Explosions and fires caused by gas leaks are, unfortunately, not uncommon. While giving due credit to the work of administrative bodies and emergency services, radio amateur designers can also do something themselves to minimize this danger. However, in the field of gas monitoring there are almost no simple, reproducible devices, or they are unreasonably expensive. Read more…
Of the family of micro-tractors developed by students at the Kharkiv Institute of Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture, the simplest and most accessible for DIY construction is the walk-behind tractor “Malysh” (KHIMESKh-2): it makes maximum use of units and parts from industrially produced machinery. This is a compact two-wheeled machine controlled by an operator walking Read more…
In “M-K” No. 4 for 1982, an article was published about the young technicians club at housing management office No. 8 in the city of Vitebsk, and about the amusing and useful machines created by its members. Among the most original devices mentioned was the mechanical sweeper MPM-1. It was conceived as a means of Read more…
Anyone who reads the description of the electrolyzer I developed will be convinced that a few liters of water are enough to obtain a high-temperature flame (200° C). The high flame temperature makes it possible to solder ferrous and non-ferrous metals with practically any refractory solders, or with the metal itself (welding). The high concentration Read more…
At first glance, these are just trifles that mean nothing. In fact, much in our lives (if not everything) is decided by them — though in different ways, depending on what kind of trifles they are. Some, for example, may affect no more than a person’s mood, while others can even change the fate of Read more…
By August 1914 the British Empire was bound by alliance treaties to France and Russia, yet after those countries entered the war against Germany it remained neutral for several more days. His Majesty’s Government needed a “worthy” pretext for declaring war, and it did not take long to find one. The Germans violated the neutrality Read more…
More and more people enjoy spending their weekends in nature or at their country houses. The evidence is the sadly scorched patches of ground left by campfires where tourists or dacha owners baked potatoes or grilled shish kebab. Not everyone uses the barbecues now sold in stores, because they are heavy, bulky, and relatively expensive. Read more…
Having decided to build a sauna on my country plot, I read a fair amount of relevant literature. Not everything in the proposed stove designs appealed to me. I wanted to simplify the construction, make it more practical from a manufacturing standpoint, and at the same time improve its operational qualities. As a result, I Read more…
The British Valentine infantry tank was one of several tank types supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease during the Great Patriotic War. In terms of the number of foreign combat vehicles, as well as its popularity with Soviet tank crews, it ranks second only to the American Sherman. By the end of the war, the Read more…
Building homemade cars is a unique phenomenon. Apart from the USSR, nowhere else did this movement become widespread. People of the most varied professions took up amateur car design: doctors, artists, musicians, workers and engineers. It is known that the space conqueror A.A. Serebrov had a homemade car, and cosmonaut V.A. Aksyonov took part as Read more…
