German electropulse energy drill bitchslaps lasers Remorseless German boffins, seeking a more efficient way to make holes through hardened steel, have spurned such antique technologies as the cutting laser. They are now employing our old friend the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) as a high-tech energy drill which leaves no burrs and doesn't get blunt. The boffins in question, of …
Apparently there is already a split forming in the "units of measure" community with two differing proposals - the European "cars per fingernail", based on the avearage weight of a BMW 3 series, and the American version, based on one of the 5-tonne low-tech gas-guzzlers they call "trucks".
But I'd like to know why they couldn't figure out what shapes to cut where before they started molding the steel, so that the right shapes end up in the right places afterward.
Can't be a real politician unless you can do a good fear-of-scare, bonus points for seeking out or inventing ever less credible ``terrist threats'' yourself. All in the name of security, er, having an excuse to deploy spendy kit yourself and in doing so push some more dosh to your friends the beltway bandits. Stand and deliver (your speech to congress) indeed.
"But I'd like to know why they couldn't figure out what shapes to cut where before they started molding the steel, so that the right shapes end up in the right places afterward."
Maybe with holes in place at the start, forming the metal in presses wouldn't work, or work as well?
I'd suspect this technique is probably a pretty short-range one, and not much good for weaponisation?
Nah! I recall that at the Millenium, the Queen was given a new car by the motor industry. According to the Telegraph at the time, this is powered by an "800bhp twin-turbot engine".
You can keep your sharks and sea-bass. My world domination project is based on these 400bhp Turbot, the stealth uber-fish of choice for the discerning dictatorial wannabee.
Would low-power EMP guns be usable as paintball-gun replacements where the person you hit actually feels like they've been hit by a grenade? (i.e. enough power to knock your target off their feet, but not enough to break their bones) What kind of range do they have?
- these are the questions the boffins need to be answering!
"the problem of drilling holes in car bodywork, parts of which are made from quite heavy steel."
A few years back I was called in to take a look at a large overhead crane located in our local docks.
The crane was used to sort and load the huge rolls of steel that is the raw material for the car plants in the UK at the time.
Couldn't help but notice that some of the steel resembled Baco Foil, while other rolls were a lot sturdier.
The article didn't discuss the efficacy of EMPs slicing through human flesh vs. a traditional laser. Doesn't the EMP require a ferrous metal to truly be effective?
In the meantime, my sharks will continue to be fitted with conventional semi-futuristic armaments. And jet packs.
If it's also generating an EMP when it makes holes, one advantage is that anyone working nearby will have their phone wiped. Handy for enforcing "no contact with outside world" directives, no?
If not, perhaps they could add it as a "feature" for later...
Then sell me one so I can "turn off" the phones of certain people in restaurants. You know who you are, Ms I-Have-To-Yell-In-My-Phone-To-Be-Heard and Mr Ignore-The-Annoying-Ringtone-But-Leave-It-On at tables 4 and 12. Yes, you. Fucking self-important gits.
These are very very effective up to half inch plate ~3- amp single phase and you do not need to design a new coil assembly for every hole shape.
Robotic plasma cutters have been around for what feels like centuries.
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/clarke-plasma-king-30si-plasma-cutter
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8405020.stm
>" the barrier, made of super-strength steel, has been hidden deep underground.
> The BBC has been told that it was manufactured in the US, that it fits together in similar fashion to a jigsaw, and that it has been tested to ensure it is bomb proof.
> It cannot be cut or melted - in short it is impenetrable. "
Heh. Let's see...
in firearms mfg and mods, magnaporting can be done by edm, as can cutting or shaping/ , and or drilling in various locations. it's used for socketing bolts, removing broken taps or bits , and occasionally for smoothing internal areas that are hard to reach otherwise. much more flexible in use than just BLOWING A HOLE IN THE MATERIAL!!
and what ABOUT non-ferrous material... does it just induction heat it into slag??? if it actually worked on nicu or alumibronze , that could be a godsend for heavy industry... but just light and channel steel, get serious.
According to Dr Kräusel, the pressure exerted on the metal by the electromagnetic pulse drill is equivalent to balancing three cars atop one another supported on a single fingernail.
OUCH OUCH OUCH!!
"The researchers develop now the coils for various cutting geometries," add Fraunhofer spokespersons.
Wir sprechen richtig gut Deutsch, naturlich.
I love the idea that taking 1.4 seconds is described as "a long time"! C'mon, how fast do you need to cut a hole?
suppose a car has, say 100 holes cut into it. Wow, with this new tech we can save the a massive 120 seconds per car. let's see, we pay the robots that do the hole cutting ah, nothing per hour. so unless we can make the cars on the assembly line race past the robots at 1 per 20 seconds (which might make the positioning of the robot cutters a bit tricky), we don't save anything.
Drat!
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