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Toys Hardware Hacking

Functional Paper V8 Engine 198

Posted by CowboyNeal from the powered-by-pulp dept.
glitch0 writes "This V8 Engine made entirely out of paper with the exception of a few parts (motor, wires, etc.), is fully functional. It features many moving parts which include "a compound crankshaft, a rapid cooling fan, 8 rods, 8 pistons and a complex compound gearbox etc." The engine is powered by 2×1.5V D Batteries and weighs 2.98kg. From start to finish this model took one year to design and construct. There is even a D.I.Y. kit in the works that will be released shortly at the price of $85 USD. What comes next...a fully functional car made out of paper?"
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Functional Paper V8 Engine More

Functional Paper V8 Engine

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  • Riiiight (Score:5, Insightful)

    by st0rmshad0w ( 412661 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:20PM (#14110960)
    A model is NOT a functional engine.

  • Perfect! (Score:3, Funny)

    by TheOtherAgentM ( 700696 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:21PM (#14110964)
    I was looking for a way to get my paper dolls around town without having to drive them myself.

  • UTSL (Score:5, Informative)

    by Quixote ( 154172 ) * on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:21PM (#14110976) Homepage Journal
    Don't click on the link above; it doesn't give any more information than what's in the submission. Go to the source [yeesjob.com] and get more information there.

  • Smoking Turkeys (Score:3, Funny)

    by the_Bionic_lemming ( 446569 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:23PM (#14110983)
    I built a chimney coal starter out of paper this morning. It was fully functional, burned brightly, and lit the coals on fire!

    Crap.. I shoulda got some videos of it in action - then I too could of been posted on /.

  • Rename it please (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Transcendent ( 204992 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:25PM (#14110997)
    Can we please rename this a "V8 Model Engine"... simply saying it's a "V8 Engine" makes one believe it is an actual, functional engine, which got me wondering how the heck they got combustion to work without having the whole thing literally go up in flames.

    • Re:Rename it please (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:38PM (#14111065)
      Yeah, and I can make a paper nuclear reactor, except that it runs on 'D' cell batteries instead of uranium. Same thing really.

      • Re:Sonny... (Score:4, Funny)

        by DigitalHammer ( 581235 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @12:24AM (#14111240) Journal
        Back in my day, we didn't have no D cell batteries or paper...why, we just turned a crank inside a containment dome made of parchment. :)

      • Re:Rename it please (Score:5, Funny)

        by ergo98 ( 9391 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @12:37AM (#14111280) Homepage Journal
        Yeah, and I can make a paper nuclear reactor, except that it runs on 'D' cell batteries instead of uranium. Same thing really.

        I particularly loved this part: "This V8 Engine made entirely out of paper with the exception of a few parts (motor"...

        My car is entirely made out of paper, except for the car part of it.
        • I came into the comments specifically to find out if anyone had made note of this.

          When I looked at the .movs for the engine I didn't see anything which wasn't made from paper. Especially the motor.
          • When I looked at the .movs for the engine I didn't see anything which wasn't made from paper. Especially the motor.

            Maybe the electric motor is made out of paper, too? I mean dude, how hard could that be for a guy who can make a freakin' V-8 out of paper?

        • My car is entirely made out of paper, except for the car part of it.

          There is a long-standing joke in the aviation world about the two forces that are required to make an airplane fly.

          The naiive beginner student pilot will always answer: (1)Lift and (2)Thrust.
          The more experienced pilot knows that it's actually: (1)Money and (2)FAA Paperwork.

          For airplane builders, there is another famous quote: "An airplane cannot fly until the total weight of all the FAA paperwork is at least equal to or greater than the wei

    • Re:Rename it please (Score:5, Funny)

      by JanneM ( 7445 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @12:42AM (#14111301) Homepage
      ...which got me wondering how the heck they got combustion to work...

      Oh, combustion will work just fine. Once.

  • Functinal paper? (Score:5, Funny)

    by st0rmshad0w ( 412661 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:27PM (#14111004)
    Looks hard to wipe your ass with to me....

  • Prior art (Score:5, Informative)

    by MSBob ( 307239 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:27PM (#14111005)
    [...] a fully functional car made out of paper?"

    Already been done [bilrim.no].

    • naw, a fully functional car made out of weed would be much cooler. illegal pretty much everywhere, but cool

    • What comes next...a fully functional car made out of paper?

      It actually has been done. When Japan joined the 2000 World's Fair in Hannover, Germany [expo2000.de] they had a huge huge focus on enviromentalism. Their pavillion was made mostly out of paper. And inside they had a car made out of washi which is Japanese paper. More info on all this can be found here [web-japan.org] and here [eriko-horiki.com].

  • if they used the original web site http://www.yeesjob.com/v8engine.htm [yeesjob.com]

  • WTF? (Score:5, Informative)

    by StyxRiver ( 782565 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:29PM (#14111016) Homepage
    This V8 Engine made entirely out of paper with the exception of a few parts (motor, wires, etc.) Wait wait wait! The engine is made entirely out of paper...except for the motor?!? Motor != Block. Engine == Motor. Damnit, man.

    • No. (Score:2, Informative)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )
      No, Engine != Motor.

      Engine - Converts chemical energy to mechanical energy.

      Motor - Converts electrical energy to mechanical energy.
      • Symantecs.

        They're both interchangable now-a-days. Motor oil, motor mounts, search engine, graphics engine, motor skills, deisel engine, nitro motor, motor city..

        I understand that technically, way back when, a motor was purely electric in nature, and an engine meant internal combustion engine. But they've becomes so interchangable and mean lots of other things in modern english that it's really a waste of time trying to change that.

  • Hey, (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hawthorne01 ( 575586 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:29PM (#14111017)
    does that thing have a Hemi?
  • I don't think a paper model of a combustion engine turned by an electric motor qualifies as a "Functional V8 Engine." But that's just me...

  • Ideal for schools. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saskboy ( 600063 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:33PM (#14111037) Homepage Journal
    I think something like this should be in many schools, or at least tour to schools, so that kids can see and understand the theory behind internal combustion engines. I knew until grade 10 that it had something to do with the gas exploding and pushing the piston to make something turn, but the details like the exhaust expulsion, fuel injection, and camshaft, etc, was lost on me until I saw it in pictures. Then for shop class, we tore down a two stroke engine.

    It would be great for budding engineers and mechanics who don't have a parent that routinely fixes their car engine at home like they did in the good ol' days, to see something like this.

    • I think something like this should be in many schools, or at least tour to schools, so that kids can see and understand the theory behind internal combustion engines.

      QED, AJAX (ex-DHTML) can illustrate this pretty effectively. The question is, do the kids really care? The hands-on trades have been ignored for a long time, but there's nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty (instead of getting paper cuts or carpal tunnel "ailments").
      • Ehh? Was it really necessary to throw those buzz words in there? Really now, who gives a flying hoop what tech is used to present this kind of info when the issue at hand is the information itself.

        • Have an interactive animation of an internal combustion engine an let the kids play with spark timing, rich/lean fuel, worn piston rings, etc.

          Pumps: play with discharge rates, NPSH, motor sizes, waterhammer.

          I'm sure you can think of other real-world examples that would spark interest in kids that are not easily motivated by just reading about such things. Even complicated mathematics can be easily demonstrated and then you work backwards from there.

          Those who are really interested will follow up and
          • Yes, but you miss my point.

            What does any of that have to do with AJAX or any of the other specific techs mentioned?


            • Can you do any of the things I mentioned without some form of DHTML in a universally-available web page? With Java, maybe, but those apps seem to be fairly slow.

              You seem to be missing the larger picture, do you have kids?
              • No, I'm not missing the larger picture.
                Yes, I do have kids.

                There are many MANY ways of doing any given thing.
                My point is who cares about what technology you are going to use at this point. It just gets in the way of the real ideas and design required to run with it.

                Figuring out what and why before throwing how into the mix will allow the idea to flourish to it's fullest potential, every time. Once you start talking how, you're really talking about limiting and confining your idea. Bad if your idea is not ye

                • OK, go ahead.

                  I've been doing design work (refinery piping systems and similar) for about 20 years, so I'm interested in your thoughts on the matter.

                  This is not to tout my experience for good or bad, it's just what I've done and what I'm familiar with.
              • By point, which has greater impact:

                QED, AJAX (ex-DHTML) can illustrate this pretty effectively. The question is, do the kids really care? The hands-on trades have been ignored for a long time, but there's nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty (instead of getting paper cuts or carpal tunnel "ailments").

                or:

                Interactive Multimedia can illustrate this pretty effectively. The question is, do the kids really care? The hands-on trades have been ignored for a long time, but there's nothing wrong with getting y


                • QED="quite easily done" but it wouldn't surprise me if it eventually meant something different in the name-hungry geek world.

                  "Interactive Media" brings to mind many things and most of them are marketing-speak and closed-platform. DHTML and (apparently) AJAX are different. In my opinion.
    • As a child, my parents took me to many various museums. One of my favourites was the Science & Technology museum [technomuses.ca] in Ottawa. I'm certain that some of the models there were cutaways of working 2-stroke and 4-stroke cylinders.

      I remember it as being one of the coolest things there (although there were tons of cool things), watching how everything opens and closes at just the right time, all mechanically linked, and that makes the engine go.

      Do your kids a favour. Take them to one of these places. They'll
  • It doesn't seem as impressive to brag about a "V8 Engine made entirely out of paper, with the exception of a few parts (motor, wires, etc.)" - that's kinda like saying, "Sushi made entirely out of rice paper, with the execption of a few parts (fish, eel, etc.)"

    But it IS a cool looking model!

  • riceboy (Score:4, Funny)

    by pintomp3 ( 882811 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:42PM (#14111080)
    so would import cars be made out of rice paper?
  • For the same price I can get a Spinblade Heli [radioshack.com] from Radio Shack, and it's a real flying heli with a real motor (vs a model of a motor)

    Not to grouse, but in the last year there has been a lot of companies offering RTF aircraft for under $100, I think slash should do a story on a few of them since it's so close to christmas.
    • It's a model, it's supposed to look nice, and it does looks nice, it looks like a real engine. It has a lot of details that a real engine has. You're mostly paying for the plans since it took a while to design the whole model.
  • I prefer to stick with bamboo, coconuts and grass. It worked for the Professor on Gilligan's Island.

  • RP (Score:2)

    by thpdg ( 519053 )
    Rapid Prototyping at its best.

  • I just can't help myself. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Thursday November 24, 2005 @11:50PM (#14111109) Homepage Journal
    The engine is powered by 2×1.5V D Batteries

    This is NOT a functional engine, it is a model. [reference.com] A functional engine made out of paper would most likely burn.

    • A small object, usually built to scale, that represents in detail another, often larger object.


    LK
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • What comes next...a fully functional car made out of paper?
    I've travelled in one of these [team.net] on far too many occassions.

  • paper 3d printers (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mattr ( 78516 ) <<mattr> <at> <telebody.com>> on Friday November 25, 2005 @12:05AM (#14111172) Homepage Journal
    This guy should talk to CraftROBO [graphteccorp.com].

    Especially his Notre Dame is cool, the parthenon too but no friezes!

    Would be nice if someone provided info on techniques so people could build anything they like, perhaps with some software.

    The engine is interesting but why? (and humidity) was on my mind.

    Also there in fact are 3d printers (like those using LOM method I think) that make a model by laminating many sheets of paper together. Seems to be a superior way to build an actual paper engine, since the blocks you get are actually quite hard, though you can peel sheets off if you really try.

  • Paper Cars (Score:5, Funny)

    by Indy Media Watch ( 823624 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @12:39AM (#14111291) Homepage
    What comes next...a fully functional car made out of paper?"

    At least French rioters will only need a match...
  • I couldn't play them. How about you guys?

  • Lego V8 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Belseth ( 835595 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @01:19AM (#14111411)
    You want to impress me make one out of legos.
  • From the writeup:

    "The engine is powered by 2×1.5V D Batteries..."

    From dictionary.com:

    engine n.

    1. A machine that converts energy into mechanical force or motion.
    2. Such a machine distinguished from an electric, spring-driven, or hydraulic motor by its use of a fuel.

    motor n.

    1. Something, such as a machine or an engine, that produces or imparts motion.
    2. A device that converts any form of energy into mechanical energy, especially an internal-combustion engine or an arrangement of coils and magnets
    • There is nothing wrong with that sentence. The model engine is powered by an electrical motor.


    • The problem with the sentence you quote is the ommission of the word "model". By the definitions you offer, engine(1) and motor(1) seem pretty interchangeable to me, and either definition of engine seems to work fine in the context at hand. What exactly are you asking anyone to get right? Is this just an experiment to see if any post containing a definition will get modded up? I guess it worked. <br><br>

      <b>informative adj</b><br>
      tending to increase knowledge

  • Just a few problems.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by UnixRevolution ( 597440 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @02:42AM (#14111588) Homepage Journal
    I see just a couple problems with this model.

    1. I don't see the valve gear anywhere. No cam, no lifters, rockers, valves, or valve springs.

    2. No induction system. Nice exhaust though.

    3. Fan blades on cooling fan are facing the wrong way. the fan should draw air towards the block, not blow it away from it. (This has little do to with the block itself and more to do with the fact that the radiator is usually in front of the engine, thus the fan draws cool air towards it. Having the fan blow into it causes an overheat due to a bubble of stagnant air and high-temp engine bay air being blowin into the radiator.)

    4. Title is misleading. Thought they meant a real V8 engine. It's just a 'V8 visible model" thing.

  • The 1st and only engine that can be repaired with white out!

  • Paper Clocks! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PhotoGuy ( 189467 ) on Friday November 25, 2005 @03:32AM (#14111747) Homepage
    The Paper Clock [amazon.com] always fascinated me. I stumbled across this in an Edmund's store in Toronto several years ago, and built it; it's a large project, 160 pieces, but it actually is constructed entirely out of paper (included in the book) and a couple of paper clips (and some rocks for weight in the weights).

    It has a pendulum, gears, two hands, and can wind up and keep time! The design is ingenious, and apparently comes from an old book the other found in a book store (of german origin, I believe).

    Fryer's Kits also had a more simplified paper clock, with just a single dial that rotates with the time; I won't link to them, since their site redirects to a non-existant domain now. Does anybody know where I can find this plan now that Fryer's seems to be defunct??? (They also had a free plan for a paper trebuchet that could launch a grape 30 feet.)

    Paper construction of kinetic models fascinates me; it's such an elegant demonstration of construction ingenuity. I would love to see other examples that people might post (other than simple dancing animals and such, which seem to be mostly what one finds when searching the 'net for moving paper models).
    • Oh yeah; and unlike this V8 "Model" (which someone accurately named it), which is thoroughly impressive as such, the paper clocks do actually run under their own power (well, under the potential energy of their weights, just as a typical clock would).

      But seriously, who expected a *paper* V8 to actually produce it's own power; within 5 seconds of reading the headline, one should thing "real internal combustion and paper don't mix," and realize it was a model, not a "working engine." (If someone isn't used t
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • At least it is curb-side recyclable once you're done with it.

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