openMaterials

This is from quite some time ago, but a beautiful artwork from Philip Beesley called Hylozoic Soil which I saw at VIDA 11.0 last year. I just love the way he’s used nitinol in the work-

This solar clothes washer was made by 2nd year art students from the École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (France). The challenge was to make a DIY washing machine using only materials available in the sahara. The prototype shown above uses bicycle parts (the tires and wheel), bamboo, and a solar panel connected directly to a recycled [...]

The OpenStructures project is an open and modular construction system where everyone designs for everyone on the basis of one shared geometrical grid: It is an ongoing experiment that wants to find out what happens if people design objects according to a shared modular grid, a common open standard that stimulates the exchange of parts, components, [...]

I thought I’d share with you how methylenchlorid can be used to glue and fix different plastics. Here’s an experiment I’ve just done using a hacked servo (continuous rotation) and polystyrene and methylenchlorid to make a linear actuator. The video below shows how easy it is to use methylenchlorid: If you can see this, [...]

Some things are so simple we don’t even think about writing them down. We assume everyone knows them. Well, that may often be true, but not always. The materials 101 series is our attempt at systematizing, through a series of thematic blog posts, some basic materials-related knowledge that is ‘out there.’ The series will thus provide [...]

Teaching Resources at Middlesex University (MUTR) is a UK-based online store with a mission to support technology teachers. They provide wonderful materials at affordable prices: from expancel, carbon nanotubes, SMAs, SMPs, photochromic and thermocromic materials, paper-making sets, to motors, solar panels, electronic components, as well as traditional materials such as paper, wood, and metal - [...]