If you have a pile of old motorcycle parts, some tubing, an old steel drum, the seat from a junk car, you might think it's time to get it all hauled away, so you can get serious about building your next project, right? But wait, why not upcycle this junk and turn it into parts? Professor Pardal in Brazil did exactly that, he looked at all of this and saw a steam powered trike … [Read more...]
Dennis Franz Builds a V8 Motorcycle with a Glorious Soundtrack
We first wrote about Dennis Franz way back in 2010 and again in 2013. His V8 engines were amazing little builds, but he's come a long way since then. I hadn't been watching him for years and while I was looking at another engine on the web I came across a later build, though it's several years old, as well. The sound of a Vmax with a good exhaust is often compared to a small … [Read more...]
Liberty Motors Has a Brand New Website for the New ACE
Pete Larsen's new ACE has a new home on the interwebs at LibertyMotors.us. As we noted before, he was so busy designing and building the new ACE, putting a website together had to wait, and after a previous promise fell through, he took matters into his own hands and built it himself and I have to say, he did a really nice job. For those of you who want a bit more detail … [Read more...]
Pete Larsen’s New Liberty ACE Combines Art and Engineering with Retro Racer Style
The new Liberty ACE is one of those projects that makes you stop and stare and then smile and the story of its origins is fascinating, giving us some real insight into what's involved when someone has a picture in his mind and decides to build it. After completing 13 of his original Liberty ACE Cycle Cars, what Pete Larsen considered a modern update to the Morgan 3 … [Read more...]
Projects Not Credentials, Do It to Prove It
You don't need permission to learn You can learn anything you want, starting today. If you want to learn how to do advanced mathematics, TIG weld aluminum, create complicated CAD drawings, do computer programming, 3D print a complex piece of your own design, or anything else you don't yet know how to do, you can start immediately, no permission necessary, no application … [Read more...]
Marvelous Magnetic Machines – Building Model Electric Motors From Scrap
The weather is cold or wet or it's late and all you want to do is tinker with a small project on your workbench. You turn on some tunes low in the background, spread out a few tools, maybe a cold adult beverage off to the side and you have some parts of various types sitting on the bench in front of you. You slide your stool over and sit yourself down, and with the light … [Read more...]