Popular Mechanics (January 2006)

COV E R CO M P O S I T I N G BY A N T H O N Y V E R D U CC I

H O M E I M P R OV E M E N T COV E R BY M A R K W E I S S

V O L U M E

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BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, NEAR WENDOVER, UTAH Under the hood of grass-roots racer Jim Rotta’s gas modified roadster. 62

56 The Rebirth of Rail Already three times more Cover illustration by S O U L P I X . D E

Popular Mechanics (ISSN 0032-4558) is published monthly by Hearst Communications, Inc., a unit of the Hearst Corporation, 959 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Victor F. Ganzi, President, Chief Executive Officer; George R. Hearst Jr., Chairman; Frank A. Bennack Jr., Vice Chairman; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary; Ronald J. Doerfler, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Hearst Magazines Division: Cathleen Black, President; John P. Loughlin, Executive Vice President; George J. Green, Executive Vice President; Raymond J. Petersen, Executive Vice President; John A. Rohan Jr., Vice President and Group Controller. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012499. Send returns to Quebecor World, P.O. Box 875, Windsor, ON N9A 6P2. CANADA BN NBR 10231 0943 RT. Registered as second-matter at the Post Office at Mexico D.F., Mexico, June 20, 1950, © 2006 by Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Popular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: Popular Mechanics will, upon receipt from its reader of a completely new or renewal subscription order, undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first-copy delivery either to the Postal Service or alternate carriers within 6 to 12 weeks. If for some reason this cannot be done, you will be notified promptly of the issue date that will begin your subscription, with a request for any further instructions you may have concerning your order. Please address all such orders to us at Popular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591. •Should you have any problem with your subscription, please write Joan Harris, Customer Service Department, Pop ular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591 or call toll-free 1-800-333-4948. Please enclose your mailing label when writing to us or renewing your subscription. •Subscription prices: United States and possessions, $24.00 for one year; $42.00 for two years. Canada and all other countries add $16.00 for each year. MAILING LISTS: From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies who sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such mailings, please send your current mailing label or exact copy to: Popular Mechanics, Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 7024, Red Oak, IA 51591-0024. We cannot be responsible for loss of unsolicited queries, manuscripts or photos. For return, they must be accompanied by adequate postage. AS A SERVICE TO READERS, Popular Mechanics publishes newsworthy products, techniques and scientific and technological developments. Due to possible variance in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship, Popular Mechanics cannot assume responsibility for proper application of techniques or proper and safe functioning of manufactured products or reader-built projects resulting from information published in this magazine.

fuel-efficient than trucks (and safer), freight trains are getting even faster, bigger, cleaner and smarter. Welcome to the American revolution in cargo transport. BY JOSH DEAN

62 Salt Flat Dreams Every year Speed Week beckons backyard racers to Utah’s Bonnneville Salt Flats, where they compete in 500-plus car categories—not for prize money, but for the sheer love of going as fast as possible. BY JEFF WISE

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Sun City Rain doused the Solar Decathlon, but the 18 student-designed, solar-powered homes generated plenty of ideas for combating high fuel prices. BY JENNIFER WEEKS

74 15 Tech Concepts You Need to Know IPTV, FiOS, SPIT … Never heard of them? You will. Meet the big-impact technologies of ’06. BY ALEX HUTCHINSON

76 Don’t Try This at Home The MythBusters, TV’s mad scientists, are pro craftsmen with some strange ideas about power tools. BY JAMIE HYNEMAN AND ADAM SAVAGE

P H OTO G RA P H BY P E T E R F U N C H

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N E W S , T O O L S , C A R S , H O M E + H O W-T O

Columns 32 Hi-Def Made Easy With HDTV prices dropping, here’s a guide to decoding tricky jargon and getting your money’s worth.

36 How It Works: DARPA Grand Winner Under the hood and in the brain of Stanley, the car that drives itself. 40 “We Don’t Have Any Engines” PM investigates a crash that didn’t have to happen.

52 Jay Leno’s Garage An ordinary guy goes extraordinarily fast at Talladega in a Carrera GT.

Home Journal 81 Smooth Operators Picking the right power sander for you.

MENTIONED ON

THE COVER London’s new stadium. 14 Leno pushes 200 mph. 52

Building a column-free stadium. Plus: NASA’s autonomous robot; diagnosing bird flu; inner workings of a Striker helmet; decoding quake magnitudes; and citywide Wi-Fi.

Upgrade 21 Electric Company A trio of essentials for the home electrician. Plus: WD-40’s sturdier straw; a propane-powered paintball gun; an icy winter boot test; and VoIP cellphones.

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New Cars 45 All the RAV A roomier Toyota RAV4. Plus: fuel cell and hybrid Spy Reports; economy cars get respect; and more.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULARMECHANICS.COM

Top Solar Homes Super Trains Hi-Def TV Robot SUV “We’re Not Gonna Make It”: Flight 3701 84 Build a Dresser 104 Upgrade Your CPU 88 Attic Heat Leaks 95 Fix Fender Dents 52 Jay Leno 74 Tech Ideas 81 Power Sanders 62 Speed Freaks at Bonneville

M O N T H LY EDITOR’S NOTES

10

LET TERS

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READER PROJECT 93 KEEP IN TOUCH

98

THIS IS MY JOB

116

88 Homeowners Clinic Fixing sticky doors and sealing energy leaks. Car Care 95 Saturday Mechanic Hammering out dents, deductible-free.

99 Auto Clinic Curing wobbly wheels, rearview mirrors and more.

Technology 103 Tech Clinic Laptop plug converters; USB 2.0 upgrades; home networking (and file security) explained; brain surgery for your PC.

P H O T O G R A P H B Y E PA / M AT T H E W F E R N / N E W S C O M ( S TA D I U M )

Tech Watch 14 Arch Support

68 56 32 36 40

84 Arts & Crafts Dresser Plans for a 20thcentury American classic that you can build today.

WHAT’S HOT THIS MONTH ON

Popular Mechanics.com AUTO

SCIENCE

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AU TO M OT I V E GAS/ELECTRIC VS. GAS Last time we tested hybrids against diesels. This time it’s the gas-powered Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander against the hybrid versions. Read our daily blog reports from the test site, and watch exclusive PM.com video, at popularmechanics.com/hybrid.

T E C H N O L O GY HANDS-ON WITH THE XBOX 360 Read our first-contact reactions to Microsoft’s new advanced gaming console, as well as readers’ thoughts at popularmechanics.com/xbox. The new Xbox represents more than an incremental improvement on past gaming consoles—it has the potential to revolutionize the industry. As always, the devil is in the details.

HOME JOURNAL PM SOLAR HOME PROJECT Last month, we told you how Ben Hewitt is fending for himself in Vermont—disconnected from the local electrical grid. Now, read his own progress reports as he adds more solar juice. popularmechanics.com/blog/energyfamily

SCIENCE LET’S GO TO MARS In our December cover story, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin revealed his step-by-step plan to “commute” to the red planet. Join the debate on mankind’s next giant leap in space at popularmechanics.com/space.

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JOEL JOHNSON Gadget guru Joel Johnson, who regularly churns out advice in our Tech Clinic column, serves up a special guide this month: “HDTV Guidebook” (page 32). Johnson, whose experience includes a stint as a UNIX systems administrator, dodged personal questions about his plasma versus LCD preference. “At home, I’m not too picky,” he says. “As long as it has a big screen.”

Executive editor Dunbar (center) with ’busters Savage and Hyneman. JENNIFER WEEKS

W H O YO U G O N NA CA L L?

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JANUARY 2006 • POPULARMECHANICS.COM

“Renewable energy isn’t sci-fi. And solar doesn’t have to mean strange-looking.” “Sun City,” page 68 H A RV E Y S Y M O N S The artist behind the pseudonym FlyingChilli.com, Harvey Symons, routinely helps PM illustrate the future—his credits include last May’s “America 2025” package. This month, the Cornwall, England, native illustrates the workings of new hybrid locomotives in “The Train” (page 56). Of his distinctively clean style, Symons says he just likes to get to the point. “It’s about ‘showing’ the story,” he says. “So it has to be clear.”

Editor-In-Chief

P H OTO G RA P H BY A RT ST R E I B E R

P H OTO G RA P H S BY ZAC H D E SA RT (J O E L J O H N S O N ) , B I L L D O N A L D S O N (J E N N I F E R W E E KS )

with ice bullets (which, the story goes, melt soon after dispatching the victim) really constitute the perfect crime? Does a sinking ship actually pull down swimming survivors behind it? Could you really blow yourself up by answering your cellphone while pumping gas? If those are the kinds of questions you find yourself pondering, you’re probably the kind of person who reads Popular Mechanics. And watches MythBusters. In more than 40 episodes, the Discovery Channel TV show has subjected dozens of urban legends like those above to hands-on reality checks. (The answers to the questions above, by the way, are no, no and no.) Along the way, MythBusters has become a bit of a cult phenomenon among tinkerers, skeptics and anyone who appreciates a good debunking. The show’s two cohosts came to television via roundabout careers. Jamie Hyneman has worked as a dive charter operator and as a special-effects model builder on such movies as Star Wars: Episodes I and II. His partner, Adam Savage, is also a modelmaker (Terminator 3), as well as a sculptor and toy builder. Now, they both add magazine writing to their résumés. In “Don’t Try This at Home” (page 76), the pair reveal a few trade secrets. PM’s executive editor, David Dunbar (pictured above, convincing the pair to get their article in on time), says, “Jamie and Adam represent the real spirit of PM: They love to build things, push all kinds of gear to the limit, and blow stuff up.” On a different note, about a year ago, PM published a story titled “Courage After Fire,” about National Guardsman Kevin Pannell who lost both legs in Iraq. The story detailed his brave effort to adjust to a new life with prosthetic legs. You might like to know that, on Nov. 6, Kevin successfully completed the New York City Marathon. Congratulations, Kevin.

P M

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT I S S U E

11/05 Breakthrough Awards, sport planes and rock stars

I was very interested in your article about the new Light-Sport Aircraft (“Planes for the People,” Nov. 2005). But as a flight instructor and pilot, I feel it would be irresponsible to certify a pilot in one week. There are too many variables that take longer to experience. I work with my students for at least a month before I endorse them to solo, much less certify them as pilots. CHRIS HEARD UNIONVILLE, TN

NEWS FROM THE FRONT Sophisticated devices are helping amputees.

I N N OVAT I V E T H I N K I N G R LETTE E OF TH H MONT

As a bilateral below-the-knee amputee, the marvelous new computer-aided prosthetics featured in your “Breakthrough Awards 2005” article (Nov. 2005) are of particular interest to me. Advances in prosthetics are being made frequently these days. Unfortunately, such devices are so expensive that to most of us they are just a curiosity. N I C H A L L E T T COUPEVILLE, WA

It’s been a long time since I was an English teacher, but I don’t understand how you can give Sling Media a “breakthrough inventions of the year” award for its Slingbox. “Breakthrough” and “inventions” refer to the first of their kind. However, in 2003 I purchased TV2Me from my friend Kenny Schaffer, who devised “place shifting”— the ability to push great pictures across the world over little wires to allow people like me, who travel constantly, to maintain a sense of home. Because of TV2Me, I can watch my team, Newcastle United, from wherever I’m working or playing. And as you may imagine, it isn’t wise to come between an Englishman and his team. STING NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND

Editor’s Response:

You’re right. Kenny Schaffer’s TV2Me existed before the Slingbox. But its $4750 price tag puts it a little out of reach for most people. (Since 2001, Sony has also offered a similar, though highly specialized, product.) At $250, the Slingbox offers some of the same ingenuity that TV2Me pioneered, but is more accessible for the mass market. However, we share your interest in Schaffer and his product; stay tuned to PM for more on his work.

W H A T

D O YO U T H I N K

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JANUARY 2006 • POPULARMECHANICS.COM

Thanks for your timely articles about the weaponry and technology being used by our soldiers. My son, Air Force Staff Sgt. Adam Dufford, has served in Oman, Afghanistan, and in the Iraq War, and he is getting ready for another deployment to Baghdad. My son is tight-lipped about what he does and what he uses. PM’s coverage has helped me gain some insight into how he is armored and, more important, how he is protected. JAM E S C . D U FFO RD SPRING LAKE, MI

EAGLE-EYED READERS

Many readers wrote us to say that the Chrysler we pictured Jay Leno driving (“Jay Leno’s Garage,” Nov. 2005) is actually an Imperial, not a 300. Sharp-eyed readers noted that the Boss Hoss’s carburetor pictured in the same story is not a Quadrajet. You’re right, it’s a Holley carb. And yes, we’re more than a little impressed.

W R I T E T O U S Include your full name, address and phone number, even if you correspond by e-mail. Send e-mail to [email protected]. All letters are subject to editing for length, style and format. S U B S C R I B E Please call 800-333-4948 or go to popularmechanics.com.

P H OTO G R A P H B Y M I C H A E L E D WA R D S

PM

TECHWATCH ROBOTIC ASTRONAUTS DIAGNOSING BIRD FLU ADVANCED DOGFIGHTING CITYWIDE WI-FI

Arch Support by L u k e O ’ N e i l

The builders of London’s new Wembley Stadium want to make sure everyone can see the game. So when the revolutionary venue reopens this May, it will have no support columns, which means unobstructed sightlines for all 90,000 seats. The key to the open design is a single massive arch. Composed of 504 steel tubes and 41 rings, the arch will bear 5432 tons of the roof’s weight, allowing part of it to retract. Visible from 13 miles away, the arch already dominates the city’s skyline, spanning 1033 ft. and towering 436 ft. above the ground at its apex. The new stadium will play a major role when London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games.

W E M B L E Y A R C H S T AT S Height: 436 ft. Length: 1033 ft. Weight: 1929 tons Roof weight it will bear: 5432 tons Construction: Thirteen modules were welded together on-site and attached to 70-ton hinges that helped raise the arch to a permanent angle of 68 degrees. Maintenance: The arch’s diameter is 23 ft.—wide enough to fit an access cart that will drive through it for inspections and repairs.

When Wembley Stadium is completed in May, most of the roof will be anchored to the arch by a network of support cables. The arch will bear 60 percent of the weight of the roof’s southern half, a portion of which is retractable, and 100 percent of its northern half.

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PM

TECHWATCH

NEWS BRIEFS BY ALEX HUTCHINSON

SLIVER SCREEN

Australian scientists have synthesized resilin, the rubber-like protein that allows some insects to float like a bumblebee and jump like a flea. Shown here as a pad on a flea’s leg, the material has a resilience–or the ability to recover its shape after deformation–of 97 percent, compared to just 80 percent for highresilience rubber, and it can be stretched to just over three times its length without breaking. Potential applications for the protein range from durable spinaldisc implants to really, really bouncy superballs.

Siemens has demonstrated a paper-thin black-and-white screen that can change text displays with the press of a button, powered by equally thin printable batteries. It’s not exactly e-paper, but expect to see product packaging and pill containers with embedded screens in 2008.

MYSTERY MOON New images from NASA’s Cassini probe of Hyperion, one of Saturn’s moons, have revealed a spongy, crater-scarred surface filled with an unidentified “dark material.” Scientists are stumped as to why the 165-mile-long object developed so differently from Saturn’s 33 other moons.

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YOUR CUP RUNNETH UNDER German grad students have developed a beer mat with pressure sensors and a radio transmitter to alert bar staff when your glass is getting low. If that doesn’t work, a gravity sensor can detect when the mat is being waved frantically in the air. The prototype costs about $120 to make–a small price to pay for such an essential service.

PASTA’S PAST A 4000-year-old bowl of noodles found near China’s Yellow River bolsters the claim that the Chinese were the first noodle-eaters. The noodles were sealed in an overturned bowl in a settlement that probably was destroyed by a massive flood.

DINO BIPLANES One of the earliest flying dinosaurs used four wings in a biplanelike configuration, according to a new fossil analysis of Microraptor, a crow-size dinosaur that had flight feathers on its hands and feet. A computer simulation of Microraptor’s aerodynamics suggests that it could leap from treetops and glide to neighboring trees without flapping its wings. And, we should note, its unique construction predates the Wright brothers’ biplane by 125 million years.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

TIME MACHINE

MARCH

1956

THE HURRICANE SEASON of 1955 was brutal, much like the one that just ended. The storms 50 years ago prompted PM to run a story titled “Why All These Hurricanes?” The article described the state of storm tracking (below) and ideas for hurricane prevention. One plan involved using oil slicks to drain a hurricane’s energy during formation, an idea that MIT researchers recently looked into (replacing oil with other materials). But, PM reported, “The most drastic suggestion is to blow up the storms with atom bombs.” —TRACY SAELINGER

PAGES 14 AND 15: PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRANT SMITH/ALAMY, NEWSCOM (INSET); THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY CMSP (FLEA), NASA (HYPERION)

ANIMAL RUBBER

HOW DO THEY KNOW … That an illness is avian flu? BY DANIEL ENGBER THE SYMPTOMS OF highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are familiar: cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever. So once a mucous sample tests positive

NASA’s Little Helper

for influenza antigens, lab workers can extract the virus genome and analyze its structure to confirm that the strain BY DANIEL H. WILSON

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NASA (ROBOT), AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS (AVIAN FLU)

Robonaut uses handgrips and a single leg that locks into place.

Astronauts heading to the moon and Mars will have a new kind of crew member: an autonomous robot with its own helmet and a mean kung fu grip.

is bird flu, rather than one of countless other flu strains. Less commonly used is a blood test that detects avian flu antibodies. Sick poul-

In the more than three decades since boot prints last crisscrossed the lunar surface, only trusty—and expendable—robots have explored the solar system. Now, with a manned visit to the moon scheduled for 2018, NASA is testing the Robonaut, a humanoid robot that will work literally hand in hand with flesh-and-blood astronauts. Able to use screwdrivers, squeeze through hatchways and clasp the handgrips necessary for moving around in zero gravity, the robot is designed to help with repairs. And though Robonaut can be operated remotely, it also follows basic verbal commands issued by radio. “The autonomous manipulation skills being developed are some of the best in the world,” says Robert Ambrose, chief of the Robotics Systems Technology Branch at NASA. Using cameras in its helmeted head and articulated hands covered in tactile sensors, the robot can thread a bolt, and screw it into place with a power drill that it locates and picks up. Robonaut’s unnerving resemblance to a human being ends below the waist, where the torso attaches to a single leg that can hook into a space arm or other interface, mimicking the foot restraint that astronauts typically use for extravehicular activities (such as repairing external systems on a shuttle or space station). Ambrose estimates that Robonaut will be fully operational in three years. For now, a tiny plastic version is available in toy stores for around $12. “It’s not a toy,” notes Ambrose. “It’s an action figure.”

try is tested similarly in the States with the macabre addition of the “chicken pathogenicity test,” where the virus is injected into eight healthy chickens. If six or more die within 10 days, it’s HPAI. If not, more tests are conducted to determine whether it’s merely a “low pathogenic” strain of bird flu.

A veterinarian collects chickens for avian flu testing in Romania.

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TECHWATCH

View To A Kill

BY BARRY ROSENBERG

Striker Helmet Visor Display Data and video projected onto a flipdown visor shifts as the pilot moves his head. Visual Acquisition The helmet lets pilots quickly designate and fire on targets at difficult angles, including over the shoulder. Night Vision Cameras Cameras on either side of the helmet send an enhanced stereoscopic video feed to the visor. Vocal Targeting Direct Voice Input enables lock-on through voice command.

N U M B E R T H EORY THE 1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE, which killed 3400, registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. It created seismic waves nearly eight times larger than those of a 1989 Bay Area quake that registered 6.9, killing 63. But even that doesn’t express the real difference between the quakes. The 7.8 quake released 22.4 TIMES more energy than the 6.9 event.

The British-built Striker helmet, designed for use with the Eurofighter Typhoon jet, allows pilots to lock on to enemy aircraft by simply looking at them and then pushing a button or issuing a vocal command. Using input from the aircraft’s sensors, as well as helmet-mounted cameras, the system displays flight and target data on the visor. Trial sorties are still being conducted; within two years, the helmet is expected to be deployed with the Typhoon in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will adopt either the Striker or a helmet with similar features.

Sound of Silence

7.8

1906

ENERGY RELEASED

PM

6.9

1989

( The chances of a 7.5 or

greater quake in the Bay Area by 2032: 10 PERCENT.) SOURCE: USGS

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JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

The Audio Spotlight system targets one listener at a time. THE PIE-IN-THE-SKY

used by museums, libraries

promise of directed sound,

and retailers around the

from military-issue sonic

world. Holosonics plans

cannons to billboards

to release a less expensive

that whisper to individual

home version later this

passersby, has finally

year (they’re currently

come down to earth. The

$2000 per system), aimed

Audio Spotlight is a 1⁄2-in.-

at anyone who wants to

thin, disc-shaped speaker

watch the game at full

that uses ultrasound to

blast without disturbing

deliver audible sound

their neighbors—or the

waves within a focused

spouse reading next to

beam. It is already being

them on the couch.

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y C R A N E D I G I TA L . C O M

Outdoor transceivers will give wireless network access to police, individuals and public agencies.

Citywide Wi-Fi Philadelphia’s Wi-Fi plans are making headlines, but dozens of other U.S. cities are also developing metro-scale wireless networks. Here’s a sampling of what Wi-Fi has to offer.

P R I V AT E RESIDENTS

Philadelphia, PA: The city’s plan to get all of its residents online is targeting the least plugged in—the poor. The monthly subscriber fee for the proposed 135-squaremile network will be $20 per household, or $10 for low-income residences. Participants will be able to access the Internet from anywhere in the network, whether at home or on a park bench, provided their desktop PC or laptop is Wi-Fi capable. To fully bridge the digital divide, the city is in the process of distributing free computers to its lowincome residents.

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y F LY I N G - C H I L L I . C O M

M U N I C I PA L SERVICES

Corpus Christi, TX: What began as an automated meter reading (AMR) system—replacing manually inspected meters with Wi-Fi devices—has grown to include a host of pilot programs to streamline other municipal services. The experiment is paying off—though not all residents are pleased. Building inspectors can now access a property’s past violations and then update or revoke a building permit on the spot. The city expects to expand its network from 24 square miles to 147 by August.

BY JOHN GARTNER

EMERGENCY RESPONDERS

Hermiston, OR: One of the earliest adopters of Wi-Fi for public safety purposes isn’t a city at all, but a town in northeastern Oregon. Local police officers use laptops to search statewide databases and file reports from the field. The town’s Wi-Fi coverage is part of a huge 700-square-mile network that includes parts of Washington. Hermiston now plans to introduce cameras that stream live video to police headquarters, and 69 laptop-controllable message boards, similar to those used for AMBER Alerts.

POPULAR MECHANICS • JANUARY 2006

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UPGRADE

POCKET MOVIE PLAYER BACK MASSAGER TITANIUM-COATED KNIVES WINTER BOOTS

F E A T U R E S RATCH-A-NUT SCREWDRIVER Not only is it a multibit ratchet screwdriver, but its handle also serves as a ratcheting driver for wire connectors. ($19) POCKETPRO DIGITAL MULTIMETER This pocket-size, 3.9-ounce gauge has an LCD screen. It stores its leads, wrapped up, behind a foldout test stand. ($25) KINETIC REFLEX T-STRIPPER Ergonomically designed and covered with nonslip Santoprene for maximum grip, the T-Stripper locks closed easily with a quick-slide thumblatch. ($22)

Electric Company

Okay, they’re each sold separately, but Ideal’s PocketPro digital multimeter, Ratch-A-Nut screwdriver and Kinetic Reflex T-Stripper wire strippers work so well together, we can’t imagine them apart. The perfect homeowner’s back-pocket electrical toolkit, this new trio delivers sturdy construction, good industrial design, affordability and innovative features. If you can’t handle the job with these tools, call an electrician.

P H O T O G R A P H B Y B U R C U AV S A R

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W i s h L i st

BETTER

Aren’t those massage chairs at the mall relaxing? Until the $800 price tag gets you on your feet quick enough to slip a disc. The HoMedics QRM-400 ($150) is the reasonable alternative, a cushion that fits over a chair, with four rollers that glow an eerie blue as they knead your back. The Spot Shiatsu feature lets you put the rollers where you need them. homedics.com

MOUSETRAP?

Key Grip Sometimes, all it takes to make a great design even better is one little tweak. Locking pliers were patented in 1924, and the technology is as useful today as it was then— just twist a screw knob to adjust the jaw, then clamp down. But the new pliers line from startup company LockJaw ($18 to $30) has eliminated the adjustment screw in favor of a spring-action cam that automatically adjusts the aperture of the jaws, which lock with consistent pressure. lockjawpliers.com

UPGRADE

Go Anywhere, Play Anything While Apple’s video iPod was busy hogging the spotlight, Creative’s Zen Vision ($400) portable media player slid in under everyone’s radar. It records FM radio, plays 4.5 hours of video on a 3.7-in. screen, has 30GB of storage and reads compact flash cards from most digital cameras. creative.com

E D I TO R ’ S C H O I C E AWA R D

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR

The Straw Saver After beer, WD-40 is the most beloved liquid-in-a-can around the house. The only thing more frustrating than not having it handy is not having its little red straw. So when we saw the new, impossible-to-lose, dual-position WD-40 Smart Straw at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association show, we had to give it an award. wd40.com

WD-40 is dispensed through the straw on the conventional spray nozzle.

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W i s h L i st

Will It Break? With a class-action lawsuit over scratched screens now pending, we saw it as our civic duty to put the Apple iPod nano 2GB ($199) through our torture test.

Thumbthing New You can see them tapping away in restaurants and movie theaters across the land: BlackBerry addicts. For better or worse, these connected folks can send and receive e-mail anywhere. With the new RIM BlackBerry 8700c ($300 after rebate), they now have highspeed wireless Internet access over Cingular’s EDGE network and a brighter, better screen to draw their attention away from the rest of us. cingular.com

Master of All Media

WE DROPPED IT

A trip 4 ft. straight down onto concrete caused a nick and a few surface scratches, but no structural damage. The nano still worked fine. WE STEPPED ON IT

It would be nice if we could put movies on our PCs like we do with our music, but movie studios make it hard to rip DVDs. Sony’s VAIO XL1 Digital Living System ($2300) is a Media Center PC that works with a 200-disc DVD changer to digitally organize your collection—without breaking any laws. sonystyle.com

A firm footfall from our 175pound tester snapped the color screen with an audible “pop”— causing it to display a glowing fractal pattern. Nevertheless, the scroll wheel kept clicking away at unseen menus. W E D R OW N E D I T

Since it was still technically alive, we dropped it in our beaker of water. The screen filled with fluid, but stayed on. Eventually, it started blinking on and off, then shut down for good.

T H E R E S U LT

Some people might call a titanium-coated kitchen knife overkill. Exactly. That coating makes Kasumi Titanium Knives ($84 to $150) lightweight and extremely durable, while a molybdenum vanadium steel edge stays sharp, even after heavy use. But the lack of heft can turn sawing through a T-bone into a dicey maneuver. chefdepot.net/kasumi.htm 26

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The iPod nano is indeed delicate. It survived the drop, but the LCD didn’t stand up to direct pressure. And don’t dare get the nano wet. We noticed water still trapped in the screen a week later. If you love this little machine as much as we do, buy a protective sleeve.

VELOCITY ADJUSTMENT SCREW Muzzle velocity can be set from 240 to 320 ft. per second.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR (BLACKBERRY, KNIVES, NANO, X-WORKHORSE, BBQ PIT)

PUMP-ACTION FOREARM GRIP Each pump loads a paintball, clears exhaust air from the combustion chamber and pulls more propane from the tank.

PAINTBALL FEED Accepts .68-caliber paintballs, which are fed from a topmounted hopper (not shown).

Paintball, Meet Propane Even if you don’t play paintball, there’s something irresistible about the Tippmann C3 Marker ($229), the first propane-powered paintball gun. It uses an internal-combustion process similar to that found in some nail guns. Fuel and air are pumped into a chamber, then ignited with a spark plug. The result is fuel cost savings—a 16-ounce propane tank costs $9 and fires 50,000 shots. Compare that to a 20-ounce CO2 tank that costs $20 and fires 1000 shots. tippmann.com

PROPANE REGULATOR Controls the air/ fuel ratio, which comes factory set, but may require adjustments later.

For a good portion of the country, January is a sad time as barbecue gear is covered with snow. But what if you could bring that slow-roasted goodness indoors? The Crock Pot BBQ Pit ($120) is an electric roaster built to subject meat to hours of low-heat cooking. Our test rack of ribs was fall-off-the-bone tender—although we missed the smoky wood flavor. crockpot.com

Horse of a Different Color Every work site needs a good, strong platform. Husky’s X-WorkHorse ($35) weighs only 15 pounds, but can support up to 750 pounds. It has a lock-on platform with mounting holes for a miter saw. Plus, like an old-school sawhorse, two X-WorkHorses can turn a piece of plywood into a worktable. And when not in use, it folds up for easy storage. homedepot.com

Release Your Inner Mogul As it turns out, what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood is far more interesting than reading Us Weekly would lead you to believe. The Movies ($50) computer game lets you create and guide your own studio—managing everything from film directing to an actor’s mental breakdowns. the moviesgame.com

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UPGRADE

A b u s i ve L a b Te st

Cold Feet

Ice: 14 lb. Depth: 6.5 in.

We tested three pairs of boots—all labeled as waterproof and rated to -40 F or -50 F—by sticking our feet in ice water for a full hour. After three testers and three days, here are the cold, wet facts.

Duration: 60 minutes per day, over three days

These Army Boots Were Made for Walking … Painfully

SOREL CONQUEST

C H I P P E WA A R C T I C 5 0

Price: $50 Materials: Rubber, splitgrain leather, removable foam liner, Thinsulate Ultra insulation Claim: -50 F, waterproof

Price: $124 Materials: Rubber, suede, nubuck, EVA inserts, Thinsulate Ultra insulation Claim: -40 F, waterproof

Price: $235 Materials: Leather with waterproof membrane, polypropylene and lamb shearling insulation Claim: -50 F, waterproof

wet or dry?

These low-price underdogs stayed bone-dry until 55 minutes into Day 2, when we felt a trickle begin at the right instep. Day 3 was a hull-breach disaster—we collected over 20 ounces from inside the boots.

The Sorels held dry for Day 1, but quickly started leaking on Day 2. The liners weren’t removable, so they hadn’t dried at all by Day 3. It took real grit for the final tester to pull them on. Water collected: 18.6 ounces. Hoo-rah!

These classic leather beauties looked like a sure bet to let in water, unlike their rubber-andbad-attitude competitors. But when the last pair of feet emerged on Day 3, they were unscathed—by water, at least.

cold or warm?

Until ice water flooded in, these were the toastiest of the bunch—almost too warm, in fact.

Cold began penetrating the boots after 30 minutes on Day 1—long before the waterworks began.

It’s a dry cold. One tester reported numbness at 30 minutes—and nagging thoughts of frostbitten toes by 53 minutes.

last word

Our test favored dryness over warmth: Ice water is just above 32 F—at -50 F water is scarce and waterproofness barely matters. Sure, the boots leaked—but in frigid conditions, we’d still wear the Cabela’s.

The technical, featureladen look of these boots was cold comfort. In merely damp conditions and moderate cold they’d be fine—but that’s not the performance they claim.

In extreme cold, these boots might suffice for brief periods of fast walking. Maybe. But we think they would truly excel for hiking through slush and wet snow.

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The verdict: The massively thick soles and all-rubber construction added up to dry, fairly warm feet. But they score low in overall comfort. GI Mickey Mouse Boots $69.95 (prices vary); rubber, wool, nylon

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR

C A B E L A’ S S N OW PAC

For every boot owner extolling the latest technology, there’s an Army surplus aficionado who snobbishly swears by the battletested Army footwear of a bygone era. So we ran a pair of unissued GI Mickey Mouse boots through one day of our icewater regime. This model was used by U.S. troops on snow patrol in the Korean War.

Go Global, Call Local

PHOTOGRAPH BY BURCU AVSAR (VONAGE PHONE)

It may seem counterintuitive, but the next time you take a trip, you might want to bring your home phone with you and leave your cellphone behind. A new generation of Voice over BY JOHN R. QUAIN Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones can go cordless around your house by using the 802.11b Wi-Fi standard. And since VoIP phones are Internet-based, they can tap into almost any Wi-Fi hot spot around the world as well. Two of the first such handsets are Vonage’s $100 UTStarcom F1000 phone and Voiceglo’s $150 ZyXEL P-2000W phone. Both require monthly VoIP phone service. Unlimited local and long distance from Vonage starts at $24.99; one of ZyXEL’s partners, Voiceglo, charges just $15.99 for unlimited local and long-distance calls. Since the phone service is tied to the phone, rather than any particular location, you can use any open Wi-Fi network as if it were your home phone line—that means no international roaming charges when you travel abroad. So if you were to find yourself at a Wi-Fi hot spot in, say, Kabul, Afghanistan, a call to your mother in Albuquerque, N.M., would be free on Voiceglo, versus $3.99 per minute on Cingular. And VoIP calls sound as good as or better than typical cellphone calls. But don’t toss your cellphone yet. Logging in to foreign Wi-Fi networks can be tricky. We couldn’t log in to a hot spot in Tokyo without the security codes, which we could only obtain by—duh—speaking Japanese. Plus, VoIP over Wi-Fi phones can tap into hot spots, but the phones won’t let you leave the area where you first connected—at least, not yet. Companies such as Intel have shown prototypes of hybrid cellular/Wi-Fi phones that tap into whichever network can make the call most cheaply.

PRICE: $150 (aft er rebate) TECHNOLOGY: ZyXEL P-2000W PROVIDER: Voiceglo

PRICE: $100 (aft er rebate) TECHNOLOGY: UTStarcom F1000 PROVIDER: Vonage

VULPUT LUTPAT. Volore conulpute exer aciduisi tet, sum incil ipit, sum veliquis nostrud euis eummoles

BIGGEST EXTREME FREEBIE EVER! What could it be? Find out what we’re giving away—and how you can win it—in our February issue.

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TECHNOLOGY

HDTV Guidebook The world of high-definition television is a confusing place to visit, but you’ll definitely want to live there. BY JOEL JOHNSON

T

There is a magic time in the evolution of a consumer electronics product when it descends from the realm of fantasy into reality because of a new combination of price, availability and choice. For high-definition TV, that time is now. Great HDTVs can now be found for under $1000—and even many big, 42-in. sets are under $2000. There is finally plenty of content available to watch—popular prime time TV shows and many sporting events are broadcast in HD. But the terminology and specifications for highdefinition television are as confusing as ever. Wouldn’t it be great if someone explained all the jargon in plain English and gave you the information you need to find and set up a great HDTV? We thought so, too.

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WHAT IS HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION, REALLY? It’s important to remember that there are two sides to HDTV. There is such a rush these days to buy a highdefinition display that many people don’t consider where their hi-def content will come from. If you have one without the other, you aren’t getting a true HD experience. High-definition television is as much about the signal as it is the set. For years, analog standarddefinition television (SDTV) has been transmitted in a format known as 480i. This means that 480 horizontal lines of pixels (or picture elements—the tiny little dots that compose the image on your TV screen) are broadcast interlaced (odd-numbered lines painted in 1⁄60 second,

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then even-numbered lines painted in the following 1⁄60 second). The alternating lines whiz by so fast that, to the human eye, they blend together. Computer monitors, on the other hand, paint their screens using progressive scan—every line is painted in every frame. Since modern HDTV is an evolution of both televisionbroadcast and monitor technology, we ended up with a multitude of broadcast standards including 1080i (interlaced), 720p (progressive) and the emerging 1080p. HD signals can be broadcast in any of these formats. Luckily, the signal’s format doesn’t matter much to the TV viewer because hi-def sets use digital processing and can adapt to most formats. What matters is the resolution that each set ends up displaying. And a true HDTV can display more lines of resolution than a conventional analog SDTV. That means more pixels, which means a more detailed picture—right down to the mud on the faces of NFL linemen and the crow’s-feet on the faces on Desperate Housewives. In fact, TVs that display video at the highest HD resolution (1080p) have over six times as many pixels as SDTV. So why don’t all the new-generation sets displayed in stores look spectacular? Usually, it’s for one of two reasons. First, not every fancy new TV displays a hi-def image. Enhanced-definition televisions (EDTVs) are the middle ground of the digital television world, displaying images that are superior to SDTV, but converting true HD signals down to a lower resolution. Second, many stores aren’t plugging their HDTVs into a hi-def source. Many sets are playing DVDs, which are only marginally better than standard definition. Which raises the question: How can I tell if a TV is an HDTV? Essentially, it needs to be able to display at

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y F R A N S A A

least 720 progressive lines or 1080 interlaced lines of pixels. Many manufacturers have started to list the resolution of their sets in “width by height in pixels.” For instance: “WXGA (1366 x 768 pixels).” Most HDTVs have a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio (as opposed to the 4:3 screens common to SDTV), so the 1366 in the example above refers to the number of vertical rows of pixels, while the 768 refers to the horizontal lines. Since 768 is higher than 720, the set has more than enough lines to display HDTV “natively,” or without downconverting the signal. So if you have one question to ask yourself (or a salesperson), it’s this: Does the TV I want to buy display high-definition natively?

receivers also include a built-in terrestrial antenna. The cable industry has lately become very HD-friendly. If high-definition video is available in your area, many cable providers will upgrade you to an HD cable box for little or no extra cost. Many HD displays support Cablecard, a piece of hardware that eliminates the need for a separate tuner box from your cable provider. But the Cablecard standard is not without its own set of problems— like the inability to support Video On Demand or many electronic program guides. Often users find they end up getting a separate cable box (like an HD Digital Video Recorder) anyway. There are a number of HD-capable DVRs on the market. Models

NOW WHAT DO I WATCH? An HDTV without HD content is a big waste of money. Luckily, hidef content is becoming widely available. Satellite television providers such as DirecTV and DISH Network have HD offerings, although this can require extra monthly service fees and purchasing an HD receiver. Satellite providers are adding local HD broadcasts to their lineup, though for now you might need an over-the-air antenna to get the HD version of local network stations. The amount of local high-definition content available via an overthe-air broadcast varies depending on your location. To access overthe-air content, many satellite HD

How Much Screen Does Your High-Def Dollar Buy? We scanned the market and found beautiful sets in every size, for every budget. $5000 $4500 $4000 $3500 $3000

Panasonic Pioneer PDP-4360HD TH-50PX50U 1366 x 768 1024 x 768 43-in. Plasma 50-in. Plasma $3600 $4500

$2500 $2000 $1500

Syntax Olevia Sharp Philips LT26HVE LC-20B9U 23PF5320/28 1280 x 768 1020 x 768 1360 x 768 26-in. LCD 20-in. LCD 23-in. LCD $730 $700 $700

$1000

Westinghouse Samsung JVC LVM-37W1 HL-R5087W HD-52G886 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720 1280 x 720 37-in. LCD 50-in. DLP 52-in. D-ILA (LCoS) $1650 $2800 $2300

PRICE

$500

SCREEN SIZE

Sony Grand Wega KDS-R60XBR1 1920 x 1080 60-in. SXRD (LCoS) $4750

20 in.

25 in.

30 in.

35 in.

40 in.

45 in.

50 in.

55 in.

60 in.

The figures listed above are average street prices.

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H i g h - D ef i n i t i o n Te lev i s i o n G u i d e

Six Flavors of Hi-Def HDTVs come in all shapes and sizes. Here’s how to find the right one for your needs. PLASMA Plasma displays are some of the largest out there—top-end models can be up to 80 in. diagonally. Older plasmas used to have problems with “burn in,” but modern sets have largely solved that. Best for: Mounting a big screen on a wall. LCD Liquid-crystal displays tend to provide exceptionally crisp images, although their ability to reproduce the darkest blacks can be less than optimal. Because large LCD flat-panels are expensive and difficult to make, LCD panels top out around 65 in. Best for: Getting a slim set at a good price.

REAR-PROJECTION LCD These displays project light through a small LCD panel (or panels), which then projects the image onto the built-in screen. Some of the same limitations regarding black levels on LCD flat-panels affect rear-projection LCDs. Best for: Big-screen experience without “rainbow effect.” REAR-PROJECTION LCOS Sort of a hybrid of LCD and DLP, Liquid Crystal on Silicon TVs are very good at blending together pixels to avoid the “screen door” effect common to large-screen sets. Sony’s SXRD and JVC’s D-ILA are branded versions of LCoS. Best for: Seamless images that won’t look “pixely.”

REAR-PROJECTION DLP Digital Light Processing bounces images off an array of mirrors on a microchip through a spinning color wheel, which is then projected onto a screen. Some people complain of “rainbows” (strobing bands of color when these sets show bright colors on dark backgrounds). Best for: Good contrast and black reproduction.

CRT High-definition cathode ray tube TVs are generally thinner and have flatter screens than their analog counterparts. CRTs can provide stunning image quality, but need calibration to achieve the best results. Best for: Producing some of the finest images, though other technologies are catching up.

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Video Interface (DVI) or High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables to interconnect and transmit video. (The pros and cons of each were discussed in last month’s Tech Clinic.) Our advice is to purchase gear that supports HDMI or DVI. These connectors provide digital signals and will support the High-Definition Content Protocol standard. It’s important to note that highdefinition TVs won’t look their best out of the box. You can hire an expert with professional calibration equipment for $250 to $1000. Or consider a do-it-yourself calibration DVD, such as Digital Video Essentials ($25). And don’t be ashamed to mine the experience of others. Your HDTV choice can be pretty subjective, and a recommendation from a friend who has owned a display for six months is worth a lot more than that of the salesman on PM the showroom floor.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ABC/COURTESY NEAL PETERS COLLECTION

from many major electronics venWHAT ELSE SHOULD I BUY TO dors, including TiVo, are available GO WITH MY HD DISPLAY? for lease from your cable or satellite Once you do get yourself an HDTV, company, so it’s worth asking their where do you put it? Some thinner customer service departments. models can be mounted on your But what about movies? By the wall, but you’ll need to make sure middle of this year, expect to see you have the proper mounting kit. two next-generation, high-defi(These cost anywhere from $25 to nition formats angling to replace $750.) Few models come with a your DVDs: HD-DVD and Blu-ray. stand, so you may want to consider Yes, there are two standards, and a piece of furniture for your display no, we don’t know which one will with shelves for your A/V gear. win out in the end. The safe bet is Surprise! The cables don’t necesto give them both a little time to sarily come with the set, either. HD duke it out and wait for electronics gear uses component video, Digital manufacturers to eventually produce a hybrid player that can support both. Meanwhile, the gaming industry is jumping into high-definition with both feet. Games developed for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console will display in HD, and Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 3 system should play both HD Many prime time shows, such as ABC’s Lost, are now broadcast in the 16:9 HD format. games and Blu-ray movies.

S TA N L E Y, S TA N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S RO B O T C A R

O F F - R OA D AU TO N O M Y

DA R PA G r a n d W i n n e r b y

S T E V E

R U S S E L L

a

a

a c b Race Course

NO<MO ADIDNC

132 miles. 23 vehicles. 0 drivers. Stanley, a VW Touareg, wins the race of the century (so far).

B

Beer Bottle Pass is a 1.5-mile section of dirt road that snakes through the Lucy Gray Mountains of southwestern Nevada’s Mojave high desert. On one side of the narrow track is a rock face; on the other, a 100-ft. drop-off. The pass demands respect from off-road drivers navigating the twists, turns and hairpin switchbacks. But this past October a blue 2005 Volkswagen Touareg with a strange array of rooftop sensors showed no hesitation rolling into the first turn, and it wasn’t because the driver had nerves of steel. It was because the driver had “nerves” of silicon and the brain power of two laptops. A team of 65 students, professors, engineers, designers and programmers from Stanford University and its private-sector partners (Volkswagen, Intel and other companies) had spent a year transforming the Touareg, nicknamed Stanley, into a robot—a vehicle capable of driving itself without a human at the wheel or at a remote-control console. Stanley was one of 23 autonomous finalists entered in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge race, a 132-mile course laid out near Primm, Nev., 40 miles south of Las Vegas. The goal for the teams: $2 million, glory for their institution or company, maybe a defense contract. The goal for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: Spur development of unmanned vehicles to meet a congressional mandate to make

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The 131.6-mile DARPA race course snaked through Nevada’s Mojave Desert. Stanley’s gauntlet included cliffs, three tunnels (a) and Beer Bottle Pass (b), as well as competitors like Carnegie Mellon’s Hummer (c).

Computers On race day, two Pentium M processor boards controlled driving, another handled vision systems and one logged data. Two more served as backups.

Automatic Transmission Electronically controlled hydraulic arm manipulates the automatic shift lever. Manual override safety switches are below, on center console.

Steering Mechanism Electric motor spins a sprocket, driving a motorcycle-chain linkage around the steering column at speeds up to one full wheel revolution per second.

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y N AT H A N I E L W E L C H

1

2

How Stanley’s Sensors See the Road Here, Stanford’s self-driving vehicle prepares to pass a robotic Hummer, represented by red and green lines on a 3D terrain map plotted by a light detection and ranging system (1). The Mapper program interprets the map as a grid (2): White cells mean driveable road; red cells, an obstacle; and gray cells, unknown conditions. The Planner then plots safe route options, marked by green lines, around the obstacle. A video camera (3) samples Mapper-defined “good” road (below blue line) and searches for similar-looking terrain ahead.

3

GPS Navigation Three GPS receivers provide data on position, pitch and heading.

Inertial Guidance Three gyroscopes and three accelerometers mounted above the rear axle provide detailed orientation data in “6D.”

Light Detection and Ranging Five LIDAR units at various angles bounce laser beams off rotating mirrors to create a 3D map of terrain up to about 100 ft. away.

Color Video A video camera scouts driveable road up to 160 ft. ahead, identifies distant obstacles.

Stanley looks simpler than it is. Over 100,000 lines of code make robo-driving possible.

D I AGRAMS

BY

R A Z . R O

one-third of the military’s land vehicles autonomous by 2015. During the first Grand Challenge, in March 2004, which Stanford did not enter, none of the vehicles made it beyond Mile 8. This time around, Stanley was one of five robot vehicles to cross the finish line. Stanley did it without a scratch, in a winning time of 6 hours, 53 minutes, with an average speed of 19.1 mph. (Not all its competitors finished within the 10-hour time limit.) How did Stanford’s designers get a bunch of silicon chips to pass a road test in a production SUV? By making ingenious use of hardware, certainly—some invented for the race, some borrowed from industrial robots and some already found in the Touareg. But the artificial intelligence at the heart of the navigation system made the biggest difference. “It’s all in the algorithms,” Stanford team co-leader Sebastian Thrun says. And learning from previous competitors’ mistakes. The Eyes: For Stanley to complete the course, it had to see the road—and understand it. While studying the 2004 race, the Stanford crew noticed that GPS units alone couldn’t handle all the offroad hazards. Additional guidance was needed. So the team installed five roof-rack-mounted light detection and ranging (LIDAR) units to reflect lasers off the ground. With data from LIDAR, computers created a 3D map of the terrain in front of the Touareg, pointing out obstacles to Stanley’s guidance program. The team also installed an inertial guidance system with three gyroscopes and three accelerometers to help Stanley determine its orientation. The system soon proved its worth. Before dawn on race day, the Stanford team uploaded 2935 DARPA-provided GPS way points into Stanley’s computers, providing

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No way to win $2 million: MonsterMoto’s JackBot kissed a barrier during a trial run. Below: Carnegie Mellon’s H1ghlander finished third, in 7 hours, 14 minutes.

rough driving directions. But when the Touareg wheeled out of the starting gates, the GPS stopped receiving data. The VW swerved to the left. For a moment, it looked like a quick “game over” for Stanford. But the guidance system responded, and the VW turned gently to the right. “If we used GPS alone,” Thrun says, “we would have driven off a cliff.” The GPS soon came back online. The Wheels: Early in the design stage, Stanford joined forces with Palo Alto-based Volkswagen of America Electronics Research Lab, which provided a European-model diesel Touareg. “We didn’t want to build a car from scratch,” Thrun says. “And the Touareg is as good offroad as it is on the highway.” Since drive-by-wire comes standard on the SUV (the gas pedal is merely a sensor that controls the engine electronically), VW designed computer-controlled circuits that

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

mimicked throttle and brake sensor inputs. “Essentially, we just hacked into the system,” says Thrun’s coleader, Mike Montemerlo. Under the dash, VW bolted a DC motor that turned the steering column with a motorcycle chain. An electronically controlled hydraulic piston dropped the shifter into gear. Now Stanley had to learn to drive. The Brain: Stanley’s software, designed by the Stanford School of

Engineering, consists of 100,000 lines of code—“a medium-size software project,” Montemerlo says. DARPA Grand Challenge manager Ron Kurjanowicz called it “the secret sauce.” The programs used a common robot hierarchy: Low-level modules fed raw data from LIDAR, the camera, GPS sets and inertial sensors into software programs that controlled the vehicle’s speed, direction and decision making. Stanley’s optical cortex was the Mapper program, which interpreted the 3D LIDAR map and compressed it into a manageable 2D map divided into a grid of 30 x 30-centimeter cells. The cells were designated as free (driveable), occupied (obstacle) or unknown. At first, Stanley interpreted shadows and other harmless features as obstacles, causing false positives at a rate of 12 percent. “Every 20 miles something catastrophic would occur,” Montemerlo says. “Stanley would see an obstacle that wasn’t there and drive into the bushes.”

The team helped Stanley learn how to tell good roads from bad by creating a computer log of the reactions and decisions made by human drivers. The data was fed into a learning algorithm and incorporated into Stanley’s control programs. This cut false positives to 0.00002 percent, allowing the VW to drive hundreds of miles between errors. But Stanley was still slow. The LIDAR’s short 100-ft. range meant the Touareg couldn’t top 25 mph safely—not fast enough to win the race. A color video camera, however, could recognize features up to 160 ft. away. By comparing the road to samples of video the LIDAR map defined as driveable, Stanley saw far enough ahead to boost top speed to 40 mph. The Navigator: Early in testing, Stanley’s Planner program, which plotted routes for the robot, proved especially buggy. Planner wanted to keep Stanley a uniform distance from every obstacle, creating erratic steering. “We called that Planner the

Drunken Squirrel,” Montemerlo says. The solution: Round out sharp corners in Planner’s route, and redesign the program to generate optional, parallel paths in case of obstacles. At Mile 102, the program smoothly guided the VW around Carnegie Mellon University’s H1ghlander. Stanford’s Thrun was following the leader board in the race tent when he heard the announcement: Stanley had just moved into first place. A short time later, Thrun joined other roboticists crowding around a live video feed from Beer Bottle Pass. “The moment Stanley left the pass I knew the race was history,” Thrun says. A few minutes later, he saw two helicopters tracking a dust cloud. Out of it emerged a familiar shape: a blue Touareg driving itself confidently across the finish line— PM and into the robot pantheon. Additional reporting by Benjamin Chertoff. FOR ONLINE REPORTS AND VIDEO OF GRAND CHALLENGE VEHICLES, VISIT popularmechanics.com/darpa

Biggest ’bot: The 15-ton TerraMax, a modified Oshkosh truck, finished fifth.

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L O C A T I O N /// J E F F E R S O N C I T Y, M I S S O U R I E V E N T /// R E G I O N A L J E T C R A S H D A T E /// O C T O B E R 14 , 2 0 0 4

Engines dead, Flight 3701 glided to within sight of the Jefferson City, Mo., airport, then crashed behind a row of houses.

‘We don’t have any engines’

F 40

Two joyriding pilots took a jet to its 41,000-ft. ceiling—and paid for the stunt with their lives. PM investigates the crash of Flight 3701. BY JIM GORMAN

“Are you a RJ [regional jet] 200?” inquired an air traffic controller in Olathe, Kan. “I’ve never seen you guys up at forty-one there.” “Yeah ... we don’t have any passengers on board so we decided to have a little fun and come on up here,” Rhodes replied.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN BROOKS

For three and a half minutes on the night of Oct. 14, 2004, Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Peter Cesarz were on top of the world. The two Pinnacle Airlines pilots had pushed their twin-engine, 50-seat regional jet to its maximum altitude and were now proud members of the “410 club,” an unofficial society of Pinnacle airmen who’ve attained 41,000 ft. in a Bombardier CRJ200. Rhodes went to the galley to grab cold Pepsis to celebrate. He was barely settled back in the cockpit when the plane’s radio crackled.

The fun was short-lived. Moments later, both engines flamed out. The fate of Flight 3701 is the subject of an intensive investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is expected to issue a final report on the accident in the next few months. Until then, neither Pinnacle Airlines, which operates connecting flights for Northwest Airlines, nor Bombardier and General Electric—the airplane and engine manufacturers—can comment on the cause of the accident. However, the pilots’ taped cockpit conversations and preliminary hearings last June suggest a scenario involving poor judgment, insufficient training and the complications that can occur when a plane is pushed beyond its capabilities.

Anatomy of a Flameout

ILLUSTRATION BY FLYING-CHILLI.COM

Air usually flows smoothly over a wing. If a plane’s airspeed is too low, or the nose is angled too steeply upward, the air becomes turbulent. This “dirty air” reduces lift, ultimately leading to a wing stall. It also can interfere with airflow into the engines and extinguish combustion—a condition known as a flameout.

TO THE LIMIT Rhodes, 31, and Cesarz, 23, were on what pilots call a deadhead, transferring an empty plane overnight from Little Rock, Ark., to Minneapolis so it could be ready for a morning flight. The Canadian-built CRJ200 is Pinnacle’s workhorse, making short and midrange hops mostly in the Midwest. From wheels-up, it was clear that Rhodes and Cesarz intended to see what the CRJ200 could do. Four seconds after takeoff at 9:21 pm, the two pilots did a “pitch up” maneuver that pinned them in their seats with 1.8 g’s of force and momentarily triggered an alert from the airplane’s stall warning system. Minutes later, Rhodes and Cesarz again yanked back on the control column, rocketing the plane upward and generating over 2.3 g’s of force before they eased off the flight controls. After briefly leveling off at 37,000 ft., the crew set the autopilot to climb at 500 ft. per minute—more than twice the fastest recommended rate—to the airplane’s maximum altitude of 41,000 ft. As the plane rose, it succumbed to the physics of high-altitude flight: Thin atmosphere offers less lift and robs the engine of air. Stuck in an aggressive climbing mode, Flight 3701’s speed began to drop. To maintain the rate of climb, the autopilot angled the nose of the aircraft up, slowing it further. By the time the aircraft reached 41,000 ft. and leveled off, it was flying slowly, at 150 knots indicated airspeed, and was perilously close to losing aerodynamic lift—or stalling. “This thing ain’t gonna [expletive] hold altitude,” Cesarz said. “It can’t man,” Rhodes replied. “We [cruised/greased] up here but it won’t stay.” The combination of high alti-

Smooth Airflow at Level Flight

Turbulent Airflow From High Angle of Attack

TURBULENT AIRFLOW

SEPARATION POINT

“DIRTY AIR” IMPEDES LIFT AND CAN ALSO CAUSE ENGINE FLAMEOUT

SEPARATION POINT

HIGH-PRESSURE TURBINE HIGH-PRESSURE COMPRESSOR

Inside the Engine

COMBUSTOR FAN

EXHAUST LOWPRESSURE TURBINE

In Case of Flameout

1 Initiate a windmill restart using airspeed gained in a rapid dive to spin crucial engine parts. 2 Attempt an auxiliary power unit restart—usually below 15,000 ft.—relying on pneumatic pressure to restart the engine. 3 Prepare for a forced landing at the nearest airport.

tude and low speed once again triggered the Bombardier’s stall warning system. First, “stick shakers” rattled the control columns and disengaged the autopilot to alert the crew of an imminent stall. When the crew didn’t lower the plane’s nose to gain speed, “stick pushers” forced the control columns forward. The flight data recorder shows that Rhodes and Cesarz overrode the stick pushers three times and forced the plane’s nose back up. At 9:55 pm, as they pulled up for the last time, both engines flamed out. “We don’t have any engines,” one of the pilots said.

FAILED EFFORTS While the altimeter spun downward, the crew hurriedly reviewed their options for restarting the engines. At that altitude, there were six suitable airports within reach for a forced landing. Despite the serious nature of their predicament, the pilots did not notify air traffic control (ATC) of their situation or request emergency landing clearance. First, they tried a “windmill restart” by diving to increase airspeed. The maneuver is intended to force air into the engine housing, spinning the rotors and creating enough compression for ignition.

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w h a t

we n t

w r o ng

The procedure requires at least 300 knots of airspeed. But at 20,000 ft. and only 236 knots, the crew pulled up, and decided instead to try a second option: Drop to 13,000 ft. and attempt to relight the engines using the plane’s auxiliary power unit (APU), which generates pneumatic pressure to spin the engine’s core. Rhodes and Cesarz tried at least four times to jumpstart the engines using the APU. On each attempt the engine cores recorded no rotation. At 10:03 pm, the crew radioed ATC that they had a single engine failure. Five minutes later, at an altitude of 10,000 ft., and descending at 1500 ft. per minute, Rhodes and Cesarz were running out of options for restarting the engines. Finally, 12 minutes after the twin flameout, they revealed to ATC that they had a double engine failure. The plane’s landing choices were now limited to two airports. With the runway lights of Jefferson City airport in sight, but altitude slipping away, Rhodes and Cesarz realized they were in big trouble. “Dude, we’re not going to make this,” Rhodes said. “We’re gonna hit houses, dude.” They crashed 21⁄2 miles shy of the runway—behind a row of houses. On impact, the plane split apart, flipped over and caught fire. Rhodes and Cesarz were killed. Miraculously, no one on the ground was injured. THE INVESTIGATION An area of contention during the NTSB hearings about Flight 3701 has been whether a condition called “core lock” contributed to the fatal crash. Under normal conditions, the rotating parts inside a General Electric CF34-3B1 turbofan engine slip by each other in a finely tuned choreography. However, when an engine is shut down suddenly at high torque, high

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altitude, and it isn’t restarted immediately, metal parts inside the engine begin to cool and contract at different rates. In rare cases, metal can contact metal and prevent the core from rotating freely—core lock. The Air Line Pilots Association suggests that core lock, rather than pilot error, might have been the primary cause of the accident. But, a review of the flight data recorder makes clear that the pilots made a series of poor, and potentially fatal, decisions irrespective of whether the engines experienced core lock.

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THE OBJECT LESSON The data recorder shows that the pilots failed to follow proper procedures for restarting a flamed-out engine when they pulled out of their dive before reaching the necessary speed to spin the core. Whether the

When investigators pulled apart the right engine, they found that the ends of the high-pressure turbine blades had liquefied.

The Bombardier has a 41,000-ft. service ceiling. However, according to the climb profiles in the crew’s flight manual, the maximum altitude for the 500-ft.-per-minute climb the pilots set was only 38,700 ft., based on the atmospheric conditions and the aircraft’s weight that night. By operating outside the airplane’s performance envelope, Rhodes and Cesarz subjected the engines to tremendous stress. The flight data recorder shows that soon after the crew ignored the fourth stall warning, the core temperature of the right engine reached 2200 degrees— almost 600 degrees above redline. When investigators pulled apart the right engine, they found that the ends of the high-pressure turbine blades had liquefied, resolidifying on the low-pressure blades behind them. This leads some industry experts to question if the right engine ever could have restarted. Whether the left engine locked up

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is still being investigated. GE helped the NTSB disassemble Flight 3701’s engines. Edward Orear, GE’s former program manager for the CF34-3B1 engine, testified to the NTSB that neither engine showed evidence of core lock.

apparently undamaged left engine could have restarted if they had windmilled correctly may never be known. It’s also unresolved why the left engine didn’t restart when the pilots used the APU. Since the crash, Pinnacle has set a ceiling of 37,000 ft. for all CRJ200 flights. It has also added detailed climb profiles to the pilots’ quick reference guides. And the airline has modified its simulator training program, incorporating dual engine failure and stall recovery scenarios. Although Flight 3701 ended tragically, it illustrates how many safety features protect commercial passengers. The crew misused the autopilot, took the plane outside its envelope and repeatedly overrode the safety system. As one pilot told PM: “It’s an object lesson in how many things you have to get wrong PM in order to crash your plane.” Read the CVR transcript online at popularmechanics.com/flight3701.

NEWCARS FAMILY SEDANS SUVS MOTORCYCLES SPORTS CARS

T O Y O T A R AV 4

PRICE RANGE: About $20,000-$25,000

All the RAV The new RAV4 is 14 in. longer than the old one, which means lots more space for people. And now there’s an optional third-row seat.

If you want an SUV but don’t want to go bankrupt feeding it, you’ll think Toyota has the right idea with its completely new RAV4. With styling that mimics Toyota’s larger SUVs, the RAV4 offers a choice of two engines: a standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder that makes 166 hp and an optional 269-hp 3.5-liter V6. Coupled with four- and five-speed automatic transmissions, respectively, the engines deliver real-world fuel economy in the mid-20 mpg range. The limiting factor is the 15.9-gal. tank, which means frequent trips to the fuel pumps. During our drives in California’s Santa Barbara foothills, we found the main difference between the engines was performance, not economy. For many, the Four should be perfectly capable. But, besides being much stronger, the V6 is smoother, quieter and needs fewer gear changes than the Four. The price paid was about 1 or 2 mpg. As before, both front-drive and awd versions and three trim levels are available. — jim dunne

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PM

NEWCARS

Spy

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PM

HYUNDAI ACCENT

DETROIT

by jim dunne

The Accent offers fun and lots of safety features, along with frugality.

R E P O R T

Ready to Blast We’ve seen a number of versions of the Dodge Nitro concept vehicle. Well, here’s further evidence of the program’s progress. The new model, due as either a 2007 or ’08, slots beneath the Durango as Dodge’s small Dodge enters the SUV. This photo midsize SUV wars shows the new soon with the Nitro. Dodge being tested on public roads near Chrysler Group headquarters in Michigan. Look for technical details like a 4.0-liter V6 engine based on the company’s current 3.7-liter. Expect both two- and four-wheel drive, and two-row seating. For size, think a little bigger than a Jeep Liberty. In fact, the Nitro is based on a stretched version of Liberty’s platform.

Wrangling With Doors

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While fiscal responsibility when shopping for a new car has never been frowned on, these days it’s the rage. With the price of a gallon of go juice hovering around three bucks per, economy cars are mighty attractive to a lot of folks. So even though the all-new Hyundai Accent may never elicit lust, it’s a very desirable car. With a base price of under $12,000 and the ability to traverse 35 miles of highway on a gallon of gas, it should be. But in addition to its obvious economical appeal, the new Accent offers something most inexpensive cars don’t: quiet. Hyundai’s engineers have obviously spent serious time, effort and many dollars to ensure that their least expensive car is nearly as quiet as their most expensive. Much of that refinement comes from a chassis that is 39 percent stiffer than the previous model’s. The Accent is one Besides the low sound levels, car in this class the Accent offers something else that has a truly usually lacking in small econoquiet and commy cars: spunk. The little frontfortable passenger driver gets its motivation from a 110-hp 1.6-liter four-cylinder. cabin. In fact, we When mated to the standard wouldn’t mind five-speed manual transmission, taking it on a the car is pleasant to drive. Unforserious road trip. tunately, as we discovered on some of Southern California’s long grades, it’s far from a rocket when equipped with the optional four-speed automatic. Either way, its handling is reassuring, confidence inspiring and—dare we say it?—even a little fun. — ben stewart

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JIM DUNNE (DETROIT SPY)

Here is the 2007 Jeep Wrangler fourdoor as it was photographed during a road test near the Chrysler Group development center in the Detroit area. Jeep’s trademark shapes—boxy body, high road Four-door Jeep has clearance, upright room in the rear for windshield, jutluggage or cargo. ting bumper—are visible. Note the running board, which provides for front- and rear-seat entry. Earlier photos of a test mule showed front-end styling a little different from this layout, with the same headlight shape, wide fenders and parking light locations. However, on the four-door, the front door appears a little narrower to make room for the rear door.

Accent on Thrift

NEWCARS

Spy

EUROPE

by mike allen

R E P O R T

Finding Its Niche Audi showed the Nuvolari concept car at a number of international auto shows way back in 2003. Well, the various viewing publics responded so favorably to the car that its shape has been largely lifted to create the The 2007 A5 is basis of the stylaimed at midsize ing of the new A5. BMWs and Benzes. Slotted to enter Audi’s lineup between the smaller A4 and larger A6, the A5 will be available as both coupe and convertible. The car is intended to compete with BMW’s 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class— both of which offer sedan and wagon models. The A5 will be powered by a 3.2-liter V6 good for 255 hp. It should be available here as a 2007 model.

Rich Man, Poor Man

R

Run your fingers across the meaty fins of this Aston Martin’s aluminum grille or the chunky knobs for the climate control system and you sense the craftsmanship behind the car. This is cool stuff that instantly says exclusivity and quality. But wait, the V8 Vantage is Aston Martin’s entry-level car. Of course, in the typical Aston owner’s ZIP code, entry level means $110,000. Clearly, there’s them and there’s us. But in the rarefied atmosphere of Aston Martin, this is the cheap one. It’s essentially a two-thirds scale DB9: The two share many of the same chassis and suspension components. Under the hood is a 380-hp 4.3-liter V8, derived from Jaguar’s AJ-V8, mated to a six-speed manual. If you’re good through the gears, you can scoot the 3400-pound coupe to 60 mph in less than 5 seconds. The alloybodied Vantage will hit 175 mph. Oh, since even the bargain Aston is built to order, you can’t get one for over a year. — b.s. <<

PM

Looks like an Aston; drives like an Aston. Must be an Aston, despite the price.

Using What It Has

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

V O L K S WA G E N PA S S AT

Degrees of Separation

I

It may not seem like much, but 4.4 degrees make for a huge improvement in the new VW Passat. The new, narrower V6 engine—with a 10.6-degree vee rather than 15 degrees as before—is now mounted transversely, unlike the engine in the previous model. The result: more room inside for you and yours. The 280-hp engine blows the competition into the weeds. There’s also a peppy four-cylinder. With more of everything, the car is 3 in. longer and wider and enjoys 2.4 in. more rear legroom. On our test drive through New England, we found the ride, steering and inviting cabin on the money. Except, that is, for the gauges that face the headliner instead of the driver’s eyes. Available only as a sedan; a wagon comes later. Awd is optional. The silly department stocks a 600-watt Dynaudio system with either XM or Sirius. Base price for a fourcylinder Value Edition is $23,565. — ken juran

PHOTOGRAPHS BY HIDDEN IMAGE (AUDI, VOLVO)

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Aimed at the Camry and Accord duo, VW’s Passat is bigger and stronger.

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Ford owns Volvo. Ford also owns a controlling interest in Mazda. So what does one have to do with the other? A lot. Volvo needs a new small car. And Mazda excels in engineering small cars. Beginning to get Volvo’s C30 is a the picture? The front-drive, small new Volvo C30 hatchback. will be built on the Ford global C1 small-car platform, designed in no small part by Mazda. This is hardly new, since Volvo’s current small vehicles, the S40 and V50, are already built on that platform. But the C30 will be a good 8 in. shorter than those vehicles. In fact, it’s about the same size as a VW Golf—or a Mazda3— and that closes the circle.

A S T O N M A R T I N V 8 VA N T A G E

NEWCARS

Spy

ASIA

by ben stewart

Maybe it’s not a Lexus, but it sure comes close, without the price.

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PM

HYUNDAI AZERA

R E P O R T

The New Look of Honda Honda unveiled this Sports 4 concept at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show in October to show the styling direction of future Hondas. The large wheel flares and aggressive nose Honda adds some of this car show wheel flares and that Honda is muscle to its design. ready to add some sport to its sedans. You can expect the new Acura TSX to look like this car.

Another Hybrid Subaru showed this stylish B5-TPH concept coupe at Tokyo. On the outside, the two-door hatchback hints at what the nextgeneration 2007 Impreza WRX will look like. Look for Subaru to This hybrid coupe use this car’s hybrid packs a turbosetup in two years. charged, Millercycle, 2.0-liter flat four-cylinder engine and an electric motor under its hood.

Fine, Finer, Fine-X Of the many concept vehicles Toyota showed at Tokyo, the Fine-X was the most interesting. It uses the company’s latest compact hybrid fuel cell system. The power is Fine-X has serious channeled to tech beneath the each wheel using wacky stuff. electric in-wheel motors for four-wheel independent drive, four-wheel independent steering and, according to Toyota, zero-radius turns.

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Bargain Luxe

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It wasn’t long ago that using the words “luxury” and “Hyundai” in the same sentence might have gotten you locked in a padded cell while wearing a truly uncomfortable, rear-buckling jacket. Well, the times have certainly changed. The truth is that both the quality and the driving dynamics of the newest vehicles from Hyundai are on a par with the best in the business, regardless of their country of origin. Yet their prices remain within the reach of most working folk. The company’s latest effort, the Azera, may be its best vehicle yet. It stands as the company’s flagship—a large, front-drive sedan meant to compete with the likes of the Toyota Avalon. The Azera rides on a stretched and widened Sonata chassis. And in terms of interior volume, the Azera is actually larger than the spacious Toyota. For motivation the Hyundai uses a robust The icing on the 3.8-liter V6 that generates 263 hp cake is that the and 255 lb.-ft. of torque mated to Hyundai Azera a smooth five-speed automatic. comes standard Okay, while the Azera isn’t really a luxury car, after a few hundred with a ton of active miles behind its wheel two words and passive safety kept coming to mind: “Budget features—includLexus.” Yes, we know, we said ing a total of eight Lexus. The Azera is quiet, comfortairbags. able and powerful. And the Azera’s interior has way more panache than it should at its modest price point—around $27,000 for a Limited model. That’s thousands less than the competition. And unlike a lot of its competitors, Azera comes with traction and stability control systems. — b.s.

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D U C AT I S P O R T C L A S S I C

Old Zoom

S

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Sometimes we appreciate the virtues of an earlier era of motorcycles. Enter the Ducati SportClassics. We had a chance to ride them through the rolling countryside of Tuscany—where we were greeted by cheering towns- The single-seat Sport 1000 is styled like a cafe racer of the ’70s. folk as we blasted through their villages. Bellisimo! Based on a late-model version of Ducati’s twovalve-per-cylinder desmodromic (no valve springs) 90-degree L-twin motor, it’s 992cc and produces 92 hp—with a fat torque curve. This is mounted in Ducati’s effective, if low-tech, lightweight steel trellis frame. Braking is handled by two massive 320mm semifloating discs with Brembo calipers and a single 245mm rear disc. This combination is easily capable of lifting the rear wheel clear off the pavement, with a very aggressive pad compound and a light touch on the front brake lever. This is a bike intended for serious riders, who like carving up canyon roads. Two models are offered: the $10,995 Sport 1000 and the limited-edition Paul Smart 1000 for $13,995. — mike allen

S TA R R O A D L I N E R

High-Tech, Low Seat

PHOTOGRAPH BY RILES/NELSON (STAR ROADLINER)

R

Riders of big V-twin cruisers don’t demand high-tech machines. In fact, they prefer that old-school feel. It’s what makes cruiser bikes so much fun in the first place. Well, Yamaha always seems to find Despite the retro styling and lots of chrome, the Roadliner is a modern ride. ways of sneaking high-tech into its line of Star motorcycles. And the brand-new flagship Roadliner is the most advanced yet. First, there’s an all-aluminum frame and an alloy swing arm, which along with the aluminum wheels reduce weight. Then there is an 1854cc fuel-injected, air-cooled engine mated to a fivespeed transmission. With four valves per cylinder and a 9.5:1 compression, this thing has a meaty torque curve. In fact, this cruiser feels like a disguised muscle bike. The combination of reduced weight and satisfying low-end torque makes the Roadliner exceptionally nimble and tossable—for a 700-pound-plus cruiser. And the big, four-piston dual front brakes haul it down from speed with authority. Expect to pay around $15,000 for a top-level polished and chromed Roadliner. — b.s.

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PM

JAY LENO’S GARAGE

For the Record

Just out for a drive—in a Porsche Carrera GT on the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway. BY JAY LENO

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I’m really an ordinary guy who gets to do extraordinary things—like get in somebody else’s car and try to go 200 mph. You see, the Porsche people had been to my garage and I took them for a ride in my Stanley Steamer. The next thing you know, they’re asking me to take a Carrera GT to Talladega and set some records. I guess they thought if an average pinhead like Jay Leno could drive one of these cars at 200 mph, it would show how safe and reliable the car is. In case there isn’t a Carrera GT on your block, it has a 5.7-liter V10 that puts out 605 hp. It also has air conditioning, a stereo, a navigation system and a cockpit full of leather. The fact that it can go nearly 200 mph on a racetrack is amazing. Talladega is pretty amazing,

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The high-banked track towers over the Porsche. And despite the writing on the wall, Talladega is really a tri-oval, with what amounts to three turns.

too. Formerly known as Alabama International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway is 2.66 miles around with, essentially, three major turns. And it’s banked steeply. You may not realize how steep that 33-degree banking is, but when I tried to walk across the track to the outside wall, I couldn’t stand upright. I had to get down on my hands and knees. At anything less than 100 mph, your car sorta falls off the track. I don’t think I’m a particularly skilled or talented driver. But I don’t tend to overreact and, if I watch someone else do something, I figure

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

I should be able to do it, too. Right? If I don’t panic, that is. Luckily, I had a terrific teacher in David Donohue. His father, Mark Donohue, was one of America’s best drivers 30 years ago. He won the Indy 500 in ’72, and raced in Formula One as well as in the TransAm and CanAm series. He also set a 221.160mph closed-course speed record at Talladega in a Porsche 917/30 on Aug. 9, 1975. That was just 10 days before he was killed while practicing for the Austrian Formula One race. It just seemed right for his son to return to Talladega in a Porsche and set some records. David was patient with me. Maybe more patient than I would be if someone came up to me and said, “Jay, this is Larry Johnson; he’s a machine operator from Des Moines. We want you to teach him to do stand-up comedy on The Tonight Show.” We spent a lot of time in the car, first with David driving, telling me what to expect. It’s fascinating, the things that go through his mind. For example, he told me to be careful because parts of the track were in the shade so they’d still be damp in the morning. He pointed to the painted stripes and said, “There’s still some dew on the lines, and you might slide on that.” He’s noticing dew on white lines and I’m thinking, “Don’t hit a deer out there!”

Leno and his coach, David Donohue, set some records.

PM

JAY LENO’S GARAGE

These details are things that have never even come into play for me. I have never been this intimate with an automobile in my life. It’s like reading a how-to manual for something you’ve done all your life and finding out there’s a lot more to it than you ever knew. For years I’ve heard racers say, “Don’t get off the throttle too quickly going into a corner or the back end will come around.” I was on the straightest part of the track, and I had just passed the time traps. As I went through, I lifted my foot maybe a quarter of an inch, to slow down. And just as I lifted, the back of the car whipped around. Uh-oh. You think: So that’s what those race car drivers were talking about. I spun five times, but I managed to call up what I’d learned in a few driving courses. I could hear all my instructors’ voices saying, “You will always hit what you’re looking at.” I saw the wall coming up and I quickly turned my head, and cut the

Donohue takes over from Jay as Porsche’s I can’t imagine the car. I mean, he’s video crew closes in doing this lap after looking at dew on around them for the lap after lap, with the white lines. mandatory closeups 30 guys around me. Besides going and sound bites. Like most people, I after records, I was hadn’t gone close to glad to validate what 200 mph—anywhere. Now, I can tell I’d said about the clutch in the Caryou, driving that fast is different from rera GT (“Jay Leno’s Garage,” Jan. any other kind of driving. It’s like hav2005, page 52). If you do three or ing sex in the middle of a tornado; it’s four big burnouts in, say, a Lamexciting, but there are a lot of scary borghini Countach, or even a Ford things happening at the same time. Cobra, you’re gonna smell something. Or the clutch is gonna tighten up on you. At best, you’ll have to wait and let it cool down a bit, and at worst, the clutch will just go up in smoke. With this Porsche’s ceramic clutch, we did around 50 burnouts, David would say to me, “Rememtrying to find the best way to miniber, every time you blink, you’ve mize wheelspin off the line. It never gone the length of a football field.” slipped and kept working fine. You quickly realize that the drivUltimately, David was able to ers who do this are real athletes. I circle the track flat out all the way. watched David circle the track. He’s That’s quite an achievement. He set looking for ways to lower his lap a Grand American closed-course, times by hundredths of a second. I’m flying-start speed record of 196.301 just trying to stay alive and not wreck mph, and he did 198.971 in the measured mile. I set three Grand American standing start records myself. HELP FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS The fastest, from a complete stop, was 156.603 mph. My fastest lap Porsche has auctioned the Leno/ was 182 mph—with the a/c on! Donohue record-setting car. ProSome people like to win Emmys, ceeds will benefit the children some people like to win Oscars. I of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. like it when someone says, “Here’s a To find out more, visit popular mechanics.com/katrina. Porsche Carrera GT, go do as many burnouts as you feel you need to.” PM

DONOHUE IS NOTICING DEW ON WHITE LINES AND I’M THINKING, “DON’T HIT A DEER OUT THERE.” wheel to go where my head was turning. Then I stepped on the brakes. As the car spun, I turned my head the other way, cut the wheel, and the car immediately went in the direction I was looking. I avoided hitting the wall. All I could think was, “Wow. That stuff really works.” What’s really important is concentration. And I’m not a guy who concentrates well. Back in school teachers would tell my parents, “Jay has the ability. He just doesn’t apply himself.” On the track, I’d come to a corner and say to myself “concentrate.” So I would pay attention. But at the next corner, I’d have to remind myself, “Here comes another one, pay attention!”

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P C O V E R

S T O R Y

M

Welcome to tomorrow’s computer-controlled, GPS-guided, ultra-energy-efficient transportation revolution...

t he Train

S TA R I N T R A I N I N G The fuel-thrifty Evolution locomotive, being built in Erie, Pa., signals a new era in railroading technology.

b y

j o s h

d e a n

photographs by kevin cooley

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MAGINE A MACHINE OF THE FUTURE that moves goods by the ton—

by tens of thousands of tons—along specialized transportation corridors. Guided by computers, tracked by GPS and driven by powerful new engines, this revolutionary, high-tech vehicle slashes America’s energy consumption and leaves the air cleaner than any mechanized transport before it. At a time when highways are clogged and fuel reserves are strained, it represents a miracle technology that arrives not a moment too soon. It’s been under development for more than 200 years, yet it is the transportation of the future. Meet the freight train, reborn. Railroading helped define development in the United States, but by the 1970s it seemed doomed to gradual decay and obsolescence. Today, it is a growth industry. “Railroads have led in innovation to a degree that people don’t realize,” says Gary Wolf, owner of Rail Sciences, a leading accident investigation firm. Railroads have helped pioneer computerized freight management, and have pushed the envelope on power, efficiency and mechanical

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ingenuity to move their cargo ever faster and more cheaply. Roughly 42 percent of all U.S. freight moves by train, some 5 billion ton-miles per day on 140,000 miles of track. Volume records have been set each of the past three years— partly because it takes about a third as much fuel to move a ton of freight by rail as by truck. The innovations being introduced in the next few years will overshadow those of the past, with some of the biggest changes coming in energy efficiency. That’s an arena where railroads already trounce the competition—and where the nation is in serious need of problem-solving.

fuel,” says the hybrid’s project manager, Gagan Sood. The planned locomotive won’t be the first hybrid model. In 2002, Canada’s RailPower Industries introduced the Green Goat, a low-horsepower machine, for use in switching cars at railyards. That’s hurry-up-and-wait work that involves hours spent idling and, for most locomotives, belching clouds of nitrogen-oxide-laden exhaust that dirties the air and promotes acid rain. The Green Goat draws 85 percent of its energy from a 1200-ampere-hour battery made up of 336 2-volt cells; the locomotive produces just 10 to 20 percent of the NOx emissions of its pure diesel counterparts. It’s already in wide use in the United States.

RID I N G T H E G R EEN LIN E UEL EFFICIENCY COMES TOGETHER noisily under the roof of the 3.8-million-sq.-ft. General Electric factory in Erie, Pa., which is crawling with hundreds of electricians, welders, pipe fitters and helmeted supervisors toting clipboards. Pneumatic tools hiss and clatter as a crane arm lifts a massive locomotive assembly up and turns it over—manipulating 400,000 pounds of steel as if it were hollow tin. Once a crew has installed sensitive electronics on the undercarriage, the crane will deposit the 75-ft.-long, 16-ft.-high hulk of steel back onto the factory floor and the Evolution locomotive will have largely taken shape. The Evolution is a smarter, faster locomotive, designed to meet EPA emissions requirements that came into effect in 2005. It features a new control system, a new 12-cylinder diesel engine (producing as much power as its predecessor’s 16-cylinder powerplant) and a first-of-its-kind air-to-air cooling system that helps the engine burn more cleanly. It will consume at least 200,000 fewer gallons of fuel in its lifetime than previous goliaths of the rails. While the Evolution is being built, engineers at GE are already working furiously on a prototype for a still more efficient locomotive, a high-horsepower hybrid that captures energy given off by its brakes, just like a hybrid car. In one sense, virtually all American freight locomotives are hybrids: Their diesel engines turn alternators that feed current to electric motors. Additionally, locomotives supplement their airbrakes with dynamic braking, which helps slow a train by converting the motion of its wheels into electric current. Normally, this electricity goes to waste. However, the hybrid locomotive will store and reuse the energy—once engineers figure out how to harness a flow of electricity that dwarfs anything normal batteries can handle. The battery array has to store about 1500 kilowatthours, enough to run 50 American households for a day. Once it works, though, the process should pony up about 2000 hp. Engineers expect the technology to cut fuel usage and emissions 15 percent below the Evolution’s level. “If you replace all locos in North America with our hybrid, you will save half a billion dollars per year just in

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LO N G ER, STRO N G ER TR AINS VERY DAY, FIVE OR SIX cargo ships too massive to navigate the Panama Canal dock in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. Each ship is packed with goods from Asia—tea bags and teddy bears and socks and shovels jammed into as many as 6000 containers, which are unloaded by $7 million cranes that can barely keep up with the workload. Most of these intermodal containers, which by definition can be loaded onto trucks or trains, depart the ports by rail to rumble on to destinations

E

F R E I G H T L I N E R A GPS-linked unit high in the cab helps direct a 95-mph train near Kalamazoo, Mich. (below). Cargo comes by ship and leaves by rail in Long Beach, Calif. (right).

Hybrid on Rails 6 1 3

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2

5

4

GE’s hybrid concept is modeled on the Evolution locomotive, but—like a hybrid car—it stores energy generated when the brakes are applied.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY COLBY LYNSE (LEFT), COURTESY OF PORT OF LONG BEACH (ABOVE); DIAGRAM BY FLYING-CHILLI.COM

The engine, a 12-cylinder, 4400-hp diesel (1), turns an alternator (2) to produce raw AC power, which is rectified into DC current and fed into a power bus (3). The bus distributes the power, which is inverted back to AC to drive the six axle-mounted

motors (4). During braking, some of the energy of the wheels is converted into electric current (5). In the hybrid, some energy is dissipated as heat using a resistor grid on the roof (6), as in conventional locomotives. But most of the electricity is stored

across the country. This freight is transforming t he Amer ican railroad industry. The volume is increasing— the all-time weekly freight record was broken repeatedly in 2005—and disruptions can be disastrous. A 10-day lockout at West Coast ports in 2002 left more than 200 ships waiting to unload in port and out at sea. The railroads’ biggest job used to be point-to-point transport, such as taking coal or grain from the spot where it was produced to a power plant or port. It was only about two years ago that intermodal transportation became a bigger moneymaker. The growing traffic means that railroads need to move more goods in America’s most heavily populated corridors. Unfortunately, adding new tracks costs around $1 million per mile—where it’s feasible at all. “The freight industry is like the electrical industry,” says Rob Hoffman, a transportation analyst for World Business Chicago. “Nobody notices it until it inconveniences them. But when it shuts down, you see how quickly your supermarket empties.” The simplest way to add capacity is to

in a massive array of batteries

(7), then used to help power the motors. The batteries would weigh approximately 40,000 pounds with today’s technology, pushing the 210-ton locomotive past practical weight limits. GE is planning to compensate by refining the batteries and building the hybrid from lightweight composite materials.

pack more cargo on each train—and the railroads have been doing that aggressively. The good news: It works. Today’s double-stacked, 7000-ft. trains carry loads that far outstrip the cargoes of the past. The bad news: It’s still not enough. Adding the needed capacity from now on won’t require more brawn, but brain.

D I G ITAL T R A FFI C C O N T R O L HE COUNTRY’S RAILS BUZZ with coal trains, high-speed intermodal trains, “manifest” freight trains that make frequent stops, and more—as many as 2000 trains at a time on each of the biggest companies’ systems. Dispatchers monitor the traffic using two-way radios, gallons of coffee, and a cobbledtogether mix of remote sensors, specialized software and stubby pencils. They must continually adjust train speeds and routing in light of endless variables, including track conditions, train maintenance needs, weather, cargo priorities and delays at crossings. The job is made tougher by the fact that up to 40 percent of the freight track in the United States remains unsignaled, or “dark.” Dispatchers must space the trains far enough apart, and keep them moving slowly enough, to leave ample room for error. “One way to add capacity is to optimize the traffic,” says Prat Kumar of GE Rail Solutions, an incubator for new technologies. That means more trains moving faster over the same length of track. The company is one of

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T R AIN SP OT TIN G — BY SAT EL LITE

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OR ANY DISPATCH SYSTEM to work, someone

at headquarters needs to know where the trains are. Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) tags have been mandatory on all freight cars since 1995. When a car passes one of the thousands of sensors positioned along much of America’s mainline track, its location is transmitted to a tracking computer. (Additional monitors trackside scan wheels for defects and “listen” for signs

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S W I T C H B OA R D S Norfolk Southern uses GE’s movement planner in Georgia. Each train’s progress is graphed individually (left) and shown on a detailed track map (right).

of other mechanical troubles given off by passing trains.) Positive train control, in contrast, requires constant, precise monitoring of each train’s location, and so it relies heavily on an enhanced version of the Global Positioning System. “It’s one thing to put GPS on golf carts,” says Gary Wolf of Rail Sciences. “Nobody’s going to be killed if your golf cart is off by a few yards. If you don’t know exactly where your train is—on which track and in which direction it’s going—you’re looking at a potential catastrophe.”

Future Train diagram by flying-chilli.com

Faster Data Flow Up-to-the-minute information is critical if railroads are to move more freight without compromising safety. In a positive train control (PTC) system, locomotives are monitored using differential GPS, which relies on data from groundbased stations as well as satellites. The data is fed to a central control center, where dispatchers monitor factors such as track conditions, weather and delivery deadlines. Instructions and information are transmitted to each train wirelessly.

Cleaner Engines Electro-Motive’s 200-tonplus, 4300-hp SD70ACe locomotive, illustrated here, meets new EPA emissions regulations. Between them, Electro-Motive and GE build most of the locomotives used in North America.

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ZACH WOLFE

several developing a computerized “movement planning” system that can automatically fine-tune schedules—taking much of the problem-solving burden off the shoulders of dispatchers. GE’s system, which is now being tested in Georgia by Norfolk Southern, continually projects 8 hours into the future, revising its plan every 5 minutes. The experiment is being watched closely. Such systems have been tried before but, according to executives at other railroads, no system to date has successfully handled the ever-changing variables reliably and safely. Positive train control (PTC), a related technology, can streamline the flow of information among crews and dispatchers. On most lines, engineers still use voice communications to get permission from a dispatcher to proceed— and they rely on their own eyes to tell if a shopping cart or stalled car spells disaster ahead. PTC provides instant updates on traffic, alerts on rail breaks and warnings about upcoming signal changes. It can even stop a locomotive from afar if a crew is incapacitated—or just missing. (It happens: In 2001, CSX employee Jon Hosfeld jumped aboard a runaway freight train to shut it down, but not before the train, carrying toxic chemicals, had barreled unmanned across northwestern Ohio for 2 hours after an engineer inadvertently engaged the throttle while getting off.) Siemens is now installing a combination PTC, movement planner, operations center and automated security system throughout the New York City subway system. General Electric’s own version of PTC has been in use on 71 miles of Amtrak line in the Midwest since 2002. However, while PTC is cheaper than the older system of signals when new track is being laid, retrofitting existing lines is expensive. A nationwide rollout would cost $2 billion to $10 billion, according to the Association of American Railroads. Movement planning systems would be expensive, too, yet manufacturers such as General Electric say that such improvements can pay for themselves quickly. “We project that [our movement planning software] will be able to improve average velocity 2 to 4 mph,” raising productivity sharply, Kumar says. “For a large railroad, 1 mile per hour equals up to $250 million each year.”

The railroad industry is banking on differential GPS, which employs ground stations as well as the familiar network of satellites. Under ideal conditions, the technology can provide data that is accurate to within inches. By mid-2005, Alaska Railroad had equipped its fleet of 62 locomotives with GPS, allowing it to keep an eye on all its trains and bringing light to the state’s vast dark territory, where geography and distance make signaling and electrification nearly impossible. Many specialized railcars throughout the country already are outfitted with GPS so that shippers can follow the position of delicate loads such as hazardous chemicals and perishables riding in refrigerated cars. Additionally, a company called Lat-Lon offers solar-powered, GPS-enabled RailRider units that can monitor the temperature of a load, shocks and accelerations, internal pressure, bearing temperatures and more. If it detects an “event,” the Rail-

GPS satellite

Rider sends both the location and the relevant data to a designated dispatch center. Lat-Lon currently monitors 2400 refrigerated cars, plus a number of hazmat tank cars that are outfitted with sensors to detect the release of agents such as chlorine gas.

STO PPIN G FASTER

I

T WAS SHORTLY BEFORE 2 PM on June 10, 2005,

when the engineer of an Amtrak train bound for Seattle abruptly sat up in his seat near Kelso, Wash. A truck carrying welding fuel—owned, ironically, by the Burlington North Santa Fe Railway—was parked by the tracks, and the engineer knew immediately that there wasn’t room to pass. He slammed on the brakes, but a train traveling 57 mph, as his was, has no chance of averting a collision with anything the engineer can see. (Continued on page 107)

Bigger Loads

Safer Cars

Smarter Brakes

An increasing volume of cargo arrives in the nation’s ports in intermodal containers, which are typically 20, 40 or 45 ft. long. Most leave on doublestacked cars. Articulated cars (not shown), which pivot in the middle, are longer than conventional cars and can carry more freight. A single car’s load has increased from 100 tons to as much as 112 tons.

Hazardous materials such as chlorine travel in tank cars with shelf couplers, which limit vertical movement. This prevents a coupler from accidentally disengaging and puncturing the tank car. GPS-enabled sensors can alert dispatchers to leaks and other dangers. (The tank car below is placed behind the locomotive for illustration; in reality it would be five or more cars back.)

Unlike the conventional technology, electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes allow an engineer to apply stopping power to all of a train’s cars at once. An electronic signal is sent to each car, where air pressure is fed through the cylinder line to apply the brakes. The system is charged with air from the train’s main brake line.

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IT’S TIME. Gary Calvert, a 65-year-old member of the Muckleshoot tribe, lowers himself into the coffin-size cockpit of a 14-ft.-long cigar-shaped race car that he built back home in tiny Enumclaw, Wash. He scoots his legs forward until he’s lying nearly flat on his back, then watches as his chief mechanic, Gary Tripp, lowers and secures the hatch over him. Sealed inside his machine, Calvert stares into a periscope prism, looking upward in order to see straight ahead. And all he can see is an expanse of empty whiteness split by two black lines that mark the 5-mile-long, 90-ft.-wide timing course of the renowned Bonneville Salt Flats. Orange flags, a pair per measured mile, recede into the heat-hazed distance. After a year of planning and building, tuning and tinkering, the time has come for Calvert to push his car to the limit. He disengages the clutch, fires up the engine and revs his modified Nissan V6, which booms

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A FLL ATT DREAMS B Y

J E F F

W I S E

DU R I N G S P E E D W E E K , G R A S S -RO OT S R AC E R S H I T U TA H ’S B O N N EV I L L E SA LT F L AT S, W H E R E L A N D S P E E D R E C O R D S —A N D M O R E T H A N A F EW H E A RT S —A R E M A D E TO B E B RO K E N.

0-109 MPH (Vintage Blown Fuel Lakester) In this belly-tank lakester powered by a 1928 Model A engine, Shug Hanchard, owner of So What Speed Shop in Yucaipa, Calif., averaged 109.105 mph—a class record. POPULAR MECHANICS • JANUARY 2006

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out a rolling roar. On a signal from the mph (set in 1999 by the legendary chief starter, Tripp puts the ’85 Chevy Don Vesco driving his 3750-hp Turbipush van in gear and shoves Calvert nator). “Land speed racing is everyacross the starting line and onto the man’s sport,” says 74-year-old racer track. The race car’s speedometer Earl Wooden. “We have everything twitches to life: 15 mph, 30, 40. At from thousand-dollar race cars to 50 mph, Calvert drops the clutch and million-dollar machines. What almost floors the accelerator. With the 28-in. everyone does is, they start out by Gary Calvert preps his hand-built bellydrag-racing tires churning the bumpy getting the rule book and figuring tank lakester for a Bonneville run. salt, the race car leaps away from the out what would be the most fun for van: 75 mph, 100, 150. The periscope them to do.” vibrates so wildly that all Calvert FTER HIS 189-MPH RUN, Calcan see is a blur of white and blue. At the 2-mile mark he vert rolls back to the pit area, a passes the first timing station. For the first time in his sprawling tent city that stretches more than a mile on the racing career, Calvert feels the car start to skid sideways, western edge of the race course. Along its three parallel and he tastes real fear. People die on the salt, he knows, but avenues range row after row of every sort of vehicle imaghe keeps it under control through the last timing station, inable, from souped-up Model A’s to stripped-down dragand then finally eases off the gas. racers, from gleaming candy-apple roadsters to futuristic He peels off the track and waits for Tripp to push him torpedo-like motorcycles. to the timing booth adjacent to the pit area. To break the At Calvert’s tent the mood is laid-back. The orange record in his class, he needs to top 206.858 mph on two machine sits on jacks, the engine cowling removed, while runs. His speed: 189 mph. “It was down on power and I Calvert’s racing team partner, Kirk Anderson, pokes around can’t figure out why,” Calvert says. “I didn’t feel the oomph inside the 181-cu.-in. V6 from a Nissan 300ZX. Calvert, in the back of my seat.” Once again, man has gone mano a a retired general contractor, has been passionate about mano against the Bonneville Salt Flats. And, as many times hot rods all his life. “I was born interested in cars,” he before, man has come up short. says. “I remember crawling under my dad’s Model A as a OR HALF A CENTURY, Bonneville has been synonymous with land speed records. It was on this concrete-hard surface in Utah’s desolate West Desert that drivers first passed 300, 400, 500 and 600 mph. Less well-known than the top record setters are the race car hobbyists who come in late August to put down-home engineering through its paces during Speed Week. This bastion of true amateurs is a close-knit community, one in which the people who’ve been working all year to beat you will turn around and lend you a wrench or a welding kit. The first Speed Week was held in August 1949, when hot rodders from the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), already experienced at racing on the dry lakebeds of California and Nevada, decided to try their luck on the salt pan near Wendover, Utah. Over the succeeding The Tracer Racdecades the event has continued to grow; this past year, it ing team helped drew 383 entrants and some 20,000 spectators. Chuck Billington Grouping vehicles according to body type, engine and set a new record— fuel, the SCTA has established a bewildering number of 223 mph—in this unblown fuel record categories—528 for cars, 2580 for motorcycles. lakester. Right: Arcane, sure, but the huge number of categories means Ferguson Racing opportunities for enthusiasts of every inclination and pockethit 281 mph in book, and every level of technical ability. Speed Week this 23-ft.-long, records for wheel-driven vehicles range from 46 mph (a 600-hp fuel streamliner. vintage-engine 250cc motorcycle with sidecar) to 427

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kid and trying to figure out how the brakes worked.” It wasn’t until he was in his late 40s that Calvert found himself with the time and money to pursue his dream of driving the salt at Bonneville. With no racing experience, he spent 10 months building the car from scratch, drawing inspiration for his design from magazine articles about sports cars from the ’60s and ’70s. For the rear suspension, he found a pair of carriers from a Datsun 240Z, and machined everything else himself on a neighbor’s mill and lathe. The hardest part of the project was welding together the frame from 15⁄8-in. steel tubing. “It was trial and error,” he says. “I had to keep putting it together, taking it apart, adjusting it and putting it back together.” Though SCTA rules allow liberal use of modern technology, Calvert’s creation is strictly pre-silicon chip. He didn’t even own a computer until the Muckleshoot tribe used its gambling earnings to buy each member a PC. “I don’t know about computers, and I don’t want to know,” he says. “When we got the engine, it had a computerized fuel-

injection system. We took out all that stuff, built our own fuel-injection system and put on a Buick V6 distributor.” In Bonneville shorthand, Calvert’s machine is a “Class F unblown fuel lakester,” and the corresponding code (F/FL) is emblazoned on the side of the car. A Class F engine is 123 to 183 cu. in. (between 2.01 and 3.0 liters) and not turbocharged. It doesn’t run on high-octane race gasoline, but on “fuel,” meaning any of a variety of exotic fuels such as alcohol or nitromethane. The belly-tank lakester is a peculiar form of racing machine all but unique to Bonneville. The body style dates back to the ’40s, when hot rodders figured out that the aerodynamic shape of surplus drop tanks from military planes would make slippery racing bodies. (Calvert spent $175 on a tank from a salvage yard in Ogden, Utah.) For some enthusiasts, the tanker is the epitome of the Bonneville aesthetic. “I always wanted to have one, ever since I was 15 years old and reading Hot Rod magazine,” Calvert says. “I don’t know why. I just saw it and I had to have it.”

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LONG, LOW and sleekly angu-

lar yellow race car rolls up to the starting line. Piloted by a 65-year-old machinefactory owner from Modesto, Calif., named Chuck Billington, the 22-ft.-long car is also a lakester. Gunning for the same speed record as Calvert, Billington has already shattered the old mark with a run of 222 mph. Now he

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must back up that run with a comparable performance. For the first 2 miles, the course is so bumpy that he has to feather the throttle, but then the salt smooths out and he squeezes on the power, careful not to add so much that the wheels spin. The tach needle climbs higher as the mile markers whip past: 8800 rpm, 9000, 9400. Even before Billington pulls off the track and is handed his timing slip,

he knows he’s done it. His best mile speed: 224 mph. The record—223 mph (the average of both runs)—is his. “I didn’t think it was difficult,” he says later, “but the conditions didn’t allow the car to perform to its best. We should have gone 240.” Billington’s encampment in the pit area, which he shares with his racing teammate Don Monaco, is impressive,

B U I LT

F O R B O N N E V I L L E

S P E E D W E E K— 3 8 0 - P L U S C A R S I N 5 2 8 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N S , ALL GUNNING FOR NOTHING BUT GLORY

C / G L (unblown gas lakester) Traveling in style in an ’82 Cadillac funeral limo, Dennis Varni, from Monte Sereno, Calif., tows his racer across the Bonneville Salt Flats. The lakester’s top speed in ’05: 245 mph (the record, 272). “It’s a rush,” Varni says. “Five miles of just hummin’. ”

F/ F L (fuel lakester)

G / F C C (fuel competition coupe)

F/ G M R (gas modified roadster)

TOP SPEED: 140 mph (record: 223) DRIVER: Brian Westerdahl “My first pass ever down the salt and we broke the driveline.”

TOP SPEED: 149 mph (record: 152.6) DRIVER: Daniel Helfter “We’re hellbent on that record. We’re not giving up until we break it.”

TOP SPEED: 194 mph (record: 157) DRIVER: Jim Rotta “Best ride I ever had in an open car— until I spun out and didn’t finish.”

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BEHIND

THE

with a tent pitched between a small A D S A LT c a n b e WHEEL bus and a semitrailer that houses a worse than uncomContrary to what you see in Star Wars, there are no streaking specks machine shop. Despite Billington’s fortable for drivers. Five hours after of light when you hit hyperspeed— T-shirt and jeans, it’s obvious from his Calvert’s run, at the end of a 220-mph at least not at Bonneville. On my intensity that he’s a take-no-prisoners sprint in an unblown gas competition 203-mph run in an Ecotec Lakester CEO. Under his orders, his pit crew of coupe, Bonneville veteran John Becksponsored by GM, SoCal and POPU14 swarms over the car, readying it ett pops his chute and then, near the LAR MECHANICS, sensory input was so for more runs in other classes. 5-mile mark, rolls violently. Some filtered by an aircraft canopy, rollGiven the rough condition of the observers suspect that he caught a cage tubes and a helmet with a 2-in. track this year, the car’s suspension wheel edge in a soft patch. Onlookvision slot, I could barely see the is critical. The front end is a Formula ers and racers wait tensely in the 5-mile track. I felt more like a Friday Atlantic independent suspension with 94-degree heat as rescue personnel night football hero than Han Solo. 2 in. of travel, while the rear suspenwhisk him away. Later that afternoon My job was so simple that the team’s GM engineers dubbed me sion is a solid axle configured like a the news starts to circulate: Beckett The Spacer. I accelerated off the NASCAR Southwest Series touring died before the ambulance reached push truck at 40 mph, backpedaled car, with a straight axle and coil-over Salt Lake City. to control first-gear wheelspin, shocks. The powerplant, a reworked The next morning, Billington goes clicked the shifter three times 3-liter, 24-valve V6 SHO Taurus, on the offensive again, ordering his when the tach read 7200 rpm, and redlines at 10,000 rpm, generating crew to add fairings to the rear wheels caressed my butterfly steering 500 hp. Because there are few afterso that he can compete in the F/FS wheel with a touch usually reserved market parts for the engine, the piscategory: unblown fuel streamliner. for newborns. Holding the throttle tons, camshafts and valve springs are But as he passes the 2 1⁄2-mile mark wide-open to achieve and maintain at 177 mph, his right rear tire blows. all custom-made. For maximum pertop speed by the 4-mile mark is all He’s able to pull the car off the course, formance, the engine was rebored to it takes to make the record book— an average speed of 189.205 mph but his hopes of setting a record pace 3 9⁄16 in., with a shortened stroke of in the G/BGL class, a blown (super3 in., and fitted with Crower crankare dashed. Discouraged, he has the charged) 2.0-liter engine running shaft and rods, JE pistons and a Jericrew take off the fairings, and makes on gasoline. — D O N S H E R M A N cho four-speed, stock-car transmission another run as a lakester. But this with an overdrive. time low fuel-line pressure causes the Billington designed the car himcar, as Billington puts it, to “run out self. It has a futuristic body, low and of puckey” at 180 mph. angular, with a rectangular cross secCalvert’s team is having problems, tion. Billington’s aerodynamicist caltoo. Partner Kirk Anderson takes the culated that its coefficient of drag is tanker onto the salt and can manage 0.18—10 percent less than a belly no better than 179. “We’re going to tanker’s. “I’m not hampered by tradiswitch over from methanol to race gas tion,” Billington says. The vehicle was to see if it runs better,” Calvert says. built in nine months, at a relatively Tuesday morning brings rain, a paltry cost of $30,000—though, Bilnot-uncommon occurrence: In the PM-sponsored Ecotec Lakester. lington says, “You gotta understand, past 57 years, five Speed Weeks have I own a manufacturing facility.” been rained out entirely. Though the Billington’s and Calvert’s vehicles skies clear by noon, the surface of the may look radically different, but they’re both in the same bumpy salt is scattered with puddles. For many, the course category. In racing, though, as elsewhere in life, the field is too sketchy to run. Racers begin loading their trailers. By is tilted in favor of the folks with money. In 16 years of noon, the mile-long pit area is nearly empty. “Every year we competition, Calvert and Anderson have held only one come, we think we’re going to break a record,” Calvert says. record, which they set back in 1992 in the XF/FL (unblown “We’ll come back. Maybe the course will be better.” flathead fuel lakester) category at 189 mph. A few years Next spring the salt will dry again, as it has every year later, a California construction-industry tycoon entered the since the Ice Age. Nature’s greatest gift to speed will once class and shattered their mark by 16 mph. “He came in with again lie cleansed and flat. Calvert will be back. Billington a quarter-million-dollar car, with a whole team of people will be back. The brotherhood of speed will be ready once he’d hired,” Calvert says. “I like to do everything myself, more to go all out, pitting themselves against the challenge PM with my friends helping me.” of distance and time on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GREG TARCZYNSKI/POLARIS

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Su n BY JENNIFER WEEKS PHOTOGRAPHS BY PRESTON-SCHLEBUSCH

YOU DON’T NEED TO BUILD a house from scratch to take advantage of smart new solar technology, but that’s exactly what 18 college and university teams did for the Solar Decathlon, a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The students spent three years designing houses powered exclusively by solar energy, and this past October transported them to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the doors were thrown open to the public. Weather during the two-week Decathlon ranged from cloudy to stormy, which put rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems to the test. Despite the inclement conditions, more than 120,000 spectators waited in line to see inside the roughly 800-sq.-ft. houses. With average winter fuel costs projected to be 33 percent higher this year than last, many people were there to glean ideas for tightening up their own homes’ building envelopes with triple-glazed windows, structural insulated panels and other energy-efficient features. But perhaps the most surprising lesson was that comfort and style don’t have to be sacrificed in the pursuit of alternative energy. Here are four of PM’s favorite entries.

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WHEN 18 TEAMS OF STUDENTS BUILT A SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD in the nation’s capital, they created a showcase of the best new technology for conserving energy and harnessing the power of the sun.

Cleverly designed roofs, such as the one on Virginia Tech’s house, maximize photovoltaic panels’ exposure to the sun. “Drawing that fancy curve was a lot easier than building it,” says student Bryan Atwood.

VIRGINIA TECH

Keeping It Light

TRANSLUCENT THERMOCLICK PANELS: gelexan.com NANOGEL: cabot-corp.com SOLAR PANELS: sunpowercorp.com ELECTRO/2 MOTORIZED SHADES: mechoshade.com LYPTUS FLOOR: weyerhaeuser.com DISHWASHER: askousa.com

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The house built by Virginia Tech needs no electric lights from sunrise to sunset. Translucent walls that transmit daylight can be tuned with motorized shades to control indoor air temperature; a stretched-fabric ceiling reflects and redistributes light pouring in from windows just above the walls. At night, low-energy LEDs illuminate the house like a colorful lantern.

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Power Center The north wall of the

house (top left), made of insulated steel panels, slides on a track to provide access to the electrical system. When fully charged, 20 sealed leadacid batteries (inset) can power the home for five days. Colorful Touch The south, east and west walls (below) are double layers of translucent polycarbonate panels filled with Nanogel, an aerogel that diffuses light and sound, and provides insulation values up to R22. High Standards The roof—which appears to float above the house—holds 36 200-watt SunPower PV panels, and is angled to capture sunlight and to direct rainwater to cisterns beneath the deck. Inner Beauty The team chose laminate flooring made of sustainably harvested Lyptus (bottom left), lowflow faucets, and appliances rated Energy Star for superior efficiency.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

Natural Genius Students dubbed Colorado’s house the BioS(h)IP, playing on a key component—structural panels made of wastepaper and soy. The recycled theme continues throughout the building, which produces more energy than it consumes—clinching for the school its second straight Decathlon championship. SONOBOARD: sonoco.com INSULATING FOAM: biobased.net SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORS: thermomax.com RADIANT FLOOR: warmboard.com HEAT MIRROR GLAZED WINDOWS: alpeninc.com E4 ELECTRIC CAR: gemcar.com

Framework The home’s walls (above) are a twist

on standard structural insulated panels (SIPs), sandwiching soy-based insulation between lightweight fiberboard made of recycled paper. These BioSIPs have an insulating value of about R7 per inch—twice that of loose-fill cellulose. Heat Magnet The roof of the house has 34 200-watt SunPower PV panels. On the southwest wall are 80 vacuum tubes (top right), or solar thermal collectors, which heat water for domestic use and for a radiant floor system. Surplus Power Excess energy generated during the Decathlon powered an electric vehicle (bottom right) for 319 miles.

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CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Built to Scale Cornell’s team used a simple rectangular design to create a tight thermal envelope. And because the wall panels are load bearing, several units can be combined. “They are basically building blocks,” says student Josh Bonaventura-Sparagna. The team is now developing a business plan to build 2000-sq.-ft. homes.

SOLAR MODULE: gepower.com BAMBOO CABINETS: teragren.com ULTRATOUCH INSULATION: bondedlogic.com CUSTOM SILICA GEL WHEEL: www.rotor source.com ULTRAEFFICIENCY HEAT PUMP: american standardair.com FOLDING GLASS DOOR: nanawall.com INDUCTION COOKTOP: divainduction.com ADVANTIUM OVEN: geappliances.com

Powering Up The angle of the 56

110-watt PV panels on the rooftop array (above) can be adjusted to maximize sun exposure in a range of climates. Fresh Air A custom energy recovery ventilator draws outside air through a wheel of silica gel, transferring heat and humidity from the intake to the exhaust. This greatly reduces the amount of energy required to heat and cool the interior (left). Cotton Buffer The team chose floor insulation made primarily of recycled blue jeans (right)—easier and safer than fiberglass to install, and just as effective.

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UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ROLLA ROLLA TECHNICAL INSTITUTE 

Prairie Home The Missouri team’s goal was to build a solar house that produced ample power, but could blend easily into a typical suburban neighborhood. To do so, the team drew on two influences: the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and a mathematical ratio that appears repeatedly in nature.

SOLAR PANELS (PVL-SERIES): www.uni-solar.com CUSTOM COPPER ROOF PANELS: atas.com SEALED INVERTER (FX SERIES): outbackpower.com 6-IN.-THICK SIPS: thermocore.com KENMORE ELITE REFRIGERATOR: sears.com

By the Numbers Many features—from the window placement to the curve of the kitchen island (left)—are designed around the aesthetically pleasing “golden ratio” of 1:1.62, which has influenced architects for millennia. First STEP In the Solar Thermal/Electric Panel system, thin-film amorphous PV panels are integrated with copper piping (above) to produce hot water and electricity in the same roof area. Aesthetics As an added bonus, the STEP system is subtle (top left). “Another team asked when we were going to put up our solar panels,” says student Allison Arnn. “And PM we said, ‘They’re up there.’ ”

FOR MORE ON THE SOLAR DECATHLON, INCLUDING A VIDEO TOUR OF THE WINNING HOUSE, VISIT popularmechanics.com/solar

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15 TECH CONCEPTS YOU’LL NEED TO KNOW IN

PRESOL AR INTERSTELL AR GRAINS

2006 Scientific and technological breakthroughs can take years to develop, but when they leave the lab and enter the world at large, word spreads quickly. Here’s a look at the advances you’ll be hearing about in the coming year.

BY ALEX HUTCHINSON I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y LOCOGRAFIX

Driver-Monitoring System Instead of just

watching for hazards on the road, Toyota’s latest precrash safety system is turning its attention to the most likely cause of an accident: you. This spring, Lexus models in Japan will be available with a camera mounted on the steering column that uses facialrecognition software to determine whether you’re watching the road. If not, and the frontmounted radar sees you’re getting too close to something, it will flash a light, then beep and tap the brakes if you persist in rubbernecking.

Body Area Network (BAN) Like everything else, implantable medical devices are going wireless. A new in-body antenna chip from Zarlink Semiconductor is in preproduction, and should appear in pacemakers and hearing implants this year. By transmitting data to C AT E G O R Y K E Y auto

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c om mu n ic at io n s

e ne rg y

Call it comet dust for short. Scientists will see the stuff up close for the first time when NASA’s Stardust probe lands in the Great Salt Lake Desert on Jan. 15. Launched in 1999, Stardust flew through a cloud of dust surrounding the comet Wild 2 in January 2004 and collected a tiny sample of particles, many of which are “presolar,” preserved in the frigid vacuum of space since before the birth of the solar system.

c o mp ut i ng

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s c ie nce

C R I M E - L A B - O N -A- C H I P For a decade, chips able to process droplet-size samples have been delivering instant laboratory analysis to researchers in the field. Now, improved microfabrication techniques are taking labs-on-achip to a new level. “With computer-controlled valves, switches and pumps on these chips, you basically have a fluidic microprocessor,” says Berkeley professor Rich Mathies, whose DNA fingerprinting chip should be available to law enforcement in 2006.

and receiving instructions from nearby base stations, BAN chips can reprogram your heartbeat at your doctor’s office or make a diagnosis from a bedside wireless monitor at home.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) already lets us make phone calls over the Internet. Now, IPTV is doing something similar for video. The advantage? Convergence. If your TV is tapped into the Internet, you can program your DVR to record over the Web from your

office. Future applications may add interactivity to standard TV broadcasts. For example: multiple viewing angles for sports events. Telco SBC is betting an estimated $4 billion on its Project Lightspeed, which will roll out IPTV across the country this year.

Metadata It used to be that a fi le was just a fi le, identified by a name and a three-letter extension. But computer storage has exponentially increased the number of fi les a PC can access. Programs such as word processors currently collect

metadata—literally “data about data”—detailing who wrote each fi le; music programs such as iTunes automatically tag song fi les with album details from online databases. Apple’s Tiger operating system automates the process of metadata collection and uses it to help you quickly search through huge amounts of data to fi nd fi les on your computer. Likewise, Microsoft says metadata searches will be integrated into its Vista OS, which ships later this year.

NAND Flash Memory Compared to the mini hard drives used in portable electronics, flash memory is smaller, has fewer moving parts and uses less power. But until recently, flash hasn’t had the storage capacity to fi nd its way into multigigabyte devices. NAND fl ash memory, however, can store huge amounts of data on tiny chips. (The NAND refers to the logic gate used in the circuits.) Last fall, Apple brought NAND chips into the hands of the public with the 2GB and 4GB iPod nano music players.

FOR MORE T EC H CONCEPTS GO TO

popularmechanics.com/techconcepts

Capacities will only increase. Samsung has announced that its 16GB NAND chip will be on the market before the end of 2006.

Nanoparticle Batteries Even if your batteries lasted 10 times longer, they would still die at the wrong time. Toshiba is developing batteries that use nanoparticles to improve lithium-ion absorption during recharging—going from zero to 80 percent charge in 1 minute. This year, the batteries will appear in cars and factories, but they should eventually fi nd their way to laptops and cellular phones.

SPIT (SPam over Internet Telephony)

F I B E R -T O -T H E - H O M E To combat high-bandwidth wireless and cable technologies, telecommunications companies will be replacing copper phone lines with fiberoptic cable, all the way to your front door. The rollout has already begun: Verizon’s FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) offers telephone, TV and ultra-high-speed Internet at up to 30Mbps to 3 million homes in 15 states. This bigger FiOS pipeline will jumpstart bandwidth-hungry services such as HDTV on demand.

The spread of VoIP has been relatively peaceful—so far. But as its popularity has grown, hackers have developed an interest. One company, Internet Security Systems (ISS), found a security fl aw in Cisco’s VoIP technology last summer. In addition to hacking worries, VoIP can be used like e-mail to send a single voice message to thousands of recipients simultaneously, creating a telemarketer from hell. ISS’s software already has some SPIT protection, but more will be needed when the problem explodes this year.

Micro Fuel Cells

B L I N D -S P O T D E T E C T I O N To prevent drivers from smashing into what they can’t see, two as-yet-unnamed automakers will include Valeo Raytheon’s blind-spot detection in 2007 models. The system’s 2.4-GHz radar sensors will be mounted in the rear bumper and won’t be affected by the elements. When a vehicle is in a driver’s blind spot, an LED in the sideview mirror will light up. If the driver turns the steering wheel anyway, a beep will warn him of the hidden danger.

We’ve been promised a fuel cell revolution for years, but now fuel cells small enough for portable electronics are making their way to market. Coming this year, UltraCell’s paperback-size “reformed methanol” unit has twice the energy density of lithium-ion batteries and can power a laptop computer. Fuel cells for cellphones will have

to wait for another year, but Toshiba recently demonstrated “direct methanol” prototypes, the size of a pack of gum, powering MP3 players.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) A recent CDC study shows that less than a third of U.S. hospitals use electronic medical records, a situation that had dangerous repercussions in the chaos following Hurricane Katrina. It won’t be easy—or cheap—to establish a secure, nationwide network that puts test results and prescriptions online, and allows national disease trends to be tracked. President Bush has proposed a $125 million budget for 2006 to develop EMR programs.

Coal Gasification This technology turns coal into its gaseous elements, allowing pollutants like sulfur to be stripped from the gas before it’s burned—turning “dirty coal” into a cleaner fuel. The basic technique has been around for a century, but pollution concerns and rising energy costs are spurring new development. Power plants in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana have started the engineering design process, which should be complete by this fall.

Perpendicular Storage Current hard drives use longitudinal storage, with magnetic bits laid out end to end. If the bits are packed perpendicularly, you save space—like dominoes standing on end rather than lying flat. Hitachi estimates that by the end of the decade, perpendicular drives could store 10 times more data than today’s PM drives.

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DON’T TRY T HIS AT HOME

Meet the MythBus ters, master craftsmen and stars of a hit TV sh ow who bend a few workshop rules in their quest to challenge BY conventional wisdo m. A N J A M I E H Y N E M A N D A D A M S AV A G E PH OT OG RA PH S

BY AR T ST RE IB ER

On MythBusters, our Discovery Channel show, we conduct scientific experiments to determine the truth of tall tales and urban legends. Here’s one example: The story goes that an Air Force sergeant in Arizona attached a jet-assisted take off bottle—a military-grade auxiliary rocket used to generate extra thrust—to his ’67 Impala, and got up to 300-plus mph before crashing. There’s no record of any such crash, but we couldn’t resist testing the premise. Military rockets were offlimits to us, so we used three homemade rockets with 1500 pounds of successive thrust on a remote-control ’66 Impala. Our best speed: 130 mph. Here’s another one: Did a medieval Chinese astronomer launch himself into space using a rocket-powered chair? We tested that myth by building a bamboo rocket chair powered by 80 pounds of black powder—the propellant used in medieval China—and then strapped in Buster, our crashT E A M S K E P T I C : Adam Savage (left) and Jamie Hyneman on the San Francisco set of their debunking MythBusters TV show. POPULAR MECHANICS

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test dummy. The chair blew up. When we attached rockets to a second bamboo chair, it rose a couple of feet, then dumped Buster on his head. We don’t stage anything on MythBusters; it’s all real. But every trade has its tricks. We’ve developed many of ours during years spent designing special effects for movies and commercials. That work has given us some real insights into tools and materials. But let’s be clear: Just because we are doing these things doesn’t mean you should. We’re crazy. One of our mottoes: “MythBusters—using tools and materials in ways for which they were not intended.”

DRILL POWER Hyneman: One of my favorite builds was for a GE Plastics commercial. The concept was that the new Lexan—a highstrength polycarbonate glazing material—is so good that G E RO BOTS

CRASH-TEST TOLERANCE Savage: Built to withstand hundreds of car wrecks, crashtest dummies cost thousands of dollars. So we caught a break when we scored a loaner to help us bust the more dangerous myths. Unfortunately, after 40-odd myths, we had to retire Buster and build our own Buster 2.0. The problem: The average car accident imparts 30 g’s of force to the body; in some of our tests, we deliver over 500 g’s! On the other hand, the original Buster was built to

C R A S H -T E S T B U S T E R 2 . 0

it is replacing painted steel panels and making painting robots obsolete. So we showed the robots at the factory— hanging out, drinking coffee (motor oil, actually) and napping on the job. Then they hear a chilling announcement: All painting robots report to the crash-test dummy site. We were given three weeks to build three robots as articulated as humans—except for walking—with 13 interchangeable exteriors. I started by designing motorized joints that used one of my favorite powerplants: a cordless drill motor. Somebody has put a lot of engineering into these tough, lightweight, powerful, efficient tools. When it comes to scratch-building a robot, all of these qualities are important. By using the Super Joint, a differential I developed for this project (patent pending), I was able to generate a theoretical 13,000 in.-lb. of torque out of the joints. A potentiometer (a variable resistor used, in this case, to control the motor) was attached to the drill motor by a timing belt; a second potentiometer rested on the control end attached to a strap-on, skeletonlike Waldo rig, with a

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servo driver from Advanced Motion Controls connecting the two in a closed loop. Put in enough loops and you have a robot. The rest of the parts were made from aluminum tubing and thermoformed plastic. The robots were so fast and fluid we could play baseball with them.

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Model builder, machinist, diver, prop maker, toy prototype creator and MythBusters cohost Jamie Hyneman holds two patents.

exacting standards, so crash-test specialists could examine trauma to body parts in different types of crashes. We don’t generally need such perfection. After one of our tests, we just want to know one of two things: alive or dead? (Okay, sometimes we try to see which bones are broken.) It all came down to tolerance. How precisely made did Buster need to be? The answer: not very, which saved us a ton of time. We machined new joints from solid blocks of aluminum, with bolts for pivots. The tolerance, or slop, was plus or minus 1⁄4 in. So when parts got cranked or bent, it was easy to replace them. The flesh was cast using thermoformed plastic molds, sculpted and made in a day. Jamie chose a high-temperature-resistant silicone called Dragon Skin. Under a blowtorch, it showed almost no burn marks.

Buster 2.0’s first big test was in the Mojave Desert, where we accidentally dropped him from almost 2000 ft. When we finally found him he was in about 30 pieces. Totally destroyed. Even so, we had him ready for another test in 55 minutes. Hyneman: I want to weigh in on the concept of tolerance in design. There are times when precision is needed, like in a highly tuned racing engine. But there are also cases where the best engineering is loose. The world is sloppy, and if you need something to interact closely in a variety of situations, precision can be your enemy. A rig that’s subjected to corrosion, dirt, fire and impact needs built-in slop so it won’t seize up at the first dose of whupass. The pipe wrench that still works after rusting in your basement for 20 years is a testament to loose tolerances.

full-face shield. Sharp bits of aluminum are going everywhere and I usually end up with a lot of nicks. The most extreme thing I ever cut was a pair of 4-ft.long swords out of 1⁄2-in. plate aluminum. They were used in a 3DO video game commercial, so they did not have to hold an edge. The blades were about 6 in. wide, with 3-in. bevels. I ran the 6 x 48 x 1⁄2-in. stock through the saw next to the fence with the blade at a slight angle. Freehand. I finished in an hour or so; it would easily have taken a sane person a couple of days to do it on a milling machine. The trick was to clamp a 6 x 60 x 4-in. piece of extruded aluminum tube on top of the blank, and raise the saw up into it. The fact that the stock and the blank were longer than the sword allowed me to cut the bevels while leaving the blank thoroughly clamped. The extruded tube gave me something solid and large to hold onto as I moved the 3DO SWORD

Before cohosting MythBusters, Adam Savage made models and props for more than 100 commercials and 12 films, including Star Wars Episodes I and II and the Matrix sequels.

DIET PEPSI ROVER

whole affair along the fence. Like I said, we’re crazy. But I still have all my fingers—knock on aluminum.

CUSTOM CHEAT ATTACKING ALUMINUM Hyneman: Work on the show or special effects is never leisurely. One of my speed tricks is cutting aluminum, brass or bronze with woodworking tools. I regularly cut aluminum tubing, plates or extruded shapes on a table saw with a carbide blade. I spray on WD-40 so the metal doesn’t stick to the blade. Of course, cutting metal with woodworking tools is against every manufacturer’s recommendations and pretty dangerous: Don’t try it! (It’s my gear so I can use it incorrectly at my own risk; I wouldn’t even think of letting one of my employees use these techniques.) I brace the workpiece securely because the blade can throw it. As usual, eye protection is a must, but I also use gloves and a

Hyneman: The purposefully inexact Mars rover replica for a Diet Pepsi commercial is another lesson in loose engineering. There are eight wheels, rather than six as per the real rig. The body is rectangular, not triangular; the head shape is different. Still, people recognize it as a rover. We had to build two rovers from scratch in six days, so the only custom parts are the thermoformed treads and the articulated wheel struts. We also installed independent suspension with eight-wheel drive, a moving head and radio control. As for the rest, we improvised. The wheels are sauté pans and the “solar panels” are layers of colored plastic shower curtains with Magic Marker crosshatching. The eyeballs on the head are binoculars from Target. With only pictures of the real rover to go by, we cheated the whole thing, but you wouldn’t know it—and that’s the trick. PM

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HOMEJOURNAL ARTS & CRAFTS DRESSER FIXING DOORS THAT STICK PLUGGING ENERGY LEAKS APPLIANCE REPAIR

Smooth Operators PM tests power sanders. BY THOMAS KLENCK There’s only one reason to buy a power sander: It’s a whole lot faster than doing the job by hand. How fast? We wondered, too. So we assembled the three basic types—orbital, random-orbit and belt—for a race to the finish. Although sanders are designed to make wood smooth, they actually do it by making wood uniformly rough: scratching the surface with abrasive grit in a series of finer and finer steps. Each of the three sander types abrade in a different way, though, and this affects speed and surface quality.

BELT SANDERS Belt sanders are to hand sanding what circular saws are to hand sawing—they take a linear, reciprocating motion and make it circular and continuous. This makes a belt sander fast, but that speed comes at the price of control. If you’re not careful, this tool will quickly make a flat surface curved or gouge it beyond repair. And, don’t even think of using it on plywood or other veneered surfaces. In practiced hands, though, it has its place in both carpentry and fine work.

P H OTO G RA P H BY M A R K W E I SS

Most pros use a random-orbit sander for flat surfaces.

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The sanding area is under a rectangular pad called a platen. If you’re new to this tool, practice on scrap wood to get a feel for where the tool removes stock. Pay particular attention to moving the sanding area over the entire workpiece. Allow the weight of the tool to do the work, and check your progress regularly with a straightedge. Belt sanders are designated by belt width and length in inches. The Porter-Cable 352VS is a midsize example with variable speed—a great feature for taming aggressiveness. Given the same grit, the slower the speed, the slower the cut.

WHEN THE DUST SETTLED To test the sanding speed of the random-orbit, orbital and belt sanders, we installed 120-grit paper on each type and sanded through the 0.020-in.-thick surface veneer on a 4-in.-sq. piece of birch lumber-core plywood. Here are the results: BELT SANDER: RANDOM-ORBIT SANDER: ⁄4-SHEET ORBITAL SANDER:

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27 sec. 1 min., 2 sec. 1 min., 27 sec. 7 min.

HAND SANDING:

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

ORBITAL SANDERS

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Orbital sanders use ordinary sandpaper. A punch makes the holes for dust collection.

With a hook-and-loop pad you can reattach partially used sanding discs.

The Bosch detail sander’s triangular pad can be replaced by various extension pads.

Palm-grip sanders have dust collection bags that can be removed for vac attachment.

PICKING THE RIGHT ABRASIVE Abrasives are rated by grain size—the higher the number, the smoother the sanding job. For surfaces to be varnished, 180 grit is usually fine enough—especially if you’re finishing the job with hand sanding. For oil finishes, work up to 220-grit abrasive. Unlike orbital sanders that take ordinary sandpaper, you’ll have to buy special discs for RO units. Discs are of two mounting types: pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) and hook-and-loop. The hook-and-loop type is preferred because the disc can be removed and reinstalled. And, if your sander has dust collection, be sure to buy discs with a hole configuration that matches the pad.

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS KLENCK

Standard orbital sanders have a square sanding pad that’s connected to the motor by an eccentric shaft. When the motor spins, the pad moves in tiny circles, about 1⁄16 in. in diameter, and the sandpaper grains create circular scratches. When using an orbital sander, keep sanding marks to a minimum by applying gentle pressure and by thoroughly sanding the entire surface so it’s uniformly abraded. And remember, staining will accentuate sanding marks. If you plan to stain, it’s best to hand sand, with the grain, after smoothing with an orbital sander. Like most orbital sanders, the Craftsman 27984 we tested accepts a 1⁄4-sheet of sandpaper and holds it in place with lever clamps. We also tested the Bosch 1294VSK detail sander—an orbital sander with a small triangular pad that extends beyond the tool housing so you can smooth into tight corners. The pad can be rotated 120 degrees to make the most of each abrasive sheet, and deep extension pads enable you to reach into crevices. It’s the ideal tool for working between the slats of a shutter or cleaning up inside corners in a frame-and-panel door.

PORTER-CABLE 352VS TYPE: 3 x 21-in. belt AMPS: 8 SPEED: 850 to 1300 sfpm (surface feet per minute) PRICE: $170 OUR TAKE: Best for rapid stock removal. We like the variable speed.

CRAFTSMAN 27984 TYPE: 1⁄4-sheet orbital pad AMPS: 2.4 SPEED: 14,000 opm (orbits per minute) PRICE: $35 OUR TAKE: Although slow, this sander does a great job at a low price.

BOSCH 1294VSK TYPE: orbital detail AMPS: 2.6 SPEED: 13,000 to 19,000 opm PRICE: $112 OUR TAKE: A specialized tool for small areas and corners. Great extension pads for deep crevices.

MAKITA BO6030 TYPE: 6-in. random-orbit AMPS: 2.7 SPEED: 4000 to 10,000 rpm PRICE: $169 OUR TAKE: The fastest in the bunch for broad surfaces. We like two-hand control with a large pad.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR

RIDGID R2600 TYPE: 5-in. random-orbit AMPS: 3 SPEED: 7000 to 12,000 rpm PRICE: $70 OUR TAKE: Easy to handle. Super-smooth results, but it can’t reach inside corners.

RANDOM-ORBIT SANDERS Take an orbital sander, install a round pad and allow the disc to spin freely as well as orbit, and you’ve got a random-orbit (RO) sander. Because the disc is freewheeling, its speed varies with the pressure applied to it, while the orbital action is tied to the motor speed. This combination of two motions produces a more irregular, or random, sanding action that’s more aggressive than orbital alone, yet capable of producing a fine finish. Unlike an orbital sander that’s switched on first, then put in contact with the wood, it’s best to start up an RO sander while it’s on the wood. This will help prevent gouging from the spinning disc. Even though random-orbit sanders produce a less obvious scratch pattern than orbital models, it’s still safest to finish with hand sanding if you’re going to stain. We tested two models of this type: the palm-grip Ridgid R2600 and the Makita BO6030 twohandle version. Both are variablespeed tools, so you can dial back aggressiveness. The Makita, with its larger disc, has the edge on sanding speed over broad surfaces.

COMPARING THE TYPES If you’ve never made friends with a hand plane, a belt sander can handle similar jobs—like smoothing a table top or evening up misalignments in glued-up panels. And, with the tool held upside down in a vise, you can smooth small workpieces and even sharpen chisels in a pinch. But, if you just want to smooth wood before applying a finish, even out minor imperfections, remove milling marks or sand off thin finishes, one of the orbital types will do fine. In terms of speed, the RO wins, but the orbital sander is better at getting into corners, uses ordinary sandpaper and is cheaper. PM

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MAKING THE CASE

Arts & Crafts Dresser

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The Arts & Crafts movement in America is best known for the rectangular, somewhat understated style of furniture produced around the turn of the last century. These pieces were typically built of quartersawn white oak—a wood that displays a dramatic grain pattern, or fleck—and stained a deep brown. Design detailing includes mortise-and-tenon joinery, handmade hardware and simple curved arches that soften the severely straight, parallel-sided appearance. Our dresser incorporates many of the visual elements characteristic of

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Building a classic example of early 20th century American craftsmanship. TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY N E A L B A R R ET T

this popular style, but we’ve updated construction with plate joinery in the case, vertical dovetails in the drawers and full-extension drawer slides. The solid-wood parts range in thickness from 1⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. If you don’t have a planer, check with your dealer or a local cabinet shop for custom planing. While lumber prices vary, expect to pay between $700 and $800 for the quartersawn white oak, drawer slides, pulls and finishing materials.

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Begin construction by preparing 1-in.-thick boards to be edge-glued for the case sides and top, and 3⁄4-in.-thick stock for the case bottom panel. While simple glued butt joints are strong enough, we added joining plates to keep the boards aligned during assembly. After assembling the panels, use a cabinet scraper or razor-sharp plane to smooth the surfaces and remove any glue stains. Rip the panels to finished width, and crosscut the top and bottom panels to length. Trim the top end of each side panel square and lay out the arched bottom edge of each by springing a thin wood strip between two clamps 1 . Use a sabre saw to make the curved cuts, and remove the saw marks with sandpaper or a spokeshave. Mill the case legs to specified dimension, cut plate slots in the legs and side panels, and join the legs to the panels with plates and glue. Lay out the mortises in the case sides and cut them with a plunge router and an edge guide. Finish each mortise in three or four light passes to avoid burning the bit or overloading the motor. Then square the mortise ends with a chisel. Cut the joining-plate slots in the case sides for the case bottom and drawer rails 2 . Clamp a straight board to the side to aid in positioning the plate joiner. Install a 1⁄4-in.-dia. straight bit in your router and cut the panel groove in each rear leg that extends between the top and bottom rail mortises 3 .

Cutting the Case Parts

Rip and crosscut 3⁄4-in.-thick stock to size for the front and rear rails, drawer rails and rear mullions. Before cutting the curved edges of the bottom rails, cut the tenons on your table saw. Set the fence to match the tenon length and use a dado blade to cut the tenon cheeks 4 . Readjust the blade height and hold the rails on edge to cut the shoulders at the top and bottom edges of each rail. Cut the tenons at the ends of the mullions in the same way. Mark the locations of the mullion mortises in the back rails and rout them with a 3⁄8-in. bit 5 . Clamp two rails together to provide a more stable base for the router. Use a dado blade in your table saw to mill the panel grooves in the edges of the back rails and mullions 6 . A feather board secured to the table will keep the stock tight against the rip fence and reduce the chance of dangerous kickback. Cut 1⁄2-in.-thick stock to size for the back panels and use a router table to cut the rabbets around the inside face of each piece 7 .

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CASE ASSEMBLY

First, carefully sand the case parts with 120- and 150-grit sandpaper. Then, spread glue in the back rail mortises and on the mullion tenons. Position the mullions in the mortises in the bottom rail and slide the two center panels into place 8 . It’s important to keep glue from the panel grooves so that the panels are free to expand and contract. Then, add the top rail and clamp the assembly. Cut the remaining joining-plate slots except those for joining the top. Apply glue to the joint between the front rail and bottom, assemble the parts and clamp 9 . Next, join the bottom to the back bottom rail. When the glue dries on that joint, join the subassembly to one of the sides. Remember to slide the appropriate

Assembling the Case

8

9

10

11

POPULAR MECHANICS • JANUARY 2006

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Add i ng t he D rawe rs

back panel into position first. Join the drawer rails to the side assembly and clamp until the glue sets 10 . Then, slide the remaining back panel into position and glue the second case side in place. While the glue is drying, cut the joining-plate slots on the bottom of the case top. Rout a 1⁄8-in. chamfer around the bottom and top faces of the top panel 11 . Then, glue the top to the sides and back.

12

DRAWER BUILDING

Use an 8-degree dovetail bit to rout the dovetail slots in the drawer faces 12 . Note that the slots in the drawer faces stop short of the top edge. Move the dovetail bit to your router table and cut the male halves of each dovetail joint on the ends of the drawer sides and backs 13 . Clamp a guide block to the work that rides on the top edge of the router table fence. This keeps the leading edge of the work from dropping in the table hole. Test these cuts on scrap lumber and make sure that the dovetails slide together easily. Use a 1⁄4-in.-dia. bit to rout the slots for drawer bottoms in the sides and between the dovetails in the drawer faces. Then, cut the plywood for the drawer bottoms. Apply glue sparingly and join the drawer sides to the faces, slide the backs in place and check that each drawer frame is square. When the glue is dry, slide the bottoms in place and fasten them with screws driven into the backs. Install the drawer slides in the case by screwing them to the sides 14 . Note that the slides sit directly on the case bottom and drawer rails. Temporarily install the pulls and engage the drawers in the slides. Adjust the slides, if necessary, so that the drawers operate smoothly and there’s a uniform gap between the drawer faces and the case.

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Materials List KEY A B C D E F G H I J K1 K2 L1 L2 M1 M2 N O

QTY. 2 1 1 4 1 1 1 2 3 4 2 4 1 2 1 2 3 6

SIZE 1 x 17½ x 28" 1 x 22½ x 38" ¾ x 19¾ x 32½" 1¾ x 1¾ x 31" ¾ x 4 x 34½" ¾ x 5 x 34½" ¾ x 3 x 34½" ¾ x 7 x 32½" ¾ x 3 x 21½" ½ x 6½ x 20¾" ½ x 4 13/16 x 18 5/8" ½ x 7 1/16 x 18 5/8" ½ x 4 1/16 x 31 3/8" ½ x 65/16 x 31 3/8" ¾ x 59/16 x 32 5/16" ¾ x 7 13/16 x 32 5/16" ¼ x 17 5/8 x 31 3/8" drawer pull

DESCRIPTION oak side oak top oak bottom oak leg oak apron oak apron oak rail oak rail oak mullion oak panel maple side maple side maple back maple back oak front oak front plywood bottom Whitechapel* No. 34PV31

P Q R

3 as reqd. 12

drawer slide (18") No. 20 ¾" No. 6

Rockler** No. 30845 joining plate rh woodscrew

FINISHING

First, prepare the case and drawers by removing the hardware and finish sanding to 220 grit. Clean away all the dust with a vacuum. We stained our dresser with Behlen Solar-Lux stain, creating our own color by mixing Van Dyke Brown and Medium Brown Walnut in equal amounts. Solar-Lux stains are solvent based and dry very quickly, so it’s best to add some Solar-Lux dye retarder to

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

SUPPLIES & SOURCES

120-, 150- and 220grit sandpaper; Behlen Solar-Lux stains: Van Dyke Brown (No. 916724), Medium Brown Walnut (No. 847-522), Behlen Retarder (No. 847-585) and Watco Clear Wood Finish (No. 952-290) available from Woodworker’s Supply, 800-645-9292; woodworker.com. * Whitechapel Ltd., 800-468-5534; whitechapelhard ware.com. ** Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, 800-279-4441; rockler.com.

the mix to avoid lap marks that can occur when applying the stain with a brush or rag. Allow the stain to dry for at least 4 hours—letting it dry overnight is better. We finished our dresser with three coats of Watco Clear Wood Finish, semigloss, which is a fast-drying brushing lacquer. Apply according to the manufacturer’s instructions, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next coat. PM

HOMEJOURNAL CARCARE

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POPULAR MECHANICS • JANUARY 2006

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HOMEOWNERSCLINIC Q BY N O R M A N B E C K E R , P. E .

+A

THE PROBLEM

Help for Sticky Doors bedroom door doesn’t Q My close properly. When I shut

Door binds in upper corner.

the door, it rubs on the upper part of the doorjamb, on the latch side. I don’t want to go out and buy a hand plane to shave the edge of the door to make the repair. Is there another way to correct this problem?

THE SOLUTION

Driving screw in here pulls jamb back slightly.

DOOR

JAMB

SHARON FASS Georgetown, TX

are three adjustA There ments that you can make, COUNTERSUNK HOLE

HINGE

WOODSCREW

HINGE MORTISE

Know How Drill the correct hole for a countersunk screw.

COUNTERSINK BIT

SHANK BIT

PILOT BIT

HOLE GAP SCREW IN HOLE FRAME HINGE MORTISE

88

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

JAMB

any of which may improve the door’s performance. None of them requires you to plane the door edge. First, check the hinges to make sure that they are not loose and tighten any loose hinge screws. Next, check that the bottom hinge is not mortised too deeply. The mortise is the recess that the hinge is set into. If it is conspicuously deeper than the hinge mortise above it, you can correct this by inserting a cardboard shim between the lower hinge leaf and the doorjamb. This will reposition the door so that it fits in its jamb properly. Here’s a little-known tip: If the door binds just slightly, you may be able to use a 31⁄2-in.-long woodscrew to pull the upper part of the jamb toward the doorframe. To do this, remove the hinge leaf that is attached to the doorjamb. Next, bore three holes into the bottom of the hinge mortise. Start by boring a shallow saucer-shaped hole for the screwhead, then bore a hole for the screw shank, and finally, make

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y F LY I N G - C H I L L I . C O M

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H o m e ow n e rs C l i n i c

a third and smaller pilot hole for the screw’s threaded portion. To match the bits to the screw, hold the screw over a drill bit. The first hole should be equal to the head diameter, the next should be slightly larger than the shank, and the pilot hole should be equal

to the screw’s diameter minus the threads. The three diameters ensure that the screw’s threads grab the door framing, but not the jamb, allowing the jamb to be pulled more tightly to the framing. You can bore these holes with

E D I T O R ’ S C H O I C E AWA R D S

A Few of Our Favorite New Gadgets H O M E H E A R T B E A T $150 Eaton’s Home Heartbeat alerts you to a door or window that has been left open, a water leak, an appliance’s power consumption or a furnace filter that needs changing. Its base station plugs into a phone line and power outlet, and it receives information from wireless sensors placed around your home. The base station signals the home key, a display device about the size of a large key fob. You can dock the key at the base station or take it with you. On the road, the base station can signal your cellphone. The starter pack system includes the base station, a sensor and the key. eatonelectrical.com

N A I L M A S T E R 2 $60 The NailMaster is an electric nail gun that drives brad nails from 5⁄8 to 1 1⁄4 in. The 14-amp tool is a compact and inexpensive alternative to a compressor and air nailer. www.arrowfastener.com

R E A D Y T O R O L L $35 to $45 (Price depends on color and gloss.)

Painting just got easier thanks to this 2 1⁄2-gal. container of paint that serves as its own paint tray. Use either a 9- or 9 1⁄2-in. roller as you would in a typical paint tray. But here’s the best part: At the end of the day you just snap the airtight lid closed. dutchboy.com

G E S I L I C O N E I I $5 GE Silicone II has BioSeal, an antifungal agent. General Electric formulated the all-silicone product to make a tenacious, watertight seal for contact with all common building materials. gesealants.com

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JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

three separate bits or use a taper point drill bit (a source for these is jamestowndistributors.com) and then bore the countersunk hole for the screwhead. After you’ve driven the screw, reattach the hinge leaf to conceal the repair. Some carpenters shoot for a speedy repair and simply drill a small pilot hole, and then drive a long drywall screw through the bottom of the hinge mortise. However, using a drywall screw in these applications requires a deft touch and experience. Also, a drywall screw may work loose over time, but it’s unlikely that a properly installed woodworking screw will loosen.

N OW YOU K N OW

Make Your Mark IT ’S A WELL-KNOWN FACT in repair work that getting things back together can be tricky. That’s especially the case when it comes to fixing an appliance because you’ve got lots of thermostats, switches, fuses, pumps, timers and controls to unplug and test. An indispensable tool is a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker. With a steady hand, you can use the marker to label wires and other parts so that they go back together just as they came off. Use Sharpie pens in various widths and colors to mark part positions or make an assembly note right on a machine. Unlike other labeling methods, like applying tape or strips of paper, there’s nothing left behind to pose a fire hazard once the appliance is reassembled. — Roy Berendsohn

Snow-Covered Ridge Vent I remove snow from Q Should the ridge vent on my house every time it snows? Recently, I noticed that when the ridge vent was covered in snow, there was frost in the attic on the underside of the roof. JON IVES Eau Claire, WI

you can remove the snow A Ifsafely and without undue strain, then it’s a good idea to do it. Remove it, that is, if you can do the job with a roof rake while standing on the ground or, at most, on a small extension ladder. It should be raised so that your feet are no higher than

10 ft. from the ground. However, the danger of clearing the ridge vent exceeds any benefits if it requires you to climb up on the roof (even if it’s a shallow pitch) or if the snow is so wet and heavy that the strain of removing it is severe. Install gable vents if the roof is covered in snow for much of the winter. This will ensure that the attic is adequately ventilated.

Skylight Energy Loss 10-year-old home has Q Our five curb-mounted skylights that were installed when

the house was built. Would it improve the energy efficiency of each skylight if I covered its opening in the ceiling with a sheet of clear rigid plastic? LLOYD WOOD Via E-Mail

not cover the skylight openA Do ing with a rigid plastic sheet because moisture will get trapped behind it and cause mildew and other problems. The skylights may be more energy efficient than you think. During the energy crisis in the mid-1970s, most states passed energy-conservation construction codes, which

ILLUSTRATION BY FLYING-CHILLI.COM

BOOKSHELF

A Classic Remodeling Text I T ’ S FA R E A S I E R to build a house than to remodel one. Renovation 3 (the 3rd edition) has earned its place on the shelf because it handles its difficult subject so well. It begins with how to inspect a house and identify the cause of problems such as water stains, rotting wood and mineral deposits on pipes. Next come chapters on project planning, tools, materials, roofing, doors, windows, skylights, exteriors, structural and finish carpentry, masonry, foundations, plumbing and electrical, kitchens and baths, painting, wallpapering and flooring. It devotes individual chapters to drywall/plaster, tile and energy conservation. At $40, this 544-page book is expensive, but then its wisdom reflects nearly 30 years of work. In those terms, it’s dirt-cheap. Order from taunton.com. — R.B.

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H o m e ow n e rs C l i n i c

mandated insulated windows. The first generation of these products had an airspace sealed between their panes of glass; later products are more energy efficient because they use argon, an inert gas that is an effective insulator. It’s likely that your skylights have insulated panes, although they may not be as energy

efficient as current models. If you have a tall folding stepladder, check whether the skylights have two sheets of glass with a spacer between them. If the skylights are not insulated, it’s probably worth the money to replace them. One way to reduce energy loss through the skylights is to install

honeycomb translucent insulating shades. In severe cold weather you can keep the shades closed or just close them at night to keep heat in the room. To see one of these shades, visit the Web site cellularwindow shades.com. For additional information on skylights, see “Heavens Above,” Nov. 2005, page 93.

THIS WEEKEND

Fixing Energy Leaks

Even a well-insulated house may have plenty of costly energy leaks. Here are a few you should search out and seal.

Attic Entries Many houses have a small, uninsulated plywood or drywall hatch SEAL HATCH PERIMETER

SEAL VENT OPENING

in the ceiling of an upstairs closet. Often, that entry goes unused because a more convenient pull-down attic entry ladder has been installed. Peel back insulation over the hatch and seal its perimeter with spray foam insulation. As to the pull-down ladder, seal the edge of its door using weatherstripping. Next, build a cover that fits over the pull-down stairs using polystyrene insulation and construction adhesive, such as Liquid Nails LN-950 Ultra Duty Poly or LN-903 Heavy Duty Construction and Remodeling adhesive. The cover must be large enough so that it fits over the folded ladder. Caution: Watch your step in the attic. One wrong step and you’ll break through the drywall ceiling—and that may not be all you break.

Pipe, Duct, Cable and Vents Most attics have pipe, duct, cable and vents ADD POLYSTYRENE COVER

entering and exiting through holes drilled in wall framing and the drywall ceiling. Seal each entry using spray foam insulation. Caution: Do not use spray foam around older recessed light fixtures that are not rated for insulation contact. It creates a fire hazard. In the long term, plan on replacing noninsulation-contact recessed lights with insulationcontact lights to prevent energy loss. Also, add a second layer of unfaced insulation to the attic if only one layer is in place.

Knee Wall Door Houses that have a finished attic often have a short wall,

INSULATE KNEE WALL DOOR

Sagging Insulation Work and storage areas in attics and garages are often insulated but unfinished. Support sagging insulation in these areas with duct tape spanning the wall, ceiling or roof framing. Drive two staples through the tape at each framing location. SAGGING INSULATION

92

ADD TAPE

Caution: This is not a permanent fix. Drywall installed on walls and ceilings provides permanent insulation support, seals drafts, and increases fire-resistance of walls and ceilings. — R.B.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

ILLUSTRATIONS BY FLYING-CHILLI.COM

called a knee wall, that spans the floor and rafters. A small, uninsulated plywood door gives access to the area behind the knee wall. This may be in the room or in the back of a closet. Insulate the door’s back by gluing rigid polystyrene insulation to it using a compatible construction adhesive such as the Liquid Nails products mentioned above.

Bracket for a Squeaking Floor

READER PROJECT

trying to stop a squeak Q I’m in my vinyl-covered kitch-

Dick Anderson:

Everett, WA

en floor. The floor’s framing is exposed in the basement under the kitchen, and I was wondering if there is a device that can tighten the subfloor against the joist from below. RONALD L. SMITH Kirkwood, PA

device called the SqueakA AEnder bracket (squeak ender.com) is designed for situations such as the one you describe. Given that the bracket costs only about $7, it’s worth a try. (Shipping adds about $3, depending on how many you order and where the product is shipped.) If it doesn’t work, you’ll have to secure the subfloor to the joists from above when you install a new floor. The bracket assembly attaches to the subfloor and slips over the joist. When you tighten the bracket’s threaded rod, you draw the floor firmly against the joist, stopping the squeak. The brackets can be used with any thickness of subfloor and can accommodate joists as large as a 2 x 10 without modification. To use the brackets on a 2 x 12 joist, you need to buy a longer carriage bolt than the one supplied.

Dirty Ducts Need Cleaning supply vents for my Q The forced-air furnace are covered in a dirty material that looks like soot. I have had the furnace checked and tuned up. That leaves the ducts as the source of the dirt. Can a homeowner clean ducts effectively or must the job be done by a professional ductcleaning company? RAY MORENO Via E-Mail

The pump car, made from plans in a 1946 PM book, is built with 3 ⁄4-in. oak and is sturdy enough to withstand little boys.

I built this pump car for my first grandson using plans from a 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics: What To Make. I know how hard little boys are on their toys, so I built it to last. I used mostly 3⁄4-in. oak, metal bolts and rubber-covered metal wheels—12-in. wheels for the back and 5-in. for the front. I added extra bolt holes so that the seat could be moved back as my grandson grows taller, and I made the seat removable so the cushion can be washed or replaced. The car is easy to drive: The driver puts his feet on the blocks and pumps back and forth to make the car go. He moves his feet side to side to steer. The car is about 30 in. long x 18 in. high, and took about two weeks to build, off and on. The total cost for materials was about $40, including $20 for the wheels. This project was fun to build, and I hope that one day my grandson will be able to pass his pump car along to someone else.

FOR YOUR PROJECT TO BE CONSIDERED, please send clear, color photos, your phone number, and a brief description to: Reader Project, Popular Mechanics, 810 Seventh Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10019, or e-mail your project to [email protected]. Any letters and pictures submitted become the property of Popular Mechanics. Unfortunately, we cannot return submissions.

are best cleaned by proA Ducts fessionals. These contractors have equipment to seal the duct system and place it under negative pressure while they loosen dirt on the

duct walls with brushes and a variety of tools. As the particles of dust and debris are dislodged, they are drawn into a container. These contractors also have the means to cut

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access holes in the duct. The holes are patched and sealed after the ducts are cleaned. This enables the contractor to clean even those areas that are otherwise inaccessible.

Dry Below Deck trying to locate a Q I’m water-channeling system that is installed underneath an outside deck so that the area below stays dry. Any information would be helpful. STEVE STARGARDT Torch Lake, MI

product is called A The DrySpace and it’s made by TimberTech (timbertech .com). It’s available nationally through lumberyards. The system consists of V-shaped panels, support brackets and joist covers, and it’s designed to work with decks that have joists spaced 12, 16 and 24 in. on-center. Basic hand tools, a small drill and metal snips are necessary to install the system. Each V-shaped panel is hung so that it collects the rainwater that seeps between the deck boards. The panels are installed with a slight downward pitch so that this water drains to the front of the deck and into a gutter and downspout. For information on how to install such a system, see “BelowDeck Drainage,” July 2002, page 111. A TimberTech distributor estimates that, based on a 16 x 16-ft. deck, the system costs about $3.75 to $4.30 per square foot, or about $960 to $1100 for a 256-sq.-ft. deck. A moderately skilled homeowner should be able to install the system on an average deck PM in a weekend.

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FUEL INJECTION SUSPENSION ELECTRICAL COOLING SYSTEMS AND MORE FOR SATURDAY MECHANICS

BODY HAMMER

>

Hammering out dents is done from both the inside and the outside of a panel. You’ll need a body hammer and a dolly intended for panel-beating.

BEFORE

AFTER

SATURDAY MECHANIC B Y

JOHN DECKER

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY DIFFICULT

It’s a busy day at the home center, and you’ve managed to pick up that last bit of plumbing before the crowds close in. Then you see it. A baseball-size dent in the right-front fender. And it’s no coincidence that the dent is exactly the same height as the lumber cart hovering in the next parking stall—right where it came to rest after bouncing off your car. Next stop, the body shop, where the estimator says it will cost exactly $493 to fix. Since this is only $7 shy of your insurance deductible, P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I C H A E L H E I KO

Dealing With Dents you’ll be footing the entire bill. Or, you can fix the dent yourself. It takes basic but purposeful tools to do bodywork. You’ll need a body hammer and dolly to bump out the dent. Body hammers come in a variety of shapes, and you’ll need an assortment of them. Don’t use any old hammer in your toolbox. Dollies are really small anvils with various shaped surfaces that you hammer the dented metal against to restore its shape. You’ll also need a sander with a 36-grit disc to remove paint

and rough up the damaged area, a putty knife and body filler squeegees for applying filler, a bodyworking file (commonly called a cheese grater) for leveling partially hardened filler, a stroke sander for smoothing the filler, and an air compressor and a spray gun for applying primer/surfacer and paint. You’ll also need a buffer or polisher to shine up the paint. Thanks to today’s body repair materials—better paints, improved fillers and two-part primer/surfacers—bodywork and painting has

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never been easier. Modern basecoat and clearcoat paints are surprisingly easy to apply. Sure, a dustfree spray booth is great to have, but you’d be surprised at how many body shops produce flawless work without one. Wetsanding the paint with 1500-grit sandpaper and machine buffing can produce a mirrorlike finish.

36-GRIT SANDPAPER

>

Grind off the old paint with a sander and

PLASTIC SPREADER BODY FILLER

coarse (36-grit) paper to give the plastic filler a “toothy” surface to stick to.

> Spread plastic body filler over the “CHEESE GRATER”

bumped-out area with a plastic spreader in a thin layer that overlaps the repaired area. It will cure in 10 minutes or so, depending on the temperature in the shop.

> Carve the partially cured filler with

AIR SANDER

a cheese-grater tool to remove high spots before the plastic fully cures and gets too hard. You may need a second thin coat.

> Sand the filler with 80-grit paper on a straight-line air sander or a long rubber block to achieve a smooth finish that follows the original contour. > Wetsand the repaired area with successively finer waterproof sandpaper to remove any imperfections. WATERPROOF SANDPAPER

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JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

SECRETS TO A GREAT BODY To remove a dent, you’ll need to gain access to the back side of the body panel. Do this by removing items like headlight buckets, inner fenders, door panels and interior trim. Once you have access, place a dolly on the outside of the dent and then hammer on the inside of the dent, striking the metal against the dolly. The key here is to go slowly and work around the circumference of the dent, banging it out until it lies just below the undamaged area. After the dent is out, put the dolly on the inside of the dent, then tap the area surrounding the outside of the dent to knock in any high spots. When you’re sure all the sheetmetal is just slightly below the surface of the surrounding area, use a disc sander with 36-grit paper to remove all paint and primer from the dent and surrounding area. This will give the body filler a rough surface (called tooth) to hang on to once it has hardened. After thoroughly mixing the filler with hardener, smooth it on the damaged area with a plastic filler applicator. The filler semihardens in 10 to 15 minutes to the consistency of cheddar cheese. At this point it’s easy to smooth with a body file. Use the file to knock the filler down so it is slightly higher than the finished repair will be. After about 15 to 30 minutes, the filler becomes hard. At this point you can use a hand or air-powered stroke sander with

BLACK LACQUER

SPRAY GUN

> Spray primer over the repair to provide adhesion to bare metal and to hide any imperfections. >

Lightly coat the primer with a dusting of black lacquer to help visualize high and low spots as you continue wetsanding.

clearcoat. Don’t sand in between.

BUFFING WHEEL

> After it dries, you can sand out tiny imperfections and dust with 1500-grit paper, and buff the surface to high gloss.

PERFECTION Before painting, you have to decide whether you’re going to paint just the damaged spot or the whole panel. In either case, you’ll need to clean and prepare the surface surrounding

the repair to accept paint. Begin by wiping the entire panel with a solvent-based wax remover. Next, wetsand the area to be painted with 600-grit waterproof sandpaper. If you’re going to blend the paint into the original paint, make sure to

Can’t bang it? Pull it.

>

Two-part primer/surfacers, consisting of the primer and a hardening agent, allow a thick layer to be applied over the repair in only one or two coats. After a half-hour of drying the primer is ready for sanding. But before you sand, apply a light mist of black lacquer from a spray can over the repaired area. This contrast PRIMER/SURFACERS Before the repaired area can be paintcoating will reveal imperfections ed, scratches, pits and waves must be that will disappear as you sand. completely removed or they’ll show Warning! Before applying any up as reflections. A primer/surfacer primer or paint, be sure to wear a forms a thick layer of material over respirator rated for organic solvents. the area, which is then sanded down Make sure there is adequate ventilato make the repair smooth and level. tion, and also make sure that pilot lights and other flame sources in the general > Wetsand area are turned off. again to remove To sand, use a rubber imperfections, sanding block and 400including sanding grit waterproof sandscratches. There paper. The trick is to sand should be no bare metal showing. lightly while frequently dipping the paper in a bucket of water to keep > Spray the it clean. When all of the color basecoat black contrast coat has in two coats a few disappeared, the repaired minutes apart, followed by the area is finished. 80-grit paper to bring the filler down to the level of the body. If you see any bright, shiny metal spots in or around the filler, those areas are high. Use the pointed (pick) end of a body hammer to tap them in slightly, then refill and resand.

WHEN YOU CAN’T get to the back side of a dent to bang it out, pull it out. We used to drill holes in the panel and use a slide hammer, which required welding up the holes afterward, which in turn made the metal warp from heat. A newer and less invasive technique is to use a stud welder. It works by electrically spot welding 2mm-dia. copper-plated studs to the body surface. A slide hammer firmly grasps each stud and after a couple of sharp raps, the dent is out. Then, you twist off the studs and grind the surface flat. These welders cost about $250 to $300, and are sold at auto parts stores that carry body and paint supplies.

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sand an area larger than the area where you will be applying the paint. Thoroughly rinse the area, let it dry and then wipe again with wax remover. Mask off adjacent panels, then cover nearby wheels and major portions of the car with painter’s plastic sheeting to shield it from overspray. Mix the basecoat with the appropriate amount and type of solvent according to the maker’s instructions. Before spraying, gently wipe the area to be painted with a tack rag, then spray the panel or repaired area. If you are blending, apply only enough basecoat to cover the repaired area, then taper off as you move away from the repair. After the basecoat has dried thoroughly, you’ll notice its finish is quite dull. This is so the clearcoat will adhere tightly. Do not sand the basecoat before applying the clearcoat. After mixing the clearcoat with hardener, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, apply a medium wet coat and let it flash dry 5 minutes or so before applying a second coat. After letting the clearcoat dry for an hour, remove all masking tape. Then wait one day before polishing.

SPIT AND POLISH Chances are the finish already looks pretty good. But to make it flawless, it pays to colorsand and polish the entire repair. We used 1500-grit sandpaper to flatten the finish, followed by rubbing compound to remove the scratches left by the sandpaper. We finished up with polishing compound to make the finish flawless. After polishing, wait one month to PM apply wax.

KEEP IN TOUCH What’s going on at Popular Mechanics, and how to reach us.

Letters While it’s not possible to print or respond to all the mail we receive, we do read every piece of it. You can send us letters in three ways. E-MAIL [email protected] MAIL Popular Mechanics 810 Seventh Ave., 6th Floor New York, NY 10019 FA X 212-586-5562 Please include your name, address and a daytime phone number. Letters may be edited.

Customer Service S U B S C R I P T I O N P R O B L E M? For address changes or subscription questions, call 800-333-4948 or visit our Customer Care Web site, ccare.hearstmags.com. SUBSCRIBE Go to popularmechanics.com or call 800-333-4948. B AC K I S S U E S Call 800-925-0485.

VISIT US ONLINE POPULARMECHANICS.COM Browse 10 years’ worth of stories, plus our daily blog. Highlights include: Exclusive PM video. See video of our hybrid versus gas car comparison test. popularmechanics.com/hybrid How to power your home after a storm safely with a generator to prevent carbon monoxide intrusion. popularmechanics.com/co Our New Cars & Trucks Buyers Guide featuring Black Book pricing. Calculate the price of any model, equipped how you want it. popularmechanics .com/carguide

CARCARE

AUTOCLINIC Q A simple pointer next to the wheel can pinpoint any out-of-true areas caused by road damage.

BY MIKE ALLEN

+A

Going Wobbly whacked a pothole last week. I hit it pretty hard, actually. And, Q Iwell, okay—it wasn’t a pothole. It was a curb that I ran into in the rain because I was going too fast. My bad. Right away, the steering wheel started to shimmy. I figured I had damaged the tire, so I had my old spare, which was on a steel rim, remounted and balanced on my alloy wheel. But it still shimmies. The Neanderthal down at the feed-store-cum-gasstation hasn’t any idea what’s wrong, I live 40 miles from any decent garage, and I don’t want to order another $600 wheel over the phone unless I am pretty sure it’s bent. ED HENDERSON Espanola, NM

give the guy at the local A Don’t gas station a bad rap. He probably doesn’t have a spin balancer to check an out-of-true condition. And I bet he works mostly on trucks and farm equipment. Those wheels are harder to bend than your alloys.

P H OTO G RA P H S BY JA M ES W EST M A N

You can check the wheel yourself. Block the wheel on the opposite corner fore and aft with a couple of chunks of 2 x 4. Use a jack to lift the corner that you banged into the curb until the tire is about an inch clear of the pavement. Lay some-

thing long and skinny, like a pencil or a ruler, on a milk crate or a box or a support of some sort. Place your pointer so its end is just 1⁄32 in. or so from the rim. Now rotate the tire, slowly at first, until you’re sure you clear any high spots or balance weights. You should be able to see clearly any out-of-true parts on the rim. A small variance in the flange is okay, but the bead-seat surface deeper in should be pretty close. I can detect deviations as small as 0.020 in. this way. A variation of 1⁄16 in. or more would have me looking for a new wheel. You also can check a tire for out of round by doing the same thing to the center of the tread. If you find the rim is running true on the outer face, try the same thing

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on the inside face of the rim (though most rim damage, especially from curbs, is on the outside). Check with your local wheel and tire dealer or body repair shop to find a local company that specializes in repairing damaged alloy wheels. Understand that a really damaged rim is not salvageable, but minor dings and gouges can be straightened and the wheel refinished to a new appearance.

Stuck on You tried to reattach my rearQ Iview mirror to my windshield with a two-stage mounting adhesive for mirrors made by Permatex. Unfortunately, I glued the little tab onto the glass in exactly the right position, but upside down. I’ve tried a razor blade, but can’t get it under the tab. I’ve thought of just gluing another tab on top of the other one, but I was wondering if it would hold. CAROLYN HORVATH Via E-Mail

people write me A Usually, because they can’t get these things to stay on, not because they can’t get them off. Don’t just glue a second tab over the old one—the mirror won’t look right. I’d try some acetone (old-fashioned nail polish remover) or MEK (methyl ethyl ketone for you chemists out there) to

Tire Beautiful We wash our cars and within a few days the tire sidewalls are dull, and our expensive alloy wheels are covered in gray brake pad dust. Michelin is the first tire company to provide a wheel and tire cleaner, a tire shine product the company claims Water-based products are safe won’t damage tire sidewalls, and for tire rubber and all wheels. a repellent to keep brake pad dust from sticking to the wheels. (Petroleum-based products can leach oils from the tire sidewall, shortening tire life.) The Michelin products are sold at most automotive parts counters for $5 to $6.

soften the adhesive. Dribble a little into the gap (use an old toothbrush). Lather, rinse and repeat to keep the acetone on the job for a half-hour or so. This should soften the adhesive enough to get a single-edge razor blade behind there and pry it loose. It helps to do this in a warm area, but seeing as how it’s winter, working with flammable compounds inside the running, warmed-up car or a heated garage is not a good idea. Acetone is pretty flammable, and may be detrimental to your health unless used in a well-ventilated area. It may also be detrimental to your plastic dashboard, so cover that first with some newspaper. Once you have the tab free, clean all the adhesive from both the tab and the glass before you try to reassemble it.

SERVICE TIPS

Help From Vehicle Makers Tech Bulletins On those cold (20 degrees and less) mornings, does the steering on your 2005 Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum stiffen up and then get freer? Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 19-002-05 calls for a new steeringcolumn boot with a different type of grease to cure this. You ordered your new 2005 Chrysler Pacifica/300/Town and Country/Dodge Caravan/Jeep Grand Cherokee with Park Assist. But now you can’t hear the beeping noise it makes as you approach another vehicle in the parking lot because it’s not loud enough. TSB 08-020-05 shows a new Park Assist display module with a louder chime.

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Open … Please ’94 Buick Regal’s front Q My doors freeze shut several times each winter. Temperatures above 32 degrees or direct sun on them cures it, but I can never figure out where the problem spot is. The back doors work fine. My wife’s ’96 Regal—same body style—never does this maddening thing. I’m tired of climbing in through the back seat! JOHN O’CONNOR Via E-Mail

tell from your letter if A Ithecan’t issue is the door sticking to the gasket or if the lock mechanism is frozen. If the door latch works and the door is just frozen to the rubber gasket, try thoroughly cleaning the painted surface on the door that the rubber gasket mates to, and the gasket itself. Next, spray both with aerosol silicone spray. Then, any moisture in the area that freezes can’t stick the gasket to the door. If, on the other hand, the lock is freezing, it’s a bigger job. A quick work-around is to heat the key with a lighter until you can barely hold it and quickly insert it into the lock to melt any ice. If you have a metal key, just insert the key and heat the exposed end for 30 seconds or so. If the outside temps are near freezing,

this will often add enough heat to make the lock free up. As a last resort, really cold temps might require pouring a kettle of hot water over the door lock—but you’ll have to move quickly to keep the lock from refreezing. To permanently fix the problem, remove the inner door panels and check for moisture inside the door. There are drains along the bottom of the door to allow water to escape— be sure they are clear. Check all the gaskets on the glass to be sure they aren’t funneling water into the door interior. Remove the latch mechanism and remove any lubrication, corrosion, spider webs, or anything else that might either impede the mechanism or give water a place to cling. Thoroughly dry out the interior of the door, which may require parking

in a heated garage overnight. Lube the lock and latch mechanism liberally with white lithium grease. Follow up with a coating of silicone spray to repel any water. Button up the door panel, making sure the waterproofing panel is reinstalled properly, which may require some trim adhesive.

One at a Time when I hit the Q Sometimes brakes, my Nissan Altima feels like it’s trying to acclerate at the same time it’s slowing down. Nobody—including the dealer— could find anything wrong. I’m nervous that one day it won’t stop. I. GOLDSTEIN Via E-Mail

the trouble is probA Actually, ably not with your car. More

likely it’s with your feet. The accelerator and brake pedals in this car are a little closer together, more similar in shape and on a more level plane than you may be accustomed to—especially if you’re coming from a large domestic car. So when you go to step on the brake pedal, the edge of your shoe is catching the accelerator as well. As you’re hitting the brakes, you’re giving it a little gas at the same time.

All Night Long a driving instructor and Q I’m I use my own car, a 2001 Toyota Camry, as the school car. Since this car is my livelihood and my only means of transportation, I keep it in the best shape possible. Lately, however, I’ve been finding it with a dead battery. I replaced

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the original battery about six months ago when it failed to start the car several mornings in a row. Now that the weather’s getting cold, I’m finding it sluggish to crank over—even with the new battery. I’ve had the entire electrical system thoroughly checked out by two different electrical system repair shops. Nothing seems wrong. The alternator and regulator are putting out as advertised and there doesn’t seem to be any real power drain. What can you suggest that may have been overlooked? I can’t be getting a battery boost every day. JOHN SCHIEFELE Queens, NY

A

If everything in the electrical system is charging as it should be, and I have to assume that at least

one (if not both) of these shops is competent, clearly there is a parasitic drain that’s running down the battery overnight. If you’ve had the electrical system checked with everything disconnected—alarm, interior lights, etc.—and nothing has surfaced, it’s clearly not one of the usual suspects. Since this car is used for a driving school, I’m assuming that you’ve got redundant controls. Certainly you’ve a second brake pedal on the passenger side—unless you’re a whole lot braver than most driving instructors. I wouldn’t be surprised if the weight of that second brake pedal and its necessary linkage to the driver’s pedal were enough to gradually overcome the tension of the return spring on the regular brake pedal. That sagging pedal could drop just

enough to close the contacts on the brake light switch, turning on the brake lights. The power needed to keep those brake lights burning all night would certainly be enough to prematurely kill a battery. Sneak up on your car tonight after it’s been sitting for a few hours and see. If so, try a stronger return spring on the PM second brake pedal. LET US KNOW GOT A HIGH-MILEAGE CAR? We’re looking for readers who have managed to maintain their vehicles so well that they don’t ever seem to wear out. Forever is a long time, but if your favorite ride has rolled the odometer over a couple of times, please share it with us. Just use the addresses below.

DO YOU HAVE A CAR PROBLEM? Just ask Mike about it. Send your questions to Auto Clinic, Popular Mechanics, 810 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019 or to pmautoclinic@hearst .com. While letters, faxes, phone calls or e-mail cannot be answered individually, problems of general interest will be discussed in the column.

TECHNOLOGY

TECHCLINIC Q

BY JOEL JOHNSON

+A

Power Struggle

Q A

Someone told me that the power adapter for my laptop can automatically adjust its voltage for both 120 and 240 volts. Is this true? Have I been carrying a voltage converter on vacation for years for no good reason?

POWER SUPPLY

JASON FEINMAN Woodbury, CT

Varying voltages and strangely shaped outlets are the bane of every world traveler. Some countries, such as Germany, provide 220-volt power at 50 hertz (cycles per second), while others follow the American model with a 120-volt plug providing juice at around 60 Hz. (Voltage within a socket varies not only from country to country, but from moment to moment.) But here’s a surprise: Many electronics power supplies, like the one for your laptop (or even your camcorder or digital camera), can handle voltage variations from outlets around the world with no risk. Of course, plugs are a different story. Some electronics manufacturers offer their own adapter kits. An Apple iBook power supply can handle different mains voltages from 100 to 240 volts at 50 or 60 Hz— pretty much any sort of power from around the world—but you need a product such as Apple’s World Travel Adapter Kit to actually plug into the different sockets. There’s an easy way to determine the range of voltages your laptop can

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y H E A D C A S E D E S I G N

TRAVEL SURGE PROTECTOR

handle. Look right on the power supply itself. You should see a label that says something like “Input: 100V240V 50/60Hz.” If the voltage of the country you’re traveling to falls within the range of the power supply, then all you’ll need is a small plug adapter, which can be purchased in most travel stores in airports around the world for a few dollars, as well as at nearly every electronics retailer.

PLUG ADAPTER

If you don’t see that label on your power supply, call your laptop’s manufacturer. While it’s likely any modern power supply will support the wide range in voltages, you don’t want to take a chance with something as valuable as your data. Bonus tip: Get yourself a oneplug travel surge protector because you never know when (or where) power spikes may occur.

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D I Y

Brain Surgery for Your PC

The Mouse That Roars

Q

I went to buy a new computer mouse the other day and in addition to the optical mice, I saw “laser” mice. Is there a difference and, if so, does it matter to me? DAN SKORICH Duluth, MN

A

There is a difference, although unless you need incredibly precise tracking, you might be just fine with the cheaper optical options. Laser technology allows you to use a mouse on an even greater variety of surfaces, and it probably won’t be too long before lasers subsume the LED illumination used in current opticals. While optical mice have made mouse pads optional, many people find they don’t track well on glossy surfaces—including mouse pads, which many folks still use for comfort’s sake. “The laser beam is coherent light that creates interference by hitting the microstructure of a surface,” explains Yves Karcher, director of Logitech’s Retail Pointing Devices unit. “Even a very glossy surface, like a white board or a photograph, always has some microstructure. The laser reveals things that the LED doesn’t reveal.” Even though the cameralike sensors in laser mice are similar to those in optical LED mice, they are able to see more of the tiny pits and dimples on the mousing surface. That makes it easier to detect movement—in fact, laser mice are reported to have 20 times the tracking performance of optical mice.

NEED TO KNOW

Text Utilities 104

FIND YOUR CPU

Purchase an upgrade chip that matches your motherboard. Prep by cleaning your hands with alcohol and putting on a grounding strap 1 to prevent static shocks. Open your computer and find the heat sink (the big fan). Release the fasteners and/or clips that secure it to the motherboard. RELEASE THE OLD CHIP Once you

remove the heat sink, you’ll see the CPU. A lever locks the CPU to the motherboard. To release the chip, 2 push it down slightly, then pull out and up. Before you remove it, note its orientation and look for a notch that should match a mark on the socket. Remove gently.

Complexity and Risk: Moderate

But even laser mice won’t work on every surface. Glass and mirrors, for instance, don’t have a rough microstructure unless they are dirty. So should you get one? Sure, if you

I

Materials: Retail CPU, antistatic

can afford it and spend a lot of time using your mouse on glossy (but not glass) surfaces. If you haven’t had a problem with optical mice on your desk in the past, however, there’s

If you have trouble reading tiny text in Windows or on the Web, Windows XP has two functions that may help. The first is Magnifier. This bar at the top of your screen gives you a zoomed-in view that can follow either your mouse or keyboard. The second is a text-to-speech program called Narrator, which can read aloud menu commands or text on Web pages. You can access these functions by pushing the Windows logo key and the letter “U.”

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y B U R C U AV S A R

Your computer’s central processing unit (CPU) is its most vital organ, and so it may seem untouchable. But unlike you and me, your PC isn’t stuck with the brain it was born with. Upgrading the chip in your computer is easier than you might think. Here’s how to do it. b y A n t h o n y V e r d u c c i

Mode options. I haven’t touched it since. What should I do? ERIC BRANDNER Towson, MD

PREP THE CPU

Thermal grease aids the transfer of heat from chip to heat sink. Some heat sinks are prepasted, but you may need to apply it yourself. 3 To do so, hold the CPU between your thumb and forefinger, apply grease evenly, then use a razor blade like a trowel to spread a thin layer across the top of the chip. INSERT NEW CPU AND FAN Find the

notch on the chip and “key” it into the socket. Lock in the chip by closing the lever. Place the heat sink over the chip, 4 and clamp it down or click in the fasteners. Then plug its power cord into the “CPU fan” socket. If your BIOS is up to date, your PC will auto-recognize the chip on boot-up.

grounding strap, 99% isopropyl alcohol, thermal grease, razor blade

no reason to abandon the technology, especially when waiting another year or two will almost certainly see the laser sensors become standard—and cheaper. The most obvious difference between optical and laser mice is that the laser in a laser mouse looks less laserlike than the beam of its LED progenitors. In fact, the laser of laser mice is invisible. “We wanted it to look different than the classical optical mouse,” Karcher says. “It’s also more efficient to use an infrared

laser than a visible light laser.” The invisibility of the infrared laser helps encourage safety. “Even though we are far below the [FDA’s Laser] Class 1 margin, we didn’t want people looking into the hole for the laser.”

Boot Camp

Q

My computer crashed recently and when I rebooted, I was offered a variety of ways to boot, including: Last Known Good Configuration; Start Windows Normally; and multiple Safe

A

Windows is trying to tell you that it knows something caused your machine to crash, but it doesn’t know exactly what. You, I hope, will have a better idea. And, that idea will help you decide what your next step should be. Safe Mode is a way to get Windows to start up normally, but without loading anything except the most basic drivers and applications. That way, if the crash was precipitated by a program behaving badly or a piece of glitchy hardware, you have the chance to uninstall the offending item before it crashes your system again. If you’re fairly certain that the problem wasn’t related to your network connection, choose the Safe Mode (with Networking) option so that you can access the Internet. If you think you know what caused the crash—running a buggy program, for instance—and can avoid doing it again, feel free to select Start Windows Normally. Windows will automatically take care of any necessary post-crash maintenance. Occasionally you’ll install hardware or software that can screw up Windows so royally that even Safe Mode won’t work as it should. That’s when the Last Known Good Configuration alternative can come in handy. Choosing this option reloads some of the basic system settings from a constantly updated hardware configuration profile. Unfortunately, unlike Windows’ System Restore points (which, incidentally, can often be accessed from Safe Mode), this setting is limited to a smaller subset of hardware options, and won’t always take you back to a time before you broke your PC. But, it may undo some of the damage that caused your crash.

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A CLOSER LOOK: SERENITI HOME NETWORKING The Need for Speed

Q

I have an older computer that I’m used to working on and it’s in perfect condition. But it only has a USB 1.0 connection and my digital camera and MP3 player are USB 2.0. Is there any way to upgrade my hookup without buying a new computer? LEO CROWLEY Boston, MA

A

There most definitely is—and it’s worth the trouble. You should purchase one of the many Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) cards that are available from a variety of vendors, including Adaptec, Belkin and Keyspan. (Since the hardware is pretty standard these days, even off-brand cards should work well.) As with any aftermarket PCI card, you’ll have to open up your computer and install the card in a free expansion slot. These are the direct connections to your motherboard that are typically used for hardware additions such as graphics, television tuner and network cards. If your PC doesn’t have any free PCI slots, you may be in a bit of trouble since the other common way to add additional hardware these days is by plugging into—you guessed it— a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port. While you’re in there upgrading,

you might consider purchasing one of the combo cards that provides both USB 2.0 and FireWire (aka IEEE 1394). While USB 2.0 is much more common than FireWire in consumer gadgetry, FireWire is a better solution for things like permanently attached hard drives. The data throughput of USB 2.0 is slightly faster (480 megabits per second versus 400Mbps), but FireWire devices tend to put less “load,” computationally, on your PC than USB 2.0 devices because FireWire controllers include some circuitry that USB 2.0 does not. Since FireWire devices require less CPU processing power, everything works faster all around. That said, USB 2.0 is a valuable option and you should add both standards to your PC if possible. Bear in mind that you won’t be able to get full USB 2.0 speeds on older Macintosh computers running OS 8 or 9, even if you add the additional hardware, because there are no system-level drivers for the faster standard. In that case, you’ll have to upgrade to a new machine—every new Apple desktop or laptop these days comes standard with USB 2.0 and FireWire. And if your laptop doesn’t have USB 2.0 (or FireWire), you can purchase a PC Card (PCMCIA) that adds in the functionality, as well.

What’s the big idea? Having a home network is great. Taking care of your home network and keeping it secure, however, can be maddening and confusing. Wouldn’t it be nice if network maintenance was somebody else’s problem? That’s the theory behind Sereniti, a $15-per-month service that promises to simplify network setup, then protect all of your data against outside threats and equipment failure.

How does it work? The software walks you through setup and password-protects your network. Virus and spyware protection is included and updates automatically. (Sereniti gives users $25,000 worth of identity theft and $1000 of virus protection insurance as well.) One of the smartest features is the 80GB hard drive integrated into the Smart Home Server ($300). The SHS works as both a wired and wireless router, and can be set to back up the data of any computer on the network. If your PC fails, Sereniti’s tech support can access the SHS remotely to retrieve your data.

Will it catch on? Treating NEED TO KNOW

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networking as a service rather than a product has roots in the corporate world, but the overall price probably will have to come down if this is to be the way of the future for home users. Nevertheless, the idea is solid, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see this sort of service become an option from Internet providers.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BURCU AVSAR

Firmware Updates

Just as your computer programs require periodic software updates to fix glitches and add functionality, your hardware needs “firmware” updates to keep it running in tiptop shape. A DVD burner that runs at 8X speed may be able to operate at 16X with new firmware. So check the manufacturer’s Web site for your hardware and peripherals, and have your model number on hand to make sure it matches the upgrade.

T H E T R A I N (Continued from page 61)

The train struck the unoccupied truck, which burst into flames. (One person, a passenger, suffered minor injuries.) “If you can see it, it’s gone,” says Bryan McLaughlin of New York Air Brake, a leading manufacturer. “All you’re doing [by applying the brakes] is making the cleanup easier.” Railroads have to do better if they are going to dramatically increase the number of trains riding the rails—and there is a better way to stop. Today’s airbrakes rely on a long pipe that “charges” each train car’s brakes with air. To slow the train, the engineer releases air from the front; the air moves sequentially from car to car, triggering the valves to open and to apply pressure to the brake shoes. The process takes up to a second per car—and some trains have 150 cars. New York Air Brake is one of several companies that offer electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, which change the brake pipe’s role. The pipe still charges the cars’ brakes, but the valves are activated electronically, via a pair of wires. By letting engineers apply all the brakes simultaneously, the technology can slash stopping distances—by nearly 70 percent in some cases. Unfortunately, implementing ECP will be a major challenge. The locomotive and all cars on a train must be outfitted with ECP; if even a single car lacks the hardware, the chain is broken and cars behind it will be unable to brake (although a crude work-around is possible). Since cars are continually swapped among trains, companies will have to convert much of North America’s fleet of 1.5 million railcars at the same time. So far, only Quebec Cartier Mining in Canada and South Africa’s Spoornet, also a mining

outfit, are using ECP in day-today operations. The technology is a natural fit for those companies because they rely on unit trains— the cars are never switched, but simply move from point to point and back again.

B E YO N D EN GIN EERS? ITH SO MANY functions getting high-tech makeovers, what’s to stop the railroads from building fully automated trains? After all, some airplanes already can take off, fly long distances and land without the assistance of pilots. In fact, remote control locomotives (RCL) are at work in a limited role: switching cars in railyards. This is a dangerous job. Before remote control, yard workers coordinated by radio with an engineer in the cab— and everyone sweated to ensure that no miscommunication led to someone getting crushed. In the new system, the workers doing the switching operate the locomotives themselves, using wearable remote-control units. The Federal Railroad Administration has begun allowing remote operation, under strict rules, on certain sections of open track. However, there may be too many grade crossings and stretches of dark, unsignaled territory throughout the country to make the technology widespread. Perhaps that’s a good thing. America’s rails are destined to become more crowded, with powerful locomotives roaring along hauling the longest, heaviest loads anyone has ever seen. The next generation of trains will help drive the nation’s business while combating energy shortages. Their sophisticated new technology will be welcome—but it’s comforting to know a human PM will still be at the controls.

W

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P M INTERVIEWED BY B E V I N W A L L A C E / / / PHOTOGRAPHED BY D E A N K A R R

Slope Groomer Michael Christensen Keystone Resort, Colo. Years on Job: 7

G

ROOMING SKI SLOPES—aka spending most

evenings alone driving a tanklike vehicle over snow-covered mountains—is a perfect fit for Michael Christensen. In addition to getting to ski from first chair till noon, when the snow is the best, the rural Illinois native feels right at home operating the 18,542-pound snowcat that smooths out lumpy patches and provides the velvety surface—“corduroy”—that makes a mountain ideal for cruising. “It satisfies my love of big skiing and big machines,” Christensen says. “And I get to move tons of snow.”

BLADE AND TILLERS As the blade irons out bumps in front, the hydraulic-powered tiller (not pictured) leaves behind the finished product. Attachments include a 3000-pound half-pipe groomer with a 12-ft. radius for carving out terrain park fun. CAB Insulated and quiet, the cab, packed with controls, is so comfy that some drivers wear slippers to work. “It’s like riding around in a cloud,” Christensen says. Flying snow contributes to the effect.

“The terrain you cover is amazing,

and I am usually two mountain ranges away from civilization. Plus, the cat does all the work.”

116

JANUARY 2006 • POPULARMECHANICS.COM

ENGINE The six-cylinder, 345-hp diesel Caterpillar C9 engine rides low under the cab (clearance is about 12 in.) and powers a series of Sauer-Danfoss hydraulics, from a 75cc pump for the tiller to 90cc pumps for each track. While official specs claim a top speed of 12.1 mph, cats have been clocked at 27 mph. TRACKS Steel and aluminum tracks, mounted to 5-ft.-wide rubber belts, provide the traction to climb slick inclines and push nearly 500 cu. ft. of snow—should the need arise to build one serious jump. And with zero-radius turns, maneuvering is never a problem.