Engineering Pragmatism In Hardware, AI Nuances, and Material Failure Risks

Key Quotes

"basically it looks like the part should have been printed in abs was printed in pla and it melted pla is generally 55 to 65 i just looked it up so actually it's worse than pla according to test results here of the measured glass transition temperature for the sample was between 52 8 degrees c and 54 degrees c yeah and that's less than pla apparently so you know how it is pla gets hot it gets a little bit plastic right it gets a little bit flexible and the hotter it gets the more flexible it gets so i think there were a lot of comments on this you know what is the glass transition temperature you know when is soft enough soft enough and the answer for your airplane is when it can't hold up to the air intake pressure and collapses on itself but in other applications don't get your pla hot"

The authors, Elliot and Al Williams, highlight a critical failure in a 3D-printed airplane part. They explain that the part, intended to be made from ABS, was instead printed with PLA, a material with a lower glass transition temperature. This led to the part melting and collapsing under flight conditions, causing the engine to lose air intake and the subsequent crash. The Williamses emphasize the importance of understanding material properties for functional applications, warning against using PLA in high-temperature environments.

"if you are 3d printing things and you want it to be functional you need to know about the material properties of whatever it is you're 3d printing with yeah a lot of things in cars and motorcycles get hot too so i wonder how many people are you know driving around with something 3d printed that's just a matter of time"

Elliot and Al Williams underscore the necessity of understanding material science when 3D printing functional components. They extend this concern beyond aviation to automotive and motorcycle applications, suggesting that many people might be unknowingly using 3D-printed parts in heat-sensitive areas. The Williamses imply that this oversight could lead to future failures, as the material properties may not be suitable for the operating environment.

"rtl ha os that is home automation os sits in the middle of this rtl 433 library which does the sdr stuff and home assistant home automation library and makes them work together and so what this means is that if you've got a home automation system that is fairly smart but doesn't have enough sensors in it you throw this in and all of a sudden it can listen to anything radio and try to bring that into your system"

The authors describe the RTL HA OS project, a piece of software that bridges the RTL_433 library, which decodes signals from software-defined radios, with the Home Assistant home automation platform. Jaron McDaniel, the creator, developed this to allow home automation systems to integrate data from a wide range of wireless sensors that communicate on ISM bands. This project enables users to expand their smart home capabilities by listening to various radio frequencies and incorporating the data into their existing systems.

"the beauty about doing it with an sdr is that on one hand it's totally overkill but on the other hand this one device can listen to all of these different frequencies and no matter what kind of crazy device you've got on there using whatever kind of crazy encoding probably pretty easy to figure that out with an sdr"

Elliot and Al Williams discuss the versatility of using a Software Defined Radio (SDR) for decoding wireless signals. They acknowledge that it might seem like overkill, but an SDR's ability to tune into multiple frequencies and decode various encodings makes it a powerful tool. The Williamses suggest that an SDR can likely decipher signals from a wide array of devices, regardless of their specific communication protocols.

"the trace line clock you know hackaday we have a long history of showing people's clocks simply because well it's a pretty easy thing to build usually as a clock and then the real question is is points for style right everybody can show a clock on the screen but what are the other ways you can do it this one is just very cool what i like best about it is it uses the magic of magnets and i think we just don't do that enough right magnets are as far as i can tell magnets are pure alien magic and uh they this one actually rotates a hand using magnets and a little blue line just rotates around and there's a way to tell what time it is from looking at how the pieces line up against the circle"

The authors introduce the "Trace Line Clock," a hackaday featured clock that stands out due to its use of magnets for its display mechanism. They express a fondness for magnetic applications, describing magnets as "pure alien magic." The clock features a rotating hand, a blue line, that indicates the time by aligning with markings on a circular display, highlighting a stylish and unconventional approach to timekeeping.

"i think the key thing that none of this measures is creativity so you know i've been on that jag for a while i did a talk at a university i think about a year ago where i talked about there's generative ai which everybody likes to talk about mainly because most people are too lazy to create stuff but then there's assistive ai you don't hear much about that right so you think about it like a spell checker is assistive not that it's ai but it's assistive you don't go i'm going to write a novel so let me ask the spell checker how to start it out you just use it to check your spelling that's assisting you"

Maya Posch distinguishes between generative AI, which she notes is popular because people may be "too lazy to create stuff," and assistive AI. Posch uses a spell checker as an example of assistive AI, explaining that it aids in tasks like writing a novel by checking spelling rather than generating the content itself. She implies that generative AI, while capable of producing output, may lack the creative spark or genuine understanding that characterizes human intelligence.