects. But suppose you’re already handy. How do you go to the next level? First, you have to identify what you need to get there. The next level of handiness (which we’re just going to call handiness from here on out) requires a broad swath of mechanical knowledge and the ability to apply it skillfully in repairs, assembly, and small construction projects. Icing on the cake: It’s the ability to do this work on short notice and, much of the time, under duress when something is lacking,…

Do you have a younger brother or sister who is new to tools? What Can You Do With a Toolbox?, by contractors and former TV hosts Anthony Carrino and John Colaneri, is the perfect thing to read to them. The book comes with a free companion app that you’ll need to download and launch before reading. Set your phone or tablet beside you as you read, and when the app hears you or your kid sister say one of the tools, it plays the sound of that tool. It’s fun! And it might drive your parents nuts, which would be a little fun too.…

Every year, New York City hosts the biggest marathon in the world. Fifty thousand runners weave 26.2 miles through the city’s five boroughs before crossing the finish line in Central Park. Last year’s winner finished in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 53 seconds. How did they track his time (and the 49,999 other runners’) so precisely? Every runner has a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip sewn into the fabric on their chests, called bibs. Sensors at every mile marker use the RFIDs to identify runners as they pass and record how long it took each one to get there from the start, and how long it took to get there from the last sensor. A computer program called an algorithm can use that data to approximate a runner’s position at any time.…