The Mattel Spinwelder was the coolest Christmas gift of the 1970s(bestride.com)
bestride.com
The Mattel Spinwelder was the coolest Christmas gift of the 1970s
https://bestride.com/news/video-the-mattel-spinwelder-was-the-coolest-christmas-gift-of-the-1970s
142 comments
> My favorite "make stuff toys" of the 70's were my Erector set and Lego set of course.
I can't resist telling this story: As a little kid, I could not figure out why my erector set was so superior to all of my friends' kits. I finally asked my parents about it: My grandfather worked for AC Gilbert as a tool and die maker, and he made a lot of the original tooling for the erector set. (We had the original big red metal box filled with pieces (from the 30s?), and another cardboard box with the overflow.)
We also had a killer American Flyer train set (also an AC Gilbert product), and the Lead Castor kit: Molten lead for kids! Hard to imagine in the current age. https://picclick.com/Vintage-Ac-Gilbert-Kaster-Kit-Furnace-T...
Fortunately, we did not have the Gilbert Atomic Energy Kit. I probably lost enough brain cells on the lead.
I can't resist telling this story: As a little kid, I could not figure out why my erector set was so superior to all of my friends' kits. I finally asked my parents about it: My grandfather worked for AC Gilbert as a tool and die maker, and he made a lot of the original tooling for the erector set. (We had the original big red metal box filled with pieces (from the 30s?), and another cardboard box with the overflow.)
We also had a killer American Flyer train set (also an AC Gilbert product), and the Lead Castor kit: Molten lead for kids! Hard to imagine in the current age. https://picclick.com/Vintage-Ac-Gilbert-Kaster-Kit-Furnace-T...
Fortunately, we did not have the Gilbert Atomic Energy Kit. I probably lost enough brain cells on the lead.
> Fortunately, we did not have the Gilbert Atomic Energy Kit.
I assumed this was a joke but I googled it in the off-chance that it wasn't, and I'm glad I did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_La...
I assumed this was a joke but I googled it in the off-chance that it wasn't, and I'm glad I did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_La...
I had a Vertibird - thanks for reminding me about it!
There's something about toys like that at a formative period in your development that means that small details seem to stick in your memory. I can even now remember the feel or the rotating spring that took the horizontal rotation of the shaft through 90 degrees to meet to the propeller blades, and which wobbled to a blur when the machine was running.
I seem to remember it didn't hurt much when you got hit by it, and you could trip over it repeatedly without breaking it, so it was very well designed for a typical 8 year old.
I didn't have the erector set, but plenty of lego. The technics stuff had come out and I built all sorts of stuff with it. I remember getting this http://technicopedia.com/853.html which was released in 1977 for christmas.
There's something about toys like that at a formative period in your development that means that small details seem to stick in your memory. I can even now remember the feel or the rotating spring that took the horizontal rotation of the shaft through 90 degrees to meet to the propeller blades, and which wobbled to a blur when the machine was running.
I seem to remember it didn't hurt much when you got hit by it, and you could trip over it repeatedly without breaking it, so it was very well designed for a typical 8 year old.
I didn't have the erector set, but plenty of lego. The technics stuff had come out and I built all sorts of stuff with it. I remember getting this http://technicopedia.com/853.html which was released in 1977 for christmas.
> My favorite "make stuff toys" of the 70's were my Erector set and Lego set
The Legos I had in the 70s did not have any mini figures (did they exist in the US at that time? None of my friends had any either) and there parts were only a few standard sizes as I recall (no small ones like today). I don’t even remember “kits” so much as “here’s a bunch of Legos, go build something” like another version of blocks of Lincoln Logs.
Did you actually have kits with build instructions that came with the kit?
The Legos I had in the 70s did not have any mini figures (did they exist in the US at that time? None of my friends had any either) and there parts were only a few standard sizes as I recall (no small ones like today). I don’t even remember “kits” so much as “here’s a bunch of Legos, go build something” like another version of blocks of Lincoln Logs.
Did you actually have kits with build instructions that came with the kit?
Girders and Panels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girder_and_Panel_building_sets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girder_and_Panel_building_sets
Just got that for my youngest a couple years ago, there is a modern version, not changed much. It's still fun.
I believe I saw small Legos kits as a kid in the 70s, but I certainly didn't have any of that. As you say, we had just a bucket of legos bricks.
What I really liked to do with them is to make all kinds of all-terrain trucks with lots of wheels and stuff. This was all just from imagination, and they I came up with fresh designs every time.
I really don't understand what people do these days, with kits that are supposed to be assembled just so. I mean, I get that people like to build scale models, but why not just do that? With lego, it's not going to look like the real thing anyway, so why not use it for your own expression?
What I really liked to do with them is to make all kinds of all-terrain trucks with lots of wheels and stuff. This was all just from imagination, and they I came up with fresh designs every time.
I really don't understand what people do these days, with kits that are supposed to be assembled just so. I mean, I get that people like to build scale models, but why not just do that? With lego, it's not going to look like the real thing anyway, so why not use it for your own expression?
Wikipedia says the modern "minifigure" appeared in 1978, with a simpler, more abstract precursor without movable limbs showing up in 1975.
Matches my experience - first kit I got with minifigs was the #575 coast guard station which various sites say was released in 1978.
Looks a bit dangerous haha: https://youtu.be/yIs8JLvz3Lk?t=181
I had a Verti-Bird as well. I was 4. My dad basically hogged the thing. I barely got to play with it, then it went into storage never to return.
So many memories I'm crying right now omg erector sets and vertibirds!
I remembered the JC Penny's and Toys R Us catalogs but forgot about the sears toys sections!
I remembered the JC Penny's and Toys R Us catalogs but forgot about the sears toys sections!
Yea, we had all the fun toys back then.
Creepy Crawlers, where you poured Goop(tm) in to metal molds, and cooked them into bugs and lizards and skulls and what not.
The Mattel Vacuform, which you could use to make plastic models. You heated up styrene sheets and folded them over molds. I think we had some army missile truck mold set. I think this toy was a bit advanced for us. Molding was easy, assembly -- not so much.
We also had the Hot Wheels Factory, which was an injection mold system to make rubber cars. It was nice because you could carve up the cars you made and feed them back in the machine and melt them back down.
Then there were the Erector Sets, Toggles, Legos, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs. We also had a zillion feet of Hot Wheels track. It didn't hurt living in El Segundo, with the Mattel factory store very nearby in Hawthorne.
My brother and I managed to make through our 5-10 years while maintaining all of our fingers, toes, limbs, and avoiding skin grafts. I think we did little damage to the floor (we always played on the floor, never on a table). We may have scorched a carpet here to there.
Yup, good times indeed!
All that said, kids changes, toys change. I remember buying some castle toy set for some friends young boys (4-6) for Christmas. It was a step up of from "Fisher Price" detail. Had horses and soldiers, and big castle.
I honestly have never seen anyone so excited to receive something (well, maybe my wife when I gave her that ring thing). They were just bouncing up and down. This was a hot ticket toy and I bumbled into. As a kid, I might have enjoyed something like that. We had our GI Joes and Major Matt Mason stuff. But, I don't think these kids were missing out much on not having toys that had open heating elements.
Creepy Crawlers, where you poured Goop(tm) in to metal molds, and cooked them into bugs and lizards and skulls and what not.
The Mattel Vacuform, which you could use to make plastic models. You heated up styrene sheets and folded them over molds. I think we had some army missile truck mold set. I think this toy was a bit advanced for us. Molding was easy, assembly -- not so much.
We also had the Hot Wheels Factory, which was an injection mold system to make rubber cars. It was nice because you could carve up the cars you made and feed them back in the machine and melt them back down.
Then there were the Erector Sets, Toggles, Legos, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs. We also had a zillion feet of Hot Wheels track. It didn't hurt living in El Segundo, with the Mattel factory store very nearby in Hawthorne.
My brother and I managed to make through our 5-10 years while maintaining all of our fingers, toes, limbs, and avoiding skin grafts. I think we did little damage to the floor (we always played on the floor, never on a table). We may have scorched a carpet here to there.
Yup, good times indeed!
All that said, kids changes, toys change. I remember buying some castle toy set for some friends young boys (4-6) for Christmas. It was a step up of from "Fisher Price" detail. Had horses and soldiers, and big castle.
I honestly have never seen anyone so excited to receive something (well, maybe my wife when I gave her that ring thing). They were just bouncing up and down. This was a hot ticket toy and I bumbled into. As a kid, I might have enjoyed something like that. We had our GI Joes and Major Matt Mason stuff. But, I don't think these kids were missing out much on not having toys that had open heating elements.
The best toy was those plastic rockets that you would fill with water, then attach a pump and pump them with air to absurdly high pressures before launching. The idea was to launch them vertically and they would land nearby, but if you launched them at a 45 degree angle they'd go over 100 yards. Absolutely insane.
One time, I did not heed the advice to not over-pump one of these. I was kneeling in the grass, pumping it up. I remember seeing it, then in the next moment, the rocket disappeared in an instant and everything went quiet. I realized it exploded, probably with a very loud noise, and it took me a few hours for sound to come back and the ringing to subside. Luckily I didn't lose an eye (though I did wear glasses, which probably helped).
Hah, for some reason I stood over one of these once and got a rocket in the eye. Fortunately I only got a few scratches... on my eyeball. I'm guessing it went off prematurely and wasn't near full pressure.
Still availible on amazon. I bought one last xmass. They also make adult-class versions with metal fittings to connect air compressors.
In USSR we didn't have much of all that, so we melted lead out of batteries and sea cables found at the dump and poured it into various hand shaped clay/sand molds thus making us toy cars, soldiers, etc. We didn't have guns, even airsoft weren't available, so we had to do it ourselves, and the first primitive fire handgun i made in the first grade. A bit later i made my first airsoft and crossbow. The explosives, handmade as well as various unexploded WWII munitions, was a fun period i went through in the 5th and 6th grade. That was the end of the toys period for me as other interests came in.
Melting lead in a can over a open coke fire: bliss!
We did learn you shouldn’t pour lead into an old bullet casing/cartridge: some residual gunpowder or primer blew molten lead everywhere. The splatters lasted on the roof until the house was sold much later. Christchurch, New Zealand, so not rural or nothing.
We did learn you shouldn’t pour lead into an old bullet casing/cartridge: some residual gunpowder or primer blew molten lead everywhere. The splatters lasted on the roof until the house was sold much later. Christchurch, New Zealand, so not rural or nothing.
Yup, I did the same - except instead of pouring them into molds, I'd pour them into a cup of water, making "jewelry" as the lead solidified into droplet shapes.
Never got into home-made explosives, as I'd moved to Texas by the time I was ten; we did try to make napalm and hydrogen, but never too successfully.
Never got into home-made explosives, as I'd moved to Texas by the time I was ten; we did try to make napalm and hydrogen, but never too successfully.
Was lead really so fun? It seems everyone was playing with it before it started being regulated.
While a little pricey, Bismuth is relatively safe and can be melted stove top.
Of course you can still by lead melting pots at some bait stores along with molds for heavy sinkers.
I wish I still had the molds I was given when I was a kid to make lead soldiers.
Lead is a kind of sweetspot - easily available, it is a metal at room temperature and has low melting temperature. Probably tin (less available) and aluminum (higher temperature) would be the close contenders.
Zinc? 420° Celsius. (Tin 232°)
Japanese Repairman #9 (from a wonderful series) shows a man restoring one of his own vegetable (Daikon?) graters: he resurfaces the copper with a molten metal, any idea which? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOeKoYW6EQ
Japanese Repairman #9 (from a wonderful series) shows a man restoring one of his own vegetable (Daikon?) graters: he resurfaces the copper with a molten metal, any idea which? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOeKoYW6EQ
That is ancient classic - it is naturally for bronze (copper + tin) to be resurfaced with tin.
Creepy Crawlers were the plastic-ey one. But then there were Incredible Edibles. Same idea but you could chow them down. Ghastly fluorescent flavors. Made of who the heck knows what.
Was talking about this with my friend's grandmother just last night.
Easy bake ovens even, so much fun!
Then one kids does something stupid and of course the parents blame and sue the companies and now here we are.
Caution small parts, don't put in mouth, hot, et al.
One idiot ruins it for the rest, as always =(
Im so glad to find these videos so I can show my kids what fun we used to have w/o cell phones =)
Easy bake ovens even, so much fun!
Then one kids does something stupid and of course the parents blame and sue the companies and now here we are.
Caution small parts, don't put in mouth, hot, et al.
One idiot ruins it for the rest, as always =(
Im so glad to find these videos so I can show my kids what fun we used to have w/o cell phones =)
Hundreds of kids got their hands lodged in Easy Bake Ovens, many got serious burns, and one child had part of a finger amputated. Hasbro still sells Easy Bake Ovens; they've just been redesigned so that your five year old doesn't have to be removed from it with a bone saw.
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2007/new-easy-bake-oven-recall-...
https://easybake.hasbro.com/en-us/product/easy-bake-ultimate...
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2007/new-easy-bake-oven-recall-...
https://easybake.hasbro.com/en-us/product/easy-bake-ultimate...
And kids 100 years ago lived handling guns from a young age and lived dangerously.
It gets worse the further back in time you go.
Aside from the stupid product that hurts people like 'The Cornballer', it's still stupid people doing and allowing stupid things that stops us all from having good things. All of society has to cater to the few stupid people every time.
Those were parent's fault for not teaching or supervising children.
We grew up with easy bake ovens, we knew the dangers. We also had the creepy crawler molds and ovens. We knew better than to eat playdoh, we knew not to ingest 'slime'. Yet still stupid people did it. Wasn't the product's fault.
It gets worse the further back in time you go.
Aside from the stupid product that hurts people like 'The Cornballer', it's still stupid people doing and allowing stupid things that stops us all from having good things. All of society has to cater to the few stupid people every time.
Those were parent's fault for not teaching or supervising children.
We grew up with easy bake ovens, we knew the dangers. We also had the creepy crawler molds and ovens. We knew better than to eat playdoh, we knew not to ingest 'slime'. Yet still stupid people did it. Wasn't the product's fault.
And how many adolescents and adults avoided later kitchen accidents because of childhood Easy Bake Oven accidents?
(Said as someone who stuck a paperclip in an electric socket as a child)
(Said as someone who stuck a paperclip in an electric socket as a child)
I don't know, how many?
Notably, US electric sockets have been redesigned so that children can't stick paperclips into them anymore. They've been required since 2008: https://www.esfi.org/what-is-a-tamper-resistant-receptacle/
But maybe they should've been left as-is so adolescents and adults wouldn't lick bare 220v wires.
Notably, US electric sockets have been redesigned so that children can't stick paperclips into them anymore. They've been required since 2008: https://www.esfi.org/what-is-a-tamper-resistant-receptacle/
But maybe they should've been left as-is so adolescents and adults wouldn't lick bare 220v wires.
> I don't know, how many?
More than 2,280 per year? At a cost of 12 child fatalities. [0]
And I'm aware of expanding electrical code requirements, every time I have to deal with a tamper-resistant outlet or AFCI over-exuberance with an unhappy motor. Or spill-proof gas can nozzles.
My point being -- there's a optimal balance between efficiency and safety, and it's not "zero accidents, ever."
And you quip, but getting a 120v pop as a kid certainly made me respect thoroughness in ensuring circuits and components are depowered before work and being extremely careful working on live wires.
Absent my "accident" I would not have had that caution, and the consequences working on subsequent higher-amp systems would have been more serious.
[0] https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/...
More than 2,280 per year? At a cost of 12 child fatalities. [0]
And I'm aware of expanding electrical code requirements, every time I have to deal with a tamper-resistant outlet or AFCI over-exuberance with an unhappy motor. Or spill-proof gas can nozzles.
My point being -- there's a optimal balance between efficiency and safety, and it's not "zero accidents, ever."
And you quip, but getting a 120v pop as a kid certainly made me respect thoroughness in ensuring circuits and components are depowered before work and being extremely careful working on live wires.
Absent my "accident" I would not have had that caution, and the consequences working on subsequent higher-amp systems would have been more serious.
[0] https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/...
I used to love my https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_Armstrong
> I remember buying some castle toy set for some friends young boys (4-6) for Christmas. It was a step up of from "Fisher Price" detail. Had horses and soldiers, and big castle.
Was it Schleich, by any chance?
Was it Schleich, by any chance?
Modern version, via Dremel or similar rotary tool, https://makezine.com/2015/04/30/turn-dremel-tool-plastic-wel... & https://makezine.com/projects/skill-builder-finishing-and-po...
Another interesting demo on Hackaday: https://hackaday.com/2012/12/31/make-your-own-plastic-fricti...
[deleted]
There were some very weird toys in the 70s. I recall an actual injection molder (not the "Thingmaker", that was just heating thermoplastic) that could be used to make small soldiers that smelled vaguely of dog excrement. It had a hopper that you filled with pellets of some kind of polymer, and a plunger that injected melted polymer into a mold. I coveted this one. I haven't been able to find anything on this one, due to information camouflage: all I can google up is references to injection molded toys, and companies that do injection molding. The toy I'm remembering had you doing the injection molding yourself.
There was also the Mattel Strange Change: https://flashbak.com/youll-burn-your-fingers-remembering-mat...
Just like the "Thingmaker", everyone burned themselves on this one.
There was also the Mattel Strange Change: https://flashbak.com/youll-burn-your-fingers-remembering-mat...
Just like the "Thingmaker", everyone burned themselves on this one.
> information camouflage
Ooh, a term for a relatable problem, apparently coined yesterday by this blog post, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32241020
"when piece of information A has a name similar to another, very different, much more popular piece B. This makes searching for A difficult because you always get results for B instead."
(Wow, Yandex was what found the HN submission, not Bing or Google, in whose results it was ironically camouflaged by other consecutive uses of the two words)
Ooh, a term for a relatable problem, apparently coined yesterday by this blog post, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32241020
"when piece of information A has a name similar to another, very different, much more popular piece B. This makes searching for A difficult because you always get results for B instead."
(Wow, Yandex was what found the HN submission, not Bing or Google, in whose results it was ironically camouflaged by other consecutive uses of the two words)
Toys with similar functionality to the Strange Change exist today, only they're made from polymers that expand upon absorbing water. Some are packaged in literal capsules - the pharmaceutical kind.
https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/05p85hp
https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/05p85hp
Close, but the Strange Change machine had a vise. You'd reheat the monster until it was rubbery, then cram it into the vise and squeeze it back into a square lozenge. Let it cool, and it stayed a square. They only lasted maybe 5 cycles before they didn't keep the square shape.
I'd love to know what that injection molding toy was if you ever figure it out. There's still a Crayola crayon maker toy which forms molds from heated crayon wax. Not as intense as actual injection molding though
https://www.amazon.com/Crayola-03-9000-Crayon-Maker/dp/B0029...
https://www.amazon.com/Crayola-03-9000-Crayon-Maker/dp/B0029...
Looks cool, but I can't help thinking about how the plasticizers in stuff like that helped reduce male fertility to the 50% we see today compared to the 70's (yes, I know, we sit around all day too, and there are many more causes, just saying perhaps there is a reason this is not distributed like this anymore).
The 90s had something similar (but made to 90s safety standards so a little more boring).
It was centipedes and the like made out of a rubbery material that you melted into moulds.
It was centipedes and the like made out of a rubbery material that you melted into moulds.
My search led right to this discussion:
https://ask.metafilter.com/114668/vintage-injection-molding-...
The Kenner Electric Mold Master sounds like what you remember.
The Kenner Electric Mold Master sounds like what you remember.
I think that's what I remember based on the illustration of the kid working the injector. I vaguely recall that the soldiers could be made with a wire skeleton, making them posable. Smelled moderately bad.
I got one of these as a kid and used the crap out of it!
I was that kid who wanted toys that did actual stuff. This toy was one of those. Kept it for years to fix that odd plastic problem. When I ran out of the little rods, I remember trying every polymer I could find, until I found some little sticks that worked in a similar way.
I was that kid who wanted toys that did actual stuff. This toy was one of those. Kept it for years to fix that odd plastic problem. When I ran out of the little rods, I remember trying every polymer I could find, until I found some little sticks that worked in a similar way.
Since we're talking about cool toys from back in the day, let me ask if anybody can help me with something. I had a cool toy back in the late 70's, early 80's, and I'd occasionally like to mention it or refer to it (or maybe even indulge nostalgia and try to find one on ebay to buy) but I can't remember what it was called.
Does anybody remember something like this: a wheeled toy that I vaguely recall had stylings something like a tank or an APC or something - or maybe one of those weird vehicles from Damnation Alley[1] - but with a bunch of buttons on top with numbers and directional arrows. You could "program" the thing to roam around on its own by pushing a sequence of directional arrows and numbers. It was something like "Go forward 5 units, turn left, go 4 units", etc. I don't even know now what distance units it used, or if the speed was programmable. Once you programmed it there was a "Go" button that would send it off on its little adventure crawling around the living room (and promptly getting stuck under the TV stand or something, but that's neither here nor there).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation_Alley_(film)
Does anybody remember something like this: a wheeled toy that I vaguely recall had stylings something like a tank or an APC or something - or maybe one of those weird vehicles from Damnation Alley[1] - but with a bunch of buttons on top with numbers and directional arrows. You could "program" the thing to roam around on its own by pushing a sequence of directional arrows and numbers. It was something like "Go forward 5 units, turn left, go 4 units", etc. I don't even know now what distance units it used, or if the speed was programmable. Once you programmed it there was a "Go" button that would send it off on its little adventure crawling around the living room (and promptly getting stuck under the TV stand or something, but that's neither here nor there).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation_Alley_(film)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak ?
edit: oh boy, relevant patents are expired, there's a hacker community and everything. This looks like a delightful rabbit hole.
edit: oh boy, relevant patents are expired, there's a hacker community and everything. This looks like a delightful rabbit hole.
Hah! Yes, that's it. Thank you!
oh boy, relevant patents are expired, there's a hacker community and everything.
It would be fun to build a modern version of this, with an Arduino or Rpi or something providing the "brains", and with some input sensors (ultrasonic distance sensor, camera, etc). But instead of just having the input buttons on top, you could also program it over the network (or USB) using a real programming language.
I guess that wouldn't be much different though, than some of the other low-end experimental robotics platforms that are out there?
oh boy, relevant patents are expired, there's a hacker community and everything.
It would be fun to build a modern version of this, with an Arduino or Rpi or something providing the "brains", and with some input sensors (ultrasonic distance sensor, camera, etc). But instead of just having the input buttons on top, you could also program it over the network (or USB) using a real programming language.
I guess that wouldn't be much different though, than some of the other low-end experimental robotics platforms that are out there?
Today there are the Programming Journey Robots from Terrapin. My spouse uses the simplest, the Bee-Bot, in her kindergarten classroom. She wrote a grant to get about 15 of them. They use Terrapin's Logo and are much loved by her students.
https://www.terrapinlogo.com/products/robots.html
https://www.terrapinlogo.com/products/robots.html
[deleted]
J Bull Electrical in England used to sell "Big Trak Gearboxes", the little plastic gearboxes with two motors, for a few pounds for *years*. For all I know they still do. Their website is as full of bizarre stuff as their magazine ads used to be - from random bags of components to Sinclair C5 motors to the aforementioned gearboxes to Chinese Army air rifles which were so powerful you needed a firearms cert for them even back in the comparatively lax 1980s!
I'm glad to see they're still on the go. Their adverts in Wireless World and Television were a great source of wonder for my geeky friends and I when I was at school some 30-odd years ago, and finding they're still as batshit as ever has cheered me up no end.
Now I wonder if Display Electronics ever shifted those 9" bare chassis Microvitec colour monitors from National Air Traffic Control, or indeed their deactivated heat-seeking missiles?
I'm glad to see they're still on the go. Their adverts in Wireless World and Television were a great source of wonder for my geeky friends and I when I was at school some 30-odd years ago, and finding they're still as batshit as ever has cheered me up no end.
Now I wonder if Display Electronics ever shifted those 9" bare chassis Microvitec colour monitors from National Air Traffic Control, or indeed their deactivated heat-seeking missiles?
Is this the same place?
https://www.bullybeef.co.uk/
If so, they remind me a bit of outfits like American Science & Surplus, or Electronics Goldmine. Real eclectic collection of bizarre and weird stuff. :-)
https://www.bullybeef.co.uk/
If so, they remind me a bit of outfits like American Science & Surplus, or Electronics Goldmine. Real eclectic collection of bizarre and weird stuff. :-)
The Contents sidebar has a category for "CARNIVEROUS".
Edit: Also "NUCLEAR", "PUB GAMES", "RADIOSONDE", and of course "FART BOMBS".
Curse you GP, for another rabbit hole.
Edit edit: Oh and "TRUTH".
Edit3: One more and I'll stop: "water resistant alarm chrono digital watches with built in refillable gas lighter!"
Edit: Also "NUCLEAR", "PUB GAMES", "RADIOSONDE", and of course "FART BOMBS".
Curse you GP, for another rabbit hole.
Edit edit: Oh and "TRUTH".
Edit3: One more and I'll stop: "water resistant alarm chrono digital watches with built in refillable gas lighter!"
That's the one. Mad, isn't it? They used to take out full-page ads with their surplus electronics and air rifles and bike tyres and ghods alone know what else.
I got one of these a few months back at a vintage store for $15. The owner couldn't pay me to take it off his hands — he reduced the price from $20 as soon as I expressed interest.
It works wonderfully! Once I rounded up a ton of D-cell batteries...
It has the pull-behind trailer, which is a genius design. The hitch pin is also a TRS plug which transfers the signal from the tank to dump the trailer. It also allows the tank to do a complete 360 while towing, since the hitch reaches out and over, then down, to the center of the tank.
The whole thing is just a brilliant piece of engineering and represents, as far as I can tell, the first fairly affordable "AI" home toy.
Pic of it on my shelf: https://imgur.com/a/5JLoXoJ
It works wonderfully! Once I rounded up a ton of D-cell batteries...
It has the pull-behind trailer, which is a genius design. The hitch pin is also a TRS plug which transfers the signal from the tank to dump the trailer. It also allows the tank to do a complete 360 while towing, since the hitch reaches out and over, then down, to the center of the tank.
The whole thing is just a brilliant piece of engineering and represents, as far as I can tell, the first fairly affordable "AI" home toy.
Pic of it on my shelf: https://imgur.com/a/5JLoXoJ
> Does anybody remember something like this
This? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak
This? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak
Nailed it, thanks!
Big Trak? That's the big one I recall.
I think there was a knock-off one that was vaguely similar.
I think there was a knock-off one that was vaguely similar.
That's the one. Man, I loved that thing back in the day. :-)
You can buy actual welding equipment and a angle grinder on eBay. There are YouTube videos to learn the basics.
The caveat is that you need a lot of protection to not harm/kill yourself:
- Eye-Protection so the welder doesn't burn out your eyes
- Long clothes so you don't get irradiated/sunburn from the welder
- Welding gloves so sparks don't burn into your skin
- Protective Glasses in case the disc of the angle grinder explodes
- Ear protection because the angle grinder is loud enough to permanently damage your ears
Aside from that, its an awesome toy and allows you to fix quite some things. And other people automatically assume you are doing serious work, even when you are just fucking around.
Its not suitable for kids in case you were looking for that.
The caveat is that you need a lot of protection to not harm/kill yourself:
- Eye-Protection so the welder doesn't burn out your eyes
- Long clothes so you don't get irradiated/sunburn from the welder
- Welding gloves so sparks don't burn into your skin
- Protective Glasses in case the disc of the angle grinder explodes
- Ear protection because the angle grinder is loud enough to permanently damage your ears
Aside from that, its an awesome toy and allows you to fix quite some things. And other people automatically assume you are doing serious work, even when you are just fucking around.
Its not suitable for kids in case you were looking for that.
And ventilation (I was told this contributed to Steve Mc Queen's early death).
I had an angle grinder disc shatter on me and one piece took a huge gouge out of a wooden toolbox I had built. I am afraid of angle grinders now.
I had an angle grinder disc shatter on me and one piece took a huge gouge out of a wooden toolbox I had built. I am afraid of angle grinders now.
Another one of the most deceptively dangerous tools is the humble router.
Basically anything that spins at a high RPM is one loose t-shirt away from strangling you and embedding itself into your fleshy bits.
Basically anything that spins at a high RPM is one loose t-shirt away from strangling you and embedding itself into your fleshy bits.
Also the humble rotary (Dremel style) tool. I was doing some work with mine yesterday and - in a moment of complacency - actually had the tool bit make contact with the surface I was working on for a second or two before I realized "shit, I'm not wearing safety glasses." I shut it down and grabbed my safety glasses pronto. I'm not exactly a "safety nazi" on this stuff, but some things just make too much sense to not do. And even a rotary tool can send shards slamming into your eyes or something that could cost you your vision. :-(
It's always worth 15 seconds of time to find and put on the safety glasses for a lifetime of having both working eyes. I'd ruminate over "if I had just found my safety glasses" for the rest of my life if something flew off what I was working on and destroyed one of my eyes.
Same with ear protection. It's not worth being deaf (or even partially deaf) to get a job done 15 seconds faster.
Same with ear protection. It's not worth being deaf (or even partially deaf) to get a job done 15 seconds faster.
A buddy has a wood shop and one time after a router spun down, one of the bits had gone missing. Undoubtedly lodged in a wood roofing element somewhere, but at least it did not go thru anyone.
Absolutely! I snapped a router bit off by being a bit too aggressive in the engineering shop at university. I'm still thankful it didn't injure any of the several other people in the room; it could have been very damaging coming off at a different angle.
Yeah, a full faceshield is definitely advisable when using grinders. Powerful tools not to be taken lightly.
Learn to braze first and you may never need to make the investment of time/money/(right hand) learning to weld.
Brazing is more flexible, requires less expensive, less complex gear and considerably less training.
Brazing is more flexible, requires less expensive, less complex gear and considerably less training.
What heat source do you use for your brazing? The only brazing I've ever done was with an oxy-acetylene torch, which isn't the most convenient thing in the world to work with. Mostly the part about needing an industrial welding supply place or something to rent bottles from.
MIG welding with a self-feeding wire welder can also be a little bit easier in the sense of not requiring combined dexterity between both hands simultaneously, which is something that doesn't come naturally to everybody. That said, if one can learn to solder, they can probably learn to braze.
MIG welding with a self-feeding wire welder can also be a little bit easier in the sense of not requiring combined dexterity between both hands simultaneously, which is something that doesn't come naturally to everybody. That said, if one can learn to solder, they can probably learn to braze.
Depends what you're brazing. You can do a lot with just a propane torch, or air-propane, with the right shaped pile of insulating firebrick to keep the heat in the workpiece. I've only ever propane brazed; I don't think many people do oxy acetylene at home any more.
I am not an expert, but I seem to remember welders have higher power requirements than other tools and home appliances, with a specialized socket (the voltages and plug shapes seem to vary from region to region - these ones tend to have 3 pins instead of the "usual" two). You might already have such an outlet if you have used other heavy duty tools in your garage, but most people don't.
Im german, so the 3 pin socket is already the default. You can't do many things without protective earthing.
Yeah, yeah. And so do the British. That is why I used quotes. Socket shapes and characteristics change with geography. You might still need a socket that looks different than the "usual wall sockets that you find at home" for powering a welder.
You can't run much welder on the ordinary British 13 amp plug, usually need the next size up which is much less common.
Friction stir welding is still a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUyLHQxRHKo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUyLHQxRHKo
Another one that I found more informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euO-LIkew8o
Famously used by SpaceX to weld (some parts of) their rockets together without having heat affecting the strength of the material.
Not really a "SpaceX" thing - it's been used on the Space Shuttle and many spacecraft since then. Also boats, cars, planes, etc. Heck, iMacs have used it since 2012.
You are entirely right of course, I didn't mean that it was a SpaceX-exclusive process or anything. It's just where I heard about it first and I would bet it is the most high-profile application currently in use. :)
I was a 90's kid and got whatever the 90's version of this was called. It had a long "welding stick" that I'd wear down past nub to get the max out of.
To this day, the melting plastic smell gives me nostalgia vibes... Probably not the healthiest in hindsight.
To this day, the melting plastic smell gives me nostalgia vibes... Probably not the healthiest in hindsight.
My No. 6-1/2 Gilbert Erector set. Got it for Hanukkah about 62 years ago. The smallest set that still had the full electric engine, a plug-in motor with a gearbox fully assembled to it.
Things were more relaxed back then.
This is really well worth seeing, pharao's serpent <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQdK7gaZS0k>. Some of it even looks like CGI but it's not.
Pharao's serpent when lit gives of vapours of metallic (elemental) mercury. In some youtube vids you can even see some of it condensing on the glass of the enclosure.
You could buy this stuff over the counter at joke shops back then and I did. The instructions said "windows and doors should be opened wide". People complain about health and safety regs now, but...
Edit: seriously, if you've never seen this before, watch the vid
This is really well worth seeing, pharao's serpent <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQdK7gaZS0k>. Some of it even looks like CGI but it's not.
Pharao's serpent when lit gives of vapours of metallic (elemental) mercury. In some youtube vids you can even see some of it condensing on the glass of the enclosure.
You could buy this stuff over the counter at joke shops back then and I did. The instructions said "windows and doors should be opened wide". People complain about health and safety regs now, but...
Edit: seriously, if you've never seen this before, watch the vid
I'm a bit disappointed in myself for how long I spent watching that video thinking "this looks a lot like a NileRed video" before realizing that yes, it is in fact NileRed
That is a cool toy. The 70s had some great toys. But IMO the coolest 70s Christmas gifts were video game consoles and early home computers.
I've used this premise along with a small piece of 3d printer filament in a rotary tool to weld plastic parts together. It works!
I also had one of these. I think I completed one of the designs included in the kit, but it broke apart relatively quickly. As alluded to in the article, it was relatively easy to make a surface weld that didn't penetrate far into those little black plastic I-beams from the kit. From what I recall, the "welding rods" in the kit were the same ABS plastic that the I-beams were. I've got to wonder if a slightly harder plastic (or with a higher melting point) for the rods themselves would have worked better.
Years later, I built another dragster from the Lego Technic 853 Car Chassis and the steering from the 854 Go-Kart.
Years later, I built another dragster from the Lego Technic 853 Car Chassis and the steering from the 854 Go-Kart.
I grew up during the 70's and was an avid reader of the toy section of the Sear's catalog (until they stopped sending them for free) but somehow I never heard of this kind of toy.
> would spin the rivet to about 11,000,343 RPM
I just checked with the datasheet of a current commercial spin welder.[0] The rpm's given on the datasheet are 500 to 2500. I think the author might have slightly exaggerated the capabilities of their 1970s toy for effect.
[0] https://www.sonics.com/site/assets/files/2949/spin-welder.pd...
I just checked with the datasheet of a current commercial spin welder.[0] The rpm's given on the datasheet are 500 to 2500. I think the author might have slightly exaggerated the capabilities of their 1970s toy for effect.
[0] https://www.sonics.com/site/assets/files/2949/spin-welder.pd...
Maybe those are European decimal commas?
I mean... it's a ludicrous number with artificial specificity so I just interpreted it as a kazillion.
I doubt the motor was capable of 1000rpm and it certainly wouldn't be necessary.
I doubt the motor was capable of 1000rpm and it certainly wouldn't be necessary.
Based on the size and shape of the tool I'm guessing it's a brushed DC motor, which in that size can easily achieve several kRPM --- unloaded, that is. When it's actually being used to do the work of melting the plastic, probably below 1kRPM.
If they were decimal commas there would only be one of them, same as with decimal dots.
In other words, I agree with your kazillion interpretation…
In other words, I agree with your kazillion interpretation…
My brother won some kind of contest from Mattel in the 70's and got a GIANT 8' stocking full of Mattel products. It contained the Spinwelder, which was incredible.
It also included the Vertibird helicopter (mentioned in another thread), Big Jim Ski Jump and also the Big Jim sky commander play set, SSP smash up derby, a couple of barbie things that went to my sister and a bunch of other stuff I forget.
It was the most awesome Christmas imaginable for an 8 year old and a 10 year old.
It also included the Vertibird helicopter (mentioned in another thread), Big Jim Ski Jump and also the Big Jim sky commander play set, SSP smash up derby, a couple of barbie things that went to my sister and a bunch of other stuff I forget.
It was the most awesome Christmas imaginable for an 8 year old and a 10 year old.
For grown ups, get yourself a 110V MIG welder and just start sticking metal together. It is a surprisingly fun and accessible hobby with tremendous practical applications.
It can be a huge pain if you don't have a source of known alloy pieces, though. When you don't know what material you have finding the middle ground between something that's barely held together and blowing holes in it can be surprisingly difficult as an amateur.
if you don't have a source of known alloy pieces
If you happen to have a high-school or community college nearby with a welding program, it would probably be productive to ask one of the instructors there where they source their practice material. When I was in high-school I think most of ours came from Horton Iron & Metal[1], the local scrap metal recycling firm. Probably many areas have something similar?
[1]: https://www.hortoniron.com/
If you happen to have a high-school or community college nearby with a welding program, it would probably be productive to ask one of the instructors there where they source their practice material. When I was in high-school I think most of ours came from Horton Iron & Metal[1], the local scrap metal recycling firm. Probably many areas have something similar?
[1]: https://www.hortoniron.com/
Any big box hardware store has a handful of steel sheet and L-sections, and a store called "Metal Supermarkets" is pretty common throughout North America which will stock anything a hobbyist welder could dream of, order whatever they don't have, cut to length, etc. There's cheaper, better sources but they are not always accessible to a walk-in shopper with a hand sketch.
For practice, most welding suppliers/metal shops have a bin full of mild steel scraps and cut-offs that they may even let you have for free. (The one I went to even gave me a box for them.)
Don't weld anything with chromium in/on it, it'll kill you!
Well… yeah, do your research, it has non-trivial dangers to it. :) Definitely start with mild steel and or aluminum. Stainless steel is something you would graduate to with correct PPE (fume extractors, adequate respirators, etc.)
It's much safer for everyone if you lead with metaphorical truth, let them find the details later. Humans are horrible at estimating danger. It's much better to be precautious.
All guns are loaded --- metaphorically true (I.E. you live longer if you act like it's always true)
All guns are loaded --- metaphorically true (I.E. you live longer if you act like it's always true)
[deleted]
Kinda wish I could load the page to see what this is, but apparently there's enough dodgy trackers on there that the page completely fails if you have them blocked.
Here is a YouTube Link to the commercial which was embedded in the post. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWpcwnR2YA
Neat, I have seen people doing something similar with a rotary tool and a straight length of 3D printing stock.
I don't really remember this, although I'm about the same age as the author. I do remember Riviton, which was similar but had reusable rubber rivets that you stretched lengthwise with the "riveting" tool, then released, whereupon the rivet would return to its original width, holding the bond in place until removed with the same tool.
Unfortunately the rivets turned out to be a choking hazard (two children died) and it was recalled (though I kept my set):
https://toytales.ca/riviton-from-parker-brothers-1977/
Unfortunately the rivets turned out to be a choking hazard (two children died) and it was recalled (though I kept my set):
https://toytales.ca/riviton-from-parker-brothers-1977/
I get nostalgic for some of the toys I had during the late 70s and 80s too, but really, I am super jealous, if that's the right word, of my kids for the toys available to them. Toys today are superior in nearly every way to toys from my childhood.
I would have KILLED for some of the robotics and electronics kits that are widespread today.
I would have KILLED for some of the robotics and electronics kits that are widespread today.
On the other hand, chemistry sets of the 1970's were pretty great.
I had an A.C. Gilbert set. It had a lump of sulfur that I lit with a match, and then leaned over and took a big snork. OUCH! I learned respect for unknown chemical phenomena.
Yes indeed! The skilcraft chemistry set, The world book encyclopedia, the cool aunt who would by me Saltpeter and sulfur from the drug store. It was fun making my own black powder at age 12!
Had one. It's a toss-up whether I burned myself more with that, or with the woodburner kit.
The toy I got the most out of was a giant set of tinker toys. The were solid enough to be the structure for blanket forts. They were hollow, so we would use them in our sandbox as pipes between the water features.
Brings back pleasant memories. I certainly loved the one I had as a child. I can still smell the _almost_ burning plastic that the device created in operation.
Still a pretty common technique if you need to weld together a couple 3D printed PLA pieces, since there isn't really a great glue for that purpose.
Trying to spinweld two prints together seems like a huge pain when you could just get a $35 3D-pen and load your filament into it.
Epoxy
CA won't glue PLA?
Cyanoacrylate works on PLA, but PLA is notably not amenable to solvent welding or smoothing with household supplies compared to the ease with which ABS/ASA (acetone) or PVB (isopropyl alcohol) pieces can be fused together.
It is marginally possible to fuse pieces of PLA together using ethyl acetate (sold to consumers as "acetone-free nail polish remover" or "MEK substitute"), but this is not nearly as accessible, effective, or reliable compared to other plastics.
It is marginally possible to fuse pieces of PLA together using ethyl acetate (sold to consumers as "acetone-free nail polish remover" or "MEK substitute"), but this is not nearly as accessible, effective, or reliable compared to other plastics.
I've always had pretty mixed luck with cyanoacrylate. It kinda works, but it's never very strong on PLA. Doesn't hold up nearly as well as a welded connection.
I had one of these! Have not thought about it much since then, before today.
11,000,343 RPM is a lot!
I was gonna ask... is that for real? How does it spin up to 11 MILLION RPM? That seems crazy.
It's a joke. The sig figs at the end is a clue, along with complete physical implausibility.
((1 mm)^2) * 1 gram * (((183 339 * 2 * pi) / second)^2) = 1 326.99551 joules
It would have 1300J of rotational energy if there was only 1 gram of spinning mass at 1 mm distance.
((1 mm)^2) * 1 gram * (((183 339 * 2 * pi) / second)^2) = 1 326.99551 joules
It would have 1300J of rotational energy if there was only 1 gram of spinning mass at 1 mm distance.
Not just the sigfigs, the juxtaposition of the word "about" with the excessive sigfigs. Combining a word indicating imprecision with excessive sigfigs is a very common American idiom to convey exaggeration. (Probably other places too, but I don't have firsthand experience with them.)
Richt, that needs further investiagation, Almost seems to be made up by the author.
Normal rpm's for a spin welder are <3000.
Datasheet: https://www.sonics.com/site/assets/files/2949/spin-welder.pd...
Datasheet: https://www.sonics.com/site/assets/files/2949/spin-welder.pd...
why doesn't an even better version of that exist now?
http://www.timepassagesnostalgia.com/&searchkeywords=vertibi...
Like any good helicopter toy I was unable to fly it when I first woke up on Christmas and shoved the batteries in. You actually had to control the lift (not a collective but speed control on the rotor) and the pitch. Too much pitch and you lose lift so had to compensate with extra lift.
By the New Years I was flying like a pro, swinging around and pulling back on the pitch to reverse thrust and stop over a dime....
My favorite "make stuff toys" of the 70's were my Erector set and Lego set of course.
But then I also had this trippy Buckminster-Fuller-meets-Light-Bright building toy called an Astrolite:
https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/01/16/vintage-toy-fun-astroli...