The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Engineering the engine combustion process

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Engine manufacturers have a lot on their plate these days. They need to design engines for higher mileage, better performance, lower emissions and possibly multi fuel capability as well. Fuel itself needs to be designed to work toward those same goals. After you've tried all of those late night TV additives and gadgets, what do you do? A lot of the major companies are asking … [Read more...]

Lasers used for reverse engineering old parts

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Several times in the past we've discussed the idea of Fab labs where someone builds a solid object from a CAD file on a computer, 3D printers build up the digital bits into the real world piece. There are also companies who recreate old pieces for restoration and once they've made a piece, they can build many more for anyone else that needs one. If the file is in a computer, … [Read more...]

Sustainable Abiotic Oil vs Peak Oil

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Got a tip from a friend of mine, (Thanks, Eric!), with some interesting info about synthetic oil. Along with that info was a link to the idea of abiotic oil. In all of the hoopla about oil reserves and peak oil and what comes next, I had never run across this idea before which is that oil is generated by natural processes in the earth's magma, not by deteriorating fossilized … [Read more...]

More miles per gallon with Clap

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With gas prices right up there these days, be prepared to find lots of fuel additives showing up at the parts store and late night TV. A new additive, Clap, (yeah, great name) will give your engine the mileage boost you're looking for. What's really great about Clap (did I say that?) is that it's made from really tiny particles of ground up rock, a mineral called … [Read more...]

Ghostrider fails to qualify for DARPA Grand Challenge

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The finalists have been announced for the DARPA Grand Challenge and The Kneeslider's sentimental favorite, Ghostrider, failed to make the main event. We already noted it was having a hard time. The finalists in alphabetical order are: Axion Racing (Westlake Village, Calif.), Team Cajunbot (Lafayette, La.), Team CalTech (Pasadena, Calif.), CIMAR (Gainesville, Fla.), Team … [Read more...]

Ghostrider struggling in DARPA qualifying

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Ghostrider, the riderless motorcycle built to take on the DARPA challenge has to make it through qualifying if it's going to run in the actual competition. So far, things have been a bit tough. The Blue Team's autonomous motorcycle "GhostRider" has always been an underdog at the Grand Challenge as no one expects a two-wheeled vehicle to successfully compete against SUVs, … [Read more...]