MachinePix Weekly #47

This week's most popular post was a cannabis joint filling machine. Next week's interview: the creator of Pebble, the first modern smart watch, on consumer hardware startups ⌚️🚀

Guest interviews are resuming next week! I’m excited to have Eric Migicovsky joining me. Eric was the founder and CEO of Pebble, widely considered the first modern smart watch, which was acquired by Fitbit in 2016.

Eric is now a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator, and I’m excited to discuss how consumer hardware startup opportunities have evolved over the last decade.

Eric Migicovsky. Source: Wired.com

The most popular post this week *by far* was a cannabis joint filler by lbs. Distribution. One follower commented that knockboxes were old hat and posted something even more sophisticated.

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Cannabis pre-roll joint filler by lbs. Distribution.

I’m always looking for interesting people to interview, have anyone in mind?

—Kane

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The Week in Review

My eyes have been opened to the weird and wonderful world of HDD reamer design.

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Widening a borehole with a horizontal directional drilling backreamer.

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This post got me wondering how large chain trenchers get. The answer? 35 feet. Bucket wheel trenchers, on the other hand, can get preposterously large.

MachinePix @MachinePix

TESMEC M3 mechanical trencher.

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Postscript

I learned the hard way this week that plumbing fittings come in NPT (National Pipe Thread) and compression thread, and NPT is not compatible with compression thread. There are also BSPS or BSPT (British Standard Pipe Straight or Tapered) and UNS (National Unified Special), which is sometimes compatible with compression. Yikes.

Source; xkcd

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to friends (and interesting enemies). I am always looking to connect with interesting people and learn about interesting machines—reach out.

—Kane