How-To: Mix and Mold GFRC Concrete, as most folks know, is strong under compression but weak under tension, and is commonly strengthened by casting it around, e.g. a grid of steel reinforcing bar (“re-bar”). Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete is, well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like: concrete reinforced with glass fibers. As in most composite materials, the fiber elements in GFRC can be carefully oriented, or randomly distributed, in the solid matrix. If you’re interested in experimenting with GFRC, however, you may have noticed that practical how-to information is a bit scarce online. In the first, Brandon details three different concrete mix recipes used in the casting of a GFRC bathroom counter with integral sink. Concrete Decor – GFRC Mix DesignConcrete Decor – GFRC Application Related
Why sandcastles are so easy to build - fundamentals - 11 February 2008 Every child knows that you don't have to follow an exact recipe to build a sandcastle. All you need is sand plus a splash of water - and now physicists understand why. Mario Scheel at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany, and colleagues studied how a liquid squeezes between grains. Using a series of X-ray images to build up a three-dimensional picture of the sand pile, they found that with the driest sand-and-water recipe, the grains were linked by liquid bridges shaped like a double-ended trumpet. When enough of these bridges form, the mixture is able to hold its shape. From then on adding more liquid doesn't make much difference, unless so much is added that the mixture becomes saturated. "The liquid goes into the crevices and fuses the bridges together," explains Martin Brinkmann, one of Scheel's collaborators. The result could be applied to many different liquids and granular materials, and help us understand other mixing processes.
Flexible Stream • Digital Wood Joints Wood Joints are fascinating! They embellish old furniture and wood constructions of ancient Japanese temples alike. Everytime we come across them, we are filled with admiration: Admiration for the skill of the master craftsman, as their creator, but also admiration for the balance between function and beauty, which turns the furniture or temple into a work of art. With the onset of industrialisation, the traditional wood joints have been banned more and more to the background. Manufacturing has to be above all efficient, so there is no more room for traditional wood joints. As computer-controlled wood processing machines move into the cabinet-makers' workshops, the way two pieces of wood are joined together in a construction needs to be reconsidered. The result of this research are 50 digital wood joints, divided into frame joints, board joints and carcass joints. We are looking forward for the submission of your modifications and pictures of implementation.
ICT Graphics Lab The Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California has designed an easily reproducible, low-cost 3D display system with a form factor that offers a number of advantages for displaying 3D objects in 3D. The display is: autostereoscopic - requires no special viewing glasses omnidirectional - generates simultaneous views accomodating large numbers of viewers interactive - can update content at 200Hz The system works by projecting high-speed video onto a rapidly spinning mirror. While flat electronic displays represent a majority of user experiences, it is important to realize that flat surfaces represent only a small portion of our physical world. We describe a set of rendering techniques for an autostereoscopic light field display able to present interactive 3D graphics to multiple simultaneous viewers 360 degrees around the display. This surface spins synchronously relative to the images being displayed by the projector.
Pamper Your Tools | MachinistBlog.com By John Hill on July 25, 2011 Start with one of these …and one of these… …some of your treasured tools and instruments.. …covered with a bit of cloth from the t-shirt.. …shake up a can of this… …lay it on them.. …lay some newspaper over it… …pat it down and squish it around to fill any voids… …get a good night’s sleep and in the morning..