2016-10-16

I got my home office mostly set up last week, and finally got back to my design for a new desk/workstation. I also made some good headway on my printed titanium stem, and Zach and I got the next iteration of The Public Radio pushed forward as well.

Feeling pretty good about all of that :)

Greg Koenig on why the iPhone 7S will *not* be ceramic. As someone who loves design honest (don't even get me started about the Seagram Building's non-structural bronze I-beams), Koenig's analysis here really resonates.
Lego is hiring (in Denmark) for someone to manage their "crowdsourcing platforms."
Some of this post is a bit over the top, but this part is astute: "And what the fuck all those parties after raising money. Don’t you get it? You just dug your grave a little bit deeper. You should celebrate any day that you don’t have to sell off another part of your company."

A long and good overview of Rolex and its manufacturing operations. With pictures!
Gabe gave me a little crap this week for my comment about the Red Bull bolt video having cut threads. I was partly joking, but really - rolled threads are awesome. Note also that female threads can be cold formed - there, we call the process "threadforming."
A pretty thorough description of how (and where) GE manufactures their GEnx jet engines.
Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney continues to struggle to get their GTF production running. For context, the GTF relies on a big mechanical innovation: An in-line gearbox on the engine allows the fan (at the front of the engine) to spin slowly (allowing Pratt to use aluminum fan blades forged by Alcoa, which are apparently taking a long time to make), while the spool spins much faster. The gearbox needs to transmit a *lot* of power, and it's also designed to last with almost zero maintenance for the lifetime of the engine. The GTF competes directly (on the Airbus A320neo platform) with CFM's LEAP (CFM is a partnership between GE and Safran), which relies primarily on materials innovations (ceramic matrix composites are used extensively). This is a really interesting difference in approaches.
Takt time is the average time between the start of production of one unit and the start of production of the next unit.

The walls of the Hong Kong International Airport "were designed to break during high speed winds, relieving pressure and allowing the terminal to withstand an intense typhoon." Related: The Hong Kong Airport Express train, and especially its In-town check-in, is *awesome* - an absolute pleasure to use.
Tribology is the study of interacting surfaces in relative motion - including the principles of friction, lubrication, and wear.
Ryan's drill guides, plus that ShopVac diffuser, look really useful.

California's electric car sales have stalled :(
Amazon will hire 120,000 temp workers this holiday season.
Slice is Postmates, but just for pizza. This is a crazy stat: "60% of the pizza places were mom-and-pop shops — but 90% of online orders were being placed through what Sela calls "Big Pizza": Domino's, Papa John's, and Pizza Hut."

What $50 buys you at Huaqiangbei (the electronics malls in Shenzhen). This is perfect in every way.
If anyone wants to go visit Gramercy Park on Christmas Eve, I'm game.
IEEE Spectrum profiles Jack Kilby, who invented the integrated circuit. Kilby spent a decade late in his career on a novel approach to solar power generation - which failed.
"I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters."

Credit to Corey, Gabe, and Reilly for sending links this week. If you see something, send something :)

The rest of this post is for SOW Subscribers (free or paid) only. Sign up now to read the full story and get access to all subscriber-only posts.

Already have an account? Sign in