Wooden combination lock(woodgears.ca)
woodgears.ca
Wooden combination lock
https://woodgears.ca/combolock/index.html
12 comments
Hi, it's Matthias here (I built the lock). Got any questions for me?
No questions, just a thanks for making your videos. You're on my short list of regular 'YouTubers', despite the fact that I have zero woodworking experience, and don't have any plans to change that...
I really enjoy watching your approach to design and problem solving (and obviously your precision and craftsmanship).
I really enjoy watching your approach to design and problem solving (and obviously your precision and craftsmanship).
Just checked out both the lock and your scaffold video. Amazing projects.
I don't have any real wood working skills (though I hacked together some window boxes out of a wooden pallet last month). Every time I see a project like this posted I get really inspired and wish I spent more of my life learning this craft.
How would you recommend a complete amateur get started?
I don't have any real wood working skills (though I hacked together some window boxes out of a wooden pallet last month). Every time I see a project like this posted I get really inspired and wish I spent more of my life learning this craft.
How would you recommend a complete amateur get started?
I get asked that not infrequently. So I wrote about it a while back :)
http://woodgears.ca/beginner
http://woodgears.ca/beginner
Amazing, thanks - looks like a great resource. The only power tools I have are a drill and a jigsaw, so it looks like I was on the right track :)
Edit I could watch these videos all day. So much interesting content - and very much in the spirit of this website (Hacker News). For example, this clip of deconstructing and hacking the doweling jig is brilliant. https://youtu.be/jFPLFyxkhzc?t=2m51s
Edit I could watch these videos all day. So much interesting content - and very much in the spirit of this website (Hacker News). For example, this clip of deconstructing and hacking the doweling jig is brilliant. https://youtu.be/jFPLFyxkhzc?t=2m51s
I was pretty impressed with the circular saw lap joint, myself.
Hey you have a typo on your webpage: http://woodgears.ca/
"Send me email: (Frequencly asked questions)"
By the way is this your full time job? I imagine making one high quality article a week is pretty intense. The stuff you do is very cool!
(just curious since you seem to have a software background and I am interested to know how you managed to transition to doing a hobby full time =P)
"Send me email: (Frequencly asked questions)"
By the way is this your full time job? I imagine making one high quality article a week is pretty intense. The stuff you do is very cool!
(just curious since you seem to have a software background and I am interested to know how you managed to transition to doing a hobby full time =P)
It wasn't really by plan. I quit my job at Blackberry (then called "Research in Motion" and decided not to work for a while. The website was good to spend time on, and it just grew from there.
Looks like I answered too many comments, cause hacker news is telling me to slow down. Oh well. No more answers!
Looks like I answered too many comments, cause hacker news is telling me to slow down. Oh well. No more answers!
> hacker news is telling me to slow down.
Sorry about that! There is a rate limit on brand new accounts because of past activity by spammers and trolls. Unfortunately, it also applies to really excellent brand new accounts like yours.
We marked your account legit so this won't happen to it again. Please answer as much as you like.
Sorry about that! There is a rate limit on brand new accounts because of past activity by spammers and trolls. Unfortunately, it also applies to really excellent brand new accounts like yours.
We marked your account legit so this won't happen to it again. Please answer as much as you like.
please fix the typo!
oops, fixed it but went to bed before pushing the change to the server (using GIT)
big fan here, when I first discovered your youtube channel I spent the entire afternoon watching all the videos, back to where you guys destroying a blackberry phone!
Very fun. Is there any reason the basic design can't extend to more than 3 numbers?
You could go to more numbers. Though it gets awkward to dial, and cumulative precision become an issue.
It seems like you could, but it would make the opening process more complicated, because you'd have to rotate a revolution for each additional rotor for all the rotors to catch.
Fantastic video. It helped me understand how a combination lock works. I also have to wonder if there's any entropy analysis on the click to close to reset the lock. Seems like you can get at least some information on more likely combinations from the final position and some assumptions about how far the pegs rotate back.
Have you considered making a big-ish "regular" lock with a big wooden key (even though you'd need springs, not sure if you want 100% wood)? I think it would be a pretty valuable tool for learning how to properly lockpick (with wooden tools) :)
Have you considered making a big-ish "regular" lock with a big wooden key (even though you'd need springs, not sure if you want 100% wood)? I think it would be a pretty valuable tool for learning how to properly lockpick (with wooden tools) :)
Hi Matthias, could you describe how your website is built? It looks like static HTML files built from a WYSIWYG editor.
Also could you describe how your website analytics work? I see you're using a 1px gif to log requests. I guess this just logs to a file. How do you find out when you get a surge of traffic like from Hacker News?
Also could you describe how your website analytics work? I see you're using a 1px gif to log requests. I guess this just logs to a file. How do you find out when you get a surge of traffic like from Hacker News?
I write HTML using a text editor.
The 1x1 gifs help count pages, because bots tend not to fetch them. Though I don't monitor traffic that closely.
This was fantastic. I never knew how combination locks worked before, and there couldn't be a better explanation than your model and video. Really well done!
Did you do any writing on woodworking safety?
Safety, like security, or religion, unfortunately, is exempt from rational analysis. Which is to say, nothing good will become from writing about safety. I don't want to get into a religious discussion.
How is that? Are you saying that the current discussion on woodworking safety is muddled and based on belief more than facts, or that ANY evaluation of safety is doomed to be irrational? Because I disagree with the latter (I don't know about the former)
It becomes an arms race of safety. Are goggles enough? Shouldn't you make a robotic arm with remote camera and operate from a safe 100 ft distance behind a blast shield? (Cue Mythbusters) .
So nothing good comes of it, only an endless discussion of where the blurry line is drawn.
TL;DR - be safe. You should know what that means.
So nothing good comes of it, only an endless discussion of where the blurry line is drawn.
TL;DR - be safe. You should know what that means.
I think the idea is that there is a theoretical graph where the X axis is "effort to act safely" and the Y axis is "chance of an accident" and it's shaped like a crooked L and although it plateaus, it starts out at a steep angle. So there is some point in there where a certain amount of observational safety is optimal.
Did you consider adding a reset button to the mechanical counter or would it be too hard to push down at this scale?
It would be too hard to do, add too much complexity.
Have you ever considered using a laser cutter, CNC, or the like?
Yes, certainly thought about it. But for most of what I do, a consumer grade CNC wouldn't be able to do it. And for most of the cuts that a CNC could do, I can cut it much faster by hand. Yes, in theory, I don't have to be there while the CNC runs, but in practice, if I can cut it 10x faster by hand, that doesn't matter.
In theory YOU don't have to be there when it runs, but in practice I own a 75w laser cutter, a CNC mill, and a 100amp plasma cutter and I would be happy to provide parts to you free, for science.
And also so that my kids think I am cool because Dad knows someone famous on YouTube. Because that is what it takes to impress 11 year olds these days.
And also so that my kids think I am cool because Dad knows someone famous on YouTube. Because that is what it takes to impress 11 year olds these days.
That's one heck of a shop you have.
The pantorouter[1] is sort of an 'analog CNC'.
[1]: http://woodgears.ca/pantorouter/
[1]: http://woodgears.ca/pantorouter/
This project just blew me away. In fact, a lot of the projects on woodgears opened my mind to how far you can go in a wood shop. Really inspiring!
Exactly. For some joinery, a CNC would be handy. But with the pantorouter, I can cut just about any joint a CNC can cut, but without a computer.
He's truly a hacker... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmnQN78aZU
Even more "HN applicable", a wooden calculator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A
[deleted]
Can we please have scaffold jousting and racing now?
I think you are looking for this: http://burningman.org
All these rotating pieces reminded me of Sussman's talk on watches http://video.mit.edu/watch/an-electrical-engineering-view-of...
Just happened to be waiting for a Elgin 883 movement to finish drying from a clean/rinse cycle. Killing time on HN, and I happen to run across this referral to a video.
Watch repair can be fun, and it really doesn't cost a lot to get into on a hobby level. There's lots of books on watch repair, and most are out of copyright. The debate of mechanical watches comes up every so often. That Bulova watch he takes the Balance Wheel out of will literally last a life time with proper care.
In the video, he mentions he doesn't know how the Bulova Accutron 360 gear is manufactured(you need to inspect it with a 30X scope). I have always been curious about this topic. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate the info. I know about watch lathes, and hand turning. I don't know how the factories mass produce these gears, what machines they use.
Watch repair can be fun, and it really doesn't cost a lot to get into on a hobby level. There's lots of books on watch repair, and most are out of copyright. The debate of mechanical watches comes up every so often. That Bulova watch he takes the Balance Wheel out of will literally last a life time with proper care.
In the video, he mentions he doesn't know how the Bulova Accutron 360 gear is manufactured(you need to inspect it with a 30X scope). I have always been curious about this topic. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate the info. I know about watch lathes, and hand turning. I don't know how the factories mass produce these gears, what machines they use.
Wow that is a fantastic lecture! Shit brings me back to the undergrad days.
This is an awesome educational tool: the large size makes it really easy to see and understand how combination locks work.
Awesome. How long does it take to achieve skills of this calibre in woodwork?
I don't really know. I have always tinkered with wood. Could be comparable to becoming good at computer programming.
Matthias is fantastic at engineering things and then building them out of wood, but I consider it very different than true woodworking. To me, the level of craft of someone like Sam Maloof is on an entirely different level.
Although Matthias does have metal tools, they're just items he hasn't gotten round to wood-ifying yet.
The man is truly unique among wood-workers. If he were given the task of building a suspension bridge, he'd make the damn cables out of wood if he could. (And he'd probably succeed at it, too).
The man is truly unique among wood-workers. If he were given the task of building a suspension bridge, he'd make the damn cables out of wood if he could. (And he'd probably succeed at it, too).
Wood is pretty easy to work with, if you have some nice tools (these are also pretty cheap to buy second hand.)
Once you know what wood you like working with (I prefer something like oak, pine is too soft. Cheery is lush. Apple is also nice...) you just need something sharp to cut it with, a saw, a knife, some drills. Add some sand paper and off you go.
Once you know what wood you like working with (I prefer something like oak, pine is too soft. Cheery is lush. Apple is also nice...) you just need something sharp to cut it with, a saw, a knife, some drills. Add some sand paper and off you go.
I'm skeptical of a security mechanism that can be defeated with a match and some lighter fluid.
However, as an art piece this is impressive.
However, as an art piece this is impressive.
The point of a lock is twofold (in most cases* ). First, to discourage casual/opportunistic access. Second, to make unauthorised access evident. I believe this lock meets those criteria, albeit at a minimal level - but it's purpose is to educate, rather than to directly secure.
* In specialised cases the expectation is that the lock will also take a finite amount of time to get through, which may exceed that of the door, allowing for a response to alarms, for example. In other cases a lock may be designed such that the contents would be destroyed by any action which would defeat the lock.
* In specialised cases the expectation is that the lock will also take a finite amount of time to get through, which may exceed that of the door, allowing for a response to alarms, for example. In other cases a lock may be designed such that the contents would be destroyed by any action which would defeat the lock.
Well, in that case, spend $5 and buy a padlock.
That is pretty much every building a lock is meant to secure, no?
Not to diminish Matthias' amazing abilities, but only to highlight the challenges that go into making anything out of wood: plywood, isn't really wood per se. If you built things out of wood you'd have to worry about grain direction, because cross-grain strength in wood is very low. This adds a whole another level of complexity to the engineering process.
Most things I make aren't made of plywood. Yes, you have to be aware of poor crossgrain strength (varies with species) as well as seasonal shrinkage and expansion from humidity changes.
Fantastic! The whole site is great. My kids have been pestering me to let them do stuff like this and I didn't really know where to start.
Bookmarked.
Bookmarked.
I try to visit his site every Friday. I like his no nonsense videos.
Really interesting! What got you into woodworking?
Always had access to my dad's wood shop. Wood is fast and easy to work with - unlike metal.
And wood smells better.
(I don't dislike oiled metal, but for me there's something about waxed wood that's really on the nose ;-)
(I don't dislike oiled metal, but for me there's something about waxed wood that's really on the nose ;-)
Very cool!