“Economical” bicycle drive

Economical bicycle drive with inertial mechanism — no dead points

Almost all bicycle drive designs share a common drawback that reduces their efficiency. This drawback is the uneconomical expenditure of muscular energy when shifting effort from one leg to the other as the pedals pass through the “dead points” (vertical position of the cranks). Most of the muscular effort at that moment is directed toward Read more…

Kursk kart

Fig. 1. General view (layout drawing of the kart)

The kart design (Fig. 1) has no complex units requiring high qualifications of performers and can be replicated in technical clubs of schools or at young technicians’ stations that have a lathe and gas welding. The kart construction must be carried out in a certain sequence. First, the front and rear axles are manufactured, and Read more…

Pneumatic vehicle “Losharik”

DIY Air-Cushion Vehicle Losharik: Build Guide

Once upon a time, there was a popular TV show “You Can Do It” where craftsmen talked about the designs they had created. Perhaps it was there that information about air-cushion vehicles first appeared. And publications in the “Modelist-Konstruktor” magazine pushed many enthusiasts, including ours from Angarsk (mainly amateur fishermen), to build such machines with Read more…

Skis or a catamaran?

Design of a self-propelled float

The watercraft we would like to introduce to readers can quite rightly be classed as a small vessel. After all, what else would you call a pair of versatile self-propelled floats that can easily be used both as water skis and as a two-seater pleasure catamaran. As can be seen from the drawings, each float Read more…

Adjustable table

How to Make Adjustable Height Children's Table: Complete DIY

It’s good if a child has their own table for games and activities. But it would be even better if the table always matched the child’s age, or more precisely — their height. The table design proposed by the Hungarian magazine «Eszermester» allows you to adjust its height. This is achieved by making the legs Read more…

Bath grate

DIY Bathtub Grid: How to Make Wooden Bath Mat Yourself

Over the twenty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, we have become accustomed to running to the store for ready-made products at the slightest thing. The managers who appeared in the country in huge numbers, absorbed by the thirst for profit, today don’t even know how to hold a hammer. This is also Read more…

Opposed engine — beyond competition!

DD-700/40: Two-Cylinder Engine for Ultralight Aircraft

This two-cylinder engine, designated DD-700/40, was designed and built by Georgy Dorfman, head of the public design bureau “Aerosam”. The motor turned out to be exceptionally successful: reliable, relatively simple, and quite lightweight. The motor was exhibited at the IV All-Union Review-Competition SLA-87 and was approved by the technical commission of the rally. To date, Read more…

A copy? Not only!..

DIY Gasoline-Powered Soil Tiller Guide

The prototype of the gasoline-powered tiller built by students of the Moscow region school of the “Gorki Leninskie” state farm was based on a machine of the same purpose produced by one of the Latvian factories. It is designed for soil preparation for sowing and planting and for tilling soil in the inter-rows of forest Read more…