Remember the Splinter, the all wood supercar that looked like nothing more than a clever design mock up?
Apparently it’s quite a bit more than that, as Joe Harmon Design has begun fabrication, and the body is already starting to take shape.
The car’s frame and driveline are based on a central rigid tube section with the suspension and other necessary parts from a C4 Corvette mounted to it. However, as much as possible will be kept in wood form for authenticity’s sake.
The engine is a Northstar V8 run backwards, with the exhaust and intake sides switched around. Intakes sit underneath the cylinder banks, and two roots style superchargers feed air in through individual intercoolers
The wooden component fabrication process includes building a mold/frame, and then laminating layers of veneer into the desired shape.
Check out the site for more details, including live webcam shots and a building blog.
[Joe Harmon Design - Splinter]
[Building The Splinter]
[Via: Jalopnik]
The Uno is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
By using gyroscope technology similar to the Segway, it balances on two wheels that sit right next to each other. The Uno goes forward when you push your body weight forward, and backwards when you push your body weight backward. The further you lean, the more the Uno tilts, and the faster it accelerates.
Apparently it’s so simple to operate that there are no controls except for an on-off switch. The gyro tells the ECU how much to accelerate automatically, and the proper amount of power is delivered to the wheels through electric motors, one for each wheel.
The body and frame are both custom designed, with a Yamaha R1 serving as the starting point. After prepping the frame, the molding took just six weeks to complete.
And if that’s not enough for you, then keep in mind that the entire thing was designed by Ben J. Poss Gulak, an 18-year-old who taught himself CAD on a home computer using Google’s free SketchUp tool to create the initial idea.
Could this be the future of motorcycle design?
[The Uno]
[Via: Motorcycle Mojo Magazine]
If you’re willing to put your electrical skills to the test, then you can create your own Electric Mountain Board with a scooter motor and the batteries needed to power it.
The design allows for minimum damage to the board, and the ability to remove it if you want to do some standard riding.
A mod that gives you the best of both worlds?
Sign me up!
[Instructables - Electric Mountain Board]
Kipp Wettstein makes his own large format cameras as part of what he calls The Camera Project.
The cameras are designed to suit Kipp’s “operational tendencies for the singular application of mobility”, and make a “simple, elegant and accurate method to connect the lens and film planes”.
The beauty of the design is that it is built around the elegant form of the image cone produced by the lens. Not only does this design yield an attractive camera but it is extremely accurate. The lens and film planes have a parallel accuracy within the fractions of a millimeter. These designs have no perspective-controlling movements. They are small, lightweight and extremely precise.
His latest, called the 8×10 Carbon/Aluminum, is a beautiful “portable, wide-angle camera using a molded carbon fiber cone attached to a body plate machined from a solid block of 7075-T651 aircraft aluminum”. The lens is a Schneider 165mm Super Angulon, and “at four pounds, its weight nearly matches that of the camera body”.
Want one?
He’ll make one for you (or at least take your inquiry about one), but keep in mind that “ultimately, large-format photography is a costly process”.
[Kipp Wettstein - The Camera Project]
[Via: NOTCOT]
Burton’s Jeremy Jones Snowboard is a fantastic example of off the wall thinking that works well in the snowboard design environment.
Rewrite the laws of shredology.
Jeremy doesn’t let laws like physics, gravity, or city ordinances get in his way. The ultimate set of tools for the all-around freestyle specialist, Jeremy’s series gives him the power to step to any feature. His NEW 159 is a little wider, a bit stiffer, and more stable for those faster run-outs and bigger cliffs and kickers. The NEW Infinite Channel System™ offers unlimited stance options so Jeremy can easily switch it up in seconds.
If the board’s performace matches the looks, this is going to be one tough board to beat.
[Burton - Jeremy Jones Snowboard]
MOO StickerBooks are small books filled with tear-out sheets of stickers that you can customize.
Each book contains up to 90 full color photos or designs, and there are six designs per sheet. The stickers are made of scratchproof vinyl, with a glossy finish for lasting fun. They’re also acid and lignin-free for use with scrapbooking, gift wrapping, and more.
If you’re ready to order a book of your own, then be sure to use the code “moostickersfree” during the month of April for a three books for the price of two deal.
[MOO - StickerBooks]
[Via: MOO Blog]
To make your bling a little more modest, check out Diamond Inside, a seal-ring that keeps the good stuff for your eyes only.
[Open! Design & Concepts - Diamond Inside]
[Via: LikeCool]
For stylish shirts that won’t break the bank, check out Ten Bills, where all t-shirts are, you guessed it, just $10.
Keeping the prices low hasn’t diminished the quality of the designs however, as these are top notch t-shirts that look good too. Plus, at just $10 each, you can buy a bunch and spice up your wardrobe without emptying out your wallet.
[Ten Bills]
CommandShift3 is “like Hot or Not for web design”.
(In case you’re wondering, the name comes from the keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot on an Apple.)
On CommandShift3, you are presented with the screenshots of two websites side by side. If you click the screenshot of the site you think looks best, the page reloads and you start all over again. It never ends.
There’s a best & worst page where the winners and losers are gathered up, and you can browse winners by tag, week, or month, so there are plenty of options if you just want to look around for some inspiration.
(And if you’d like to check out and hopefully vote for DidntYouHear.com on CommandShift3, go here.)
[CommandShift3]
Threadcakes is a site filled with the results of the Loves Threadless Cake Contest.
The premise of the concept was pretty simple: Bake a cake and decorate it to match your favorite Threadless shirt design.
With over 900 cake pics received, the results speak for themselves, and dough masters showed what was possible with a little bit of patience and a lot of inspiration.
[Threadcakes]
