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February 22 2012
Backyard ski lift
If you own a cabin in the mountains of British Columbia what do you do during the warmer summer months? Well, we’d probably mix of a cocktail and string up a hammock, but [Darrin] is quite a bit more motivated. He planned for the snowy season by building his own ski lift. He shared the details in a forum post, but you’re going to have to register and wait for approval before you can view that thread. Perhaps you’ll want to look at the video after the break before making that kind of commitment. Normally we would just pass over projects that require a login to view, but this one deserves the attention.
The setup is essentially a very steep tow rope. 1600 feet of 1/8″ aircraft cable covers an 800 foot span of his property. Apparently he’s got a total of 1000 feet of vertical drop but the lift doesn’t cover the whole area quite yet. That 6.5 horsepower Honda engine drives the cable loop, with the pulley system seen above used as an RPM reducer. Each skier can hook onto the cable used the nylon rope with a ski-pole spacer and a hook. The RC vehicle remote control works as a dead man’s switch, starting the lift slowly when the throttle is depressed and stopping it when released.
Normally we like to link to similar projects, but so far this is the only ski lift we’ve covered. You’ll have to settle for this ski-pole mounted POV display.
Filed under: transportation hacks
February 16 2011
Ski pole persistence of vision
[Powder4u] wanted to make a persistence of vision display for his bicycle but with 50 cm of snow on the ground it’s hard to get out and ride right now. Instead he made this persistence of vision ski-pole accessory. We asked him to share some details and he obliged. It’s made using an Arduino compatible ATmega168, LEDs with resistors, and installed on some protoboard. The enclosure is a clear pencil case, which isn’t water tight but he’s tried to bolster that with some creative scotch tape placement. There’s no sensor to detect which direction the board is moving in so displaying alpha-numeric messages will have some issues, but as you can see he managed to display image data without issue.
We’re used to night skiing with floodlights along the slopes. This would be a fun little thing to have along with you on those dark lift rides.
Filed under: led hacks
January 25 2011
Skizee Lets You Ski Without a Mountain
Ever tried skiing in the Midwest? Having lived nearly my entire life in Indiana, I’ve not found any places nearby fit for skiing. Sure, there are some decent hills here and there, but certainly nowhere worthy of finding a ski lift. With an abundance of open plains, you’d think that there’s no point in even owning a pair of skis around these parts. You would, of course, be wrong.
If you happen to own a Skizee (Really? That’s the best name they could come up with?) then you’d be excited to see an open field with a nice layer of snow on it. You see, this device uses a 10.5hp 4-stroke engine to propel you along a snow-covered surface.
It might not provide the same dangerous thrill as you’ll get on the slopes, but it could be a good bit of fun. Now is it worth the $2,500 asking price? Doubtful.
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
[via Dvice]
December 24 2010
Gizmodo's Gift Guides for Last Minute Shoppers [Gift Guide 2010]
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