popularmechanics.

com September 2009

Jamie Hyneman
and Adam Savage
mod this magazine.

W
3.99

 nFFn @ot@ t

48
The MythBuster
Guide to Gonzo
Engineering
In MythBuers, Jamie Hyne-
man and Adam Savage create
crazy builds using DIY know-
how. But in their workshops,
PM nds there is a method to
their televised mayhem.
BY LARRY WEBSTER
O N T H E C O V E R Shot at M5 Industries in San Francisco exclusively for PM by Joe Pugliese. Set building by Scene 2; prop styling by Claire Mack.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE PUGLIESE
P M F E A T U R E S /// S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
VOLUME 186 NO. 9
58 To Build a Boat
PMs Roy Berendsohn digs
into his familys paand
the magazines archives
to conru an evocative
DIY proje: the classic
wooden dinghy.
BY ROY BERENDSOHN
64 The Rocket Men
A multimillionaire and an
aerospace engineer are
poised to launch a bold new
era: private-seor space.
If successful, their rocket
could soon be hauling
freight to the space ation.
And NASA is counting on it.
BY MICHAEL BELFIORE
POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
70 Dual to the Death
Looking for a motorcycle
that can condently cruise
the pavement and head o-
road? PMs auto editors
and MythBuer Jamie
Hynemankick up du on
Death Valley trails to nd
out ju what these dual-
sport bikes can do.
BY LARRY WEBSTER
76 2009 Backyard
Genius Awards
ese mechanical mavericks
built a working Batmobile,
a moner hobby rocket, a
walking milling machine
and a metal hand that
crushes cars. PM salutes
the spirit of invention.
BY DAVIN COBURN
| SEPTEMBER 2009 1
 PM DEPARTMENTS
NEW TOOLS
CARS
HOME
qq
 q

 qq

11 Scrubbing Up to
Explore Space
Scientis te methods to
prevent tool contamination
on Earth-to-Mars ights.
Plus: Bus ops that gen-
erate power; building the
worlds brighte science lab.
q
46 Keep It Real
Computer-aided design
is a great engineering tool
but according to MythBuer
Jamie Hyneman, its
no subitute for real-
world experience.
18
22
q
21 Born to Rung
e Little Giant BigTrex is a
ladder designed with safety
in mind. Plus: We shoot and
melt safety glasses in our
Abusive Lab Te; the Wol-
verine iCS hiker has adju-
able under-heel iness.
HOW-TO
31 Hypermiler
e Lexus HS 250h hits the
sweet spot between luxury
and fuel eciency. Plus: We
drive Fords mini mover, the
Transit Conne; the Chevy
Corvette shows o by get-
ting a whopping 32.8 mpg. maintenance when ceilings
qMM!
99 Cutting Class
P H O T O G R A P H B Y J E F F R E Y W E S T B R O O K / S T U D I O D ( C E L L P H O N E ) ; I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y B R A D L E Y R . H U G H E S ( S U B M A R I N E ) , K O N S TA N T I N S H A L E V ( T O O L R E P A I R )
PM tests seven reciprocating
saws in the ultimate
challengesomething we call
the nested nightmare.
102 Homeowners
Clinic How to handle
are too high. Plus: Sealing
drafts safely.
q

107 Saturday
Mechanic A shopping list
of tools and potions youd
never expect to nd on a shop
shelfand how to use them.
112 Car Clinic
Dont toss your old lead
hammerrefurbish it
instead. Plus: When to ush
brake uid; why insurance
companies total cars.
q
116 Ruggedize Your
Own Tech We design
DIY gadget armor for
laptops, cells and cameras
that with-stands drops,
dunks and dirty dives.
Then we lay on the abuse.
120 Digital Clinic
Transform boring photos into
surreal landscapes.

q!q
31
HOW TO RE ACH US 4
EDITOR S NOTE S 6
THIS IS M Y JOB 128
LISTED ON THE COVER: 48 MythBuster Secrets /// 64 Private Space Flight ///
70 Death Valley Motorcycle Test /// 58 We Build a Classic Boat /// 76 PM Backyard Genius Awards

2 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 James B. Meigs
Editor-In-Chief
Executive Editor David Dunbar
Design Director Michael Lawton
EDITORIAL
Editor, Automotive Ben Stewart
Senior Editor, Automotive Mike Allen
Senior Editor, Home Roy Berendsohn
Senior Editor, Science Jennifer Bogo
Senior Editor, Technology Glenn Derene
Detroit Editor Larry Webster
Associate Editors Joe Pappalardo,
Seth Porges, Harry Sawyers
Research Director David Cohen
Assistant Editor Erin McCarthy
Assistant to the Editor-In-Chief Allie Haake
Contributing Editors:
Jim Gorman, Chris Grundy, Ben Hewitt,
Carl Hoffman, Alex Hutchinson, Joel Johnson,
Tom Jones, S.E. Kramer, Jay Leno,
Fred Mackerodt, e MythBusters
(Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage), Joe Oldham,
Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Noah Shachtman,
Erik Sofge, Kalee Thompson, Joseph Truini,
James Vlahos, Logan Ward, Jeff Wise
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4 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

PM E DI TOR S N OTES

Wow, this is a
lot easier than
shooting a TV show,
Adam thinks as he
reviews photos with
editor-in-chief Meigs.
e MythBuers
seventh season
will air on the
Discovery Channel
Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage Wednesdays at
meet the PM edit team. 9 pm EST/PST,
arting in Oober.

Be My Gue (Editors)
I S T H E R E A N Y T H I N G T H E S E G U Y S C A N T D O ? When I invited Adam For our cover story, PMs Larry Web-
Savage and Jamie Hyneman to guest edit an issue of PM, I didnt know quite ster spent a few days working with
what to expect. But then, neither did they. As the stars of the Discovery Chan- both men, seeing their gonzo engi-
nel hit MythBusters, the pair spends a lot of time doing the same things we neering methods rsthand.
like to do: debunking junk science, building oddball contraptions, blowing About his day in our ofces, Adam

stuff up ... And theyve been regular contributors to PM for more than three
years. So it seemed high time to conduct our own MythBuster-style experi-
ment: Can two absurdly multitalented TV stars edit a magazine?
We began planning the project in
the San Francisco offices of M5,
Jamies special-effects company.
Later, Jamie joined the PM team to
test motorcycles in Death Valley
That's because
we've been turned (page 70). Then Adam and Jamie met
into Popular with the entire PM editorial staff in
Mechanics AdviceBots.
We dispense tips our New York ofces. We discussed
Hey, Jamie, throughout
youre shorter the issue.
story ideas, looked over photo shoots,
than you and asked for feedback on every part
look on TV.
of the magazine. Boy, did we get it.
There might be some topic PM
covers that neither Adam nor Jamie
knows a frightening amount about
but if so, we didnt nd it. Youll nd
their insights and editorial sugges-
tions peppered throughout the issue.
P H O T O G R A P H S B Y S A R A H S H AT Z ; F I G U R E D E S I G N B Y A X E L D E R O Y
says: When I picture a magazine, I
imagine the avuncular editors lead-
ing a team of erudite, funny, quirky
and attractive people in bright meet-
ing rooms, with stimulating pictures
on the wall, and evidence of advanced
organization all over the place. The
shocking thing was that your opera-
tion is exactly like that.
For his part, Jamie says, I gured
Id have a corner office with a big
desk at the Hearst Tower, and I could
sit there smoking a cigar and fire
people. Hey, maybe next time, Jamie.
Thats my job.
J i m M e i g s
Editor-in-Chief

6 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

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 NEWS + TRENDS + BREAKTHROUGHS

When searching for life on a

Scrubbing Up to diant planet, it pays to make
sure that any biologically derived
Explore Space molecules you nd didnt catch a
ride from Earth on the spaceship.
IN TH E IC Y N O RT H , S C I E N T I S T S L E ARN T O
Avoiding forward contamination
SA N ITIZE TH EIR TO OL S B E FORE L OOKI N G FOR
takes elbow grease, and the right mix
L IF E O N O TH ER PL AN E T S . B Y A L E X H U T C H I N S O N
of chemicals, before a mission even
launches. To te NASAs erilization
protocol, scientis set o for the
Aric archipelago of Svalbard with
Clibot, a next-generation rover
(shown here). ere, they perfeed
a seven-ep procedure involving
diilled water, hydrogen peroxide
and chemical swabs, making sure to
Mars scrub every one of Clibots
Mountaineer scoopers. e regimen worked,
removing one more obacle before
+ Arctic cadres of squeaky-clean robots can
Outdoor Lab further humanitys search for
Scientis use
Norways far
microbial company on Mars and the
northern moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
Svalbard islands
to te gear-
erilization
techniques and
space-bound
rovers such as
this prototype.

+ Social
Climber
Clibot is part of
a three-rover
team. Two other
robots are
tethered to the
machine to let
it access terrain
as eep as
85 degrees.

+ Bot Specs
e rover is the
size of a toy
wagon, weighs
nearly 18 pounds
and creeps at
6 inches a second
on level ground.

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 11


NEWS
BRIEFS
Reports From the
Edge of Science
T E C H W A T C H
Compiled by
Alex Hutchinson
New Drilling for Ultra-Deep Geothermal ere is enough heat to
produce near-endless power a few miles below Earths surface, but its expensive to
access. Potter Drilling, a California-based artup company, says that within a year it
will begin eld trials of a technology that uses superheated water inead of
conventional drills to bore through rock. Such a hydrothermal spallation syem could
drill through granite up to ve times faer than conventional processes do.
INSTANT DATE, JUST
REMOVE WATER
British researchers have
given archaeologis a new
way to nd the age of artifas
when carbon-14 dating isnt
an option. Rehydroxylation
dating works with ceramics
(such as the pottery shown
here, from an excavated
English theater) that gradually
absorb water. Researchers
weigh a sample, then heat it
to boil o all moiure, then
weigh it again to see how
much water was removed.
e scientis then expose the
dried-out sample to water
O N T H E W E B > Follow breaking science and
technology news daily at popularmechanics.com.
12 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
Nevada appears to be dead,
vapor to check how fa the
material soaks up moiure.
Put all those data points
together, and you can derive
an eimate of when the
sample was made. e
technique has passed tes on
2000-year-old artifas, and
the researchers say it can
work for objes up to 10,000.
NEW SMOKE SIGNALS
A Defense Department
research proje has produced
infofuses to help soldiers
ay in touch when the power
fails. Soldiers would light a
fuse coated with metal dots
that represent letters and
numbers. Each dot contains a
combination of lithium,
rubidium and cesium to
encode a letter. A diant
observer could dete the
wavelengths of light emitted
as the metals burn, and
decipher the code.
KILLER ASTEROIDSAND
THE BUGS THAT LOVE THEM
About 3.9 billion years ago
a long barrage of aeroids,
some as large as Kansas,
pounded Earth and reshaped
the surface of the planet.
Scientis have long thought
that the repeated impas
wiped out any exiing life.
Now, a new NASA-funded
udy by geologis at the
University of Colorado at
Boulder counters that the
bombardment may have
created a subterranean
breeding ground for heat-
loving microbes that ourish
between 175 and 230 F. If
theyre right, life could date
back 4.4 billion years, to when
the r oceans are thought
to have formed.
COLD TOMB FOR
HOT WASTE
While the U.S. govern-
ments two-decade, $10 billion
que to build a long-term
nuclear-wae repository in
other nations are pressing
ahead with their own plans.
e Swedish Nuclear Fuel and
Wae Management Company
has been teing disposal
technology at a 2.5-mile
network of tunnels dug out of
granite more than 500 yards
below the surface on the
island of sp. e spent fuel
will be encapsulated in copper
and embedded in bentonite
clay, then placed in holes in the
bedrock. e nal site was
seleed in June; conruion
PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES (CERAMICS)
is scheduled to begin in 2016.
 Agricultural robots are already among us: mowing grass, spraying peicides and
Hands-Free monitoring crops. For example, inead of regularly dousing an entire apple orchard
Farming with chemicals, towed sensors nd diseases or parasites with infrared sensors and
cameras, and spray only the aeed trees. But could a robot wholly replace a migrant
T H E U S E O F I N T E L L I G E N T,
UNMANNED MACHINES worker? e idea appeals to farmers, because temporary labor can arrive one season
but go elsewhere the next, leaving tons of fruits and vegetables to wither. Relying on
T E C H W A T C H

IS INCREASING IN
A G R I C U LT U R E . C O U L D illegal immigrants can also be a legal liability. Harveing is the mo labor-intensive
ROBOTS END THE aivity for many crops, but even advocates say that no one has built a machine that
INDUSTRYS ERA OF
MIGRANT LABOR?
comes close to matching the sensory motor control of humans. at is poised to
BY ERIK SOFGE change as sensors and so ware become cheaper and more advanced. In the next ve
years or so, well see robots out in the eld, says Tony Stentz, associate direor of
Carnegie Mellon Universitys National Robotics Engineering Center. And theyll lose
their novelty. To the farmers, itll ju be another traor, with no one in the cab.

Developed for a robotics class at MIT, Prospects: MIT a have no immediate

autonomous gardeners use equipment
Smart mounted on the base of a Roomba.
Gardeners Sensors in the soil alert the robot, which
waters plants and can use an articulated
arm to pick any fruit it sees.
plans for commercialization, but they are
continuing to create more autonomy in the
bots. Future syems could compare
earlier images of the same plants over
time to dete diseases or parasites.

Carnegie Mellon Universitys Field Prospects: e proje is at lea three

Robotics Center is teing an automated
Self-Guided utility cart equipped with laser range-
Farm Equipment nders to nd its way through a Pennsyl-
vania apple orchard, towing sensors that
track the progress of the crop.
years from completion. Researchers say
the key to the future of indurial farm
robots is keeping cos down by adapting
exiing commercial vehicles inead of
building new ones.

Vision Robotics Vineyard Produs Prospects: e r prototype pruner has

designed Snippy to prune as many as 400
Snippy the acres of grapevines per season, at around
Grapevine half the co of manual labor. Mounted
Pruner cameras create a 3D model to tell the
bots arms where to cut.
been in eld tes since March, and a second
one should be operational by this fall. A
majority of the projes funding comes from
intereed grape growers and vineyard
owners, making Snippy an agbot pioneer.

14 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 Serving
the Public
San Franciscos high-tech
bus ops will channel an
eimated 43,000 kilowatt-
hours per year into the citys
T E C H W A T C H

grid. Built-in Wi-Fi routers

will help the city create a
comprehensive wireless
Internet network.
Paying
Its Way
Each bus op cos
about $30,000. City
ocials say Clear Channel
Outdoor has an inallation
and maintenance contra
with the SFMTA. e
company foots the bill
and gets saleable
ad space.
Conserving
Juice
e new shelters
LED lights use 74.4
wattsfour and a half
times more ecient than
the 336 watts used
by the old shelters
uorescent
lighting.
e Secret Lives of Bus Stops
e sleek, undulating roofs of San Franciscos recently unveiled proto-
type bus ops are not ju artiic ourishes. ese reet shelters
use roo op solar panels to power Wi-Fi routers and interaive
information panels. Unused energy is pumped into the citys grid.
By 2013 the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency plans
to inall 360 of the new ops around the city. KYLE ROERINK

Armored vehicles in Afghanian (above)

guard again whirling bomb fragments,
but do little to prevent brain damage.

to Dr. Mark George, a neurologi at the

Hard Lessons of
Blaed Veggies
TO MEASURE THE EFFECTS OF
SHOCK WAVES, RESEARCHERS ARE
TURNING TO A LOW-TECH
S O L U T I O N . BY CHRIS DIXON
Armored vehicles enable U.S.
troops in Iraq and Afghanian to
survive roadside explosive attacks. But
the shock waves from such blas have
le survivors with traumatic brain
injuries. It is dicult to udy how to
mitigate these injuries: e lab
dummies typically used in such
research are good for measuring blunt
trauma, but they are largely unaeed
by the ees of shock waves, according
Medical University of South Carolina. To
measure such ees, George and
vehicle manufaurer Force Proteion
used C-4 to bla Tupperware contain-
ing live celery suspended in gelatin. e
veins of celery resemble the myelin
sheath that carries impulses along
human neurons. A er each bla (le ),
the team analyzed the vegetables and
discovered that they had tiny vascular
tears that resembled damage in a brain
suering from shock-wave-induced
trauma. e next ep: integrating the
ndings into full-scale te dummies.

16 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y B R A D L E Y R . H U G H E S

 When nature cant supply raw ingredients for next-generation hardware,
Metamaterial scientis create their own. Man-made metamaterials are going beyond the
Miracles lab and into real-world applications. Scientis use exiing composite materials,
U N S AT I S F I E D B Y N AT U R E S like the gold and gallium-arsenide mixes used in eleronics, to create complex,
B O U N T Y, S C I E N T I S T S C U S T O M I Z E though tiny, ruures. ese nano-size bumps, crosses, holes or ridges manipulate
S U B S TA N C E S F O R B R E A K T H R O U G H
T E C H W A T C H

eleromagnetic waves that hit them. Early prototypes of invisibility cloaks, which
T E C H N O L O G I E S . BY DAVID HAMBLING
would guide light around an obje to be shielded, have generated some techno-
buzz. But researchers have quietly been inventing more near-term materials that
will soon appear in the pockets of consumers and in the hands of military users.

Super Everyday WMD Tools for the Viewers of the Revolutionary

Cellphones Deteors Silent Service Unseen Eleronics

Rayspan Corp. of
San Diego is using
metamaterials to
make ronger,
smaller antennas.
Although they
measure ju a few
millimeters long
and are as at as
paper, the new
multiband
antennas could
double the range,
reliability and
battery life of
cellular phones,
Wi-Fi routers and
wireless modems.
Availability:
Already for sale,
but the quality is
expeed to
eadily improve
over the next
ve years. working prototype.
Army researchers Sound has a larger Microscope power Future circuits may
are using wavelength than is reried by use light rather
metamaterials to light, so its easier diraion than elericity, so
build biological- to build meta- limitanything Army engineers are
and chemical- materials to smaller than about building a
agent deteors. manipulate it. An half the wave- metamaterial
Metallic nanoruc- Oce of Naval length of the switching device,
tures rea Research program illuminating light fundamental for
eleromagneti- is funding a cant be seen. A building small,
cally to incoming prototype that University of fa photonic
molecules, bends sound Michigan team equipment. e
revealing their around a submarine created a lens with device combines a
identities through to make it invisible metallic resonators metamaterial with
a variety of to enemy sonar. that focuses a semiconduor,
repsonses. is Civilian spinos microwaves 10 so the ability to
method can dete could produce total times more than trap light can be
single molecules, soundproong and diraion limit turned on and o.
which could be of rooms with perfe allows. ese Such photonic com-
great use for acouics. lenses could be puter chips could
passenger or cargo Availability: used to make be 10 times faer
screening. Five years to smaller, faer than current chips.
Availability: demonrate computer chips. Availability:
Possibly as little as acouic cloaking Availability: Components within
ve years for a in the lab; 10 years Optics could arrive ve years; 10-plus
to the eld. within ve years. years for a produ.

PEERING INTO INVISIBLE WORLDS

A P A R T I C L E A C C E L E R AT O R W I L L P R O D U C E T H E W O R L D S B R I G H T E S T L I G H T A N D
C O U L D R E V O L U T I O N I Z E T H E S C I E N C E O F T H E U LT R A S M A L L . BYJOE PAPPALARDO

+ Workers have arted conruion on a particle accelerator at Brookhaven

National Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y. When the National Synchrotron Light
Source II is completed, in 2015, it will be the worlds mo brilliant light
source10,000 times more powerful than the original NSLS, also located
at Brookhaven. Elerons inside a ring with a half-mile circumference will
accelerate to almo the speed of light, eered by massive magnets. Any
charged particle that moves in a curved path emits eleromagnetic radiation
X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared light that can be focused in beams that research-
ers use to illuminate experiments. Sta say the new $912 million facility will
achieve a record-setting single-nanometer resolution.
Researchers
(For scale, the skin of a soap bubble is several hundred nm thick.) use light beams
NSLS-II will shoot the beam through a series of magnets that to examine tiny
have alternating poles, causing the beam to curve up and down. interaions, such
Every time the beam bends, the light is amplied. as the inltra-
tion of HIV into
healthy cells.

18 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y B R A D L E Y R . H U G H E S

 GEAR + TOOLS + TOYS

Born to Rung
Ladder-related injuries send more than a half-million people
to the hospital every year. e Little Giant BigTrex 6-foot
Stepladder ($158) features a number of clever features
designed to keep homeowners out of the ER. Its extra-wide
treads are easy to balance on, the hinge is designed to keep
from snagging ngers, andthis is our favorite featurea
raised tray allows you to dip brushes and grab tools without
bending into precarious positions. SETH PORGES

1. e 6.5-inch-deep rungs 2. e tool and paint tray rises

are easier and more to wai height when youre
comfortable to balance on. working near the top rung.

1 2

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES WORRELL POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 21

U P G R A D E




P M

Dial Fit
e Cloud No two pairs of feet share the
zNkLqRNks

Engine Pogoplug same size, shape and way of moving.

($100) promises But despite this fa, shoemakers
to turn what was typically renounce nuance and inead
once an obscure boil foot dierences down to a single
magic trick for the
shoe-size number. e insole on the
Gore-Tex-proteed Wolverine iCS
geek elite Hiker ($160) features a removable dial
accessing a hard that allows users to adju the shoes
drive full of music, under-heel iness. Sure, its kind of
images and gimmicky, but for heavy pronators (like
documents from a few of our in-house teers), the
any PC in the ability to adju the boots cushion
worldinto a could prove useful for long hikes.
novice maneuver.
Conne the
device to your
modem and plug
in a hard drive,
and aer a few
mouse clicks, your Turning
data is online. We Keys
were impressed E Ink is a
with the clean technology with a
lot of promise, but
interface, lack slow refresh rates
of monthly fees and a lack of color
and eortless (at lea for now)
data security. leave it with few
praical applica-
tions outside the
world of e-book
readers. e
Samsung Alias 2
($200 with
contra) takes a
novel approach:
building E Ink into
the phones
buttons. Depending
on which way you
ip open the
screenvertically
for phone dialing,
horizontally for
texts and
e-mailsthe keys
display either
numbers or a
qwerty keyboard.

22 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

U P G R A D E
P M


!




e goal of mo safety

glasses is fairly mode:
Prote eyes from impas.
zNkLqRNks

But considering their

rigorous teing regime
AO Safety Glasses a eel ball is red at the
lenses at 300 feet per
second, and a free-falling
needle is dropped onto
them from heightwe
gured they mu be able
MSA Safety
to and up to more abuse
than their packaging claims.
We took three pairs of $4
safety glasses and set out
to see exaly what they
Jackson Safety could do. SETH PORGES

qq
To te visibility aer
years of use, we scoured
the lenses with a
power-driven wire brush.
Almo inantly, the spinning
brass wire scraped away all
of the lenses visibility. But
the plaic proved an
impermeable barrier: Even
when the power driver spun
the brush at full power, no
briles could get through to
the head behind.

qq
To simulate high-speed
impas from sharp
objes, we shot a aple
gun at the lenses.
A aple gun can re rounds
at 70 inch-pounds. at
proved no match for our
plaic glassesall three of
which opped a full roll of
eel aples shot at
point-blank range. And while
every h or so aple ended
up embedded in the lenses,
not one shot fully penetrated
the plaic, and our
mannequins eye areas
remained unharmed.
qq
To represent a power
tool gone awry, we used
a drill on the lenses.
Stray swipes of our power
drill proved no problem for
the lensesit took several
seconds of concentrated
drilling to punure the
plaic, something that
is highly unlikely to occur
by accident.
qq
To produce a high-
heat environment, we
took aim with a
1000-degree heat gun.
None of our safety glasses
were designed to serve as a
heat shield, but we couldnt
resi seeing how they
handled 1000 degrees F.
Within seconds, the foam
faces began to melt, Raiders
of the Lo Arkyle. Soon
aer, the plaic lenses
turned to jelly, before
hardening into sharp points.
But by then, our mannequins
had little face le to poke.

q

All three models did exaly what they claimed to do, providing an impressive amount of
proteion again impas. Safety glasses co $4. Reconruive surgery cos much more.

ON THE WEB >

For this test, PM teamed up with Josh Zepps, host
of the Science Channels Brink, for an episode to air
Aug. 17 at 10:30 pm EST. You can see the test video
at popularmechanics.com/abusivelabtest.

24 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPHS BY ZACH DESART

Combination
Lock and Load
Power-tool grab
bags like the new
Rockwell 18-Volt
Lithium-Ion ComPack
Combo Kit ($250) are
the top sellers for mo
cordless tool
manufaurers, but the
slew of drivers, saws
and ashlightstheres
always that little
ashlight!can co price. When we held
some serious scratch. one tool in each hand,
ats why were glad gunslinger-yle, drilling
to welcome this new and driving 14-inch pilot
drill/driver and impa holes to sink 2-inch
driver combo. No bells lagbolts, the compa
and whiles, no fancy batteries kept kicking,
freebies, ju a solid and the tools ju
pair of 21-century hummed. And thats
power tools at a decent all we ask.

Disc Over
Sony is notorious for letting bad proprietary-media
formats ruin good technology. One of the wor oenders:
the bulky and expensive UMD disc. But until recently, these
discs were the only legit way to acquire PSP games. e new
PlayStation Portable Go ($250), which comes out in
Oober, nally sheds the years-old syems UMD drive
along with about half of the older models weight and bulk.
Inead, it has 16 gigabytes of built-in memory and the ability
to download full PSP games direly to the device via Wi-Fi.
 Apples New Core
Externally, the new Apple iPhone 3GS ($200 to
$300 with a new contra) is pretty much identical to
la years iPhone 3G (which is ill on the market for
the bargain-basement price of $99). But under the

qqP
hood, a lot has changed. e new model packs in more
memory, a faer processor and, for the r time, the

M
ability to shoot video. Is this enough to warrant an
upgrade if youve already got an older iPhone?

U P G R A D E
Probably not. e price tag is hundreds higher if youre
not a new AT&T cuomer, and a number of new
features can be had for free ju by downloading the
new iPhone 3.0 operating syem. But if youve been
waiting to jump into the iPhone pool, this could be the
time to take the plunge.

zNkLqRNks
Spare 5-gallon buckets can be used as ilts, ools, trash
cansand now shop vacs. ats the idea behind the
SpeedClean BucketVac ($70), a 1-hp vacuum head that
snaps onto any andard 5-gallon bucket, creating a
high-power wet/dry vac capable of moving 30 gallons of

 water per minute (in tes, it lled its receptacles in about 5


seconds). And the upsides are numerous: Not only is this
device far easier to ash and ore than full-size shop vacs
(which also tend to be uncomfortably heavy), but we can
easily see it being the preferable option for clearing ooded
basements, bucket-brigade-yle.

how Imagine the aermath of a

we party in the toolshedduring
tested a ood. We sucked up small
nails, drywall screws, cheese
pus and cereal. en, we
slurped gallons of water
from one bucket to the next.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT/STUDIO D (BUCKETVAC)

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 27

 Crossover
Cutter
Casual users may not be aware of the debate,
but the circular saw is the subje of longtime
regional loyalties. House framers in the We tend to
prefer robu worm-drive saws, while Eaern trades-
U P G R A D E

men tend toward the lightweight sidewinder yle.

e Skil HD5687 ($150) is a 7 14-inch, 15-amp
sierra circular that combines the features of both.
It keeps the weight to a manageable 10.8 pounds
with a sidewinder motor and housing, but uses the
slim prole and handle/switch geometry of the Playing Tag
worm drive. Call it the wormwinder. Geotagging
that is, tagging
photos with the
P M

longitude and
latitude of where
they were
takencan make
piures more fun,
more personal and
zNkLqRNks

more useful (you

can easily backtrack
to that ideal spot
with the perfe
view). e Garmin
Oregon 550T
($600) makes the
process automatic
and easyits a
rugged, waterproof,
outdoor-friendly
touchscreen GPS
with a built-in
3.2-megapixel
camera and a 4x
optical zoom.

Small Body,
Big Brain
Digital
photography is all
about tradeos.
Digital SLRs oer
superior control and
the exibility of
interchangeable
lenses, but are too
bulky to slip into a
pocket. e
12.3-megapixel
Olympus E-P1
($800 with lens)
migrates an SLRs
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES WORRELL (SAW)

innards (including a
large image sensor)
and lens-swapping
ability into a svelte,
compa chassis.
And externally, the
camera is a
retro-fetishis
dream: e body
comes raight from
the classic Olympus
Pen series cameras
of the late 1950s.

28 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 HYBRID + SPORT SEDAN +
MINIVAN + SPORTS CAR

Hypermiler
ere are cars designed for fuel eciency and there are cars designed
for luxury. But until now, there hasnt really been a car that excels in both
arenas. e new Lexus HS 250h could be it. Under the hood is the 2.4-liter
hybrid powertrain of the Camry Hybrid. And the HS has both Eco and EV
modes, which allow the car to travel at speeds of up to 20 mph for a couple
of miles under pure eleric power. e interior is posh, techy and cool, while
the rm suspension helps move this car into the realm of sport luxury
sedan. No, the HS is not quite as smooth-riding or subantial-feeling as
other Lexuses. But it will return a solid 35 mpg city and 34 on the highway.
And for many, that could be the tipping point. JAMES TATE

2010
Lexus HS 250h
Base Price (Est.) $35,000
++

INSIDE
Ford
Transit Connect
Acura
TSX V6
Chevy
Corvette
Mercedes-Benz
S400 Hybrid
Chevy
Volt Prototype
-----
C O M PA R I S O N
Ford Taurus SHO
vs. Chrysler 300C
-----
PLUS
After the Bailout

qqqq

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 31

 +
PM TEST
DRIVEN
+

M"qFq!q|q!qq!q|q q
qqyk`q!qtq

N E W C A R S
P Ms?ksq:jNy?k
++
 2010 Ford Transit Connect
Mini Mover
We are navigating the narrow reets
of Alexandria, Va., to te the mettle of
the Transit Conne in a cramped
urban environment. e vans goofy
high roof and billboard-like slab sides
might have repelled shoppers a
decade ago. But American sensibilities
have evolved. And so Ford imported its
fuel-ecient commercial delivery truck
from Europe. A tiny 136-hp 2.0-liter is
matched to a four-speed automatic,
so dont expe sprightly thru in this
3470-pound trucklet. e high driving
position and tall windows create
superb forward visibility, and optional
rear backup sensors aid parallel
parking. e $21,475 van gets
22 mpg city and 25 mpg highway
two faors that should help attra a
new commercial crowd. DAN CARNEY
32 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
q qqvELq|q q
qq|q

q qoq|q!qq|qq
++
 2010 Acura TSX V6
Power Source
e Transit provides As poised as the four-cylinder Acura
135 cubic feet of TSX is, a quick scan of the spec sheet
hauling volume
and a 1600-pound
would probably send torque junkies to
payload. A suite more powerful paures. at car has
of computerized ju 170 lb-not exaly the u of
work gadgets are our quarter-mile dreams. Acura
available, such as
Tool Link, which
decided the TSX needed a bit more
builds RFID sensors muscle, so the company shoehorned
into the van. At the in the 280-hp V6 from the larger TL.
press of a button, Plant your right foot in a four-cylinder
the driver can
see an inventory
TSX and youll wait until the tach hits
of all the tagged high noon before you feel the grunt of
tools aboard and the motor. But the $35,660 V6 model
compare it again leaves the line with a torquey thru as
prepared lis.
the eering wheel dances in your grip
ever so slightly. On our drive through
the Santa Monica Mountains, the
eering felt heavier and a touch
quicker too. Bend into a gentle
sweeper and this sedan generates
smiles. e V6 experience is also more
serene than in the base TSXthis Six
is deliciously smooth. BEN STEWART
 +
PM TEST
DRIVEN
+

M"qFq!q|q!qq!q|q q
qqyk`q!qtq

++

N E W C A R S
P M
s?ksq:jNy?k
 2 009 Chevy Corvette
Fa and Frugal
Its thrilling brothers the Z06 and the
ZR1 have hogged the Corvette
spotlight, but the $49,515 base model
has the greate range of talents. Its
blieringly quick and mild-mannered
around town, and it holds plenty of
luggage. Mo amazing of all, the base
Corvette is good for 16 mpg city and
26 mpg highway. So could we retch
that economy with a feathery touch on
the throttle? We borrowed a Corvette
coupe equipped with the six-speed
manual, chose a seion of Highway
101 north of Santa Barbara, Calif.,
unlikely to be crammed with trac,
and set out to eke every la mpg out of
this world-class sports car. We ran at
55 mph with cruise control for about
150 miles. Back at the pump, we
refueled and saw 32.8 mpg. ats
32.8 mpg from a sports car that will
top out at over 190 mph. Impressive.
JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN
34 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
q qqvELq|q q
qq|q

q qoq|q!qq|qq
++
 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid
Breakthrough Tech
Its no secret e new S400 Hybrid is the r
how the Corvette series-produion car to use lithium-ion
returns such great
mileage. e car
batteriesan energy-dense design
has an impressive automakers see as the future andard
drag coecient of for eleric vehicles. e S400 runs an
0.28. And the sixth Atkinson-cycle (a longer expansion cycle
gear ratio of 0.50:1
overdrive when
for optimal eciency) 275-hp 3.5-liter
combined with the V6 paired to a slim, disc-shaped AC
3.42:1 axle allows eleric motor that ts neatly between
the engine to turn the engine and the seven-speed
very slowly at mod-
e cruising speeds.
automatic. When called upon, the
e result is fuel eleric motor adds 20 hp and 118 lb-
economy that can of torque. Since the combined
hit the 30s. motivation adds up to almo 300 hp,
acceleration is brisk for the 5 seconds
of full assi the eleric motor provides.
Driven sanely, the $90,000 S400 will
return 23 mpg city and 33 on the
highway. Not bad for a 4500-pound
luxury car. BARRY WINFIELD
 Early Plug-in Volt +
Drive e Chevy Volt is perhaps the mo anticipated vehicle in PM TEST
DRIVEN
GMs long hiory. And with around 18 months le before the +
plug-in hits showrooms, we had a chance to slide behind the
wheel of a prototype at GMs Warren Tech Center. On our

M"qFq!q|q!qq!q|q q
qqyk`q!qtq

drive, GM disabled the cars internal-combuion engine and

q qqvELq|q q
qq|q

q qoq|q!qq|qq

N E W C A R S

charging syem. But thats okay, because the car moves

entirely on eleric power at all times. e gas engine is used
to suain the charge. e Volt may be a radical departure from
traditional automotive engineering, but driving the te mule
proved remarkably unremarkable. It was like any common
sedan. Besides its silence, the Volt gives no clue of the
underlying tech. e Volt did feel heavy, thanks to four people
P M

onboard and a ho of te gear. But the propulsion is as

liquid-smooth as the late luxury sedans. KEVIN A. WILSON

e Volts drivetrain uses a

120-kilowatt AC induion eleric
motor that generates 273 lb- of
s?ksq:jNy?k

torque. It draws power from a 16-kwh

pack of more than 200 lithium-ion
++ cells. e Volt can travel 40 miles on
a full charge, before the 1.4-liter
range-extending gasoline engine
begins to charge the pack.

 2010 Chevy Volt Prototype

36 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 Domeic PM TEST
+

rowdown ++ DRIVEN
+
T H E V 6 F O R D TA U R U S

M"qFq!q|q!qq!q|q q
qqyk`q!qtq

S H O TA K E S O N T H E V 8

q qqvELq|q q
qq|q

q qoq|q!qq|qq

N E W C A R S

CHRYSLER 300C. CAN

TWIN TURBOS TOPPLE A
H E M I ? BY LARRY WEBSTER
P M

Ford Taurus SHO

VS.

Chrysler 300C
s?ksq:jNy?k

Comparison

Chrysler 300C Ford Taurus SHO

$46,860 qqq $45,470
5.7-liter V8/5A q
p
q 3.5-liter V6/6A
360 @ 5000 rpm qq 365 @ 5500 rpm
5.5 sec qMoqqq 5.4 sec
13.9 sec q
Mqq 13.7 sec
@ 100 mph @ 102 mph
126.2  qoMq

q 117.6 
20.7 mpg q q!qq 21.8 mpg

sL?q Ford claims the new

q
Taurus SHO and its
twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 provide the
Aer burning
power of a V8 with the fuel economy of through three
a V6. Were skeptical, because pa
turbo motors were notoriously thiry.
But improved turbocharger technology
and dire fuel injeion sugge Ford
might have the hardware to back up this
claim. To te the SHO and its fuel-
saving potential, we lined up the perfe
foil, a Chrysler 300C AWD. Dimension-
ally, the Chrysler is within inches of the
Ford, shares all-wheel drive and has only
ve fewer ponies. A big 5.7-liter V8,
however, res behind that ganga
grille. So to help boo the Hemis fuel
economy, a multi-displacement syem
automatically shuts o four cylinders
when theyre not needed. Both pencil
out right around 45 grand. So lets see
how they match up.
38 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
sL?q In ju two days, we ran tankfuls, the tale
a four-ate, 1000-mile at the pump
odyssey. We covered plenty of highway became clear.
miles, city ints and a good ogging on Overall, the SHO
our favorite back roadsrily for te returned 5.5
percent better fuel
purposes, of course. Consecutive economy. We cant
12-hour days in the saddle would have credit the turbo
been punishing if these two were not engine entirely (the
both exceedingly comfortable sedans. SHOs gearbox has
eyre both quiet too, but the overall an extra gear), but
its certainly a
edge goes to the SHO. e Ford is not
contributing faor.
only a tick quicker on the dragrip; its Quicker and more
also devoid of turbo lagit delivers ecient? e Ford
smooth, uninterrupted thru. Each of Taurus SHO wins.
these cars weighs more than 2 tons, yet
theyre more willing to change direion
than youd expe. In the twiie turns,
the 300C felt livelier, but the SHO
required fewer midcourse correions
and cornered atter. e SHOs brakes,
however, faded quickly. Our advice? Get
the optional performance pads.

Aer the Bailout
GM EMERGES FROM BANKRUPTCY A LEANER
COMPANY WITH SOME PROMISING TECHNOLOGY
I N T H E W O R K S . B U T I S T H E F U T U R E R E A L LY A S
BRIGHT AS THE COMPANY CLAIMS? BY BEN STEWART
N E W C A R S
For General Motors, the
wor is overmaybe. e
once-sprawling company is
down to four brands. Its
axed nearly half its dealer
base, shrunk its workforce
and successfully thrown
P M
itself at the mercy of the
American taxpayer. Its a
sign of ju how bad things
were at the lumbering giant
that analys regarded all
that as the good news.
NV:wksj|qV?zk
e queion is, What
comes next? Now that the
company has emerged from
bankruptcy, GM insiders are
promising a Lazarus a, in
which the company roars
back to lifeor at lea
ands on its own feet. We
are going to be able to break
even at earnings before
intere and taxes [when the
U.S. auto indury reaches]
42 SEPTEMBER 2009
about 10 million units, Tom
Stephens, GMs vice
chairman of global produ
development, says.
Assuming the market
returns to pre-crash sales
levels, the arithmetic looks
better than that. Once it
gets back to 13 to 14 million
units, you will see prots like
we havent seen in this
indury for a long time,
David Cole, chairman of the
Center for Automotive
Research, says.
Ironically, General
Motors could end up in a
healthier position than the
only big U.S. automaker that
ayed out of chapter 11
this year. Soon, GM will be
operating at a far more
| POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
advantageous co-to-
manufaure position than
Ford, according to Jim Hall,
managing direor for
consulting rm 2953
Analytics. And why not? GM
unloaded billions in liabilities
(along with many sharehold-
ers) in bankruptcy court,
and the government is
dropping $50 billion more
into the companys
outretched palm.
New Vehicles
Positive forecas
assume, however, that
GMs vehicles can attra
drivers. Will Americans buy
from a company that
couldnt keep its own corpo-
rate wheels turning?
Perhaps. e companys
faoriesthose not among
the 13 being shut down or
idledwill soon be turning
out some appealing
vehicles. GM plans to
expand the use of its
Your tax
dollars at
work: Is this
the GM
dealership of
the future?
two-mode hybrid syem
and introduce both the
Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in
hybrid (see page 36 for an
early te drive), and a
Cadillac version of the
vehicle. Stephens says the
company should art
building Volts in late 2010.
But one line of cars, no
matter how innovative,
wont save GMor return
those billions to the federal
balance sheet. Stephens
insis that more advanced
technologies are in the
works: I have not taken any
of them o the table, he
says. Hall, for one, believes
him: eyve tried to cut as
little out of engineering and
design as possible.
Will the emphasis on
green tech mean the end of
cars that are fun to drive?
Will the V8 engine survive?
Stephens says yes. Bottom
line: You will ill be able to
purchase performance
vehicles from GM.
So: If overall vehicle
sales bounce back, and if
shoppers embrace a
reformed GM, and if the
Volt pays o, and if those
new technologies have an
impa, the company could
recover. Americas
taxpayers-turned-inveors
might even see a prot from
their GM holdings. Lets
hope soaer all, its our
company now.
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L O G U Y
 Advertisement

Destination Super:
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ROADTRIP
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My dream would be the original road trip Route

M
66. From Chicago to LA, Id like to drive it all.
To see the old towns and the big towns, the neon
and the kitsch. To eat at diners and stay in Super
8s. To stop at every roadside attraction and take
a thousand scenic overlook pictures. That would
be awesome!e!

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 M Y T H B U S T E R S W O R K S H O P

KEEP IT REAL
> B Y J A M I E H Y N E M A N
> I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y J O S H C O C H R A N

T H I S M YT H B U S T E R
T H I N KS C OM P U T E R
DESIGN IS NO SUB-
 S T I T U T E FOR H AN D S -
ON E XP E RI E N C E .



Note the word aided
in the name, though.
Computers dont do the
designing; engineers and
designers do. If people



dont bring good stuff to
the project, the results
will usually not be good.
The problem isnt junk
in, junk out. Even if you
start out with a junk con-

cept, CAD can help gener-
ate something that works.
It may be overly compli-
cated and impractical to
build or service, but it can
still be functional. This is
a classic example of the
killing-snakes-with-a-
shovel school of design,
where you gure out solu-
tions to problems as they

T
hese days, CADor computer-aided design
touches nearly every aspect of our lives, from
the cars we drive to the tools we use. These
graphics programs enable engineers and
designers to create parts or entire machines in
the virtual world of the computer before build-
ing them in the physical world. CAD is one of
the most important inventions of our time
a powerful tool for testing materials, experi-
menting with congurations and, ultimately,
turning ideas into reality.
I boot up CAD programs regularly for builds
on MythBusters, and consider them to be indis-
pensable tools. For one episode, I used Solid-
Works CAD software to analyze a seesaw design
with a lightweight but extremely complex truss
structure. That seesaw ended up withstanding
a 100,000-foot-pound force, and yet I could pick
it up and walk around with it.
arise, instead of becoming familiar
with and internalizing the project as
a whole rst, and then coming up
with a clean, elegant design.
We ran into a problem like this
on the show. I needed to change the
battery on a car we were using to run
some tests. Because the cooling sys-
tem and other hardware were
located over the battery, I had the
choice of removing the right front
wheel and inner fender or disman-
tling the cooling system to get to the
battery. This wasnt an exotic car
that you might expect to have some
impractical aspects. This was your
average American midsize sedan. I
decided to remove the wheel, and it
took me about 10 times longer to

46 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

replace the battery than it AN ENGINEERS WORK IS BETTER from thousands of people
should have. I was aston- IF HE HAS MEMORIES OF HIS who contributed over dec-
ishedthe person who ades to that design with the
designed that car clearly
OWN BLOOD SMEARED ON HIS TOOLS. fear of falling out of the sky
had never changed a bat- forefront in their thoughts.
tery. The battery t in CAD, Those people internalized
and it t in the car, but what whole sections of the air-
was an elegant fit in the craft and understood how
computer was a problem in all of its various compo-
the real world. I can just see the without it breaking? You run a nite nents worked together, and that
designer in front of his computer element analysis on it and see that knowledge has informed modern-
stufng the cars components into you need to make it a little thicker day design. Just because we now have
available spaces without a clue as to here, but thinner there, and all told CAD doesnt mean all that hands-on
what he was doing. you can cut the weight of that com- experience is moot.
To my way of thinking, an engi- ponent by 50 percent. Thats won- CAD is just another tool, like a
neers work is better if he has a foun- derful. CAD can help you save fuel or pipe wrench. There are things its
dation of hands-on experience. If he make a plane safer. good for, and things its not. The
has memories of his own blood Airliners are chock-full of CAD point is that the designer needs to
smeared on his tools, his approach to components, so its seductive to understand the job a pipe wrench is
a mechanical problem will be differ- think that solutions presented by intended to do, in his head, before
ent than if most of his insights arise software are the only way to go. But going to CAD. I think it ought to be
while sitting in front of a computer. here again, plumber-with-wrench obligatory for anyone engineering
Lets look at a staple of home- insights are crucial. The plane as a parts for an airliner to go sky diving
repair toolboxes: the pipe wrench. whole has evolved out of decades of at least once before he sits down in
You just know it was designed by a ight experience that had nothing to front of his computer. I mean, who
guy who needed to get a job done in do with CAD. What we know about really understands what a hammer
close quarters, and it was based on structural weak points, aerodynam- is if he hasnt hit his thumb with one
bleeding knuckles. The jaw is at ics and peak loads on engines came a couple of times? FC
90 degrees to the handle,
which is unlike any stan-
dard wrench. The heft of
the tool, the rounded
shapes of the piecesall
of these features were
informed by users with
years of experience in the
field. And theres a great
deal of sloploose toler-
ances of all the moving
partsso that the wrench
still works with rust, dirt
and gunk all over it. The
slop also means that the
more torque you apply, the
more the components
shift, and the tighter the
jaws bite into the pipe.
Sometimes slop is our
friend, but Ive never seen
it on a pull-down menu.
Extremely complex
designs, such as those for
airliners, do benet from
CAD. The software is well-
suited for focusing on
individual parts and ren-
ing themhow thin can
you make this component
Improbable partners in scientic mayhem: Jamie Hyneman, cerebral engineer, and Adam Savage (opposite), manic arti.
 BY LARRY WEBSTER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOE PUGLIESE

FOR MYTHBUSTERS JAMIE HYNEM

HYNEMAN
AND ADAM SAVAGE, DIY
Y ISNT JUST
JUS
FOR SHOWITS A W
WAY OF LIFE.

ON A DEAD-END STREET IN AN INDUSTRIAL

corner of east San Francisco stands an unremark-
able two-story building. A modest sign identies
the premises as the headquarters of M5 Industries,
a special-effects company started in 1994 by Jamie
Hynemantoday best known as the star of the Dis-
covery Channel show MythBustersand where his
co-star Adam Savage was once also employed.
Another, smaller sign politely urges sightseers to
go away. There are no tours, autograph signings or
opportunities to purchase souvenirs inside.
Except for spooky robots guarding the stairs,
THE MYTHBUSTER GUIDE TO GONZO ENGINEERING JAMIES ESSENTIALS
MIG Welder
If you cant If I could have only one

nd it, you cant welder, it would be MIG.

There are times when
use it. you have to use a TIG
for high-performance
JAMIE welds and a stick welder
for coarse work. But
MIG is the easiest,
fastest way to weld. And
M5s second-oor ofces could be those the most versatileyou
of any small company, with cluttered can use it 90 percent of
the time.
desks, a computer room and a small kitchen.
Whiteboards are everywhere, crammed with top- Steel Square Tubing
of-the-brain doodles, rough technical drawings and the com- This 1-inch tubing
plex logistics of planning the MythBusters shooting sched- makes for easily welded
joints and light, stiff
ule. In recent years, special-effects work has taken a back structures.
seat to the relentless demands of the show, and M5 today
functions primarily as home base for the MythBusters pro- Dust Collectors
They improve the
duction team. (The shows secondary segments, involving overall workow.
the team of Kari Byron, Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci, are Dust collectors are
produced at a different location.) the difference between
a shop that works
On this Monday morning, the crew is deep into an epi- powerfully and one
sode testing the question of whether golf-ball-like dimples that limps along.
on a car body could reduce aerodynamic drag and improve
fuel economy. Compared to crashing two semi trucks head-
on (episode 41) or trying to tip over a remote-control city bus Fire Extinguishers
(episode 115), todays challenge might seem straightforward. Always have them within easy reach. In
But Jamie and Adam still have to clear some daunting engi- our workshop, youre never more than 15
neering hurdleswhile sticking to the shows breakneck feet away from an extinguisher.
production schedule.
MythBusters attracts nearly 2 million viewers per episode,
making the six-year-old series one of the most enduring hits
on cable television. Its two stars have become global celebri-
ties, much in demand for speaking engagements and confer- dimples in a golf ball, anyway?
ences. So visitors to the workshop may wonder: Where is the First, Jamie tries to set ball bearings into the golf-ball
entourage? Where is the army of shop workers to do the depressions. When none t, he switches to washers and dis-
grunt work? A handful of production coordinators handle covers that an 8-32 washer is a perfect match. He scales the
the ofce telephones, but the usual Hollywood scrum of per- tiny washer to a larger one and clamps it to the 5/8-inch spade
sonal assistants, publicists, cappuccino wranglers and the bit that hell use to drill the dimples in the bowling ball. After
like is nowhere in evidence. tracing the new curve onto the bit, he grinds away extra
Jamie, it turns out, is already at work in the machine shop materiala custom tool in 10 minutes.
downstairs. I nd him at a worktable, using calipers to meas- He hauls out an old bowling ball that the MythBusters
ure the diameter of a bowling ball. He switches to a golf ball, shot out of a homemade cannon (episode 118). They sanded
taking measurements that he transfers to a pad, muttering the ball to t in the cannon, so its not smooth enough to
numbers to himself. He and Adam intend to experiment on a repurposea favorite MythBuster strategybut itll do as a
real car, but like all good eggheads, they also want laboratory test piece. Using a sheet of thin plastic, Jamie makes a tem-
data. Theyve booked time at a nearby NASA wind tunnel, plate to mark where the dimples should go and tries a few
where their rst test will try to establish just how much those test depressions. Satisfied with the technique, he yells
dimples really do reduce aerodynamic drag on a golf ball. upstairs to see if his lone intern is back with a fresh ball.
PROP STYLING BY CLAIRE MACK

Unfortunately, theyve learned that an actual golf ball
is too small to produce accurate data. Solution: Jamie has
decided to drill dimples into the surface of a bowling ball
to create a giant, scaled-up model of a golf ball, one big
enough to test in a wind tunnel. Which leads him to the
question he is now pondering: Just how deep are those
FIGURE DESIGN BY A XEL DE ROY
Nope. Jamie grimaces. He has 5 1/2 hours to nish the build.
Meanwhile, Adam breezes into the wood shop and sets a
plastic remote-control model car down on a workbench; trail-
ing behind is Huxley, Adams medium-size mutt. Since the
NASA wind tunnel is too small to accommodate a full-size car,
Adam is going to use the toy to make a mold for two model
Some 600 boxes lining the shelves at
Jamies M5 workshop ree the ecleic
nature of mythbuing and the special-ees
business for movies and commercials.


Jamie built these robotsju some of the mechani-

cal wonders at M5for a GE commercial.

JAMIES NESTING TABLES I designed and built
these tables to save
oor space and
increase countertop
area in our
workshop. The two
Removable 1-inch-square steel
Plywood Top tubing frames are
the same height, but
1-Inch-Square
Steel Frame
carsone with dimples, one without. He moves to a table saw
and cuts a piece of Trupan, a lightweight berboard that hell
use to ll some of the molds casting volume. Huxley doesnt
bark or bolt at the sound of the sawa real MythBuster dog.
In less time than it takes to read this sentence, Adam test-ts
the workpiece in the model and adjusts the saw fence three
times. He cuts the rest of the pieces so quickly that it seems
remarkable he has all his ngers.
On TV, Jamie, 52, comes across as the cerebral engineer,
while Adam, 42, plays the role of the manic artist. In person,
that distinction is even more pronounced. Adam races into
every task, often working by eye and tweaking the design as
he goes. And no build is considered nished until he has
added some trademark visual ourish. His internal throttle is
always on full. Theres nobody faster than Adam, says Alice
Dallow, the director of the shows Jamie and Adam segments.
He gures it out on the y.
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y S I M I M A H TA N I
THE SOUTH HALF OF THE GROUND FLOOR OF M5 IS A
wide-open space lled with obscure fasteners, actuators, bat-
teries, welders, stacks of plywoodall the tools you can
imagine, even an automated CNC milling machine. Its a
serious bit of kit, a dream shop for any backyard tinkerer.
The space is meticulously laid out and organized. Every-
thing is labeled. Most tools rest on open shelves for quick
retrieval. Its neat, almost surgically antiseptic. Jamie talks
THE MYTHBUSTER GUIDE TO GONZO ENGINEERING
the four-sided
inner frame is
secured to its frame;
when the frames
surfaces. With my
design, when I
narrower, so it ts nest, it rests on the slide out the inner
inside the outer tables top, table and move its
three-sided outer temporarily secured top into place, its
frame. Both with wood screws. ush with the
tabletops are When expanded, outer top,
plywood. The most nesting tables doubling the
inner top isnt have stepped-down work-surface area.
about the place as though its a church, which probably reso-
nates with anyone who has a favorite shop. Its a living,
breathing organism, he says. Its character has been formed
by the experiences inside.
The south wall is dramatically dened by metal shelves
that rise to the 20-foot ceiling. On those shelves are 600
labeled cratesFoliage, Suits and Booties, Tank Parts. One
container, way up high, is labeled Blendo. Tucked inside is
the killer robot that started it all.
When Adam worked for M5, he and Jamie collaborated
on the mischievously named Blendo and entered it twice in
an annual San Francisco event called Robot Wars. The now-
defunct competition featured robots dueling to the death,
the nerd version of a steel-cage match. Blendos outer skin
is an inverted wok; two opposing blades jut menacingly
from the base. The bot spins as it moves; in the ring, it shred-
ded opposing machines, inging shrapnel into the crowd.
Both years, after Blendo won its rst two matches, organiz-
ers awarded it the heavyweight prizeand then prohibited
it from completing the competition because of concerns
about safety. But in 2002 when Discovery Channel produc-
ers were casting a new show called MythBusters, somebody
remembered Blendo. Jamie got a call. I gured the odds of
the show turning into anything were lower than the odds of
getting hit by lightning, he says. So, excited? Well, no, not
really. I rarely get excited.
In retrospect, Jamies rst choice for a co-hostAdam
seems surprising. After all, Adam had lasted only a few years
at M5. As much as Adams speed was a huge asset in the
notoriously fast-paced special-effects industry, the two men
sometimes butted heads over the mess the Adam whirlwind
leaves behind.
While theyre not best friendsWe dont hang out,
Jamie saysthey have learned to appreciate each other.
Theres nobody that either of us would rather work with,
he continues, because we know were both capable in our
own style. Adam adds: We can drive each other nuts, but
theres a commonality between us that makes collaborating
such a pleasure. We both work very hard to get a concept into
our heads, and then we work very hard to trade back and
forth what were thinking through a process called arguing.
That back and forth is comparable to a couple of dogs
that have gotten hold of a towel and then start yanking on it,
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 53
THE MYTHBUSTER GUIDE TO GONZO ENGINEERING
For the tools
you use often,get
the good stuff.
Jamie says. The process shakes out a lot of
things we would otherwise miss, and by the
time were done arguing and batting things
back and forth, weve got the solution.
Jamie is extremely methodical, a classic
engineer type, taking in information,
turning it over in his mind and then out-
putting a response. He thinks every-
thing through before he starts, Dallow
says. And his build will be as simple as
you can possibly imagine. Hes not inter-
ested in fancy color schemes.
Jamie is the Spock of the team; logic
trumps all with him. He shows little emo-
tionunlike Adam, who sometimes wears a
T-shirt that reads, Im the excitable one. Its not
that Jamie lacks passion; hes just deadpan about it.
A discussion about a favorite projectsay, the life-size robots
parked under the stairscan turn into an entertaining and
instructive lecture. He built the wheeled bots, which look
straight out of a 1950s sci- movie, in just three weeks for a GE
commercial. Their signature feature is what Jamie calls a
superjoint, which simulates an elbow joint. (Hes applied for
a patent on the design.) With two cordless electric-drill motors
(one of my favorite powerplants) mounted in line with the
upper arm and hooked to the side gears of a differential gear-
box, he designed an arm that functions like the real thing.
Spin both motors in the same direction to raise the forearm;
reverse one motor to rotate the hand. Its twice the power for
any movement without adding any weight, he says.
Jamie finds inspiration at swap meets and hardware
stores, keeping a rolling inventory of material that
may prove useful. To solve particularly tough problems,
however, he goes into Jamie-landa metaphorical room
of a certain size and shape. I get on a treadmill and start
walking, he says. Its like hitting a switch. Once Im in that
room, I re-create the parts Im working on. I pull in one part
after another and move them around, trying things. An hour
later, its like I dont know what happened. I just wake up,
soaking wet from the exertion. The problem was solved but
I was totally unaware of time passing.
He grew up in Indiana, studied Russian linguistics at
Indiana University (it was interesting at the time), owned
a Caribbean dive shop and worked as a boat captain.
Although landing in the special-effects industry might seem
like the hand of fate, it was planned. I went to the library
54 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
ADAM
Sometimes I buy
cheap tools and
modify them.
JAMIE
and researched different industries, he
says. The effects industry seemed to be
the perfect place for my natural mechanical
aptitude and the skills Id picked up along the
way. Plus, it was possible to earn a living doing
something fun. Everyone should do what they nd fun,
because if you do, your passion leads to success.
ADAMS HOME WORKSHOP REFLECTS THE INSPIRATION
he nds in a certain amount of visual cacophony. With lim-
ited space at his urban address, he jams an alarming number
of tools and old props into a 10 x 12 room off an under-
ground, single-car garage. In the suburbs the space would be
a good-size walk-in closet.
At rst glance the workshop looks like the lair of a classic
pack rat, but closer inspection reveals an order to the mad-
ness. Below a workbench are 22 Sortimo organizers lled
with all the fasteners Ill need forever. Shelves cover every
wall and even the lone window. Spools of wire hang behind
the door. I hate looking for things, he says. A good shop
has to have rst-order retrievability, so I dont have to move
anything to get to what I need.
The shelves hold an eclectic mix of artifacts, like a vintage
stopwatch and a medieval armored glove, as well as some
unnished projects. In his limited spare time, Adam pains-
takingly re-creates movie props. He built a working R2-D2
and a copy of the Maltese Falcon. Hes currently reproducing
the Zorg ZF-1 egg gun from the movie The Fifth Element and
is relishing the art of gunsmithing. (Im almost done with
it, he says. Ive been working on it for, like, 12 years.) His
off-hours work seems to favor his artistic side, like the King
Kong statue hes painting, but he thinks its wrong to sepa-
rate art from engineering. Someone who designs a really
ADAMS ESSENTIALS
Portable Band Saw
Its quiet and cuts
through steel, alumi-
num, wood and plastic.
I could cook with the
thing, I love it so much.

Trupan
I build everything out of
1-inch Trupan. Its half
the weight of typical
particleboard and
doesnt have any
formaldehyde in it.

Leatherman
One of the best tools
ever invented. Ive got
about eightand one
for every toolbox.

LED Flashlight
Its insanely useful to
have one with you at all
times. Once you start,
you wont be able to do
without it. Promise.

Sortimo System
I bought a bunch of suitcase-size
tool sorters and lled them with
every nut and bolt Ill ever need. The
cases slide under my workbench,
and theyre labeled on the side so I
can nd everything. And I can t the
cases in the back of my truck.

Adams home workshop is ju 120 square feet, so Sortimo cases are key in optimizing the limited orage space.

good carburetor is going through the same process as a
painter, he says.
Growing up outside New York City, Adam had free rein
with his fathers hardware-store charge account. He worked
alongside machinists and welders, picking up skills on the
job. He studied drama at New York University, worked with
robotic sculptor Chico MacMurtrie and nally landed in San
Franciscos special-effects community. His reputation for
quick problem-solving and constructionI like screwing it
up twice and still doing it better than the guy who did it
onceled to the gig building props for Jamie at M5. After
M5, Adam worked at a toy company and then joined Indus-
trial Light & Magic, the special-effects outfit founded by
George Lucas. Then came Jamies call to join MythBusters.
Back at the worktable, with a cameraman lming over his
shoulder, Adam coats the inside of the mold with wax and
then with a layer of mold-release spray. The delicate model-car
mold is the only one available; if Adam damages it, the shoot
is over. So he very carefully ensures that every corner is cov-
ered. The two-part polyurethane resin generates heat as it
reacts, which could distort the mold. He has to make two mod-
els with it, so he pours in a small amount of the resin to form
an insulating layer. After a few minutes, he puts on a breathing
lter and mixes the resin with glass microballoons, a ller

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 55



Adam shows his model-making artiry with re-

creations of classic movie props, like King Kong and the
Maltese Falcon. Its what I do to relax, he says.
 THE MYTHBUSTER GUIDE TO GONZO ENGINEERING

ADAMS TRAVELING TOOLBOX Every off-roader

needs a toolkit, but
found on adventure
rigs into an
part open.
Aluminum sheets
space inside my incognito toolbox. divide the interior
Jerrycan Piano Hinge Metal Brace 1982 diesel Toyota On the narrow side, space and secure
Land Cruiser is opposite the gas smaller items. To
tightand a cap, a piano hinge further conceal the
tailgate-mounted riveted in place cans true purpose,
toolbox might connects the halves I made a tailgate
attract thieves. So I of the can; a mount with steel
converted a metal two-piece metal supports that hide
jerrycan commonly brace holds the top the seam.

material. He pours in the mixture,
sets in the Trupan blocks and
puts the mold aside. Cut!
Theres no
AS FUN AS IT IS TO WATCH shame in starting
Jamie and Adam produce
mechanical oddities, its
something but
interesting to see how the failing to nish.
MythBuster team has rein- ADAM
forced the value of science,
engineering and the art of build-
ing things. In recent years science
and math education in American
schools has suffered as shifting priori-
ties have reduced opportunities for students
to perform hands-on experimentation.
By investigating urban legends and half-baked engineer-
ing truthsproving some, debunking othersJamie and
Adam have played an important role in changing attitudes
about science. The shows genius is that beneath the kinetics
and risky stuntsspectacular car crashes, explosions and
other dangerous merrimentis a cleverly veiled science
show that instructs as it entertains, which any teacher will
tell you is a real feat. I like to think, Jamie says, that theres
a whole do-it-yourself sort of mentality that is growing.
If the decades ahead produce another Thomas Edison or
Steve Jobs, odds are that he or she will have grown up watch-
ing MythBusters. The workshops ofce is covered with draw-
ings made and sent by children. Weve shown that its a lot
easier to get hands-on experience than people think, Jamie
says. You can memorize how to do something, but unless
you internalize the information, its just a pile of data sitting
on a table. Hands-on experience is what allows you to make it
part of your brain; it brings that data to life.
Its 3:30 pmjust 2 hours from the deadline for wrapping
up the days shoot. Adams mutt Huxley naps, while his
equally relaxed owner adjusts the chuck of a lathe in the
machine shop. His next taskdrilling dimples into one of
the cast car models. Hes making a sleeve that he
hopes will t over a drill bit and quickly produce
the right dimples. I very much enjoy cutting a
couple of thousandths off a piece.
The intern has delivered a new bowling
ball, so now Jamie is back at the drill press,
dimpling the 10-pounder. It takes almost an
hour of drilling the holes to just the right
depth and repositioning the ball, a sequence
Jamie performs 321 times without stopping.
While it sounds like assembly-line drudgery,
Jamie doesnt mind. I enjoy the opportunity to
turn off my mind, he says. In fact, I hear him
humming. Could it be Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah?
Meanwhile, Adam nishes the drill-bit sleeve
and sets to work on the 24-inch-long car
casting. He drills a couple of dimples,
but the results are not quite right. He
tries a few without the sleeve and
learns that he can get the desired
result without the piece hes spent
half an hour crafting. Sometimes
you go down a path, and its not the
right one, he says. So you have to start
all over again. Its like throwing money into a
bad poker hand. You have to know when to stop. Adams
demeanor wouldnt suggest he has the patience for this
repetitive work, yet he plows right through it. Its like clean-
ing up a room, he says. You pick up one thing at a time. In
45 minutes, he drills 732 dimples.
Now its 4:30. The only thing left to do is the painting.
Jamie sets his ball under the painting booth and goes to work
with a spray can, moving slowly, precisely. Adam takes his
turn, moving his spraying arm quickly back and forth past one
of the model cars. The trick is to spray past the object youre
painting, he says. See? Its easy. His hand is a blur. FC
ON THE WEB > Take a guided video tour of the MythBusters
workshop at popularmechanics.com/mythbustertour.

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 57

 by ROY BERENDSOHN

BEFORE THE SPACESHIP OR THE CAR

OR THE COVERED WAGON, EXPLORERS CRAFTED SEAGOING VESSELS. WE FELT
ADVENTUROUS. SO, USING OLD PLANS, HAND TOOLS AND A CRAMPED
GARAGE AS A SHOP, WE GOT TO WORK.

p h o t o g r a p h s b y B R A D PA R I S
 The last was my
Uncle Paul. He was a shipbuilder who learned his trade beginning at age 14 in Ham-
burg, Germany. Every morning, the boy rowed from the familys dock out across the
shipping lanes of the Elbe River, which ows into the North Sea. The trip to the ship- S EP TEM BE R
yard where he was apprenticed took an hour and a half, longer in winter, when there 2 0 09
was fog and oating ice on the water. After three years, Paul received a journeymans
certicate and a berth aboard a gigantic four-masted windjammer named Passat P O P U L A RM EC HA N I C S . C O M

59
trade wind in ese plans for a M AY
small and simple 1 9 3 7
English. That was
sailing boat design
in the 1920s, be- called a Biloxi
fore the fascists Dinghy appeared in
confiscated his POPULAR MECHANICS
in May 1937. To
familys own small
simplify the proje,
shipyard and the I omitted the ma
Berendsohns left and centerboard.
for America. Inead, I built the
Sea Scout, named
A few months aer the cra in
ago, I decided to try the original article,
my hand at the to be rowed or
powered by an out-
ancestral trade. Ive board motor. She
built everything works well in either
from houses to a conguration.
blacksmiths forge
(March 2009), but
theres no more evocative project than a
boat, at least to me. Since before Austro-
nesians first gazed across the Pacific,
wooden vessels have stood for crafts-
manship and the drive to explore. I
sifted through PMs archives looking for
a classic design and eventually settled
on a 10-foot dinghy from our May 1937
issue. It looked elegant, yet simple
enough to build on a pair of sawhorses.
Its been many years since my Uncle
Paul was around to lend advice, so I frames (that was the name of the craft before I could secure the curved planks
ran the drawings past Timo White, a in the plans, and I chose to keep it) and of the hull. The next step was to clamp
boatbuilder at Tuckerton Seaport, a a 2-inch-thick slab of white oak for the thin strips of wood, called battens, to
small maritime museum on the New wedge-shaped stem at the bow. the frame to stand in for the planks, so I
Jersey coast. It turned out that Timo Back home, I started making a racket could measure and mark all those
was in the midst of restoring a surf- feeding planks through a table saw. My angles. Then, I took the parts off the
board built from plans in the July 1937 skills were creakyIve spent too much board and nished shaping them.
issue of PM. (It was a big year for sea- time in recent years xing stuff and not Often, the weather conned me to
faring projects, I guess.) He conrmed enough buildingbut over a few days the garage, but when the sun emerged I
my old confidence returned. The Sea
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT/STUDIO D

that the dinghy was a good candidate
for a rst-time builder and agreed to
lend a hand if needed.
S H I P YA R D I N T H E D R I V E W AY
morning I set
out for Willard Brothers Woodcutters,
a sawmill and lumber dealer in Tren-
ton, N.J. You can spend hours there,
roaming stacks of delicious- looking
walnut, cherry and oak, some of the
boards as wide as your arm is long. I
bought red oak for the Sea Scouts
Scout began to take form.
Most boats begin with the frames,
the ribs that provide structure to the
hull. I roughed them into shape, along
with the stem and the gracefully shaped
stern wall, or transom, which I cut from
-inch plywood. Then I braced it all to
a building boardwhich is nothing
more than a 2 x 10 with a chalk line
marked down the center. The boats
skeleton was in place, but each member
still needed to be precisely beveled
worked in the driveway. If you want to
get to know the neighbors, start build-
ing a boat. Linda from next door asked
whether the craft would be sailed,
rowed or powered by an outboard
motor. Others wondered where I would
go with it, how Id get it there and what I
would name it. A truck driver from Tul-
noy Lumber, dropping off some marine
plywood, approached respectfully. This
is beautiful, he said, with an old-
fashioned New York accent as broad as
the hand he ran over the frames.

60 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 2

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1. Building together precisely. 2. Bottom 3. Side Member 4. Gusset 5. Cross-Spall

Board e 12-foot-long Member e gently tapered e gussets Cross-spalls
Like mo small building board, e frames oak side members joining the bottom support each
wooden boats, the made from a underlying the meet the bottom and side framing frame during the
Sea Scout was 2 x 10, held the dinghys hull were members at a members are cut building process.
built bottom side parts in the right fashioned from slight angle. ese from oak and eyre screwed
up. Mo pieces positions while the red oak. e pieces are cut faened with to the side
arent permanently bevels were curved seion is oversize, then epoxy and bronze members and the
conneed until measured and the bottom shortened to screws, some of building board.
relatively late in again when it was membereach nished length. which ended up Aer the planking
the process, but time to join the one was cut with being too close to is done, the boat
every element of frames together a jigsaw and the gussets edge. is turned upright
the frame had to with the chine logs smoothed using a and the supports
be shaped to t and planking. block plane. are removed.
WORKING THE PLANK
how Uncle Paul felt about
it, but boatbuilding can be acutely frus-
trating. The bane of my weekends
proved to be a small bronze screw. A No.
6 Frearson at-head, to be exact. Like
most modern DIYers, Id been spoiled
by drywall screws and other aggressive
fasteners that practically plow into the
lumber. Even using a specialized,
tapered drill bit and a waxlike lubricant
with the unlikely name of Akempucky, I
managed to wreck screws by the dozen.
The head on one would strip a moment
before the screw was fully seated, while
another would shear off on the last
eighth of a turn, leaving me with a shiny
Frearson-head penny.
Timo had tried to downplay the
arcana Id faceIts more like house
carpentry than fine-furniture build-
ing, he had saidbut I still found
myself oundering on occasion. One
challenge was that the 1937 article was
more an overview than a detailed set
of plans. And, though it pains me to
nd fault with my forebears at Popu-
lar Mechanics, the sketch contained
suspicious discrepancies. Timo helped
me recalibrate some of the dimensions 1
midway through
the project
and I had to trim
several pieces
after they were assembled. smile, and a block plane in each hand,
The biggest hurdle came when it was and my mood lifted. He politely took a
time to plank the hull. The classic way sighting down the chine logs where
is to bend strips of solid wood to the wed attach the bottom, and spent a few
frames. Id chosen marine-grade r ply- minutes planing them to the last mea-
wood instead to save time, but now I sure of precision. Then we got to work
was barely able to force the hulls 14 - with staples, glue and screwsand in a
inch sheets into place. There was no couple of hours the project went from a
way the half-inch plywood Id planned plywood ower bed to a small craft with
for the bottom was going to work. sensuous compound curves.
Timo advised me to switch to a spe- It was satisfying, but my mistakes
cial, wafer-thin marine-grade plywood still showed in details like the placement
and plank the bottom in two layers. He of screws and the shape of the stem.
came swooping in one Thursday morn- You know what they say, Timo told
ing to show me the technique. He me. Putty and paint makes a boat what
stepped out of his truck with a broad it aint. I got out my paintbrushes. 3
 1. Very few M A I D E N V O YA G E
elements in a boat at Tuckerton
are simply cut to
shape and inalled. Seaport on a cool, overcast day that
Like the oak em felt more like September than June.
shown here, nearly Down at the dock, Timo produced a
every piece needs to
can of Amstel Light in lieu of cham-
be beveled or curved
to t the surface it pagne. Go ahead, he said, pour it
meets. (at tool is over the bow. I popped it open and
a fore plane I own, emptied the beer over the paint. I
built by Stanley
Tools in 1927.) christen thee Sea Scout, I said. Then
__ we slid the little craft off the dock and
2. Ancient terms into the water.
persi in boatbuild-
ing. is curving
You might think a feeling of tri-
wood piece, where umph came over me. Not so. The Sea
the bottom is Scout looked very small, almost help-
attached, is called a less, as she sat bobbing at the end of
chine log. In pa
centuries, it the painter, the little rope that Timo
consied of a single had threaded across the bow. I felt
log chosen for its humbled. A phrase from the Book of
natural curve, then
shaped to t. e Psalms ashed in my mind: They that
chine log is set in a go down to the sea in ships, that do
notch and faened business on great waters.
to each frame.
__ I wasnt aiming for any great waters
3. Two layers of myself. I eased off the dock and into the
okoume plywood boat. Timo handed me the oars. Awk-
form the bottom of wardly, I drew the handles back, just
the Sea Scout. Timo
(foreground) above my hips. The craft slid forward
showed me how to gracefully, almost like she was on ice.
inall them. As Timo watched, I braced the left oar
__
4. e Sea Scout
down in the water and swept the surface
motored along with the right. The Sea Scout pivoted
nicely, powered neatly, unexpectedly elegant and spry.
2 by this 2.5-hp If the oars were a kick, you can imag-
four-roke Mercury
Marine outboard. ine the thrill I felt when I mounted the
2.5-hp Mercury Marine outboard on
the transom. Its a clean-running four-
stroke engine, compact yet almost
zippy on a boat this small. I gave the
engine full throttle and cut some nice
straight lines and a pleasingly tight
curve complete with a crisp little wake.
With the afternoon gone, my first
voyage was complete. In the end, I
decided to donate the boat and engine
to Tuckerton Seaport. Frankly, I needed
the space in my garage and driveway:
The Sea Scout was a good rst foray into
wooden boatbuilding, but I knew I
could do betterand Im already sift-
4 ing through plans. FC

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 63

 How an improbable partnership between an Internet mogul and an
engineer could revolutionize the way NASA conducts missionsand,
if these iconoclasts are successful, send paying customers into space.
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weekends to build a liquid-fuel rocket engine in his garage.
Mueller, a propulsion engineer at Redondo Beach, Calif.based
aerospace rm TRW, felt like an unwanted necessity at his day
job. His prolic ideas about engine design were lost at such a
large, diverse company. To satisfy his creative impulses, he built
his own engines, attached them to airframes and launched them
in the Mojave Desert with fellow enthusiasts in the Reaction
Research Society, Americas oldest amateur rocketry club. RRS

64 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

SpaceX propulsion chief Tom Mueller (opposite) examines
a spacecra control thruer. Muellers Merlin engines
(above, in Hawthorne, Calif.) power rockets that NASA
needs to haul cargo to the space ation. SpaceX founder
Elon Musk has an even bolder objeive: manned ight.
members, many of them employees at aerospace rms, meet reg-
ularly in the Los Angeles area to build and launch the biggest and
highest ying rockets they canjust as the group has done since
it was founded in the early 1940s.
Building a liquid-fuel rocket engine isnt easy, even for an
experienced propulsion engineer. Liquid propellants are cheap
and provide lots of lifting power, but the engines rely on a host of
valves and seals to control the flow. And they usually require
supercooled oxidizers, like liquid oxygen, to mix with the fuel so it
can ignite. The resulting combustionessentially a controlled
explosionis channeled at high pressure into the nozzle, creat-
ing the thrust that propels the rocket. Despite these challenges,
by early 2002 Mueller had moved his operations to a friends
rented warehouse and was putting the nishing touches on the
worlds largest amateur liquid-fuel rocket engine, an 80-pounder
designed to produce 13,000 pounds of thrust.
Muellers ambitious moonlighting caught the attention of
Internet multimillionaire Elon Musk, who met the engineer at
the warehouse in January 2002 as Mueller was trying to attach his
homemade engine to an airframe. Fresh from the $1.5 billion
sale of PayPal to eBay, Musk was seeking staff for a new space
company, soon to be called Space Exploration Technologies, or
SpaceX. He eyed the rocket engine and asked a simple question:
Can you build something bigger?
Mueller never fired that engine. He took it
back to his garage, where it still sits. Instead, he
took up Musks offer to join the nascent private
space venture. Today SpaceX has more than 700
employees, 500 of them at corporate headquar-
ters in Hawthorne, Calif. Mueller is vice presi-
dent of propulsion. TRW is a huge company
with a tiny propulsion department, Mueller
says. Here, Im kind of king.
On the oor of the Hawthorne facility, a for-
mer Boeing 747 assembly plant, rests the engine
assembly from SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. Soot
from a test ring coats the 12-foot-high structure.
Seven of nine engines are in place; technicians
have removed the other two and stood them
upright on nozzles nearly 3 feet wide. Topped
with a 3200-hp turbopump and a tangle of
plumbing, each engine stands taller than a man.
Once all nine engines have been refurbished,
the assembly will be shipped to the companys
test center in McGregor, Texas. Firing one engine
to simulate a run to orbit awakens babies in
towns miles away. The full cluster, which pro-
duces nearly 1 million pounds of thrust, must

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SpaceX at the head of the pack of companies trying to launch private rockets into orbit.

have them bouncing in their cribs like renewable energy and space exploration.
jumping beans. After the windfall sale of PayPal, he
Last year, NASA awarded SpaceX a scratched the Internet off his list. Within a
$1.6 billion contract to send cargo to year of the sale, Musk invested in a pair of
the space station; it also issued a $1.9 companies, electric-car developer Tesla
billion contract to another company, Motors and the solar-power outt SolarCity,
Orbital Sciences. This marks the rst to help foster alternative-energy research.
time NASA has included private launch That left space explorationin particular
vehicles in its plans. NASA is counting the extension of life beyond Earth, he says
on them, says William Gerstenmaier, as the last item on the list.
the agencys associate administrator Musk wanted to nance a Mars lander,
PHOTOGRAPH BY JILL GREENBERG/CORBIS

responsible for space operations. but he discovered it would cost more to

Early next year a SpaceX rocket will launch the craft than to build it. He decided
approach the station in a test flight, that what the world really needed was afford-
with another test to follow in rehearsal able rockets. So he searched the ranks of the
for an unmanned docking by the end of RRS for engineers who could achieve results
2010. I never thought that Id be doing on a budget and found a strong candidate
a big program for NASA, Musk says. for propulsion chief in Mueller. Tom had
Its kind of wild. Launching from Cape an awesome track record of engine develop-
Canaveral is like opening on Broadway. ment at TRW, Musk says. I also really liked the fact that he built
and tested rocket hardware with his own hands.
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three main areas that he thought could provide reliable engine with a simple design at a cut-rate pricethe Mer-
maximum benefit to humanity: the Internet, lin. It was the nations rst new large liquid-fuel rocket engine to
y in 40 years. The Merlin runs on highly rened kerosene and
cryogenically cooled liquid oxygen, and uses a single injector,
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engines are notoriously unpredictable.
To prevent heat damage, Mueller treated the nozzles of the
early versions of the Merlin with resin impregnated with silicon
bers. This ablative coating chars and akes off as the engine
runs, taking damaging heat with it. The goal was to have an
engine that could withstand a punishing 160-second burnlong
enough for the rst stage of SpaceXs Falcon 1 rocket to reach an
altitude of 56 miles, where the second stages smaller engine
kicks in to boost the cargo to 81 miles and low Earth orbit.
In October 2003 Mueller and his engineers sat in the SpaceX
control bunker in Texas and red up a Merlin on the test stand.
During the 60-second run, the exhaust began to melt the metal in
the engines throat. The heat also endangered seals that governed
the ow of the propellant. If the engine had run any longer, it
would have blown up.
It took months to work out the bugs. Muellers team reduced
the amount of liquid oxygen entering the injector to make the
engine run cooler and less powerfully, and strengthened the
seals. Fifteen months after that rst test, the engineers invited me
2009 2010 to join them in the bunker as they attempted to run the engine for
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means the 180-foot- low Earth orbit. A caged-beast roar penetrated the concrete and packed earth
tall rocket may walls of the bunker; the steel grates of the test stands oor shiv-
be able to send
a capsule to the ered and rattled, nally shaking loose a panel that danced across
International Space
Station next year.

TIMELINE BY A XEL PFAENDER

 Port to access
space ation
hatch (not visible)

X Pressurized
cargo bay

One of three
windows

Location of
thruer housings;
the capsule uses
up to 18 engines
to eer in space

Unpressurized
equipment hold

Engineers at SpaceXs California facility assemble a Dragon spacecra designed to carry cargo to the space
ation. Windows reveal the companys long-term goal to use the capsule for manned ights.
 What goes up: Mueller (in helmet) and other amateur rocketeers locate the landing site of a solid-fuel
booer launched in the Black Rock Desert in 1996.
our eld of view. The engine ran aw-
lessly, shutting down after 162.2 sec-
onds when its fuel tank ran dry. After
the sudden silence, the room erupted
in cheers. Call Elon! Mueller yelled.
Tell him we just ran a full duration!
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the start of the engineering challenges.
In 2006, technicians mounted the Mer-
lin engine on SpaceXs 70-foot-tall Fal-
con 1 rocket and launched it from the
companys facility at Kwajalein Atoll,
2500 miles southwest of Hawaii. The
liftoff looked perfect, but the rocket
was doomed before ignition.
During weeks of preight tests, salty
Pacic air had corroded an aluminum
nut in the engine. Just before liftoff,
when the propellant valves opened, the
nut failed and caused a leak. When the engines
ignited 2 seconds before liftoff, the spilled fuel
caught re. Thirty-four seconds after the Falcon
launched, ames burned through a pneumatic
line and shut down the engine. The rocket
crashed into the Pacic a few seconds later.
It was the rst in a series of failed launches. A
year later, sloshing fuel in the second stage of
another Falcon 1 caused oscillations, and the
rocket spun out of control before reaching orbit.
During the third ight in August 2008, the rst
stage collided with the second stage just after
separation. Both fell into the ocean. An investiga-
tion showed that engine improvements had
increased residual thrust, leading to the impact.
Less than two months later, those expensive
and embarrassing failures were forgotten. At
SpaceXs Hawthorne headquarters, Mueller,
Musk and the staff watched a video feed from
Kwajalein as another Falcon I roared from its
South Pacic launchpad. Images from cameras
mounted on the rocket showed the first stage
falling back to Earth and the second-stage engine
kicking on, boosting the rocket into space.
The fairings at the tip of the Falcon separated
and fell away; they would eventually incinerate
while re-entering the atmosphere. Less than 10
minutes after liftoff, at 16,400 mph and 81
milesfast enough and high enough to remain
in orbitthe Falcon released a dummy payload.
Musk and Mueller had created the rst private
liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit.
Soon after that successful launch, customers
began signing up for future ights on the larger,
far more powerful Falcon 9.
The rockets nine engines
give it an important asset:
reliability. It is the rst since
the Saturn series from the
Apollo program to incorpo-
rate engine-out capability
that is, one or more engines
can fail and the rocket will
still make it to orbit.
According to its launch
manifest, the company will
boost the payload of the
first customer, U.K.-based
Avanti Communications,
by the end of this year on a
Falcon 9. Four other outts
have placed orders through
2015. SpaceXs fees for
launching payloads on a
Falcon 1 start at around $8 million, a bargain compared to the
estimated $13.5 million charged by competitors. A 2009 Govern-
ment Accountability Ofce report conrms that the company
manufactures almost all of its own rocket components, avoiding
dependency on costly external suppliers. SpaceX has a great
deal of in-house technical skill, says Alan Lindenmoyer, NASAs
commercial crew and cargo program manager. But they also
have the entrepreneurial spirit that drives them to succeed.
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Hawthorne; technicians are preparing the full-size capsule for
vibration tests by installing weights to stand in for uncompleted
avionics and other gear that will be stored in the unpressurized
equipment hold in the Dragons base. A hatch opens to a second
hold pressurized for cargo that cannot survive the vacuum of
space. Staff have painted an indigo dragon on the hull, wings out-
stretched. The image evokes the twin solar panels that will open
from the capsule to provide power during extended missions,
such as those for microgravity experiments.
Despite the pressure of the NASA contract and the demands
of SpaceXs other clients, Musk is still chasing his dream of send-
ing people beyond Earth. NASA has not yet asked the company to
build any hardware to carry astronauts to the space station, but
SpaceX engineers are preparing the Dragon capsule to handle a
crew of seven. Every Dragon spacecraft, even ones that will only
carry cargo, has windows. I climb a short metal ladder to the
pressurized hold; its roomy, with curving walls that are too far
apart to reach with outstretched arms.
NASA says its new reliance on private companies to ferry cargo
to the space station will free the agency to focus on manned
ights to the moon and, eventually, Mars. But, as the windows on
the Dragon indicate, SpaceX has plans that go far beyond han-
dling NASAs freight. Who knowsat the rate Musk, Mueller and
company are going, SpaceX just might reach Mars rst. FC
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 69
+ + qqq
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 youre blasting down Death Valleys Titus Canyon. Im the lead rider in our group of
ve, my helmet and hands buzzing from the KTMs torquey 449-cc four-stroke. Every
twist of this serpentine, dusty trail hides a surprise, and any hamsted moves with
the throttle could mean a side trip into the unforgiving brushperhaps
worse. Suddenly, the trail snakes abruptly to the right; I barely make the turn and
drift wide into the soft, sandy shoulder as the prickly branches of the desert sage-
brush graze my pant legs. Whew.
Death Valley is notoriously unforgiving. Its remote, dry and, yes, very hot134 F
is the record temperature. Theres good reason auto engineers arrive here every
summer for hot-weather testing in camouaged prototypes. If the air conditioning
works in Death Valley, it works anywhere. As inhospitable as this place may be, its
e mo powerful topography is like an amusement park for hikers, campers and gearheads looking to
bike in our te, the
KTM 450 EXC, has get a little dirty. This 3.4-million-acre national park on the CaliforniaNevada border
torque to burn. has trails ideally suited to our mission: testing dual-sport motorcycles.

b y Larry Webster photographs by Nathaniel Welch

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 71

 Dual-sport bikes are like the crossover SUVs of the motor-
cycle world. They are off-road bikes toned down and made
legal for road use. Since weight is the enemy of off-road rid-
ing, they are all thumperstorque-rich, single-cylinder
machines that conservatively sip fuel. So, theyve become
popular bikes for commuting. In fact, last year, the dual-
sport segment grew 23 percent. Impressive, considering that
the motorcycle market as a whole declined by 3.3 percent.
Our group of riders rambles into Death Valley National
Park and convenes at the rustic Furnace Creek Ranch one
early spring weekend to kick up some dirt. Our skill levels are
as diverse as the bikes were testing. The Honda CRF230L
and Yamaha XT250 represent the popular entry-level class.
The Kawasaki KLX250S and Suzuki DR-Z400S are two con-
secutive upward steps in capability. Finally, at the extreme
end of the performance envelope sits the KTM 450 EXC, a
race-ready dirt rocket. Professional tester Danny Coe has
blasted each one down the quarter-mile at Auto Club Race-
way in Pomona, Calif., before we arrive in Death Valley. So we
have an idea which ones will take a more experienced hand.
And our guest rider has spent a large part of his life on two
wheels. Joining our team for this three-day trail test is part-
time motorcycle rider and full-time MythBuster Jamie Hyne-
man. Jamie gravitates right to the re-breathing KTMit
became his favorite steed on this trip.
YAMAHA XT250
THE TRAILS OF DEATH VALLEY RADIATE OUTWARD LIKE A
pinwheel from our Furnace Creek home base. Dual-sport
bikes dont have to be hauled to the trailhead like a dedicated
dirt machine. You just saddle up and ride. And to get in a full
day of riding, we begin at the coldest partearly morning.
The stunning, snow-covered Panamint Range is a wel-
come distraction from the chill. Still, a 30-mile pavement ride
reminds us that these bikes do have some drawbacks. There
is no bodywork to shield you from wind. The seats pack all
the comfort of a park bench. And the knobby tires put little
rubber on the tarmac. So these bikes certainly arent cushy
cruisers. But its that upright riding position that makes dual-
sport bikes so maneuverableand perfect for the dirt.
The packed gravel road leading to Titus Canyon drops
into an ever-narrowing switchback canyon. The road itself is
mild. A rental car could make itvery slowly. But at the speed
were going, the constant washboard bumps would probably
shake a car dashboard into a pile of crumbled plastic.
These bikes have suspension travel to spare, so they soak
up the ridges and allow us to race through to more challeng-
ing terrain. All of these bikes occasionally spit st-size rocks.
But when youre dressed in a suit of armored Alpinestars
gear, as we are, youre nearly bulletproof.
Down in the canyon, as we slice between the high rock
walls, the Honda and Yamaha ease us back into the sport.
Just about anyone can throw a leg over these bikes; the learn-
ing curve is short. But dirt riding requires a subtle touch. Its
KTM 450 EXC
tempting to stiffen your arm muscles and make small, fran-
tic steering corrections. Not only will you wake up the next
morning with sore shoulders, but these bikes wont respond
well to this busywork.
The best way to ride on this terrain is to guide the bikes
and forget about small course corrections. Its easier to stand
and use your body weight to steer. Once youre in a groove,
the moves are graceful, satisfying and quite relaxing. Our
group hits that mark as we close in on our lunch stop and
glide past the rusty brown and slate-gray canyon walls.
The KLX packs a surprisingly hefty punch. Theres a good
balance between suspension travel and seat height. And the
powerplant is more highly tuned than the other 250s here, so
once you spin the motor to its 10,500 redline, hold on.
The deeper we go, the tighter the canyon gets. And
nobody wants to let up. The big Suzuki and the KTM both
have a wonderful overload of power. The Suzuki is equipped
with slightly more street-oriented tires. Yet the motor is
ferocious, so lifting the front wheel is just a twist of the
throttle away. But the KTM is really in another class. Even
with the dirt-specic tires, this bike effortlessly breaks trac-
tion, power-slides and sends up a sky-high roost of dirt. We
quickly nickname it the Big Block. For those of us with less
experience, the KTM can be a bit intimidating. But Jamie
cant get enough of it. (By this time, the MythBuster has long
since dispelled any doubts about his riding prowessthe
man has serious off-road chops). The KTM is a barrelful of
monkeys, he says, in one of those anachronisms that some-
KAWASAKI KLX250S
SUZUKI DR-Z400S
how sounds natural coming from under a handlebar mus-
tache. It gives me everything I can handle.
We gas the bikes through the last of the switchbacks,
dirt-track style, with the rear ends swinging wide. On the
street these would be hooligan moves, but in the dirt, its
just the right way to ride.
IT TAKES A DIP IN FURNACE CREEKS SPRING-FED POOL
to remove the days dusty lm. The next morning we emerge
fresh and ready to run the curvy pavement to 5475-foot
Dantes View. At the top, on this sparkling day, we could use
a parkaits cold. We walk to the edge of the lookout and see
both the highest and lowest places in the contiguous U.S.
Roughly 80 miles west is 14,494-foot Mount Whitney; on the
valley floor, 282 feet below sea level, the Badwater Basin
spreads out like a chalk-white desert.
The chill melts away as our convoy snakes down to Bad-
water. On this billiard-table-smooth two-laner, the smaller
Honda and Yamaha struggle to maintain 70 mph. The KTM
has no such trouble. But oddly, the KTMs saddle is not par-
ticularly well-suited to ... sitting. Its rock-hard and narrow.
Four members
of the PM te
team take turns
sampling a range
of dual-sport
bikes on Death
Valleys Artis
Drive. Above, the
full group takes
in a via that
includes the lower
48s highe and
lowe points.
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 73
 SUZUKI DR-Z400S HONDA CRF230L KAWASAKI KLX250S

Price: $6099 Price: $4999 Price: $4999

Engine/trans: 398-cc liquid-cooled single/5M Engine/trans: 223-cc air-cooled single/6M Engine/trans: 249-cc liquid-cooled single/6M
Horsepower: 35 Horsepower: 14 Horsepower: 20
Weight: 317 pounds Weight: 267 pounds Weight: 278 pounds
Suspension travel, F/R: 11.3/11.6 inches Suspension travel, F/R: 9.0/6.3 inches Suspension travel, F/R: 10.0/9.1 inches
Seat height: 36.8 inches Seat height: 31.9 inches Seat height: 35.0 inches
060 mph: 5.9 seconds 060 mph: 10.81 seconds 060 mph: 8.60 seconds
1/4-mile: 14.72 seconds @ 83.72 mph 1/4-mile: 17.64 seconds @ 68.66 mph 1/4-mile: 16.64 seconds @ 73.54 mph
600 braking: 133.95 feet 600 braking: 130.68 feet 600 braking: 127.61 feet
Fuel economy: 46.68 mpg Fuel economy: 54.16 mpg Fuel economy: 49.27 mpg

THE GOOD THE NOT-SO-GOOD THE GOOD THE GOOD THE NOT-SO-GOOD
It has nearly all Its the heavie bike e controls all have a light, progressive feel An excellent e high-revving
the punch of the here, and the high that makes operation eortless. e wide, so compromise between engine has to be
high-powered KTM, so center of gravity seat is a comfortable perch. e smaller easy-to-ride play wound hard to gain
it can keep up with combines with the tall dimensions give inexperienced riders bike and full-edged sucient thru. While
highway trac. e seat to create a condence. And when it comes to reliability, racer. Suspension is the liquid-cooled
power allows you to ruggle for shorter the Honda is probably bulletproof. set at a comfortable engine clearly provides
eortlessly work the riders. For serious height, but ill has more poke than the
rear end in the dirt. o-road duty, it needs THE NOT-SO-GOOD plenty of travel to other 250s, it also has
But its as docile as more aggressive tires. e engine could use at lea another absorb large hits. It more uradiators,
the smaller bikes. e Some noticed a sharp, 5 hp, and our inner gearhead wants more feels light and water pumpsthat
DR-Z400S was the uncomfortable edge in exhau growl. With tires biased for on-road ickablegreat on could fail.
only bike here with the seat foam. performance and short suspension travel, the twiy roads. Clutch
vibration-damping CRF isnt a hardcore o-roader. and brake eort are THE BOTTOM LINE
rubber foot-peg THE BOTTOM LINE wonderfully smooth. e KLX is docile
inserts. e A terric all-around THE BOTTOM LINE Unlike mo of the enough for a newbie,
suspensions initial motorcycle that can Its easy to ride, forgivingand fun. But it bikes here, the KLX but provides a wide-
compliance did a solid be modied to suit was the 54 mpg and the under $5000 price comes with a enough performance
job smoothing out the almo any rider that really made us smile. tachometer. envelope to keep
bumps. And this bike taller than about Amazingly, the an advanced rider
has been around for a ve-foot eight. BEST SUITED FOR Kawasaki cos the entertained.
while, so theres Beginner to intermediate, and anyone who same as the beginner
tremendous BEST SUITED FOR values a low seat height. bikes here. BEST SUITED FOR
aermarket support. Beginner to expert. Beginner to expert.

The Suzuki, on the other hand, provides plenty of thrust and
comfortit is the grand tourer of the group.
Badwaters glowing white surface practically sears our
eyeballs when we remove our helmets for a closer look.
NASA-strength sunblock wouldnt have been enough. The
basin is not unlike Bonnevillesmooth and salty. But this is
not a place for speed, unless you plan to compete in the Bad-
water Ultramarathon. Well pass. The temperature rises a
tick over 90 degrees as we feel the crunch of the salty crust
beneath our boots. Thats not Death Valley hot, but its
uncomfortable enough for us to mount up and seek relief.
WE HAVE JUST ENOUGH DAYLIGHT TO RACE OUT TO THE
abandoned Inyo gold mine, a quick buzz up a 10-mile trail. If
we were crawling in a four-wheel drive, itd be dark by the
time we arrived. Sometimes, two wheels are better than four.
The last gold miners left approximately 70 years ago, but

74 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 YAMAHA XT250 KTM 450 EXC

Price: $4690 Price: $9198

Engine/trans: 249-cc air-cooled single/5M Engine/trans: 449-cc liquid-cooled single/6M
Horsepower: 16 Horsepower: 43
Weight: 271 pounds Weight: 251 pounds
Suspension travel, F/R: 8.9/7.1 inches Suspension travel, F/R: 11.8/13.2 inches
Seat height: 33.0 inches Seat height: 38.8 inches
060 mph: 9.82 seconds 060 mph: 5.19 seconds
1/4-mile: 17.20 seconds @ 70.63 mph 1/4-mile: 13.84 seconds @ 92.94 mph
600 braking: 143.80 feet 600 braking: 150.59 feet
Fuel economy: 52.77 mpg Fuel economy: 45.41 mpg

THE GOOD THE GOOD bumps. When

e Yamaha was the lea expensive bike here, but it certainly e motor is cruising, the long
didnt feel cheap. While it has ju two more horsepower than the incredibly responsive travel suspension is
Honda, our te team noticed the XT250 felt much ronger. e and emits an surprisingly harsh,
Yamaha is small but gutsy, Hyneman says. e XT250 proved to be authoritative, barky and the narrow, hard
a great rock crawler, and with almo no learning curve and near exhau note. We seat is not suitable
53-mpg fuel eciency, its probably a great commuter too. admire the attention for extended rides.
to detail with common e knobby tires
THE NOT SO GOOD faener sizes for make for a tiny
e diance from the seat to the foot pegs is 19.5 inches, the quick maintenance conta patchroad
shorte here. So if you are 6 feet tall, this makes for a cramped and disassembly. e traion is limited.
cockpit. e rear suspension seemed too so for heavier adults. Like KTM can supply as
the Honda, fa and rough o-road riding overwhelm the suspen- much performance THE BOTTOM LINE
sions damping ability, and the motor doesnt have enough power to as the rider can Brash and
keep pace with the bigger bikes on the highway. handle, which can be intimidating for
incredibly entertaining. novices, but has a
THE BOTTOM LINE With reet tires, it potential unmatched
A near twin to the Honda but in a more powerful, more would be even quicker. in this group.
intermediate-level package. For an extra $1400, Yamaha oers
the WR250R with a lot more giddyupa better choice for THE NOT-SO-GOOD BEST SUITED FOR
hardcore dirt riders. It feels happie in Expert or advanced
max attack mode, intermediate riders
BEST SUITED FOR when youre hard on looking to grow into
Beginner to intermediate. the gas and pounding the sport.

theres still plenty of hardware strewn about. We spot a
mineshaft up a steep, rocky trail and hop on the Yamaha.
The XT250s docile motor happily loafs along, allowing us to
crawl up the treacherous hill. And the Yamahas low seat
makes the precarious turnaround easy.
We ll up one last time at the gas station next to the hotel
bar. We have burned 20 gallons totalfor ve bikesover
200 miles of weekend exploring. Not bad. We park the bikes,
dust ourselves off and head inside for a post-ride dinner. The
beer and steak taste so much better after a day out on the
trail. Suddenly, midway through a pull of my second Sierra
Nevada, the music dies. Power outage. We can hear the howl-
ing wind and see the windows clouded with a thick, tan fog.
Nothing but a dust storm, the bartender says. But its the
worst Ive seen in a long time. This is just the kind of unpre-
dictability that makes the region such a bewitching place to
ride. Still, there are times when Death Valley is best experi-
enced from indoors. FC

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 75

 2009

B A C K YA R D

GENIUS

To create an incredibly cool car-crusher or oversize rocket or solar-

pedal-powered contraption that the world had no idea it needed
AWARDS takes brilliance, determination and a healthy dose of crazy. The
winners of our Backyard Genius Awards have all those qualities,
and we salute them for it. BY DAVIN COBURN
FIRMEST HANDSHAKE

Car-Crushing Mechanical Claw

N
P D

Our top prizewinner spent years dreaming of the perfe way to

IO
M N
A A

crush cars by hand. In 2007 Chriian Riow, an arti and

H R
C G

former animatronics designer for the movie indury, demon-

rated his r working incarnation of the Hand of Man at a
robotics feival in Amerdam. Much of his time since then has
been spent re-engineering and rening the design of the
27-foot-long hydraulically auated appendage, exhibiting more
and more capable crushers at a series of public venues. Riows
PHOTOGRAPH BY DWIGHT ESCHLIMAN
late mechanical eel limb has 90-degree wri rotation and MAN BEHIND
improved mobility in the nger joints. It is powered by a 90-hp THE MACHINE
Perkins 1104C-44T four-cylinder diesel engine and is controlled Name: Chriian Riow Age: 39
through a glove worn by the operator. At demonrations, that Location: Taos, N.M.
operator is usually a random member of the audience. Ive built The trouble with Muppets: Riow once
other large-scale radio-control robots for shows over the years, built puppets for Jim Hensons Creature
but I always felt like I was the one having the mo fun, Riow Shop, but was disappointed by the
says. is democratizes the crushing power. companys antimechanical bias.

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 77

 M O S T A N I M AT E D S E R V O S

Minimalist Robot
I-Wei Huang animates video games for a living,
but he spends his free time animating metal
and plaic. His r creations were a series of
eam-powered remote-control machines,
including mini tanks, a rowboat and a version
of Star Wars R2-D2 that Huang named R2-S2
(the S is for eam). But aer more than 20
eambots, Huang changed direion to create
mechanical creatures of a totally dierent
charaer. Coming from the animation
background, I wanted something with
personality that I could bring to life, he says.
Huangs more recent creations, called
SwashBots, are built around parts that control
the pitch of R/C helicopter blades. e
minimali robots run on AA batteries and have
three servomotors to control the legs and a
fourth to move the head. e utter-epping
little bots squeeze maximum charm out of
minimum complexity.

MAN BEHIND
THE MACHINE

Name: I-Wei Huang Age: 37

Location: Dixon, Calif. SwashBots first steps:
I didnt know it would be able to walk like that,
Huang says. I would have been satised if it ju
leaned from side to side. When I saw it turn and
shue, it made me smile like a toddler.

BEST SCHOOL PROJECT Solar Quadricycle

Solar power is
colleed using two
20-watt panels
A 1-hp permanent-
magnet motor
provides eleric
assi

KID BEHIND THE MACHINE

David Dixon worked for a year on his eighth-grade proje, the Solar Human Hybrid quadricycle. Name: David Dixon
e junior-high-schooler and his father, also named David, drew on their background in alternative Age: 14
energythe family had previously lived on a sailboat with solar panels and a wind turbine Location:
DIAGRAMS BY DOGO

to create a vehicle that runs on sunshine and sneaker power. Starting with an obscure four-seat Novato, Calif.
Swiss bike called a ZEM, they gured out how to add solar panels and an eleric motor. Dad Room for five:
taught me about amp-hours, volts, watts, batteries and all the eleronics we were using, the e SOHH quadri-
son says. e SOHH qualies as a motorized bicycle; following federal and ate guidelines, the cycle has seating for
Dixons equipped it with a 1-hp motor and geared the bike not to exceed 18 mph at full throttle. four humans and one
e proje earned the creative teen national publicity and invitations to multiple tech feivals. dogthe dog is not
But his teacher only gave him a B. Were not grade grubbers, but cmon! required to pedal.

78 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 2009 BACKYARD GENIUS AWARDS

MAN BEHIND
THE MACHINE

Name:
Bob Dullam
Age: 57
Location:
GNARLIEST KNOCKOFF Homebuilt Batman Tumbler Kalamazoo,
Mich.
Batman begins, but Bob Dullam continues. e 57-year-old sculptor was so Why done is a
inspired by the Tumbler Batmobile from the h movie in the modern franchise state of mind:
that he built a full working replica in his garage in Kalamazoo, Mich. Other people Next, Dullam will
build sports cars, Dullam says, but I wasnt that intereed in a Corvette. I like add the internal
Batmanand the only way to get this car was to build it myself. Basing his work Batpod from e
on hundreds of fan photos found online and the extra features from the Batman Dark Knight
and maybe
Begins DVD, Dullam fabricated a eel chassis and created body plates from epoxy pyrotechnics.
reinforced with berglass matte. Dullams Tumbler is 15 feet long, 5 feet high and I havent got
9.5 feet wide at the rear. e 5000-pound vehicle uses a 350 Chevy V8 HO Deluxe ames shooting
to spin its 44-inch Super Swamper tires. Dullam eimates hes spent $50,000 to out the back
$70,000 on the carand happily says its not for sale. yet, he says.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAN SAELINGER

 MAN BEHIND
CRAFTIEST RAFT Mississippi Skimmer THE MACHINE
Inspired by a hydrofoil he saw on the cover of Name: Gary Sloat
POPULAR MECHANICS more than 40 years ago, Age: 48
Gary Sloat built one of his own: an 8-foot-long Location:
foam-and-plywood boat he calls the Dragony. Davenport, Iowa
e pine foils, which hold riders 2 feet o the Rap sheet: Police
shut down Sloats
water, are joined with biscuits and reinforced
initial te run at
with epoxy and berglass cloth. With its the nearby Sunset
original motor, the Dragony topped out at 25 Marina. I got
mph. But it turns out 25 mph was plenty fa pulled over for
considering that the throttle on the antique making waves in
1947 10-hp outboard Mercury Hurricane had a no-wake zone,
Fuel Tank he says. Clearly
a habit of icking whenever Sloat had the
boat pointed toward shore. A new 9.5-hp the Dragony
motor is proving to be far more controllable worked.
ill, Sloats family prefers to let him ride atop Foils
the waters of the Mississippi alone. Ive got
daughters who are 10 and 5, he says, and
my wifes not intereed in submitting them to
dads deathtraps. Motor

BEST MOBILE DEVICE transaxles the younger Fontaine found on

the Internet, and a 22-hp Briggs &
Roger Fontaine lives with his parents Stratton V-twin engine. en they added
Off-Road Rover north of Houon. Muscular dyrophy has a hinge in the middle that aords the
le him with only limited movement in his Gecko a 26-inch turning radius, a third as
MEN BEHIND feet, right hand and neck. He devours big as many other ATVs. We wanted him
THE MACHINE science TV programs and technical to be able to go around trees, Roger
Names: Roger magazines, and was eager to develop a says, but sometimes the ground is
Fontaine and way to be more mobile outdoors. He and uneven, and we needed all four wheels on
Roger Fontaine his father, Roger senior, who repairs heavy the ground all the time. ey also added
Ages: Dad, 62; equipment for a conruion rm, a hitch to hook up small yard equipment
son, 29 designed and built the joyick-controlled to the Geckobecause, unlike many
Location: Gecko articulating ATV. e four-wheel- guys, the younger Fontaine aually likes
Splendora, Texas drive vehicle is built around a pair of beefy mowing the lawn.
MythBuster take:
Adam Savage
salutes Fontaines
dedication to his
son. Plus, he
says, the vehicle is
really cool.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF WILSON

 2009 BACKYARD GENIUS AWARDS

BIGGEST BOOSTER Saturn V Rocket Replica

Ju before 1 pm on Saturday, April 25, 2009, a Saturn V rocket
carried one more man into hiory. Steve Eves broke a slew of
world records when his 1:10 scale model of the hioric rockets
that launched the Apollo missions lied o from a eld on
Marylands Eaern Shore. e 36-foot-tall rocket that Eves built
in his garage near Akron, Ohio, was the large model rocket ever
launched. At 1648 pounds, it was also the heavie privately
funded hobby rocket ever launched and the heavie ever to be
successfully recovered. It drew a crowd eimated at 5000the
large ever to witness a hobby rocket launch. Evess single-age
behemoth was conrued of aircra-grade plywood and lauan
plywood coated in berglass and powered by nine motorseight
13,000 newton-second N-Class motors and a 77,000 newton-
second P-Class motor. All told, the array generated 7 gs at lio
and sent Evess Saturn V 4441 feet into the air. I didnt art out
to break records, the 51-year-old autobody repair speciali says.
I had ju been working awayand then one day I realized no
ones ever pulled this o before.

Name: Steve Eves

MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE Age: 51
Location:
Uniontown, Ohio
Where to see it:
NASA plans to
display his rocket
at the U.S. Space
& Rocket Center
in Huntsville, Ala.,
beneath an
original Saturn V.

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN COOLEY

 SLICKEST SLALOM MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE

Name: Jim e Skizee is Handlebars retra, By pushing rather

Uphill Racer Maidment powered by a then fold to make than pulling the
Age: 47 6.5-hp genera- the Skizee small skier, the Skizee
A lifelong downhill skier and indurial Location: tor engine. enough to t in the allows its opera-
mechanic/millwright, Jim Maidment was Kimberley, British back of a truck. tor to eer with
frurated by the fa that he could pursue his Columbia his skis.
favorite paime only near a chair li. When Quick fix: e
youre on a slope, all that energy is freeas Skizee has been
long as youre going in that one direion, he simplied so that
says. So Maidment hacked together a 6.5-hp spare parts can
generator engine (bought from Coco for always be carried
$125) with a small, o-the-shelf snowmobile by the rider. Says
track from Bombardier, inventing a machine he Maidment: is
better be easy to x
calls the Skizee. He then headed for the when Im 10 miles
mountains to rene his creation, moving from into the woods.
Ontario to Kimberley, British Columbia,
Canadas second-loie city. So far, hes
decreased the size and added a variable
torque converter to change the power ratio
and climb hills. His late Skizee can go 12
mph uphill and can reach 25 mph in at
powder. Maidment continues to te his
invention in the snowy woods around his
home, and hes making nal tweaks to the
design now. One day he hopes to see the
Skizee in pro shops everywhere.

GROOVIEST TOOLBOT

Walking Robot Router

Matt Dentons company, Micromagic Syems,
has built six-legged, inselike bots for the
movies (his creations have appeared in multiple
Harry Potter lms). But in his spare time he
experiments with ... more six-legged robots. In a
ash of ingenuity, the London-based robotics
engineer recently turned a small hexapod robot
into a walking, computer-controlled milling
machine. When fed inruions over a wireless
Bluetooth conneion, the dinner-plate-size bot
with a drill bit for a head saunters over to a
block of polyyrene and begins to methodically
carve 3D shapes into the material. So far, the
little robot specializes in sculpting human faces.
Currently the router takes 18 -inch bits, but
Denton is working on a 3-mm version; hes also
hoping to beef up the bits vertical travel, which
is currently limited by the servo to somewhere
between 40 and 50 mm. Ive had some
companies approach me for praical applica-
tions of the robot, he says, but I never made it
with a praical application in mind. It was ju a
case of why the hell not?

MAN BEHIND
THE MACHINE

Name: Matt Denton Age: 36 Location: Wincheer, Hampshire, U.K. MythBuster take: It can in theory make large xed CNC machines
obsolete, Jamie Hyneman says. e concept is hugely powerful when you think about it.

82 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

2009 BACKYARD GENIUS AWARDS

STRONGEST HOME BREW DIY Fuel Mill

Ben Peterson wants to sell the world on turning its garbage
into fuel. e 31-year-old former welder recently tore down a
farmhouse on his 20-acre farm in Washington ate. We were
le with piles of wood, he says. And I realized that with a
gasier, I could turn that wood into fuel. He found Federal
Emergency Management Agency plans for a ratied down-
dra gasier, which uses a controlled combuion process to
turn biomass into fuel for r responders. But the FEMA device
was enormous, so Peterson spent two months redesigning
lters and reamlining the airow to get it down to a more
family-friendly size. I was making these things out of garbage
cans and spare pipe, and I got addied to the design process,
he says. e result is a DIY home gasier that can power a
portable generator. Now Peterson hopes to sell his design to
MAN BEHIND the massesand his work wont be done until were all lling up
THE MACHINE our gas tanks with gasied garbage.
Name: Ben Peterson Age: 31 Location: Toledo, Wash. Expansion plan: Peterson has also
created an indurial-size gasier with help from the University of Florida.

PHOTOGR APH BY SIAN KENNEDY

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pm tool test 


Cutting
Class
AT T H E P M S C H O O L
FOR P U N I S H M E N T, W E
T E S T S E VE N RE CI P
S AW S AG AI N S T S OM E
U N U S U AL T E S T RI GS .
BY ROY BERENDSOHN
qMM!
e reciprocating saw is the work-
horse of home remodeling. It slices
through most common building
materials, from ca-iron drain pipe to
nail-embedded framing lumber. Its
slim prole and narrow blade allow it
to work in the most improbable
places: inside a chimney chase, under
a sink, behind a floor joist. And it
PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACH DESART POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
To nd the toughe saws, we cut
pipe, armored cable, lumber and roong.
safely handles jobs that no other tool
can touch, such as removing a shrubs
root ball. To nd the tools that excel
at this dirty work, we gathered seven
saws and leaned on them to simulate
wor-case cutting and the day-to-day
u youd likely encounter remodel-
ing a bathroom. A er a long day of
cutting, heres what we found.
| SEPTEMBER 2009 99
 P M D I Y H O M E /// R E C I P R O C A T I N G S A W S

qMM!
qqqq

PMs Joe Truini has a knack

for building brutal te rigs.
Before we cut into his te
samples, we equipped each
saw with a Lenox Gold Edge
Bi-Metal blade. Next, we
ripped down the length of
a 2 x 8 udded with 12d
common nails. To make this rip cut
more dicult, the lumber was topped
with -inch plywood and two layers of
roll roong. Aer the saws cooled, we
chucked a Lenox Extreme Metal Lazer blade
into each and crosscut the need nightmare
seen on the previous pagea plaic pipe
with a layer of grass carpet glued to its outer
wall. Inside, Joe slid a galvanized eel pipe,
another plaic pipe, pipe insulation, copper
pipe and 10-gauge armored cable.
Finally, we did some andard crosscuts.

Bosch Demolition DeWalt VS Milwaukee Heavy Duty

Reciprocating Saw RS35 Reciprocating Saw DW311 Orbital Sawzall 6538-21
Roof Price: $180 Price: $170 Price: $150
Rip
q`q
q Pipe Crosscut: 31.8 Pipe Crosscut: 55.2 Pipe Crosscut: 37
q
`q
q Roof Rip: 52.3
qNVqk?4YV:k`q
q 2 x 6: 4.3
what we liked
Boschs automatic blade
chuck was the easie of
the seven to employ. Push
a blade in and the chuck
collar rotates automatically,
locking the blade. Rotate
the chuck to release.
is saw has good grip
surfaces and a front
hand guard that protes
again skinned knuckles.
what we didnt
e saws foot plate is
2x6 subantial, but its rotating
release lever is complicated.
e unobtrusive orbital
aion needs to be slightly
larger, especially for those
wearing work gloves.
Roof Rip: 75
2 x 6: 7.6
what we liked
eres a lot to praise in this
basic saw. Orbital aion?
Twi a knob. Speed
adjument? Twi a dial.
Blade replacement? Turn
the chuck. Its not the
fae saw, but it slogs
through tough cuts without
heating up. We cant assess
durability in these tes, but
we suspe its slow and
eady nature will help it
win the longevity race.
what we didnt
Big Yellow needs a
chuck ring thats larger
and easier to grip, better
vibration damping and a
bit more power.
Roof Rip: 41.75
2 x 6: 5.2
what we liked
is is a superb saw, and the
addition of a counter-
balanced drivetrain has only
made it better. A motor
upgrade from 12 amps to 15
provides it with even more
power than older models. It
has a twi-lock cord thats
easy to replace if damaged.
And the equally easy
spring-loaded chuck popped
blades in or out, even when
we wore work gloves.
what we didnt
Our only complaint is that
we cant nd anythingnot
one single thingto
complain about. Wheres
the fun in that?

q

q
q
q
Hitachi Reciprocating Saw Rockwell Vibrafree Makita Reciprocating Porter-Cable
CR1 3VBY Reciprocating Saw RK3637K Saw JR3070CT Tiger Saw 9750
Price: $140 Price: $150 Price: $185 Price: $205

Pipe Crosscut: 36.3 Pipe Crosscut: 30.6 Pipe Crosscut: 35.3 Pipe Crosscut: 44.5
Roof Rip: 67.1 Roof Rip: 52.3 Roof Rip: 51 Roof Rip: 76
2 x 6: 6.3 2 x 6: 5.7 2 x 6: 5.2 2 x 6: 9.7

what we liked what we liked what we liked what we liked

Hitachi claims that its
counterweight mechanism
and unique swing orbital
aion contribute to
smoother cutting. We
agree. ose features,
coupled with plentiful
rubber overmold, make it a
very smooth operator.
what we didnt
Everything about the
Hitachi is well-engineered
except, ironically, two of its
simple features. e
shoes movement is cranky,
and the blade-lock button is
so ubborn that we tore it
o with our thumb when we
meant to pivot it forward.
is is a reasonably fa
and easy-handling saw with
large grip areas and good
indurial design. To change
blades, you push up on the
rounded lever that is part of
the saws nose. Insert the
new blade in the chuck and
pivot the lever down. e
emphasis on indurial
design makes the Rockwell
a good choice for people
who wear work gloves
while sawing.
what we didnt
If it had been ju a little
faer overall it would
rank right up there with
the be of them.
We didnt devise a te for
cut neatness, but if we had,
Makita wouldve won it. Its
four-position orbital aion
and variable-speed control
allow you to ne-tune its
cutting aion. is was one
of three saws that combine
a 15-amp motor and
vibration-damping features.
e sum of these features is
fa and powerful cutting
with little vibration.
what we didnt
We couldnt nd one
inking thing to complain
about, a trait it shared with
its eeemed red competi-
tor. Believe me, we tried.
As if a reciprocating saw
wasnt already versatile, this
machine has a front gear
housing that pivots through
12 positions, allowing you
to make cuts that would be
impossible through
conventional means.
what we didnt
is is really a specialized
tool for people who
routinely make very range
cuts. For normal use, its
simply too slow, apparently
a viim of the extra gearing
necessary to swing that
front housing around. Also,
the absence of an orbital
aion reduces its speed.

for normal use

specialized cuts

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 101


by Roy Berendsohn
e
Long
Reach
A couple of years ago we
Q moved into a house with
high ceilings, including light
xtures and decorative beams
that are all but impossible to
reach. It never occurred to us
how dicult it is to deal with
dusting, light-bulb changing
and painting with all this tall
architecture. Whats the best
way to handle this?
102 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
qMM!
A Believe me, youre not alone.
ese atriums and great rooms
are designed to wow homebuyers, but
homeowners are often less thrilled
when they realize that routine mainte-
nance and painting in these areas can
require scaolding. en there are the
convective drafts that form in these
tall places, but thats another story.
Fir, lets look at the cleaning, since
thats the easie to handle. Get a tele-
scoping cleaning pole that has an Acme
thread on its end. Typical homeowner
models range from 5 to 15 feet,
approximately, but there are profes-
sional models that can reach as high as
30 feet. Also, get a lambswool or syn-
thetic duer and a wall brush to sweep
cobwebs out of tall corners. If you have
ceiling fans, get a forked duing tool.
ese things will clean both sides of a
ceiling-fan blade in one pass.
Next, light-bulb changing.
Home centers and hardware stores
sell pole-mounted bulb changers
equipped with a suion cup or spring-
eel ngers, but these devices dont
work with chandeliers, which will spin
as you faen the changer to the bulb
and turn it. e only way to prevent
this from happening is to get a second
person with another pole to try and
hold the chandelier in position while
you spin the bulb loose. Failing that,
youll need either a tall epladder or a
hybrid epladder thats designed to
articulate over a staircase and into
corners that are hard to reach by con-
STUDIO D
ventional means. Little Giant makes a
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT
P M D I Y H O M E ///

HOMEOWNERS CLINIC Q+A
number of ladders that can be cong-
ured in this way.
at leaves painting. Sorry, theres
no good news here, just hard work.
Dust off the high areas before
beginning, because youre liable to
knock du loose as you work. e be
way to paint tall ceilings and walls
without setting up scaolding is to get
some help and set up an extension lad-
der. Use the ladder to get up to the
ceilingwall corner and cut in the line
where the two meet using a brush and
a rapid little tool appropriately called a
mini roller. Next, paint the ceiling with
a long extension pole and a roller (I
admit, the job can give you a workout).
Finally, paint the walls using the exten-
sion ladder to reach the ceilingwall
corner and the extension pole for the
high parts of the wall.
Goodbye Molding,
Hello Repair
My teenage son managed to take the
molding o the garage-door jamb
when he was backing out a little too
quickly. e car damage was minor
but the jamb molding was ripped o.
I cant seem to nd a replacement.
Its one piece with weatherripping
molded onto it. Please dont tell me
the thing is sold only with the door.
Relax. The part youre looking for is
known as a garage-door stop. Many
home centers and lumberyards sell it,
but you wont nd it with the typical
wood moldings. If the ore has a sec-
tion with garage-door hardware, thats
probably where itll be. A garage-door
op is available in two congurations:
for the side or the top jamb. Yes, youre
correct. The weatherstrip is molded
onto it. Depending on its length and
where you buy it, it will co $6 to $12.
If your local home center or lumber-
yard doesnt ock this piece, you can
nd it at garage-part suppliers online.
The full name is: coextruded PVC
garage-door-op weatherrip.
Metal Chimney Seal
I recently noticed a dirty patch of
insulation in my attic. When I peeled
104 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
Power-fed rollers are
a good alternative for
painting large areas in
hard-to-get-to places. It
saves having to go back
and forth to a paint tray
from a ladder, which
means less drippage
and spillage.
JAMIE
the insulation back, I found a big gap
that was letting air through (a large
hole had been bored to allow a pipe
to pass through the framing). I want
to seal this hole with expanding
foam. Can I also use the foam to seal
around a sheet-metal chimney that
passes through the attic?
Its a good thing you spotted that dirt,
which is proof that a dra is moving
into the attic from the house below.
e insulation as as a lter, trapping
the material moving by in the air-
ream. Sealing the dra s will cut your
utility bill, and a little sheet-metal work
accompanied by some heat-resiant
caulk will make the house more re-
resistant. First, deal with the draft.
Spray foam is great for sealing dra s,
but that doesnt mean its also suitable
for sealing again the chimney.
In mo cases, you shouldnt use
andard foam insulation to seal and
insulate again a sheet-metal chimney,
or a masonry chimney for that matter,
says Michael Casey, an expert on build-
ing codes and co-author of Code Check,
a manual that helps builders, remodel-
ers and homeowners avoid running
afoul of these regulations. ere are
Got a home-maintenance or repair problem? Ask Roy about it. Send your
? questions to pmhomeclinic@hearst.com or to Homeowners Clinic, Popular
Mechanics, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019-5899. While we cannot answer
questions individually, problems of general interest will be discussed in the column.
qMM!
Wagner PaintMate
Plus Roller ($30)
special foams for this, but unless youre
sure that they are permitted where
you live, youre better o sealing the air
gap between the chimney and floor
jois using sheet eel or aluminum
flashing. This horizontal air seal is
known as re blocking or dra op-
ping, and it prevents the spread of re
between oors by sealing air spaces
that permit its passage.
Once the metal is in place, seal the
remaining gap between the metals
edge and the chimney with a thin bead
of high-temperature silicone caulk.
Finally, prepare for adding insula-
tion (foam or additional fiberglass
batts) by inalling a second piece of
vertical sheet metal that provides a
2-inch airspace around and parallel to
the chimney. is barrier mu be taller
than any insulation is deep to prevent
insulation from touching the chimney.
ere are exceptions to this proce-
dure. In some cases, a sheet-metal
chimney that passes through an attic
is already surrounded by a proteive
sleeve that provides the needed air-
space. Also, the 2-inch air gap that I
recommend is generous for some
forms of insulated metal chimney,
which only require a 1-inch airspace.
Unless youre sure of the type of chim-
ney youve got, use a 2-inch airspace.
Remember, local building codes
always have the last word, Casey
says. Check with your building oce
before beginning work. FC
 WEIRD STUFF + SILICONE
NIPPLES + HAMMER SMELTDOWN



!q


Whats on
Your Shelf?
T H E P ART S S T ORE C AN
RE P L E N I S H M OS T OF T H E
S U P P L I E S I N YOU R G ARAG E .
B U T FOR S OM E P ROJ E C T S ,
YOU N E E D T O G O A L I T T L E
FART H E R AFI E L D L E FT
FI E L D T O FI N D T H E RI G H T
S T U FF. B Y M I K E A L L E N

An army may march on its om-

ach, but a mechanics shop marches
on suppliessometimes, the funkier
qMM!

the better. Every wrench-twister

and mad mechanic has a handful of
oddball produs that he ju cant
work without. Look at the shelves
and cabinets on the back wall of my
shop, and youll see plenty of oils,
goops and sprays that I get from the
local auto parts store. Theres a
rarefied air of specialized products
not intended for automotive use. I
get them from an indurial supplier.

Shopping for
garage supplies
at the grocery
ore again?

PHOTOGR APHS BY K YOKO HAMADA POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 107

P M D I Y A U T O /// W H A T S O N Y O U R S H E L F ? of choice for freeing up a seized engine

eres some u squirreled away that
has no conceivable automotive use
whatsoever. We got together with the
MythBuers, Adam Savage and Jamie
Hyneman, one afternoon, and, sure
enough, theyve got some weird u,
or simply ordinary u utilized in, umm,
unusual ways, on their shelves too.
Marvel Myery Oil
is produ dates back to the 20s,
and was touted as a top oil, some-
thing to be added to the gas tank to
improve lubrication to the upper rings
and the valves. Improvements to
engine and oil technology have made
it obsolete for that use, but its my oil
qMM!
thats been sitting, salvaged from
some vehicle dereli long enough to
have a tree growing through the trunk
floor. Pour a couple of tablespoons
into the spark plug holes and let it sit
overnight. e amount of torque youll
need to apply to the crank to break the
rings loose will be cut in half. MMO is
also good for air tools because it cuts
through gummy deposits on phenolic
motor vanes. And it makes the whole
shop smell minty fresh.

Never-Seez
is thick pae is laced with graphite,
copper and lead, in a mineral-oil base.
I use it on virtually everything I ever
expe to have to take apart again. Its
great on exhaust-system parts that
slip-fit together. Its perfect for the
mating surface between brake discs
and hubs to prevent water from intrud-
ing, corroding the surface and making
the disc dicult to remove. Ju brush
a little on and smear it around to cover
all the mating surfaces.

RuGlyde
Dont mount tires with soapy water or
silicone. e water ays inside the tire,
causing corroded rims,
while the soap makes
your tires zzy the
I can build a
surprisingly large next time it rains.
structure with only Silicone will let
plastic, cyano-
acrylate glue and
baking soda.
ADAM

Chain Lube Plumbers Cyanoacrylate

is u foams Epoxy Glue
out of the can, so Need some- Sets in
it penetrates like a thing plugged? 5 seconds,
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y K O N S TA N T I N S H A L E V

light oil and then An aluminum bonds ju about

gels into something caing part everything there is [ 1] Use the thin, [ 2] Pick up some [ 3] File or sand
icky that is broken o? is temporarily and runny cyano- baking soda o any excess
reluant to come comes in a Tootsie inantly. Adam acrylate glue, not, by dipping the material aer
o a surface. is Rollsize package. says he never has as you might glue-lled it cures.
makes chain lube You ju knead less than ve or think, the gel type. eyedropper into it.
good for getting it to aivate. It six bottles of the e little tubes Saturate the [ 4] Repeat Nos. 2
into a tight place, is heat- and u: I get more will work, but only baking soda with and 3 until the
especially one that oil-resiant, every time I go to for very small glue, and transfer missing area is
may be exposed to plus it handles the hobby ore. repairs. I usually the mixture to reored. e
the elements and a compression buy 1- or 2-ounce your workpiece. repaired area can
high speeds. It load very well. bottles. Use a Youll have a few be painted if
soaks in, but doesnt disposable seconds before it necessary.
run back out aer eyedropper. arts to harden.
the solvent dries o.

108 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

P M D I Y A U T O /// W H A T S O N Y O U R S H E L F ?

qMM!
Baby-Bottle
Nipples
Movable shas
or cables need a
boot or seal to
keep out dirt and
water and keep in
lubrication. Jamie
uses silicone baby-
bottle nipples,
which have a
small-diameter
hole at the small
end to take the
cable or sha.
eyre really great
for assemblies
with a high angle
of deeion.

Liquid
Electrical Tape
Its intended for
use on elerical Stainless-Steel
conneions out Wire
in the weather. Jamie recom-
Its also handy to mends baling wire,
repair bowden which is made from
cables with thicker, soer eel.
disintegrating (Its called baling
sheaths, and to wire, for you city
keep salt and guys, because you
moiure away use it to bale hay
from faeners. My on the farm.) Such
favorite use is as a wire makes a great
brushable masking permanent hose
agent for spraying clamp, especially
paint. Ju peel on small-diameter
it o later. rubber hoses.

the tires spin on the rims and make
them out of balance. RuGlyde is a
lubricant intended specifically for
rubber, and it dries to a slightly
grippy lm. Its also good for inall-
ing handles on tools, or inserting
rubber grommets and bushings.
Sure, soapor Jamies favorite,
lardmakes a great lube, but lard
ays slippery forever. RuGlyde will
also keep rubber black and shiny,
but not slippery like Armor All.
Ever push down on the brake pedal
of a car thats been detailed with
Armor All? Dangerous!
Loite
Sure, this anaerobic threadlocker will
keep parts from self-dismantling, but
thinkif it adheres to the threads to
keep a nut from spinning o, it also
fills the voids with polymers, not
water and rust, allowing you to
remove that nut years later.
Carb Cleaner
Its the universal solvent. Yes, you
can use it to clean carburetors and
other fuel-syem parts, but its also
great for chasing vacuum leaks. Idle
the engine and spray carb cleaner
near the suspeed leak. If the idle
peaks up and down, carb cleaner is
being sucked into the leak, briey
fattening the lean mix.
I usually prefer carb cleaner for
arting balky engines. It works ju
as well as ether, but its not as
deruive. I once watched a guy
blow a conneing rod right through
the side of an engine while
trying to art it with ether.
Cant get that tire to
seat its bead no matter
how much compressed air
you blow in? Spray 2 sec-
onds worth of carb cleaner
into the tire, ick your Bic,
and poof ! Inantly seated
and inated tire. If you try
this, I wont be responsible
for any singed eyebrows or
pinched fingers. I reserve
this trick for when Im
repairing a at way out in
the woods and the alterna-
tive is freezing to death.

Kano Kroil
Its not a lubricant; its a
penetrating oil. And it will
penetrate into and loosen
up stuff youd otherwise
have to torch apart. Spray
the faeners with Kroil daily
for a week or two. Whack
the part with a ball-peen
hammer a half-dozen times
every day to set up some
high-frequency vibrations to
pulverize the ru inside the
joint. is u penetrates
uck parts better than any-
thing Ive ever used, which
makes the trip to the indus-
trial supply house worth it.

Baling Wire/
Safety Wire
ere has been a spool of
0.032-inch ainless aircra
safety wire on the top shelf
of my toolbox for 30 years.
(Okay, not the same one.)
I use it for a lot more than
lock-wiring fasteners. Its
handy for lashing u up
and out of the way, like a
droopy exhau syem or a
brake caliper thats hanging
around while youre work-
ing on the suspension. e
thin, ainless wire is handy
for cleaning plugged carbu-
retor jets (remember carbu-
retors?), while the thicker
baling wire makes a fair
toilet snake. FC
 qMM!
by Mike Allen

Chisel or hacksaw the old hammer

head apart. Clamp the handle into the
mold. Melt the old head down with a
propane torch. Toss in an old lead
wheel weight or a shing sinker
to make up for any missing lead.

Get the Lead Out

I used to drive an MGB with knocko wire wheels, and
Tip the mold up to transfer
Q I had this cool lead hammer to whack the ears on the
big nut that held the wheels on. I used that hammer for
the lead to the mold cavity,
other things, too. It was great for tapping almost anything
made of metal, because it wouldnt leave little hammer
marks, no matter how hard you smacked something.
Where can I buy one of these hammers today?

A Yeah, I used to have a couple of

these, leftovers from scrapped
British cars with wire wheels. eyre
awesome, for the reasons you men-
tion. Problem is, they eventually get
wait 5 minutes, and your
lead hammer is like new.
pretty funky, because the lead is so
soft the ends become mushroomed.
Ultimately, the head gets beat up so
badly, it falls o the wooden handle.
And thats what happened to mine.
You can buy new lead hammers from
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y K O N S TA N T I N S H A L E V

industrial suppliers but they run

$30 or morewhich is a little rich
for a tool with a limited life span. But
I found this lead-hammer mold in
the Graham tools catalog (graham
tool.com). It lets you melt down and
recast your old lead-hammer head
over and over again. Sure, its 90
bucks for the set, but youll only buy it
once. ey sell spare handles, too, so
you can melt down and recycle all
those old fishing sinkers, wheel

112 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGR APHS BY K YOKO HAMADA

P M D I Y A U T O /// C A R C L I N I C Q + A deployed, but the engine and

weights and musket balls youve been
hoarding for years.
Risen From the Dead
My pickup has failed to art on
several occasions aer sitting
overnight. In the morning, the ignition
is dead and there is no elerical
power at all (interior lights do not
work). en IlI hook up the battery
charger and immediately the interior
lights come on and the truck will
art. Its obviously not the battery
as I have purchased a new one and
ill have the same problem. Ive
taken it to the GMC dealer and they
cant nd anything wrong.
Its almo certainly a bad conneion
to the battery at the posts or the
cables. No interior lights or dash lights
when the key is turned on means
either a completely dead battery,
which would take many hours to
charge, or simply an open conneion.
e physical a of attaching the
battery charger leads is diurbing the
battery connections just enough to
make the conneion, and o you go.
Im the kind of guy that will leave a
meter on the front seat for the next
non-art. at will allow me to chase
the voltage drop across every connec-
tion anywhere near the battery until I
nd the one that reads 12 volts across
the conneion, pinpointing the prob-
lem. Other folks who may be less curi-
ous or less obsessive (you know who
you are) will simply clean and tighten
all the battery cables.
Dont forget, the problem is ju as
likely to be the ground side as it is the
positive cable.
Saab Story
I have a 2001 Saab that was recently
in a front-end accident. e airbags
qMM!
everything except for the radiator
and fan came out unscathed. Even
though the damage is moly
cosmetic, our insurance company is
going to total the car, because we
received a quote of over $4000 to
replace the airbags, along with the
sensors and computerand the
entire dashboardeven though I
havent found any damage to it.
Is this normal?
Yes. Mo car manufaurers recom-
mend replacing not only the airbags
themselves, but the entire airbag sys-
tem, including the airbag controller, the
sensors and all the wiring harness, as
well as the dashboard and its underpin-
nings, if the airbags deploy. Four grand
is typical. (Ouch!) e insurance com-
panies are concerned about the possi-
bility of future lawsuits if a repaired car
is in a second accident and for some
reason the airbags dont deploy. So
they prefer to total the car and wash
their hands of the whole mess.
No surprise, many of these cars are
eventually repaired and sold, although boiling point of the contaminated uid in their threads if they are never loos-
they generally must carry a salvage to a level where hot brakes might ened. If it ever becomes necessary to
title. Body shops buy these cars from make it boil, reducing brake eeive- bleed the syem, they can then be dif-
the adjuer, and keep them around to ness. ere are elerical teers and cult to remove. I recommend semi-
work on in slow weeks, eventually sell- disposable rips to check the mois- annual ushing of old brake uid. If you
ing them to private individuals or send- ture content of brake uid. watch, and see how the old uid looks
ing them o to auion. But theres a second issue. The when it comes out (it will look like
You might try to keep the title and brake-bleeder bolts in the calipers or squid ink, not clear, like new fluid),
possession of this car yourself and wheel cylinders will eventually freeze youll probably agree. FC
have it repaired. A good
shop should be able to
make the airbag syem as
safe as new, by replacing
any parts aually damaged
with new or salvaged parts.
I would specify new, rather
than used, airbags.

Moiure-
ProofNot
I have a late-model
Chevy Silverado that is
used as a daily driver
no trailering or heavy
loads. My dealers
maintenance pamphlet
sugges changing the
brake uid every 30,000
miles. e dealer claims
the brake uid can absorb
moiure and become very
hot, thus juifying a
change. My vehicle has
ABS and it seems to me
this could cause more
harm then good.
GM agrees with you that
brake uid never needs to
be replaced. They seem
to be the only manufac-
turer that doesnt recom-
mend periodic ushing of
old uid. e issue, as you
sugge, is water contami-
nation, which lowers the

Got a car
? problem? Ask
Mike about it. Send your
questions to
pmautoclinic@hearst
.com or to Car Clinic,
Popular Mechanics,
300 W. 57th St., New
York, NY 10019-5899.
While we cannot
answer questions indi-
vidually, problems of
general interest will be
discussed in the column.
 HDR DIGITAL PHOTOS + TECH
DISASTER FILE

To turn this ordinary

Dell Inspiron into a
ruggedized laptop, we
created a shockproof

exoskeleton.
Ruggedize Your Own Tech
H O W MUCH F OA M A N D PL A STIC
D O E S I T TAKE TO SA V E
O RD INA RY GADGETS F R O M
E VE RYDAY DI SASTER S?
BY ANTHONY VERDUCCI
AND GLENN DERENE
116 SEPTEMBER 2009
Portable eleronic devices can be
subjeed to some serious knocks,
drops and sticky situationsfrom
tumbles off tables to toilet-bowl
splashdowns. In response, an entire
subseion of the personal eleron-
ics indury has evolved to produce
ruggedized tech. These water-
resistant, shockproof gadgets are
designed to prote delicate circuitry
from clumsy spills and from the
unforgiving environments of messy
| POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFFREY WESTBROOK
qMM!
jobs (police work, conruion) and
outdoor recreation. But they o en
co more and skimp on features.
Were so used to giving gadgets
beatings in our abusive lab tes that
weve o en wondered ju how much
extra tinkering it would take to elevate
a garden-variety nonruggedized prod-
uct into a masochistic gizmo that
could take a considerable licking and
come back for more. When we raised
the queion with the MythBuers,
Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, it
got our gue editors gears spinning
STUDIO D
with ideas, and they delivered a
 laundry li of materials that we could
tape, glue or otherwise wrap around
our eleronics to toughen them up.
So, equipped with little more than
the collective educated guesses of
Jamie, Adam and our a as to what
might work, we bought three
devicesa Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop
($400); a Nokia 5310 phone ($50 with
T-Mobile contra); and a Nikon Coolpix
S220 ($150)then made several trips
to Home Depot, Staples and Sports
Authority to pick up supplies.
Phone
Our theory was that the easie piece
of equipment to ruggedize would be
our Nokia cellphone. Most mobile
phones are built to withand everyday
drops and splashes. But we wanted a
phone that could survive an angry
throw across a room in response to a
dropped call, and repeated dunks in
water. Our r trick was to surround
the edges of our candy-bar yle cell-
phone with multiple large rubber
bands to create a bumper so thick it
bounced when we dropped it. Sure
enough, when we tossed it into the
wall, it bounced to the oor, but never
broke or turned o.
For our r attempt at waterproof-
ing, we wrapped the phone with a
clear heat-shrink film designed for
dra -sealing household windows, then
went over it gently with a heat gun to
mold it to the phone. We mu have
missed a spot, because when we
dunked our Nokia, water leaked in and
we were forced to perform an emer-
gency shrink-wrap-eomy to keep the
water from shorting out the phone.
Obviously, we needed a more reli-
able solution, so next we tried vacuum-
sealing the phone in a plastic bag
using a FoodSaver device. e kitchen
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y K O N S TA N T I N S H A L E V
gadget was a bit too enthusiastic,
howeverit sealed our phone inside
the bag and suioned all of the but-
tons down at once, making it impossi-
ble to dial. We cut it free and retried
the vacuum seal on the FoodSavers
pulse mode, which allowed us to
modulate the vacuum action. The
results were good. Our bumperized,
vacuum-sealed phone took all the
impas and water torture we could
subject it to. But our solution was
inherently temporary
there was no way to
recharge the phone with-
out breaking the seal.
Still, our fix would be
more than adequate for
a weekend boating trip.
Camera
Phones are largely
solid-state products,
with few moving parts
to bump around, but
cameras are a dierent
ory. With multiple lens
elements and mechani-
cal zoom components,
1
even pocket-size digital
Wrapping It Up cameras can be fragile inruments.
We tried several There are plenty of affordable, rug-
taics to make
our cellphone gedized, water-resiant cameras on
watertight, from the market, so we gured there had
vacuum sealing to be a way to build in this level of per-
with a FoodSaver
[ 1 ] to shrink- formance ourselves.
wrapping with Waterproong turned out to be the
plaic window easy part. As watersports enthusias
2 insulation using
a heat gun [ 2 ]. already know, zip-lock plaic bags pro-
A dunk in a glass vide a formidable moiure barrier, so
of water [ 3] ju sealing our camera in a plaic bag
showed which
techniques made it dunkable.
workedand Ruggedizing our Nikon turned out
which were full to be a far harder proposition. We
of holes.
made things dicult for ourselves by
picking a camera with a telescoping
lens, which needed special proteion.
3
We surrounded the lens with a seion
of small-diameter PVC tubing and
glued a $5 ultraviolet lens lter to the
qq!q
Tech Disaer File
Water Shock Dust
Everyone Impas do Sand and ne
knows water the mo dirt are like
and circuitry damage to water that
dont go well together. glass and to elements never evaporates.
Funny thing is, pure H2O that require precision Eleronics that spend a
wont harm eleronics movement (gears, lot of time in pockets
its the impurities that hard-drive heads). can get clogged up with
cause shorts. If you Cameras and computers du, which can jam up
do dunk a gadget in with spinning drives buttons, clog airow and
the drink, turn it o should be kept in padded short out circuit boards.
immediately, remove cases when not in use. Take regular passes over
the battery and let it And if your digicam has a your digital gear with
air-dry for a few days. wri rap, use it. canned air.
POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2009 117
PM DIY TECH /// Cutting to Fit

RUGGEDIZE YOUR GADGETS
front of our barrel to allow for clearer
shots than we were getting through
our plaic bag. To prote the corners
and edges, we used foam tape and
weatherripping, making sure to leave
the ash and controls uncovered. en
we zipped the digicam back into its
plaic bag, cut a hole for the protec-
tive lens barrel, smeared silicone
around the seams and let it dry.
When we dunked it in water again,
we learned an important lesson: Use
silicone on both sides of any seal.
Water crept in through our sloppy job
and almo deroyed the camera. We
had to remove it from the bag and
leave it out to dry. When we did a more
thorough job of silicone sealing, the
Nikon survived its next submersion.
Our impact test produced mixed
results. We tried drops from 3 and 5
feet to simulate the fumbles of the
common klutz. The padded Nikon
came through all of them without dam-
age. But when we pushed our luck and
dropped our camera from 8 feet, our
UV lter shattered, and the shock gave
the camera an irreconcilable lens
error. We accomplished our main goal
of protecting against everyday acci-
Cut tennis
balls in half
and attach to
laptop corners
for aggressive
protectionand
a sporty look.
JAMIE
118 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
qMM!
Cameras have lots
of moving parts
and fragile lenses.
We padded our
point-and-shoot
as be we could
with weather-
ripping and
foam tape, then
surrounded the
zoom lens with
a seion of PVC
pipe. Applying
foam tape can
be trickywe
needed to cut
around the con-
trols and ash.
dents, but deep down, we had hoped boards with thick foam weatherrip-
to create a supercamera. We didnt. ping on the at surfaces, pipe insula-
tion at the edges and halved tennis
Laptop balls attached to the corners. en we
To be hone, we fully expeed to wrapped the whole thing in a foam-
deroy the laptop. A computer has so tape membrane. Airow was an issue,
many fragile partsspinning drives, so we carved out sections of foam
LCD screen, open portsthat we had a over the intake and exhau vents.
hard time imagining an outcome that We initially shopped around for a
didnt involve a dupan and a broom. molded silicone keyboard cover, but
Our mo basic goal was that our our Inspiron was new to market at the
Dell Inspiron would be able to with- time and no manufaurers had a mold
and a drop from a 3-foot-tall desk for it yet, so we cut a sheet of clear
and a bath from a tipped-over cup of polyethylene to cover the keyboard
coee. For impa resiance, we cre- and trackpad surface. en we created
ated an exoskeleton of foam-core a ip-up skirt from 40-mil PVC to shed
liquid o the edges, while ill allowing
access to ports, plugs and the optical
drive. Finally, just in case water still
managed to threaten the sides of our
laptop, we sprayed the USB, video out,
and power ports with mineral-oil lubri-
cant, then squished in two-part cus-
tom earplug putty from Ear Plug
Superore to create a DIY injeion
mold. When removed, these became
2 perfe watertight plugs to prote all
Foam Is of the side ports on the machine.
Your Friend en we unleashed hell on our poor
We put Jamies
tip into aion, laptop. We dropped it from 2 feet,
padding exterior then 3 feet, then 6 feet, then 8 feet.
surfaces with foam Then came a tall cup of piping-hot
weatherripping
and pipe insulation, French roawith three sugars and
then taping sec- cream. e padded Dell bounced back
tioned tennis balls from all our drops, and the cup of joe
to the corners [ 1 ].
To create water- shed right o the surface of the lap-
tight plugs for USB top. rough it all, our computer kept
ports, we used computing. Maybe we hadnt engi-
two-part cuom
earplug putty as an neered the prettie of solutions, but it
1 injeion mold [ 2 ]. sure turned out tough. FC
 qMM!
by Seth Porges

Take Photos
Shoot at lea three 3
piures of the scene
with a range of expo- Upload Into Application
sure settings. Load the photos into image-
processing soware to create
Sele a Scene an HDR image.
HDR photography works be with scenes
that contain varying levels of lighting, such
as dusk landscapes or cityscapes at night.
1
4
q

q

Tweak the Photo

5 Give the image maximum pop through an
image-editing process called tone mapping.

both at the same time. Compared to

our eyes hoover-like ability to suck
up light, most cameras can only cap-
Save and Share
e nal HDR photo combines details from multiple shots. ture a narrow range of luminance.
High-dynamic-range (HDR) pho-
tography is a technique for increas-
ing the range of light shown in a
really like the striking,
e Surreal Q Ihyper-realistic look of
piure in order to create vivid, page-
bursting photos that exhibit a dis-

World graphs. How can I

high-dynamic-range photo-
of HDR make these myself?
Photography A The human eye is capable of
capturing and processing a
broad swath of light levels at any
given moment. is allows us to look
out on a world filled with bright
spots and shadows, and to see an
extraordinary amount of detail in
tin, o en exaggerated, level of real-
ism. ese photos are usually created
by combining at lea three photos
of the same scene, all shot with dif-
ferent exposure settings. The final
piure takes the be elements from
each photo and frankeneins them
together into a piure that has more
detail and pop than is possible with
any single shot.
is photo-mashing can be done

120 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM I L LU S T R AT I O N BY VO L U M E O N E

with Adobes $700 Photoshop, but
unless you are skilled with some of the
programs more complex controls, its
easier to use HDRso s Photomatix
Pro so ware ($99), which makes the
process virtually turnkey.
e r ep is to pick your subje.
e HDR ee looks be in scenes
that have lots of shadows and high-
lights, such as outdoor shots at dusk
or cityscapes at night (although por-
traits and indoor shots can look
appealingly spooky). And if its cloudy
out, you can create dramatic, ominous
images of cumulus-lled skies.
When taking the pictures, youll
want to follow what I call the Goldi-
locks rule: Shoot at lea one photo
thats overexposed, one thats under-
exposed and one thats ju right. You
can change the cameras exposure
manually and shoot these separately
(in which case you will denitely need
a tripod, which is probably a good idea
anyway), but if your camera has auto-
exposure bracketing (or AEB), as mo
new digital SLRs do, it will be much
easier. AEB allows you to quickly and
automatically snap multiple
shots with different expo-
sure settings.
Once youve uploaded
the photos, open up Photo-
matix, click Generate HDR
Image, and sele the pic-
tures you want to combine.
Depending on how fa
your computer is, the ren-
dering process could take
as long as a couple of min-
utes. And when its done,
youll likely be less than
impressed by the result,
which will look murky and
shadowy. Thats because
the new image is a 32-bit
HDR image, and LCD and
CRT computer monitors
ju arent capable of show-
ing the full range of lumi-
nance necessary to bring
out all of the details hidden
in these images shadows
and highlights. To turn the
photo into a more useful
format, youll need to put it
through a process called
tone mapping, which brings
these details into the forefront.
You should see a window, HDR
Viewer, which contains a button
labeled Tone Mapping. Click it, and
your image will nally be transformed
into a cool-looking HDR photo. In fa,
you could probably ju save this photo
and call it a day. But it gets better.
You should now see a new window
called Tone Mapping Settings. is
window will have a bunch of dials with
labels such as Luminosity and Color
Saturation. Playing with these will
add life to your piure. Have fun pull-
ing them in every which way and
watching your piure morph from a
Popular Mechanics (ISSN 0032-4558) is
published 12 times a year by Hearst
Communications, Inc., 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Frank A. Bennack,
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realiic-looking image into a surreal
landscape. When youve got a piure
you like, click the Process button,
and the photo will be rendered to your
specications in a savable format.
One more thing: Its easy to overdo
it with HDR, and professional photog-
raphers o en look down on the tech-
nique as gimmickyparticularly when
its used to create shots that, rather
than looking hyper-realistic, end up
resembling crayon drawings. So while
its fun to crank up all the settings to
their messie max, be warned that
such images may not get the best
response from the photorati. FC
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 THIS
IS
MY
JOB
q
q
q
q qq
q
qq

A L E X S T U PA K
LOCATION NEW YORK, N.Y.
AGE 29
YEARS ON JOB 4

1. Thermal Immersion
Circulator Inead of sim-
mering or boiling something
on the ove at medium-high
heat, this portable device
allows Stupak to cook to
an exa temperature
for inance, he can poach
bananas for a sorbet at
5
precisely 158 F.

2. Heat Gun Mo oen

used for ripping paint, this
hardware-ore aple can
apply heat to a very small
area. If a tuilea thin cookie
1 confeion that resembles a
curved roof tileneeds to be
bent, the gun can make an
isolated seion more pliable.

3. Laboratory-Grade Scale
Stupak weighs potent food
additives (such as the trans-
glutaminase enzyme) using a
scale that is accurate to one-
thousandth of a gram.
4
4. Hydrocolloids Oen
called gums, these long-
2 3
chain polysaccharides have
been used in manufauring
foods for years. ey are
responsible for the foams,
gels and sauces mo evident
in molecular garonomy.
Xanthan gum is a cold-
soluble thickener that has
replaced arch in Stupaks
kitchen. e viscous gellan
gum is boiled, hydrated and
dissolved before becoming
the reaurants famous fried
mayonnaise.

Mo chefs dont have scientis on speed dialbut then 5. Dewar e reaurant
again, mo chefs arent Alex Stupak, who praices molecular keeps a 50-liter tank for liquid
nitrogen, which can maintain
garonomy, or cooking with chemiry-lab-worthy techniques. At New York Citys avant- temperatures close to minus
garde reaurant wd-50, Stupak arts with a traditional dish, then designs something 320 F. Why? For one thing,
newsuch as balsamic vinegar encapsulated in vanilla ice-cream nuggetsusing high-end Stupak uses the nitrogen to
create frozen honey.
food additives and unusual equipment. e avor combinations and textures are intriguing,
and the food taes greatwhich is what Stupak and his cuomers really care about. With
molecular garonomy, people expe the unexpeed, Stupak says. But if hydrocolloid
gums and liquid nitrogen didnt exi, creative food ill would. KATE SCHWEITZER

128 SEPTEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM KRAUSE