Many of the TE videos involve things you wouldn’t want to put a nice camera next to. Some, you wouldn’t even want to put a cheap camera next to. I built a protective enclosure so that we could put a helmet camera next to all of the Fun.

You can read about how to build your own on PopSci.

I built what is known as a “Buzz Coil” for a How-To post on the PopSci site. It fires high voltage sparks through a spark plug (or anything else, for that matter) continuously, for as long as power is applied.

With that in hand, I felt like it was time to set some things on fire. In this, the latest of the Dispatch From The TE Labs videos, I blow up some carb cleaner for fun after totally failing to simulate a grain silo explosion with flour.

The PopSci Buzz Coil Post includes a How-To and schematic for building your own.

Rumor has it, some people actually watch our TE Labs videos. If you were wondering how things like pedal powered tanks or flour flame throwers come about, this email exchange should explain things. This is pretty much exactly how we operate:

Vin (in an email to Paul and Gocke): Should we make a Giant drinking bird that belches fire?

Paul: yeah. I guess it will have to be powered, due to the difficulty of making a balanced giant glass bulb? it would be funny if it drank gasoline that powered an engine that made it tip back and forth and ran the ignitor for the fire.

Vin: I’m sold. Can we do it in Jan or Feb? We should build it with some event at which it will be horribly inappropriate in mind. An AA convention?

Paul: I propose we build it and park it in vin marshall square. fully functional.

Vin: If it can inspire Idol like reverence and fear amongst the peasants, they will bring it offerings of gasoline (siphoned from tanks around Kensington) to keep the deity functional at all times.

Paul: That was my vision

[Editors Note: Gocke was apparently out getting too drunk to shoot video of our exploding lawn darts, and was not party to this planning session.]

A few weeks ago, the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby collectively gave a talk addressing what in particular about Philadelphia had inspired and enabled the Derby and its outlandish entries.

These are the slides from my part of that presentation. The overarching theme was that Philadelphia is big enough to grant an audience but small enough that we can do whatever we want.

At TE Motorworks, we get the opportunity from time to time to build novel machines. We sometimes then film ourselves romping around with these machines. From this comes the Dispatch From The TE Labs, presented in association with Tango Echo Films.

This video is an introduction to the TE Labs show by way of a highlights reel.